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Fukushima Radiation: Is It Still Safe To Eat Fish?

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fukushima seafood, fukushima radiation fish
In light of the Fukushima disaster, the safety of fish has been called into question.

I received several questions about whether my recommendations for fish consumption (one pound of cold-water, fatty fish per week) had changed since the Fukushima disaster. You may have seen reports in the media about the discovery of radioactive isotopes (cesium-134 and cesium-137) in Pacific bluefin tuna that migrated from Japan to California waters. (1) This was covered by more than a thousand newspapers worldwide and several thousand internet, television and radio outlets.

Unfortunately, despite statements by the authors of the original research and other authorities to the contrary, these media reports led to widespread belief that fish on the Pacific coast of the U.S. now contain harmful levels of radioactive chemicals. Several people have told me that they’re no longer eating seafood themselves or serving it to their children because of this information.

While it’s natural and appropriate to be concerned about radiation, in this case the concern is unfounded. A recent peer-reviewed study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences evaluated the health risks of consuming Pacific bluefin tuna after the Fukushima event and found the following: (2)

  • A typical restaurant-sized portion of Pacific bluefin tuna (200 grams, or 7 ounces) contains about 5% of the radiation you would get from eating one uncontaminated banana and absorbing it’s naturally occurring radiation. All foods on the planet contain radiation. Like every other toxin, it’s the dose of radiation (rather than its simple presence) that determines whether it’s toxic to humans.
  • Levels of naturally occurring radioactive isotopes (polonium-210 and potassium-40) in bluefin tuna are greater by orders of magnitude than levels of radioactive isotopes from Fukushima contamination (cesium-134 and cesium-137). In fact, levels of polonium-210 were 600 times higher than cesium. This suggests that the additional radiation (in the form of cesium) from Fukushima is insignificant from a health perspective.
  • Even at very high intakes (3/4 of a pound of contaminated bluefin tuna a day) for an entire year, you’d still receive only 12% of the dose of radiation you’re exposed to during one cross-country flight from LA to New York.
  • Assuming the very high levels of fish consumption above, the excess relative risk of fatal cancer would be only 2 additional cases per 10 million similarly exposed people. And there’s reason to believe that number is no more than chance. Statistically significant elevations in cancer risk are only observed at doses of radiation that are 25,000 times higher than what you’d be exposed to by eating 3/4 of a pound of bluefin tuna per day.
  • Some bottom-feeding fish right off the coast of Japan contain much higher levels of radiation (i.e. >250 times more cesium) than those found in Pacific bluefin tuna. Even if you consumed 1/3 of a pound per day of this highly contaminated fish, you’d still be below the international dose limit for radiation exposure from food.

Finally, according to Dr. Robert Emery at at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston says you’d need to eat 2.5 to 4 tons of tuna in a year to get a dose of cesium-137 that exceeds health limits. (3) That’s 14 to 22 pounds of tuna a day.

To date, I haven’t seen any credible evidence suggesting that there’s even a minuscule risk from eating fish caught in the Pacific ocean. If you read an article on the internet or elsewhere claiming that Fukushima radiation in seafood is causing problems, check to see if it includes references to studies published in peer-reviewed journals by independent researchers. If it doesn’t, I’d advise a healthy dose of skepticism.

My recommendations for seafood consumption haven’t changed. If there’s any risk you should be concerned about when it comes to fish, it’s the risk of not eating enough!

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507 Comments

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  1. Nuclear is a lie out of the gate. Man made radiation is 20,000 times more dangerous than naturally occurring radiation.

    • I don’t think anyone disagrees that refined radioactive elements have a higher radiation intensity than dispersed ore since thats literally point of refining it. I have the general sense that you don’t understand radiation and rather than educate yourself or others you just make sweeping claims supported by out of context information or none at all.

