This report was originally published by Lisa Egan at Tess Pennington’s ReadyNutrition.com.
Tess is the author of The Prepper’s Blueprint: How To Survive ANY Disaster.
On March 11, 2011, a major earthquake in Japan and the tsunami that followed disabled the power supply and cooling of three Fukushima Daiichi reactors, causing a nuclear accident.
The disaster – commonly known as ” Fukushima” – was the most significant nuclear incident since the April 26, 1986 Chernobyl disaster and the second disaster to be given the Level 7 event classification of the International Nuclear Event Scale.
According to Our World in Data, 40-50 people experienced physical injury or radiation burns at the nuclear facility, with no direct deaths. But, mortality from radiation exposure was not the only threat to human health: it’s estimated that around 1,600 people died as a result of evacuation procedures and stress-induced factors:
This figure ranges between 1,000-1,600 deaths from evacuation (the evacuation of populations affected by the earthquake and tsunami at the time can make sole attribution to the nuclear disaster challenging). Stress-induced deaths affected mostly older people; more than 90 percent of mortality occurred in individuals over the age of 66.
How many people are projected to suffer in the long-term from low-level radiation exposure?
According to Our World in Data:
In its Health Risk Assessment of the nuclear disaster, the World Health Organization (WHO) note exposure levels too low to affect human health for the national population, with exception to a few communities in closest proximity. In these localities, it is those who were infants at the time of exposure who are at greatest risk of cancer—at the two closest sites, the incidence of cancer in this demographic is projected to be between 4-7 percent higher than baseline cancer rates for both males and females (with the exception of thyroid cancer in females, which is 70 percent higher). The WHO project the number of deaths from low-level exposure to be close to zero, and up to 400 in upper estimates.
In 2012, a screening program found that more than a third (36%) of children in Fukushima Prefecture have abnormal growths in their thyroid glands. As of August 2013, there were more than 40 children newly diagnosed with thyroid cancer and other cancers in Fukushima prefecture as a whole.
People in the area worst affected by the nuclear accident have a slightly higher risk of developing certain cancers such as leukemia, solid cancers, thyroid cancer, and breast cancer, according to a 2013 report.
In 2015, the number of thyroid cancers or detections of developing thyroid cancers numbered 137. Of that finding, lead researcher Toshihide Tsuda from Okayama University said, “This is more than expected and emerging faster than expected. This is 20 times to 50 times what would be normally expected.”
Another 2015 report revealed that cleanup crews trying to mitigate the never-ending radiation crisis at Fukushima ran into more problems after sensors monitoring a drainage gutter detected a huge spike in radiation levels from wastewater pouring into the Pacific Ocean.
More than a year after the accident, fish off Japan’s coast showed high cesium levels, causing the country to ban the sale of several species. Radioactive wild boars continued to reproduce and eat crops in the region – and they marauded Japanese towns and attacked people.
Last year, scientists in Norway revealed that despite authorities claiming that radioactive particles from the disaster would not be widespread, the radiation emitted from Fukushima really did have a global reach:
According to the group’s data, over 80 percent of the radiation that was released by the meltdown ended up in either the ocean or ice at the north and south poles. Of the remaining radiation, each human on the planet received roughly 0.1 millisievert, which equates to about “one extra X-ray each,” according to the team.
While that isn’t a lot of radiation and might not seem like a big deal, it actually IS concerning, because it tells us that the Fukushima disaster is still unfolding.
As Joshua Krause explained last year:
Earlier this year it was revealed that the level of radiation at the power plant was at its highest level since this crisis began in 2011, and the fuel rods have likely melted through their containment vessel. If this situation isn’t contained, then these fuel rods could melt into the groundwater, and spew radioactive particles into the ocean for years (or at least, more than what the power plant is already leaking into the ocean).
Krause concluded:
That’s why the discovery made by these Norwegian researchers should be taken seriously. We know for a fact that the radiation from Fukushima is capable of reaching everyone on our planet. So if the situation in Fukushima ever worsens, we know that there will be nowhere to run to. There will be no escaping the lethal emanations from that power plant.
A new report supports Krause’s conclusion.
Radioactive particles from the Fukushima disaster have been detected in – of all places – California wines.
Inspired by tests conducted in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, researchers at France’s National Center for Scientific Research, or CNRS, decided to test a series of California wines dating between 2009 and 2012. They looked for traces of radioactive particles, specifically cesium-137, a man-made isotope.
Smithsonian.com reported on the team’s findings:
Their findings, newly published in the pre-print online journal Arxiv, suggest that currents and atmospheric patterns carried radioactive particles across the Pacific, where they settled on grapevines growing in California’s wine regions. The team writes that bottles produced following the nuclear meltdown contain increased levels of cesium-137, with the cabernet revealing double the amount of pre-Fukushima radiation.
