Sushi Safe From Japan Radiation as Ocean Makes Risk Negligible

[Godhumor]

Source: Bloomberg

The health risks of eating ocean fish caught near Japan are low because seawater is diluting the radiation from the damaged Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, said Robert Peter Gale, who coordinated medical relief efforts following the nuclear accident at Chernobyl.

“Eating fish is not something to worry about,” said Gale, a visiting hematology professor at Imperial College London who was in Japan this week to speak to doctors responding to radiation threats. “No one could afford to consume enough sushi to get radiation damage.”

The observations by Gale, who in 1999 was asked by the Japanese government to help treat victims of the nuclear accident in Tokaimura, may help allay concerns that have prompted Taiwan, Singapore, the U.S. and Australia to restrict some imports of Japanese fish.

...

Contamination of seawater found near the 40-year-old plant has increased. Radioactive iodine rose to 4,385 times the regulated safety limit on March 30 from 2,572 times the previous day, Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said yesterday. No fishing is occurring nearby and the sea is dispersing the iodine so there is no health threat, he said.

Read more: http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=a0l8V7Fy1GFQ

---

Article then goes on to quote WHO as pretty much saying, "Yeah, we're going to err on the side of caution, thank you very much."

[No Elephants]

1. Mmm. Radioactive sushi and slick Gulf seafood

[Junkdrawer]

2. We'll all get to see how bio-accumulation works in this "experiment"...

...

The potential for maritime contamination occurs once airborne radioactive particles fall on the water and enter the maritime ecosystem. This happens when elements including iodine-131 and cesium-137 are absorbed by microscopic organisms such as phytoplanktons and zooplanktons, said Qian Pei-yuan, a professor of marine biology at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

“Any particle in the water falls into their feeding appendages or apparatus,” Qian said. “If other small fish eat them, then they will go through the food chain.”

Larger fish which live longer and survive by eating smaller fish have a higher chance of being contaminated. Sharks, porpoises and whales are particularly at risk, he said.

“The level of contamination of fish tissues depends on the level of contamination consumed and the exposure time of fish and how much they accumulate or expel contaminants,” Qian said.

...



We're in uncharted waters here....

[Rage for Order]

3. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:rofl:

You folks go right ahead. If I want fish I'll stick with Mississippi farm-raised catfish for the time being, thank you very much.

[Godhumor]

4. Like I said, I loved that a very skeptical WHO was quoted in the same article

It is eyebrow raising, for sure.

[walerosco]

5. I wonder

if 7 yrs later they will retract that statement. Just like the EPA declaration that the air outside ground zero was safe to breath. Just do not trust this finding, my intuition wouldn't let me

[Mnemosyne]

18. I don't believe the EPA ever did retract their declaration re: ground zero air, did they?

Welcome to DU, walerosco! Mind-boggling isn't it, the crap they try to 'feed' us?

[Zoeisright]

6. That was the same philosophy that made people site landfills by rivers and streams.

The erroneous thought that the water would "dilute" the pollution.

WRONG.

[L0oniX]

7. Trade ya for some Gulf of Mexico sea food.

[RC]

9. I'll take some Pacific caught fish over anything from the Gulf any time.

[NV Whino]

8. Is everyone bookmarking this for future reference?

:rofl:

[liberal N proud]

10. The propaganda they are feeding the people is as radioactive

as everything else.

Lie to the people until it is too late for them to do anything about it.

[Mnemosyne]

19. You got it exactly, lib. "Until it is too late"... n/t

[nc4bo]

11. Dang. All the really good pointy comments have already been stated.

Today's Special: Glow fish and oil-tossed shrimp salad?

[Mnemosyne]

20. Happens to me all the time, always too late... Good one though, "glow fish"! n/t

[Marblehead]

12. This is good for some

http://www.takepart.com/news/2009/06/04/mitsubishi-hoards-frozen-bluefin-tuna-as-fishing-stock-declines/

[davidthegnome]

13. Well, I'm convinced!

No.. not really. This strikes me as similar to our dear Ann telling us radiation is good for you. Uh huh. I don't buy it.

Do people really think we're stupid? Radioactive iodine is good for you! Nah, it won't hurt or contaminate those fish! But if it does... we can't be held responsible for what we had to say, you know, because we're only saying what we were paid to say... I mean told to say, I mean, we're experts, you can trust us.

Right, the sea will disperse it. Repeat after me: There is no health risk here. There is no health risk here. There is no health risk here.

[Godhumor]

14. Oh yeah, it is a great article. Was actually hoping Bloomberg was playing a very subtle April Fool's

joke.

Still love the WHO response.

[Ticonderoga]

15. None

Atomic Sushi Yum Yum

[Mnemosyne]

16. April Fools! Oh wait, no? Seriously?

:rofl::cry::rofl::cry::rofl::cry::rofl::cry::rofl::cry::rofl::cry::cry::cry:

It will get much deeper than that before they are done. Would they actually have the cajones to try to convince us it makes us healthier? It would not surprise me in the least if they did. :puke:

Thanks for the 'laugh', Godhumor!

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. Seawater dilutes radiation?

Is this a joke? Like there's no more oil in the Gulf?

[thelordofhell]

21. Maybe all that Mercury in fish kills radiation

:nuke:

[They_Live]

24. Yeah, that's the ticket

mercury is all shiny, see, so the radiation just bounces off. Sure.

[Journeyman]

22. Let's all chant in unison: "The solution to pollution is dilution" . . .

say it loud enough, say it long enough, say it with enough conviction . . . it may not prove true but it will soothe the easily mollified . . .

Like Rudyard Kipling's Bandar-log monkey tribe, let us gather together and loudly chant, "We all say so, so it must be true!"

[suffragette]

23. How does seawater dilute radiation inside the fish?

[Hugabear]

25. Ann Coulter sez that radiation is good for us

So nothing to worry about

[skoalyman]

26. wonder if it last longer then glow sticks

:shrug:

[ClarkUSA]

27. Don't forget the many seaweed farms that dot the coast whose products become sushi/sashimi wrappings

Wouldn't plant matter growing in such levels of radioactivity tend to concentrate radiation in its cell matter as it grows?