No matter who you are or how you wear your pants, one thing is certain: you can’t believe everything you read, especially regarding radiation rumors in the media. Some news outlets would rather cover the local chili cook-off than deliver important information, and while many major news sources avoid consistent, in-depth coverage on r
adiation in North America after the 2011 disaster of Japan’s Fukushima, many less credible news outlets are more than willing to dish out half-baked radiation speculation like it’s unmarked Halloween bullshit candy.
This is not to say there’s zero radiation along the California coastline, or that we couldn’t eventually be subjected to some blowback from the distant nuclear meltdown, but we need to differentiate between fact and fear. This is debunking unaccredited news sources and misinformed journalists – clearly unlike myself – who manipulate their ability to get people’s attention best when they throw their big numbers, glowing maps of terror and hundred-dollar words to create a stir. It’s not yet time to sell our beach homes and blame our hair loss on Japan, despite what some might say.
Media Misinformation & Public Panic
If you recall when cell phones came out, everybody panicked they were going to give themselves brain tumors from electromagnetic radiation. Although there is the potential for adverse effects, much like radiation from Japan, cell phones are still all the rage, just as our oceans are currently not yet hazardous towards the North American border.
A lot of the scare has come from people’s fear of contaminated seafood. Kelp samples reportedly collected in San Diego had radioactive traces, meaning that bigger fish, which eat the kelp and are potentially consumed by humans, are contaminated as well. There were claims that a large number of sailors working in the Pacific were contracting sickness from radiation. However, according to a recent Forbes article, smoking is more dangerous for you than Fukushima radiation will likely ever be, claiming that the risk of cancer is likely only slightly elevated by radiation, whereas smoking cigarettes can increase the likelihood of cancer by 2,000 percent. Oh, and eating a banana is technically more dangerous, as well. So maybe our focus is on the wrong information.
The problem here is media overhyping a hard-to-pin-down topic with no discernible future harm, taking half facts and exaggerating them in the digital universe. Just because someone dreamt up a story about a mouthy Justin Bieber getting slugged by Los Angeles Clippers star Blake Griffin and dressed it in dated pictures doesn’t make it true. Anyone can post anything to the Internet; that’s both its beauty and its flaw. It’s our job to filter the information we get as newsworthy or not.
There were reportedly some trillion becquerel of radiation exposed in the Pacific Ocean since the nuclear disaster in Japan. But what the hell is a becquerel? Is that a lot? Well, it’s actually a standard unit for measuring radiation emitte
d from radioactive material, and it’s giving Americans nightmares of food poisoning and yellow skin, and so far, nobody of integrity has found any hard evidence that says we’re screwed.
In addition, samples taken from fish and kelp in the Pacific – a project called Kelp Watch 2014 – have been noted as “contaminated with radiation,” but what news sources fail to specify is the amount. In recorded studies, radiation levels are only slightly higher, three percent at most, than average recorded levels and still remain far below harmful levels as of February 2014. Did you think the government was going to just let people get sick and die? No, my fellow Americans, not just yet they won’t.
What’s important to focus on are the facts; everything else is just noise. The biggest rumor or scare with radiation from Fukushima is how harmful fish from the Pacific are to consume, and how will that change, if at all, in the near future.
What We Know Now
News reports have been speculating for about two years, mishandling information about a topic that nobody has all the facts on. So let’s focus on what we know. According to BBC News as of late February 2014, even the peak levels of radiation sampled in the Pacific Ocean along the North American coastline are well within acceptable standards, but the actual extent of radiation won’t be known for sure until the spring.
In early 2014, the head scientist at one of the world’s top oceanic institutions (who specializes personally in oceanic radiation) said the predictions of radiation causing great harm is low, but that nothing can be known unless testing is done. Since people haven’t been told for certain we’re going to be all right, a growing sense of hypochondria is merging along the western coast of the U.S.
Reports of coastal marine life – polar bears and sea lions namely – losing their hair and their young dying off have been blamed by radiation with no actual proof of any direct connection. It can’t be ruled out, but it can’t be ruled in as the cause either, especially when all the testing done thus far claims any high radiation areas in the Pacific have leveled off and remains far from harmful.
Certain blogs have leaked posts about the amount of radiation being leaked into the Pacific Ocean near Japan, claiming 300 tons of radioactive water exposed every day. That might very well be true, but it’s actually a tiny spec when compared to the ocean’s approximate 187 quintillion gallons, which makes it no real threat to us from 5,000 miles away. Diluted over time, that speck in an otherwise endless ocean would not so quickly endanger a continent that far away. Everyone from Tepco to Tokyo University has specified different numbers, but it’s irrelevant to America as of now.
Government Involvement
The U.S. government is not reportedly unloading billions of dollars in order to learn more about this potential threat, but the general public’s biggest fear is typically what they don’t have the answers for. Because of the lack of action, people assume the worst, which is that the government doesn’t care for the well-being of a generous portion of its population.
Smaller news sources speculate the government carelessly signed off on high levels of radiation in the Pacific coastline while simultaneously purchasing large quantities of potassium iodide, a chemical for combating internal radioactive contamination. So far any testing reports that the levels of radiation are still safe. As for the potassium iodide, isn’t it the responsibility of the government to be prepared in case of a crisis, to exert precaution to avoid panic? By attaining large amounts of the chemical, people can’t take advantage of each other by stocking up in a classic American supply-and-demand black market.
Anything the government has done thus far has been hush-hush as there is currently nothing to panic about in terms of our safety. Promoting large amounts of non-information in major news sources will only alarm people, but smaller news outlets see it as an opening to do just that.
How We Can Live Without Fear
As we said before, this isn’t to say we are radiation-free, but to simply report on exaggerations of the severity of North America’s condition. The reality is we’re all subject to radiation everyday of our lives, even before Chernobyl, Japan or any other series of natural disasters. The sun, our cell phones, radiation therapy and the ocean are all sources of a certain degree of radiation we’ve grown accustomed to, which are regulated currently at safe levels.
You can shield yourselves in your homes and take as many anti-radiation vitamins as you think you need, but what radiation rumors, among other things, point toward is our need to live more health conscious lives, not fearful ones. There are sites dedicated to fighting basic radiation exposure through food, mainly by regularly ingesting common items like garlic, onion, bee pollen and chlorophyll. Educate yourself, filter your news and stay vigilant, protective and cautious of our ocean, and you’ll be just fine for now. And until something changes, sleep sound knowing you don’t have to sell your home or lose all your hair in the near future.
Other sources: Deep Sea News, GlobalResearch, Guardian Liberty Voice, Skeptoid