Cesium-137 is a radioactive by-product of the fission of uranium-235, and it leaves a long-lasting “nuclear signature.” In 2001, the French pharmacologist Philippe Hubert (who also conducted the new study) discovered that he could use this signature to date wines without opening the bottles.
MIT Technology Review explains the method:
It produces distinctive gamma rays in proportion to the amount of isotope present. Dating the wine is a simple process of matching the amount of cesium-137 to atmospheric records from the time the wine was made. That quickly reveals any fraud. Indeed, if there is no cesium-137, the wine must date from after 1980.
There is one blip in this record, though. The Chernobyl disaster in 1986 bathed much of Europe, and other parts of the world, in a radioactive cloud that increased atmospheric levels of cesium-137 again. Hubert and colleagues can see this blip in their data from wines.
That testing method didn’t work as well as expected. The study says cesium-137 activities “were either at the limit of detection or with a very high degree of uncertainty”, so the researchers decided to use another method – one that would increase the sensitivity.
The scientists opened the wine and reduced it to ash by evaporation. To do this, they heated the wine to 100 degrees Celsius for one hour and then increased the temperature to 500 degrees Celsius for eight hours. With this method, a standard 750-milliliter bottle of wine produces around four grams of ashes. The ashes were then placed in a gamma ray detector to look for signs of cesium-137.
Using this method, Hubert and his colleagues found measurable amounts of cesium-137 above background levels in the wine produced after 2011. “It seems there is an increase in activity in 2011 by a factor of two,” the team concluded.
Interestingly, the amount of cesium-137 was higher in red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon) compared to rosé, as it was in French wines tested after Chernobyl.
Study co-author Michael Pravikoff told The New York Times that “These levels are so low, way below the natural radioactivity that’s everywhere in the world.”
The Times reached out to the California Department of Public Health to inquire about the study. It that it had not previously heard of the study, but that there were no “health and safety concerns to California residents.”
“This report does not change that,” a department spokesman, Corey Egel, said in an emailed statement.
Meanwhile, on the East Coast of the United States, the possible health impacts of a new nuclear accident is causing concern.
On July 25, 2018, radioactive uranium leaked through the floor of the Westinghouse nuclear fuel plant in South Carolina. That facility also has a nearly 35-year history of groundwater pollution from the plant.
Here are more details, from SHTFplan.com:
The most conflicting part of the entire uranium leak is that officials with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control said they have no reason to believe the uranium has trickled off the site or that public water supplies are threatened. But, the agency also said it does not have the results of recent groundwater tests on the Westinghouse property either, meaning they actually don’t really know what the extent of contamination could be. Those test results will show whether pollution in the soil washed into the area’s shallow groundwater, which seeps into creeks in the Congaree River floodplain.
Much like the problems that are linked with Fukushima, we likely won’t know the extent of the damage this incident will do to human health until its too late. Elevated levels of uranium in the water supply can increase the risk of developing kidney damage, and long-term exposure can increase the risk of cancer.
There are actually a great deal of foods that can be used both preventively and to detoxify after the body has absorbed harmful radiation, as Jeremiah Johnson explains in 5 Foods that Help to Naturally Prevent Radiation Poisoning:
- Activated Charcoal – this is easy to obtain without any complications or side effects, and it is not particularly expensive. Approximately 10 g (grams) of activated charcoal will neutralize up to 7 g of toxic material, and yes, it does neutralize radiation.
- Organic Geranium – this holistic herb combats the free radicals that are released with the introduction of radiation and harm the cells. It is effective against Cesium-137 and Gamma Rays. The Japanese have found great success with the use of this herb for patients exposed to radiation from Fukushima, and their experiments yielded good effects with a dosage of 100 mg (milligrams) per day. You can read more about it here.
- Clay – binds to radioactive particles and prevents them from having further damaging effects to the human body. The clay “carries” the radiation from the human body when it is excreted in the urine and the stool. A good website that details the types and uses of these protective clays is found here: www.vitalityherbsandclay.com.
- Fruits high in pectin, such as apples – they bind to Cs-137 (mentioned in #2) and neutralize its effects.
- Calcium and Magnesium – in combination will lower Strontium-90 absorption by as much as 90%. The Orotate forms of it are preferred, as it will be more readily absorbable into the human skeletal system. When taken preventatively, they strengthen bone tissue and increase bone health. The Calcium can be taken by adults 800 – 1500 mg/day, and children need 800 mg per day. The Magnesium is taken 550 – 1100 mg per day. Note: Caution must be taken by those with heart conditions who are already on such medications as Calcium Channel Blockers, or those whose conditional maintenance depend on a balance of electrolytes and minerals that the addition of these two may affect.
