Gary Chittim, of MSNBC News, reports a distressing story, High levels of radiation detected in Northwest rainwater. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/...
SEATTLE — A Seattle nuclear watchdog group is accusing the federal government of failing to keep the public informed of radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. .. In the days following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the U.S. began monitoring radiation from Japan's leaking nuclear power plants.
Most of the public attention went to the air monitoring which showed little or no radiation coming our way. But things were different on the rain water side.
"The level that was detected on March 24 was 41 times the drinking water standard," said Gerry Pollet from Heart of America Northwest. He reviewed Iodine 131 numbers released by the Environmental Protection Agency last spring.
"Our government said no health levels, no health levels were exceeded.When in fact the rain water in the Northwest is reaching levels 130 times the drinking water standards," said Pollet.
Elevated rain water samples were collected in Portland, Olympia and Boise, which had the highest.
But EPA officials say the data was there for anyone to read on their website. A spokesman sent this statement, in part: "Since Iodine 131 has a very short half-life of approximately eight days, the levels seen in rainwater were expected to be relatively short in duration."
So they didn't think this was worth mentioning?
I believe it has been FishOutOfWater, Jim P, and others that have pointed our attention to the fact that the EPA stopped monitoring the Fukusima fallout in April. At a time, we know now, were during periods of elevated radiation release from the damaged reactor. Why? This needs to be investigated and monitoring resumed.
And, when radiation is detected by corporations, governments, or private individual they should have a legal "Duty To Warn," if unusual levels are detected. It may be time for a Freedom of Information Act filing to make sure the governement, has disclosed all known information, even by the military.
And, White House Press core, should get off there lazy duffesses and ask the President to assure the nation that all data about radiation levels known to the American government, have been or will promptly by disclosed to the American People.
And, that goes for other countries as well.
The World Courts in Geneva, and the The Haque should open an investigation to determine if "Crimes Against Humanity" may have been committed by Tepco, and Japanese officials who kept vital information secret during the initial perids of this crisis.
CNN, Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty
The public has a right to know. My confidence in our own monitoring and transparency in regulatory oversight is damaged.
State regulators reassure us that the drinking water is safe, and that any periods of exposure were brief. This is not the concern. I believe the State regulators.
The concern is why we were not informed of this.
And, why did the EPA cease monitoring the US radiation fallout levels right when we were gettting information of elevated levels, and we had, and have every reason to be on the alert due to open emissions of unknown magnitude coming from the damaged reactors.
State health agencies added that they constantly monitored public drinking water sources and never found levels even approaching the unhealthy range.
Even the watchdog group admits, watering plants with water exposed only briefly to those levels is unlikely to cause health problems.
But they say it's information the public deserves to know about.
We need to demand the EPA resume testing, and report any an all information known by our government. Also, did they test for Cesium 137?
I believe it is a basic human right that all people deserve to be made aware of any, and all data about radiation, and toxic chemicals in our environment. Government regulators have not earned and maintained the trust to act a our guardians deciding which information we need to know about.
UPDATE: When I say we have a right to know, I'm not saying that 3rd Parties be required to do additinal monitoring, I"m saying if someone has data, they have a "Duty To Warn." That is is not right to withhold data that folks may want to inform their decisions about safety.
4:37 PM PT: Sam Biddle of CNN reports
Fukushima’s Radiation Now Spreading in Japanese Meat Sam Biddle —"You know what happens when your nuclear reactor explodes, sending radioactive materials into the dirt? The irradiated gunk gets into the plants. Animals eat the plants. Humans eat the animals."
You can see where this is going.
Japanese health officials have found radioactive cesium in packaged beef, CNN reports—beef that in all likelihood's been eaten by now. The source of the contamination lies in hay from the agrarian Fukushima Prefecture, and the Japanese government doesn't yet have a handle on how widespread the tainted meat has become. ... despite the fact that cesium isotopes are among some of the worst to ingest. Luckily, a bolstered screening process will be implemented on Japanese farms, replacing the previous (and highly superficial) self regulation. [CNN, Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty]