Update On Things You Might Not Know

Firstly - several prominent nuclear scientists weighed in and stated they WOULD live in Japan at this time. They feel that the radiation levels away from Fukushima are at acceptable levels and that the food is being monitored properly. So, just because I am a scared person may be reflective on my lack of knowledge (this is supposed to be a fair presentation - not a rant and a rave).

Secondly - my car was stolen yesterday and here's what I learned. Take heed - the police will not even take your telephone report if you do not have THE LICENSE PLATE AND THE VIN NUMBER. Now how many of your carry your license plate number AND VIN (vehicle identification number - imprinted usually on a metal plate on the dash of your car) in your wallet? Along with the telephone number of your insurance agent? Along with the policy number and telephone number of your insurance carrier? All that was in my car's glove box - which went with the car. They police cannot and will not look up your car from your driver's license. So get organized or get frustrated.

Had Onstar and Lojac installed on the car (as well as an alarm - forget that). Onstar was disabled (by the thieves?) so no GPS tracking for the car. Car was recovered... stripped and damaged...but have not been able to get info from the police as to how it was recovered. Will tweet that next week when I sign the paperwork and hopefully someone will tell me.

Thirdly - check the BACK of your credit cards. If there is a sound wave sign : nothing on the computer keyboard can do this: ))) in ascending 1/2 circles – it means that your card can be waved in the air to radio frequency scanner credit card machines and you don't have to pull it through the machine. However, it also means thieves can steal your credit card info without touching you. They walk up near you and read the card with their machine they are carrying. Here is the link to the YouTube video showing this being done:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUz6oe6AlFs

The video states a protective card shield should be provided by the credit card maker to prevent this. My card is from CHASE. They didn't provide me with the protective case or the info that I am at risk. Beware.

Fourthly: Thyroid cancer is increasing (some say as much as a 4 times previously). They are also attributing it (possibly) to the fact that our thyroids are not protected during dental x-rays and mammograms. Supposedly the dental shield has a flap that is supposed to cover the thyroid. My appointment is in February. I will certainly be asking for it. And supposedly during a mammogram there is a neck device that if you ask for it they will provide it. Don't know about that but I certainly will ask, also. Better safe than sorry.

Have a great day, week, .... carry your car info and protect your credit cards & thyroid. Japan is up to you.

HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

I was lucky enough to get the valuable advice of several prominent nuclear physicists and scientists over the last month. I have publicly thanked them at the end of this blog. The following are some excerpts from what they wrote in response to my concerns about radiation levels in our world changing after Fukushima.

1. The ocean and radiation pollution:
   "THE SOLUTION TO POLLUTION IS DILUTION" ... in this case the ocean is so large in comparison to the amounts of contaminants that it is safe to say they are infinitely diluted away... that is not to say there will be a local gradient or plume within a few meters/ kilometers of the plant... but don't forget that nowadays we have very sensitive mechanisms for measuring things, especially radioisotopes, but just because we can measure something and put it on a map doesn't mean it's significant... we can also measure radioactive fluxes in galaxies zillions and zillions of light years away and none of that is significant to us... yet we can measure it and place it on maps...”
   
   The World Radiation Monitoring Center has placed monitoring points around the world, including our oceans for the detection of radiation.
   
   
2. Radiation in our food:
   “Yes, seaweed is showing radioactivity - as are the bananas, milk, eggs etc that you eat every day. This comes from the radioactive Carbon, Potassium and Uranium/Thorium isotopes that are present in the environment. Sometimes there may be trace amounts of other nuclides as well (Cesium, Beryllium, Tellurium, Cobalt, ...) that are detectable if you measure the samples long enough (24h or longer). It all depends on which elements are biologically absorbed by the plant. In the case of seaweed, it is known that it bioabsorbs Uranium next to other heavy metals. Some people have even thought to use algae to 'harvest' uranium from the sea.” 
   