Other foods that help detoxify the human body and are effective against radiation include seaweed, kelp, garlic, onions, wheatgrass, sauerkraut, ginger, horseradish, spirulina, chlorella, and kale.
(Sign up for our FREE newsletter to get the latest prepping advice, gardening secrets, homesteading tips and more delivered straight to your inbox!)
Additional Resources:
The Prepper’s Blueprint: The Step-By-Step Guide To Help You Through Any Disaster
Prepper’s Home Defense: Security Strategies to Protect Your Family by Any Means Necessary
The Survival Medicine Handbook: A Guide for When Help is Not on the Way
SAS Survival Handbook, Revised Edition: For Any Climate, in Any Situation
Tess Pennington is the author of The Prepper’s Blueprint, a comprehensive guide that uses real-life scenarios to help you prepare for any disaster. Because a crisis rarely stops with a triggering event the aftermath can spiral, having the capacity to cripple our normal ways of life. The well-rounded, multi-layered approach outlined in the Blueprint helps you make sense of a wide array of preparedness concepts through easily digestible action items and supply lists.
Tess is also the author of the highly rated Prepper’s Cookbook, which helps you to create a plan for stocking, organizing and maintaining a proper emergency food supply and includes over 300 recipes for nutritious, delicious, life-saving meals.
Visit her web site at ReadyNutrition.com for an extensive compilation of free information on preparedness, homesteading, and healthy living.
I get my wine from St. James winery in Missouri. No radiation there. Glass about once every two weeks for the heart.
Sgt.
I get my beer from Fat Daddyz!
I dont drink. problem solved.
I’ll drink to that. Bourbon barrel aged stouts for me.
A fortified wine typically has brandy in it (like port) to boost the ethanol content. A vintner can acquire spent bourbon barrels and store their finished wine in that and trace amounts of bourbon seeps into the wine creating a fortified wine.
Otherwise old timers would freeze wine and cast off the ice and make a stronger wine.
But, But OMG you don’t understand! Radioactive WILD BORES. Think of them running wild taking selfies, updating Facebook pages, sending tweets to everyone! It could be CHAOS!!
I don’t often drink wine, but when I do, I run it through a Big Berky. Trekker Out
Russian VODKA is pure. Putin makes sure of that. MRGA !!!
I’ve been trying to comment on this site for sometime now, with poor results, what does one do to establish a connection to do so ?
Can’t tell you. They let me on so they cannot be very picky.
just be civil(not required, obviously), and try to CONTRIBUTE something the rest of U.S. want to READ. it has worked for ME….obviously, there’s some blowhards on here, so who knows what the REAL requirements are…..but mac is usually very receptive to most anybody posting.
NEC_Wrangler, I don’t drink either. Problem solved. I wouldn’t have ANYTHING from Cali.
It’s not like we weren’t warned this was going to happen. Some have gone as far as to recommend you get the h*ll away from the west coast, which should be pretty easy for some folk, like all the white people leaving California. I predict wine production in places like Upstate New York to see a rebirth — at least until corporate capitalist messes things up, again.
But, but, it’s also in the food supply. Especially Pacific origin seafood.
My doctor says I should limit tuna consumption to only once or twice a week; especially tuna taken from the Pacific Ocean. Pregnant women are told to stay away from tuna. Gee. I wonder why. [sarcasm]
Here are the latest guidelines. Of course these come from the fishing industry. Liars make better authorities than those people who you would think we could trust — like professional politicians and the MSM. [unintentional sarcasm]
“Men can safely consume 14.5 ounces of light tuna per week, and women can consume 12.5 ounces per week — unless they are pregnant in which case it is best to avoid eating tuna. The American Pregnancy Association recommends limiting chunk light tuna consumption to no more than 36 ounces per month.”
That’s the equivalent of eating four 3-oz cans of Starkist Chunk Light Tuna per week. Even before the warnings on tuna came out, who ate 4 cans of tuna a week?
As soon as the first wave of Japanese trash arrived on the US west coast in 2014, I left Washington State. This was about the time when Geiger counter readings started indicating elevated levels of background radiation and salmon populations were collapsing.
Tuna tacos, my favorite.
The issue with pregnancy and tuna historically was MERCURY. And back in the seventies with driftnets, lots of sealife was caught and mixed in with tuna. But albacore tuna is supposed to be all tuna.