  2. I spoke with Daniel Hirsch from the University of California who is very knowledgeable on the subject and he shared his knowledge with me so I figured I would share with all of you. I shared my concerns with him about eating pacific fish (mainly tuna)and he stated that there is a low risk because there is always a risk with radiation. However, the risk is proportional to the dose meaning if you are exposed to a tiny amount of radiation you have a tiny risk of getting cancer. He said overall in the US or chances of getting cancer from eating pacific fish are very low, over a large population there might be some who get sick but the majority wouldn’t. This is the guy who is very credible. So for everyone who is saying that eating Pacific fish is an automatic death sentence that is an exaggeration. There is a small risk but it will not result in cancer for every person. I think that everyone should educate themselves on the topic and decide if it is worth a small risk to continue consuming the fish, but I don’t agree with instilling fear in people and assuring them that they will die from the the fish they have ingested. The stress from fear and anxiety isn’t good for your health either.

    • our best and brightest are brainwashed, indoctrinated by university education lies. It is actually a crime.

  3. Thank you to all the commenters on here that have put so much fear in me that you guys alone have probably taking a couple years off my life! It’s interesting to me to see that most of the commenters are so sure that the fish from the Pacific when ingested will cause cancer, Im guessing many of you have a scientific background? You see the thing is I’ve been feeding tuna to my family because I had no idea what was going on. Im a parent of three toddler girls and the thought of something happening to them is horrific so I would like to think that there is a chance that they might be OK. As I was scared to death and researching this topic I found a website called myradioactiveocean.org where the Center for Marine and environmental radioactivity has and continues to test the water in the pacific to determine what parts of the Pacific ocean contain radionuclides. It seems like a great website to visit if you are concerned as it shows the location of Fukishima radiation and the year that it was located in that spot. For example in 2011 it showed the radiation originating at Fukishima and then how it moved east first over to British Columbia and Canada and then slowly down to the West Coast here recently. They are stating that although the radiation has been detected in fish that it is so low that it will not cause harm to our health. As skeptical as I know a lot of you are I would really like to believe that is true for my families sake.

      • Hey Stock, thank you for sharing that info with me but honestly I don’t want to look into the issue any more. I think it’s good to be informed but not to obsess. Life is beautiful and is too short to worry about things that I have no control over. You see I’m a Christian and sometimes I have to remind myself of Matthew 6:34
        “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

        Take care.

      • So stock what do you consider a credible source of information? Additionally why do you believe the website is not credible? Do you think that professionals in the fields of nuclear science, materials science and physics are getting paid huge some of money?

        • not credible, because it is a total pimp job to promote the radiation industry and downplay damages and risks. They pretend that all radiation is “created equal”, whereas manmade radiation is 30 to 30000 times more dangerous than naturally occurring radiation.

          They test the WATER, but they refuse to release the results from bio-accumulation of Krill. You want facts….I expose them here

          https://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/search?q=krill

          • The first article you cited explains there is no risk but the data is useful for modeling future possible scenarios. Additionally how would you indoctrinate scientists in something so easily exposed? I don’t understand what your comment means. Are you claiming that everyone working in the field is somehow lying or unable to properly measure? Also radiation is not equal but dose is the same scale regardless of source material as are most bulk radiation measurements used for this kind of thing since its much more relevant than photon counting.

    • Interesting to read your comment. I came to this article because I have been feeding Tuna fish to my cats everyday since ( and before) Fukushima blew a fuse. I called the fisheries that can the specific Tuna I purchase and asked them where their fish comes from. Western Pacific, (coast off Japan). Is it tested? No. Why not? They don’t see the need. What, to protect their customers or risk their pockets.
      Sadly I did NOT heed my gut feeling and we just buried one of our two cats who died from Stomach tumours. 🙁 Now my other cat vomits every time I feed him Tuna! No more Tuna in this house.

      • Sorry to hear about your cat. Very sad. No animal or human should be eating fish from the Pacific. 300 tons of highly radioactive groundwater has been spilling into the ocean everyday for the past 6 years and they’re still unable to stop it. And remember this is ionizing radiation … so once it gets in your body from eating or breathing it in each radioactive atom you take in ionizes (destroys) the cells all around it in your body for the rest of your lifetime .. effectively causing cancer.

