Radiation is all around us, sun light, in concrete floors and house bricks. There is a level of background radiation constantly around us in our environment. I am comfortable with that. When a level 7 nuclear disaster like Fukushima has the potential to raise my natural radioactive environment significantly to a new level, then I pay attention.
If you have been watching the main stream news media TV or print, you will not know the full story! The main stream press has gone quiet on the Fukushima nuclear disaster, but the situation at Fukushima is dynamic, and changing. I feel it is important to keep informed on this disaster because of it potential long term effects. It looks like it could go on for months. It now has the highest Nuclear Accident event rating, Level 7. Some experts said it should have been put on this level weeks ago.
Radiation fallout from Fukushima is not directly affecting us here in Australia at present, but there has been wide spread fallout of numerous radioactive isotopes in the Northern hemisphere at reportedly low levels at present. The highest concentrations of radioactive fallout appear to have fallen over, Japan, Northern China, North and South Korea, Alaska, America, and Canada, plus lots over the Pacific Ocean. It all depends on the wind directions and what level and type of radioactive material is leaking from the Fukushima Nuclear plant at the time. A lot of radioactive water has been dumped, or spilled into the Pacific Ocean near the plant, plus radioactive fallout is still falling on the Pacific Ocean.
Here is a video of a projected fallout cloud on the west coast of America on the 24th April
The biggest health risks seems to be the concentration of radioactive isotopes from the radiation fallout through the food chain in milk, meat and fish. The Geiger counter readings of local background radiation levels will not give you any indication of the concentrations of these isotopes in any given food item. You really need governments to test for that.
If this report is correct the Japanese government has presently set 20 millisieverts per year as a safe limit for background radiation exposure for children in Japan. Professor Toshiso Kosako was appointed by the Japanese government on March 16th and was given the position because the Japanese Government said he possessed outstanding insight and expertise in the field of radiation safety. On April 29th an emotional Toshiso Kosako resigned in protest, saying the government quietly raised the radiation safety level to 20 millisieverts per year, and this is 20 times too high, especially for children. A dose of 1 to 2.4 millisieverts per year of background radiation seems to be considered average. Children are considered more vulnerable to radiation than adults.
http://enenews.com/childs-risk-cancer-radiation-10-100-times-higher-adult-same-exposure-video
Governments seem to quietly raise the so called safe radiation levels when disasters like this occur. Want proof, watch this video "Becquerels" and Japan's changing "safety" standards for radiation in food and water" and read this "EU secretly ups cesium safety level in food 20-fold" These are two clear examples of governments raising safe levels for radiation exposure by 20x to 30x. So when the radiation levels go up they will tell you they tested below safety levels!
Call me cynical, but I have no faith in governments, or corporations providing truthful information in disasters like Fukushima. Research I have done constantly shows Governments and Corporations changing the information to protect the financial interests of the corporation involved, or the government's political interests at the time, to the detriment of the health and well being of their citizens. In other words they will sacrifice you and your family on the alter to their Gods, money and power.
Radiation fallout does not fall evenly but is distributed by wind, rain and snow in what are called hot spots. Area reports of radiation fall out levels very depending on what organization collects the information, in some cases they don't seem to collect it because there is wide spread test equipment failure. This happened when a lot of radiation test sites on the west coast of America went down during radioactive fallout events created by Fukushima. This makes you suspicious doesn't it! To make things even more confusing, different governments and also different organizations in a given government may have different sets of radiation safety levels.
If a government can arbitrarily change the so called radiation safety levels for it citizens, or different departments in a government have different safety levels, what is safe?
From the research I have read it would appear that any increase the background radiation level caused by Radioactive fallout is not good. According to the Petkau Effect long term low level radiation can potentially be more dangerous than a short high dose.
What is far worse though, is breathing in of radioactive particulate material, or ingesting radioactive isotopes in food or water. This is likely to produce long term health effects because the radiation is inside you and close to cells. Because radioactivity is close to the cells, it is radiating them with much more intensity when compared to most background radiation you may be exposed to!
As far as I can see in Australia at present, the fallout is not affecting us, but we may need to keep an eye on our sources of food where radiation fallout can be concentrated in foods like milk products, meat, and fish. Particularly if this situation worsens.
“Is it safe to travel to, or use food products from a certain country?” This may be important to you depending on your level of concern. The only way to know is to stay well informed on this dynamically changing situation. There are lots of links to other sites from these sources I have provided below that may be worth a follow up.
Fairewinds Update on Fukushima, go through the previous videos here to get a clearer understanding on what is happening.
http://www.fairewinds.com/updates
Enenews this site provides up to date info that you are not getting from normal news sources, read the previous posts, and comments under relevant press releases.
Bellmere Weather, this web site provides live local background radiation readings at Caboolture in Australia. As of May 1st 2011 there has not been any increased local background radiation readings since the Fukushima disaster. Maximums of .20 uSv/hr (micro sieverts per hour) and an average of .10 uSv/hr are normal for our local area. If you are looking at background Radiation readings at other localities, above 1.00uSv/hr would be considered very elevated for most areas throughout the world, and should be avoided. Background radiation readings I have seen from other locations around the world that you would probably visit as a tourist at present, have not gone above 0.40 uSv/hr on most days.
http://www.bellmereweather.net/geiger.asp
Just remember, it is not just the background radiation levels that are important, but the amount radioactive particulate mater that is in the air, water and food you eat. This is far more dangerous because this radiation is concentrated inside your body.
© Peter Daley 2011
Disclaimer: This is an amateur volunteer run service. Human error can provide incorrect information, and equipment malfunction can produce false readings. Do not rely on, or take action upon information presented on this web site or at SCCC activities, without further research. Views expressed in the pages, images, or tutorials on the SCCC Inc., web site or presented at venues, maybe the personal opinions of the relevant writers or presenters, and are not necessarily representative of those of SCCC Inc.
Ola! Sccc, Thanks you for your post, I am an Irish school university student who will be graduating in 2013. Fairly recently I listened to that Fukushima will probably go on leaking radiation for one more nine months to occur, and that the radioactive components will keep on being in the conditions for decades to come. Presented that Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere, external the circulation of radiation by way of the Northern Hemisphere, would this nation be a safe destination to emigrate to? I do not want to get most cancers, and if I continue to be in Ireland, consuming and consuming contaminated meals and drinking water for the relaxation of my lifestyle, I might probably go through from a variety of cancers. Cheerio