The best tacos in my opinion are fresh water fish tacos, but then I am landlocked from the sea. When I lived in other places near the sea, I ate ate seafood all the time as fresh catch, but seldom made fish tacos. I would rather eat it other ways.
If you like fresh fish and seafood and Mexican food, try a ceviche recipe as it is DELICIOUS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cAgmgckdas
There is a cooked method and an uncooked acid method. It’s up to you and based upon how fresh the fish is.
I don’t eat seafood from the Pacific Ocean. It would be much too expensive compared to local seafood here in NC.
If any of you ever go to Elizabeth City, NC, there are a couple of seafood places to try. The first is Quality Seafood in Elizabeth City. It’s a seafood market selling local seafood, plus it’s a restaurant.
The second is Frog Island Seafood in Barco. Here’s their website: ht tp://frogislandseafood.com/
Just days after the Fukushima radioactive release, radioactive particles matching their signature were found in air filters in the USA. For a long time radiation counts increased and coud be monitored online. In response, the USA government raised the acceptable amount of radioactive exposure by many magnitudes but did it quietly.
You have breathing it for a long time. It works it’s way into the soil, into seaweed, and gets successively more concentrated as plants grow and are consumed by insects and reptiles and fish and mammals and HUMANS. Then it fosters aberrant mutations that almost always are harmful which then fosters tumors which may be benign r cancerous.
It doesn’t matter if you drink wine or not. I would fully expect in a year to hear that Stontium 90 is being found in dairy milk in Calfornia. That happened in Europe after Chernobyl.
Yes, you can take some things to lessen absorbtion butnever totally eliminate it because it is everywhere and there are many kinds just being inhaled and left in the alveoli of your lungs.
Yes. There has been a huge die off of sealife and unusual sea creatures washing ashore. It is plausible that radioactive release is signifcantly altering the food chain in the ocean as well as on land.
It really depends on the manner of water and atmospheric flow and weather to then alter various populations of species.
When the great oil spill happened that was treated with Corexit and that affected sealife in a significant way as well.
Good article generally,but did find one discrepancy.
The referenced article for Organic Geranium was also quite good, but actually turned out to be about Germanium 132. One letter can make a big difference.
cesium-137…..the levels are rising. This is the beginning of a massive extinction event, unfolding before our eyes. Just a matter of time until cancers skyrocket thruout the world, and the ecosystems collapse. This was, is, and will be an apocalypse of biblical proportions. Most just don’t know it, YET.!!!!!
I don’t drink either and maybe 6 beers consumed total in my younger days, Don’t eat seafood at all especially since Fukushima. Can’t imagine eating what passes for a fish sandwich at any fast food joint. I believe the contamination from Fukushima and all nuclear power sources is heavily downplayed, in other words a much bigger threat to all life covered up by the usual liars. The rad counts falling are heavy across the US. If nuclear power is not outright insanity I struggle to name a larger threat to humanity. Like all of the first responders to the 9-11 event dying of exposure, kept out of the news.
“I struggle to name a larger threat to humanity”
A far larger threat to humanity than nuclear power is stupidity.
Boycott everything from the republic of Kalifonica
Water into wine:
it’s Christ’s first miracle.
According to Jordan Maxwell, (who teaches that bible stories are merely metaphors), describes this miracle as a metaphor.
Thus rainwater, which by reason of the grapevine receiving it, along with the Sun (Sunlight) photosynthesis(Son/Christ Jesus) grows into a grape which becomes wine.
Thus water becomes wine.
_
_
In 1st Century Phonecia-Israel-Palestine-Judah (whatever that place is called), the custom of “Turning the Water into Wine” was a standard procedure at all weddings.
Until the Groom showed up, as in the modern “reception”, the guests were only served Water. BUT, when the Groom showed up (as in this case Joshua ben Joseph..AKA. Jesus Christo), the Water is taken away and the Wine is brought out.
So, when Christ arrived at his wedding, to marry Mary Magdelena, (his “favorite” and the mother of his 3 children), Water was “turned” into Wine.
This was done to mark the Change, and to let the guests now it’s “1st Century Miller Time”. In this part of the world, “It’s Wedding Time Somewhere”, which was a hit song by Alahn bin Jackson.
I haven’t eaten strawberries, fish, fruit, or anything coming
from the west. Rarely drink wine or other beverages
made with water or foods grown there. Eating was
more fun in the 50’s-70’s.
Lately it is hard to find good nourishing clean food that
doesn’t come from some
h£llhole factory farm that has a destructive agenda.
That includes this country, as well.
The Japanese sure have a wonderful way of naming things:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/10379946/Fukushima-Industries-unveils-its-new-mascot-Fukuppy.html
Native Californians are under siege in an occupied state. It’s easy to sit in Podunk, Arkansas and make fun of something you know nothing about period.