    • Better get off the Pacific caught seafood ASAP! The net is loaded with these nuclear industry shills and their sites, along with all the government paid stooges (“scientists” that work either for the nuclear industry or the governments in one way or another) trying to downplay the issue. The truth is that cesium and strontium (the worst radioactive elements that were released, but not the only ones) were released into the Pacific Ocean in the greatest amounts EVER measured and it is also the truth that NO amount of manmade radioactive material is safe for human consumption! But go ahead and ignore the obvious and listen to those that have an agenda for the downplay!

      • Again why don’t any of you cite any credible sources? You make serious claims and I can tell from the context in which terms are used that there is very little understanding happening in this thread.

        • You go ahead and eat the Pacific seafood. No skin off my knees! I am just saying that something “fishy” is afoot, pun intended. Suspicion is normal for an intelligent person, since the FDA has suspended and absolutely refuses to officially test ANY Pacific seafoods since shortly AFTER the Fukushima meltdown. Plus they have officially raised the “acceptable and safe” levels of radioactive contamination! The Japanese government is actively persecuting and charging it’s citizens with crimes that are trying to resist their cover-up and expose the disaster! These are facts and can be easily verified, just look them up. Transparency, or the lack thereof, is quite revealing. Better safe than sorry!

          • You go from stating that suspicion is a mark of intelligence, to making bold accusations with no substantiation. If you claim to know it’s no longer suspicion. Additionally, for all the things you claim, why can’t you simply post a few links here showing where your information comes from? It should be fairly simple given the number of them. I don’t see how you could think this wouldn’t make a more compelling argument.

            • Hello Nate,

              I’m late to the party, but I just wanted to thank you for your calm, well thought out replies to these posts. Whether or not they’re accurate, their paranoid tone gets my blood boiling, and I have a hard time responding to them without lowering my tone to a similar level. It was inspiring to read your level-headed responses.

  4. Has anyone heard of myradioactiveocean.org? From what I’ve researched about it it seems very credible. It’s a team of people that tests the water for radionuclides and post the results. I would love to know all of your input on this website as I too am concerned about eating fish from the pacific.

    • Millie, Our Radioactive Ocean is funded by the nuclear industry as well as Government.

      It looks good, but it is perpetuating lies.

  5. I’m just afraid because the ocean has trash in it. I wanna do something about it, but I don’t have enough money to pay for this machine to pick up all the trash and then make this robot that can’t melt by the heat of the sun and bring it up to space carrying that huge wad of trash and then have it be thrown into the big ball of fiery plasma and make sure the robot didn’t just throw it back onto earth again

  6. Hi Chris … what you need to realise is that, per equal dose, there is huge difference between ionising radiation (such as nuclear) and non-ionising radiation as is found in your banana example. Ionising radiation has a MUCH more severe effect on cells than non-ionising radiation does. If Fukushima radiation is ingested, such as from eating affected fish, that radiation will remain in your body forever, frying the cells all around it .. causing .. you guessed it … cancer.

    • My sentiments exactly. There are quite a few articles by Chris that are well-researched and argued, but this is not one of them. That he failed to distinguish non-ionizing from ionizing radiation is the most basic of blunders.

  7. Nukes were nuts from the very beginning as admitted by the likes of Einstein and Oppenheimer, who had grave misgivings from the first splitting of atoms. Of course, the general leslie groves military mentality took it over from the scientists as soon as ‘the baby’ was born and the rest is history, and i do mean history. The only possibitity for redemption is the enlightenment of a majority of humans so as to boot out the current, war mongering, powers that be and, since that is not ever going to happen anytime sooner or later, i may as well give up on the project and allow the humans to go where they must. Kind of reminds me of hitlers’ ‘scorched earth’ policy.
    but do we learn from history? of course not!

    It may be remembered that the humans were more than willing to sacrifice the Earth and their future for a paltry monetization of our very reason for being.
    The humans thought that power and money were worth more than life itself and so here we are, poised on the brink of self induced extinction. A spiritual malaise, to be sure.

