Health experts reported a significant increase in infant deaths in Western U.S. after the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster. Update June 21: The data are unfortunately cherry-picked, so no conclusions should be drawn from them. Many thanks to all the readers who took the trouble to dig deeper and expose the flaws in these authors' report.
Janette D. Sherman, M.D. and Joseph Mangano reported:
The recent CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report indicates that eight cities in the northwest U.S. (Boise ID, Seattle WA, Portland OR, plus the northern California cities of Santa Cruz, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, and Berkeley) reported the following data on deaths among those younger than one year of age:
4 weeks ending March 19, 2011 - 37 deaths (avg. 9.25 per week)
10 weeks ending May 28, 2011 - 125 deaths (avg.12.50 per week)
This amounts to an increase of 35% (the total for the entire U.S. rose about 2.3%), and is statistically significant. Of further significance is that those dates include the four weeks before and the ten weeks after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant disaster.
Source:
http://www.counterpunch.org/...
While correlation does not necessarily prove causation, these data are alarming. While infant deaths (below 1 yr old) rose 2.3% for the U.S. as a whole, these Pacific Northwestern and Northern California points suffered a 35% increase, obviously a significant difference.
Wind currents carry any contaminated air across the Pacific, with the West Coast being hit the hardest of the continental U.S. During nuclear testing in the Pacific, it was well-known that the Pacific Northwest had elevated levels of strontium-90.
The authors describe the effects upon small children:
Spewing from the Fukushima reactor are radioactive isotopes including those of iodine (I-131), strontium (Sr-90) and cesium (Cs-134 and Cs-137) all of which are taken up in food and water. Iodine is concentrated in the thyroid, Sr-90 in bones and teeth and Cs-134 and Cs-137 in soft tissues, including the heart. The unborn and babies are more vulnerable because the cells are rapidly dividing and the delivered dose is proportionally larger than that delivered to an adult.
A Google news search turned up this report Monday and I didn't find it on DKos and wanted to bring it to your attention.