On the grand scheme of things, The last thing I worry about is such small amounts of radiation that it is only of an academic interest.
I drink a bottle of WA state wine every year during the holidays I eat Crab from the west coast, Lobsters from the east coast, clams from God’s knows where, Tuna (Ahi) local caught and canned tuna from Samoa, also a mix of wild and farmed Salmon, and I love farmed shrimp from south America or India( I won’t buy Thai farmed shrimp).
I eat a lot of seafood. I don’t have any signs of cancer, nor can I set off a “geiger” counter.
I have better odds of a drunk driver killing me, dying in an airplane crash, being killed by a failing tree on my property, or being shot by a cop than I do getting cancer from seafood.
At my age I’ll continue to eat lots of Pacific seafood and not worry about it. As an offset I eat is Organic beef. Quality of life not quantity.
Thanks for the tip. Nobody gets out of this life alive
Lol ?. I am not afraid of dying…..just afraid of
dying piece by piece LOL.
Good to know you have faith in food being good in
your area. It changes week by week!!
I’m really hungry for some clean seafood!!! ?
U.S. Customs and Immigration carry around Geiger counters. They are about the size of an iPhone. When they go off they sound like a pager, but their volume goes up or down depending upon how close the source of the radiation is.
I use to work in the international trades and would go onsite to inspect incoming foreign cargo with local authorities.
I was with a US Customs officer when his Geiger counter went off. Loud little sucker. Scared the crap out of everyone in the room that knew what the sound meant. A couple of people fled the area.
Turned out to be guy being treated for prostrate cancer with radiation. They insert the irradiated wafers surgically as implants.
It was like we had all seen a ghost.
maybe we can sell the wine to japan
THE SKY IS FALLING!!! THE SKY IS FALLING!!! OMYFUCKINGGOD THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!
Guess what…..eat bananas? You ingest RADIOACTIVE isotopes, specifically Potassium 40. Eat peaches from the western slope of the Rocky’s? You ingest isotopes of uranium. Eat apples from Washington….yep…you guessed it…you ingest radioactive isotopes. Eat sushi? ONCE AGAIN…. Radioactive isotopes have been a part of mans diets since we speared mammoths. The ONLY thing different is the addition of a couple of new ones such as Cesium….but that’s been around to be ingested since all the nuke tests in the Pacific in the 50’s. SO THIS IS NOTHING NEW.
I see a silver lining! Yes ban the export of wine and any food product from Calif. Make them consume their radioactive stuff in state. One way to cull the population in that liberal stronghold bankrupt insolvent state. They can feed it to the homeless and illegals in sactuary city’s. Then Old Moonbeam Brown can really glow in the dark!
Now we know why so many winos in California have been growing a third nipple.
Wine would have been chosen simply because it is an item that we like to age and will have some on hand. It is a time capsule of our food stuffs.
Since California produces much of the US produce, then that means we were all exposed to many times that level by simply eating Californian fruits, nuts n veggies.
The fact of not drinking any wine hasn’t protected a US citizen in the slightest.
The accumulative effects should be showing up by now? Hospitals will start filling up with the most exposed street people, surfers, outdoor workers, They are probably making an effort to evenly distribute the produce throughout the country , So certain areas don’t get a disproportional Dose?
I read that Melbourne Florida , was one of the hardest hit areas? Apparently if it just happened to be raining when one of the big clouds of radiation came over. You got nailed. Small areas could be highly contaminated. A cloudburst.Ashort rain were the water soaked in and didn’t run off.? Some buildings could be red hot? Farm fields.
give it to waters
Sort of explains the increasing lunacy coming from California doesn’t it. As though, wine is the only commodity requiring vast amounts of water. Fully explains Gov.Jerry Brown.
It has taken a few years, but finally the isotopes are making their way into the aquifers and potable water sources.
“The team writes that bottles produced following the nuclear meltdown contain increased levels of cesium-137, with the cabernet revealing double the amount of pre-Fukushima radiation.
Cesium-137 is a radioactive by-product of the fission of uranium-235, and it leaves a long-lasting “nuclear signature.”
Pre-Fukushima, where did the other half of the radiation or radio-isotopes come from.
You can exclude unwanted, hypey buzzwords from your search engine results, to arrive at an independent answer.
I love the wine and every Sunday i enjoy the wine with our friends. I like the apple wine in red color. My best wine brand name is the red bullet (California USA) company. The GSM blend from Yangarra Estate winery clearly identifies Ruth Grenache Wallace and her three goals.
etched glass decanter