    • You are absolutely right – and the ‘spiritual malaise’ runs to the selling of the Banksters, Corporations and puppet ‘Politicians’ who carry out the orders of the Elite (not that the Luciferian scumbags have any right to be called the ‘Elite’, but it gets the point across.
      Huge areas of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Serbia (and probably Libya too; the PTB deny it was used, but I wouldn’t believe a word they say: after all, what is a lie to these War Criminals? And the Senate and Congress selling us out to Monsanto and other poisonous Corporations with the ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ (DARK Act) as well as TTIP and TPP, (As well as NAFTA & Canada’s CETA, though the US Senators and Congressmen are not to blame for the latter).
      But radioactive fish from the Fukushima meltdown? If anyone thinks that’s bad, wait until the US and it’s NATO lapdogs foment a war with Russia and/or China; dust off ‘Dr. Strangelove’ (1964) and ‘Duck and Cover’ (even earlier).
      Portuguese sardines are probably pretty safe, for now, but anything from the Pacific, or the Gulf (oil and Corexit) I would stay well clear of (be nice to see the PTB stuffing themselves with it, but you can bet your bottom dollar they eat Organic, and radioactive / oil / Corexit free!).

    • Radioactive levels have nothing to do with the contaminated Pacific seafood. When any of the Pacific seafood is X-rayed, radioactive hot spots show up. Just one of these hot spot can cause terminal cancer and death.
      The reason no government is testing the Pacific Ocean, I because the nuclear energy is needed by the United States for its arsenals. Tons of spent plutonium was bombed all over Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of birth defects, have resulted. Fetuses and infants are getting sick. West Coast citizens have been breathing in 5-10 hot nuclear particles, everyday, since the Fukushima tragedy. Nuclear scientists have said that it will take over a hundred years to stop the nuclear waste water from leaking into the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, the two massive Pacific Ocean currents collide off the coast of Fukushima and all Pacific sea life spawn there. This causes the massive accumulation of radioactive waste buildup in their flesh and bones. When pseudo scientists, whether schooled or not, publish false information about the severity and the loss of the Pacific Ocean, they are giving the go ahead to consume a very deadly food, especially to pregnant mothers.

      • Giovanni, what are your sources for this information? Namely, the claims that:
        – X-rays reveal radioactive seafood
        – People on the West Coast are breathing in 5-10 hot particles daily
        – Iraq and Afghanistan were bombed with spent plutonium

        Again, I share concerns about Pacific seafood, but I want to see sources for these claims.

        • Hello Seth,
          I have been a medical science student for many years and have been reading everything, about the effects of the Fukushima tragedy. There is a conspiracy going on, since the Fukushima meltdowns. Most of the news media is sponsored by the nuclear energy companies and the U.S. Government is complicate in this, as well.
          Fortunately, there are well educated crusaders out there. Dr. Helen Caldecott is on top of that list and has dedicated her life to getting the message out.
          What the nuclear energy industry is doing, is criminal and the CEO’s should be prosecuted, to the maximum. Nuclear waste will be responsible for the deaths of millions of humans and wildlife.
          Here is a video lecture:
          http://youtu.be/8hTuqy6RpFQ

        • CNN’s response to the Fukushima tragedy, was to air Pandora’s Promise, a nuclear energy info-commercial. It aired 24/7, to pacify the public.
          The news media is no longer fair and unbiased.
          http://youtu.be/kBMj-96hols

        • I think he means depleted uranium. Depleted uranium shells are commonly used due to their high density and flammable nature. Additionally an x-ray would detect radioactivity but this is only because they detector. Common x-ray detectors are usually a scintillator such as cesium iodide or gadolinium oxysulfide coupled directly to a PIN diode or cmos array. As radiation hits the scintillator, it converts the radiation into visible light that can then be read out by the PIN diode or cmos. If a material were already radioactive the scintillator will also convert that into light increasing the exposure locally.