   3. What dose of radiation is safe?
   If you google “no safe dose of radiation” you will find page after page of articles talking about the view that there is no safe dose of radiation. One study followed patients who had myocardial infarctions requiring various radioactive low dose scans. After five years there was a significant increase in cancer in those patients receiving the scan(s) versus the control group that did not receive the low dose radioactivity.  But if you have had a heart attack (myocardial infarction) wouldn't you want a scan to see the condition of your heart and which vessels are blocked? How about if you take a fall and hit your head – wouldn't you want a scan to see if there were bleeding in your brain?

And the scientific community argues that if the dose of radiation is low enough (lower than the study above) it could be beneficial. Radiation homeostasis is the theory that low doses of ionizing radiation (around natural background levels) are beneficial, stimulating the activation of repair mechanisms that protect against disease, and those repair mechanisms would not be activated in absence of ionizing radiation. While this is just a theory, there are many scientists strongly arguing for it. It is said that sunshine stimulates the production of Vitamin D in our bodies.
 
In the evolution of life,...the first one-celled life (bacterial films, pond scum) existed and evolved in a high ultraviolet radiation environment (without the ozone layer we have today) so adaptive mechanisms were established in cells from the very beginning in order to survive. Of course, they also mutated in form, (perhaps from the radiation) or we wouldn't be here today.



My thanks to Clemens Scholl, Nuclear Physicist at LIGA.NRW. (Consulting in radiation protection & monitoring and defense against nuclear hazards.Cologne Area, Germany) and Louis Pena, Senior Scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory for taking the time to address my questions and expand my knowledge base.

And finally I did a brief survey (very unscientific) asking the question – Are you comfortable enough with the radiation levels in Japan's air, water, and food to live there for the next year?
Not one person answered yes.
How about you?

Looking back at 2011 and Forward to 2012

The Fukushima disaster in March of 2011 is a day that will go down in history – the largest nuclear accident in our history – and it may take 100 years to get it cleaned up. It made me google a book that I had written many years before and had been published in hardcover, “The Nuclear Catastrophe”, as a fiction novel of suspense. Surprise – while out of print it was still being sold as a used book by Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, and a few survival web sites. So, in this age of the internet, I decided to update it and bring it back out in paperback and as an Ebook. Many people (thank you all) suggested that I change the name of the book so that it didn't sound like something too boring to read. Finally the name was born: “THE DISQUIET SURVIVORS of The Nuclear Catastrophe”. However, by the time that got done, the originally named version was selling so well on Amazon.com that I left it alone there but changed it for B&N and smashwords. And thusly, this blog got started.

Some of the original topics were:

Stay or Flee? What would you do?

Radiation dangers

Survival List for Nuclear Disaster

Radiation sickness exposure table

Then I moved on to new topics:

French Nuclear Plant disaster, 7/2/2011

Responsibility of Nations to have laws with sufficient penalties

Nuclear Engineer whistleblower demoted

Greater LA food found high in radiation (2 peaches – but????)

By this time the Ebook had started to be more widely read. So I posted a review written by Terry Callister (Books and Novels to Read) who resides in Spain. And I wrote about the marvels of science – you can read all these Ebooks on your smart phone – whatever font size you want, backlit, and always handily with you.

But by August I was again addressing the perils of life:

The Great American Lie – nuclear accidents that have happened in the US and been covered up

Your Space and My Space and remembering 2011 – does believing you are right overshadow the rights of others?

Creating jobs in America – try the WPA way from the big depression

Where does the Truth Lie? There seems to be 2 different camps on nuclear energy

Wikipedia Tribute – they are funded by donations.

The Nuclear Industry's Dirtiest Secret – attracting unskilled labor with high wages for dangerous cleanup work at Fukushima

As we move into the new year of 2012,  I would like to leave you with some thoughts to ponder for the future.

Would you gamble your health by having electricity generated by a nuclear power plant near you? It may be perfectly safe. But time and time again it is showing us – that it's not. I actually am not anti-nuclear. I am anti-nuclear accident. So until they upgrade the existing plants which are now aging, or develop a better reactor system (if they can), I'm not into gambling.

Happy New Year to you all.