XPost: can.politics, van.general   
   From: gregcarrsober@gmail.com   
      
   Is it safe to eat the sushi? Answers to your questions about Fukushima   
   radiation   
      
      
   BY DAN FUMANO, THE PROVINCEJANUARY 20, 2014 12:30 PMescapes.ca   
      
      
      
      
      
      
   The Japanese earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 is still being   
   discussed three years later, particularly in relation to the   
   catastrophic meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.   
      
   Faced with a lack of available official information on Fukushima and its   
   effects, millions have tried to educate themselves on the Internet.   
   People’s Facebook feeds are suddenly awash with alarming news and   
   confusing YouTube videos. Some have even sworn off seafood.   
      
   Almost three years after the meltdown, there has been a recent tidal   
   wave of Fukushima stories — some true, some half-true, and some outright   
   falsehoods.   
      
   Stories of men with Geiger counters strolling radioactive beaches in   
   California, fearful warnings from respected public figures, and toxic   
   fish tales are spreading around the globe like plumes of radiation on   
   the currents of social media.   
      
   Are you freaked out by Fukushima?   
      
   Are you not sure what to think? Neither were we, so we went to the   
   people who should know, to separate the science from the science fiction.   
      
   Here are five Fukushima fears you may be wondering about, answered by   
   the experts — including nuclear physicists, oceanographers, marine   
   biologists, a public health expert, an internationally-renowned energy   
   analyst and a couple of sushi chefs.   
      
   THE MAP OF DOOM   
      
   You may have seen this arresting image online. You may have even shared   
   it on Facebook.   
      
      
      
   This map, supposedly showing radiation spreading across the ocean from   
   Japan, was one of the most widely spread pieces of Fukushima (mis)   
   information — it was also one of the easiest myths to debunk. We just   
   went to the source.   
      
   The map was produced by the American government’s National Oceanic and   
   Atmospheric Association. Reached at the NOAA’s Washington, D.C.-area   
   offices, spokeswoman Keeley Belva confirmed the map does not show the   
   spread of radiation.   
      
   According to their website: “This image was created by NOAA’s Center for   
   Tsunami Research and graphically shows maximum wave heights (in   
   centimetres) of the tsunami generated by the Japan earthquake on March   
   11, 2011. It does NOT represent levels of radiation from the damaged   
   Fukushima nuclear power plant.”   
      
   The map has become “an oceanographer’s in-joke,” according to Robin   
   Brown, manager of ocean services for Canada’s Department of Fisheries   
   and Oceans. Two months ago, Brown gave a seminar to 40 DFO   
   oceanographers and presented a slide showing the infamous NOAA map with   
   the headline “West Coast Fried by Radiation.” The room of scientists   
   laughed out loud, Brown said, but their chuckles were “tinged with a bit   
   of sadness.”   
      
   “I felt so sorry for NOAA,” he said. “It’s a bit of a cautionary tale   
   about how your good work could possibly show up in a place you didn’t   
   expect.”   
      
   The Bottom Line: It’s a real map, but it doesn’t show radiation.   
      
   IS IT SAFE TO EAT THE SUSHI?   
      
   If Vancouverites start talking about avoiding sushi, there must be   
   something dramatic going on.   
      
   “I do get a lot of questions from customers,” said Keith Allison, chef   
   and manager of Sea Monstr Sushi in Gastown.   
      
   “On Monday, I had a customer saying, ‘How’s it been? How’s that   
   Fukushima thing going?’ ” Allison said last week.   
      
   Allison, who was born in Hokkaido, Japan and raised in Vancouver, said   
   he’s noticed the rumours picking up recently, and when business slowed   
   down in recent months, he wondered if Fukushima concerns could be a   
   factor. Business is still OK, Allison said, but they’re selling more   
   vegetarian items and less seafood, even though most of the fish they   
   sell is from B.C., not Japan.   
      
   Local scientific testing of seafood is being done. A team of scientists   
   from Oregon State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric   
   Association tested 70 pounds of tuna caught off the U.S. west coast and   
   found trace amounts of Fukushima radiation, but “nowhere near enough to   
   be concerned about food safety.”   
      
   OSU’s Delvan Neville, a co-investigator on the project said: “To   
   increase their normal annual dosage of radiation by just one per cent, a   
   person would have to eat more than 4,000 pounds of the highest   
   (radiation) level albacore we’ve seen.”   
      
   Dr. Erica Frank, a physician and public health expert at UBC, has heard   
   the fears around seafood and wishes the Canadian government would do a   
   better job communicating with the public.   
      
   “My assessment is that right now, public alarm is greater than actual   
   public health risk,” she said, adding that she has been trying to get   
   food testing data from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for more than   
   a year. She said that after Fukushima, she feels less confident about   
   eating Pacific seafood now, and has completely stopped eating any   
   seafood from Asia.   
      
   “This is an opportunity for them to demonstrate credibility in a way   
   that is thoroughly needed,” she said. “When you get people nervous and   
   having dinner-table conversations, and the government is not quelling   
   those fears, that is when you lose that credibility.”   
      
   The CFIA conducted special tests in 2011 and 2012 for radioactive   
   material in domestically caught seafood. All those results, which are   
   available on the CFIA website, were well below action limits, according   
   to the CFIA.   
      
   The agency continues to monitor the situation, according to spokeswoman   
   Rachael Burdman, but has determined that further testing of “domestic   
   food products for the presence of radioactive material is not required.”   
      
   “The CFIA would take immediate action if it was determined that any food   
   samples represented a potential health risk to consumers,” Burdman said   
   in an email.   
      
   The Bottom Line: There is no discernible Fukushima-related risk in   
   eating seafood, especially if it’s locally caught. If you want to be   
   extra cautious, avoid fish from Japan.   
      
   WHAT DID SUZUKI SAY?   
      
   One of the most dire and widely shared Fukushima warnings came in   
   October from one of Vancouver’s favourite scientific sons.   
      
   Dr. David Suzuki, speaking at the University of Alberta, said: “I have   
   seen a paper which says that if in fact the fourth (nuclear) plant goes   
   under in an earthquake and those rods are exposed, it’s bye-bye Japan   
   and everybody on the west coast of North America should evacuate,” he   
   said. “If that isn’t terrifying, I don’t know what is.”   
      
   Suzuki’s statements on Fukushima’s “terrifying” risk to the West Coast   
   made waves. “David Suzuki’s Fukushima Warning is Dire and Scary,” read   
   the Huffington Post headline.   
      
   The David Suzuki Foundation says the paper Suzuki cited was the 2013   
   World Nuclear Industry Status Report.   
      
   In that 140-page paper, an international group of authors reports that   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)