      • it’s not only the desire for nuclear power that perpetuates the lie, it’s the billion dollar fishing industry that is at risk, if the truth were told.

  8. I was expecting Chris Kessler to say everything is fine. I wasn’t disappointed. The fact that the FDA has decided to STOP monitoring fish stocks for radioactive contamination screams ‘cover up’.

    Some in the medical profession have cited Fukoshima as the cause of a recent spike in thyroid defects in the Western United States.

    The physical Japanese Tsunami debris is on tour, passing the United States. Yet the fish is safe. (But it won’t be tested, just to make sure.)

    Everything is fine!

  9. 10,000 Dead Baby Sea Lions in California: Experts: “It’s getting crazy… This is a crisis… Never seen anything like it… Is Fukushima Worth it?
    http://investmentwatchblog.com/10000-dead-baby-sea-lions-in-california-experts-its-getting-crazy-this-is-a-crisis-never-seen-anything-like-it-is-fukushima-worth-it/
    Of course, maybe it isn’t caused by Fukushima radiation; but wouldn’t you expect, if the government really gave a d*mn about the environment and human and animal life, they would fast-track an all-out, multi-faceted task force TO FIND OUT? Perhaps instead of shipping $70,000 a time Humvees to Ukraine, having first stirred the whole mess up with their backing of Fascist thugs?

  10. I am very disappointed in this article. Please do your research Chris. This is irresponsible and disappointing. I expected more from you.

    • I had previously left a comment stating my disappointment in the article. It came from fear. It occurred to me that it had a condemnation tone to it which doesn’t represent my true feelings. I realized that there has to be an opposing view to make it into such a hot topic and through this medium hopefully we can all learn a lot and get to the truth. My point is that I realized that I feel very grateful to you Chris for all that you do and share. Chris, I know that your intent comes from a pure place of help and that you have taught me so much in other areas of health and wellness. So I just wanted to follow up and say thank you for taking the time to share your opinion and also keeping it real by posting comments that agree and disagree with you. Keep pulling the curtain back and the truth will be revealed!

  11. Sorry Chris I cannot agree. You need to do more research before posting advice on the safety of Pacific fish. “Let’s take back your health” is your byline? As environmental writer I have done months of research and absorbed hours of talks and interviews with such credible sources as nuclear engineers, medical doctors, several world-class radiation and other scientists. How do I determine credibility? I look at the denialists and at the alarmists. I look for rational arguments and a compassionate, caring approach to humanity. “Where does the Truth lie?” I ask. For sadly the truth lies and the cover-up by governments and the multi-trillion $ nuclear industry, is beyond belief. Profiteering has killed any sense of ethics and those who survive will do so through heightened awareness. Fukushima pollution continues to spill into the Pacific even as I write this, but the cover-up continues. When did you last hear anything about this global disaster on mainstream media?
    Here are some facts in reply to your comments that’s it’s safe to eat fish from the Pacific:
    1) Look at the radiation map for the USA as posted by the Nuclear Emergency Tracking Centre and notice the elevated levels down the West coast of the USA.
    2) Find out why China, South Korea have cancelled the multi-million dollar importation of fish and shellfish from the USA. If you look for the official reason, you will discover “too much bio-toxicity in the fish” (China).
    3) Film crews from Independent (not mainstream) Television have taken their cameras onto the beaches of Malibu California and their Geiger counters can be heard to increase the counts per minute as they place it next to a dead fish.
    4) Fish have been washed up on the USA West Coast, bleeding through their scales. The USA authorities (EPA etc) say it is a “virus in the fish”. Go figure!
    5) Photos of a two-headed whale have been revealed on the Internet. Deformities of such fish are being increasingly reported. (Google the 18 000 deformed children in Japan)
    6) The natural radioactivity contained by brazil nuts and bananas is miniscule, natural and healthy. It’s called hormesis. I’ve calculated that one would need 20 tons of bananas to equal the radioactivity of one fish from Fukushima waters. This is pure disinformation and malicious when people are dying.
    7) The Japanese fishing industry on the East coast has been halted and the government is paying the fishermen not to fish due to the toxicity (radioactivity) of the fish.
    I could go on and say much more about airborne pollution but enough said.
    Please do more balanced and in-depth research before downplaying this horrific Fukushima disaster which continues to pollute the Pacific ocean to the tune of nearly 400 tons per day.

    • Thank you for having a better understanding of this topic than the author of this article. The article’s information came from The Nation academy of science. Their headquarters is located in Washington DC. Do I need to spell it out for them, they are involved with trying to cover this up from us and I guess they’re doing a good job for those who think fish from the pacific is safe to consume. The matter of this situation is VERY serious and needs to be treated as such, I mean come on people our ocean is dying in front of our eyes. Everything is out of whack. It’s so out of hand that bears who eat salmon are dying left and right and that’s just scratching the surface. The other day the entire west coast shut down fishing for sardines because they are almost gone which has already affected sea lion pups due to lack of food source, this will have a huge negative impact on the rest of the food chain. And if you want to eat that fish go right ahead because you may just be doing the rest of us a favor. Continuous low doses of ionizing radiation WILL cause chronic radiation syndrome over a matter of months to years depending on intake. And on top of it we don’t even know how to stop the constant dumping of radioactive waste in the ocean. Good game humanity.

      • I am skeptical of the information in posts from both of you, especially as it relates to Fukushima being the cause of certain phenomena.

        There’s no doubt that the plant was and continues to be a serious environmental disaster, but without harder evidence for your points they become more fuel for flames of irrational panic.

  12. ‘Fukushima’s 4th Anniversary Brings Hope Amidst Radioactive Ruins as Renewable Energy Revolution Soars’:
    http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/11/fukushimas-anniversary-renewable-energy-soars/?
    ‘…The State Secrets Act of Japan’s authoritarian Abe regime renders unreliable all “official” information from Fukushima. Grassroots nuclear campaigners are under serious attack.
    At least 300 tons of radioactive water still pour daily into the Pacific Ocean. The utility wants to dump even more untreated outflow into currents that are already testing radioactive along the California coast. Details of fuel rod bring-downs and site clean-ups remain unknown.
    Thyroid damage rates are soaring among downwind children. Abe is forcing evacuees back into areas that are seriously contaminated. Fukushima’s owner (Tepco) is the #1 money funnel to his Liberal Democratic Party, which flips untold billions back to the utility.
    More than 128,000 petitioners asking that the world community take charge at Fukushima have been ignored by the United Nations since November, 2013….’
    Yep, Abe, that’s the way to treat your citizens, like serfs; send ’em back to contaminated areas, harass protesters, put draconian ‘State Secrets’ block on divulging information; get super-rich from Tepco kickbacks. All’s well in the Land of the Rising Sun; nought to see here, folks – move on!

    • I trust that anyone concerned about radiation in food has stopped eating brazil nuts, drinking coffee or eating bananas. The absurd fear people have for radiation concerns me, especially as these same ‘rational people’ happily drive vehicles which kill thousands over theorld each year. Gravitation is far more deadly than radiation.

      • Radiation particulate can lodge in the human body and cause cancers whereas radiation that is innate is not. Big difference. One can be eliminated easily, the other cannot.

      • It is sure a big coincidence that we have the largest industrial accident ever on the planet, Fukushima, which is reacted to in a keystone cop manner, along with coverups by at least 2 purchased government, and then we have hundreds of massive dieoffs including some official NOAA UME’s unusual mortality events.

        As an engineer who is also VERY familiar with the ocean and it’s lifeforms, ignoring this amazing coincidence is incredibly irresponsible. They are spending $180 Million a year to verify Iran compliance on nuclear weapons, but “they” can’t up with $600 for a Gamma Scint Radiation scan on fish and imported sea food, so that effort has to be “crowd funded”. How ridiculous is that?

        The Pacific is dying, and we ought to be spending hundreds of millions for figure out what we can do to mitigate the damages, and we ought to be spending $200B to fix Fukushima’s ongoing releases.

        Shame Shame on the sociopaths who act as if their political agenda is more important than these very serious problems that we face.

        Kelly Ann Thomas compiled a list of headlines from 2011 that show the progression of damage to the Pacific. The list is 61 pages long, please scan it here:

        http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/2015/09/61-pages-of-stories-of-death-of-pacific.html

      • Potassium, the item in the foods you cite, is naturally and tightly regulated in the human body. A small percentage is radioactive, but eating bananas et al, because of the tight regulation of total amount, you will not increase your Bq/Kg one bit. No increase in radiation risk. ZERO

  13. Suggesting that people should eat fish out of the pacific is wrong of you to do. There have been many studies done, mostly privately funded, that show unsafe levels of all kinds of radiation in pacific sea life.

    A study I read was funded by several fish markets based in and around Seattle. Their customers were calling in with concern about Pacific caught fish. They had so many calls that they decided to fund a study where several fish filets they sell were examined.

    Sure enough they found very high levels, DANGEROUSLY high levels, of nuclear material.

    I stumbled across your article here just doing related google searches. It’s very irresponsible of you to tell people that it’s completely safe.

    Keep your ignorance to yourself please, Chris.

    • arlie – if all you people who say they’ve read this or that or heard something on tv or radio would CITE YOUR SOURCES, then what you say might contain a little more credence.

    • i agree. the good doctor said bananas have more radiation than the fish. one should not compare the phosphorus found in bananas to any amount of strontium 90, cesium 137/134, plutonium 239, et cetera produced from the splitting of uranium atoms. even doctors are in denial!!!!
      or perhaps they just do not want to upset the status quo.

  14. can’t agree – plutonium now being found FLOATING in the pacific – i personally want NO hot particles in my digestive system – i believe it is seriously irresponsible (even stupid) to consider that a constant flow of radiation into the ocean with migratory fish is not a risk—- we are not talking statistical general background risks but risks from ingestion of hot particles–

    • and this for a bit of perspective…

      US Dept. of Defense, 2012: (Photo – “Crew member is checked for radiation [in] Japan… March 2011″); Ch. 5 – Therapy for Bacterial Infections following Ionizing Radiation Injury… [C]oncerns about nuclear disasters have… shifted to emphasize the low-dose acute and low-dose–rate chronic irradiation scenarios of nuclear accidents… nonlethal doses of ionizing radiation enhance susceptibility to exogenous bacterial infections… The predominant bacteria isolated from wounds included… b-hemolytic [and] a-hemolytic Streptococcus… [I]mmune responses are greatly diminished within a few days after irradiation… individuals should be monitored continually for… symptoms of infection [which] are difficult to treat effectively in those who receive whole-body ionizing radiation.

      Al Jazeera: What does Polonium do to a person?… An amount equivalent to the size of a particle of dust is lethal. After being taken into the body… it bombards people’s cells with millions of radioactive alpha particles [and] damages the intestines, causing toxic shock syndrome.

      Dr. Nick Priest, toxicology professor at Middlesex Univ.: If polonium is ingested [it] will travel through the gut… Destruction of the inner gut wall will lead to… toxic shock syndrome.

      • and:
        Bomb/reactor fallout delivers alpha and beta particle emitters that enter the body and do long-term damage, but which industry backers often wrongly equate with less lethal external gamma/x-ray doses from flying in airplanes or living in Denver.

        • I agree with Ravi. I checked the decay chain of polonium 210 and potassium 40. Po-210 decays giving off an alpha particle and ends up Lead-206, a stable isotope (but then leaving you with lead in your system).

          Potassium-40 decays via a beta particle (high-energy electron) to calcium-36 (stable).

          Both of these are ionizing radiation and are NOT equivalent to x-rays.

  15. When the Gulf had the massive BP spill, the US Government insisted how delicious and “safe” the seafood is. Yeah, right. Crude oil and dispersant. Sounds real safe to me!