Fukushima to provide lifetime thyroid tests in wake of nuclear crisis

"The Fukushima Prefectural Government decided on July 24 to provide lifetime thyroid gland tests for some 360,000 prefectural residents aged 18 and under to help detect thyroid cancer triggered by radiation from the crisis-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.

'The free tests will be launched in October. Eligible residents will be tested once every two years until the age of 20, and once every five years thereafter. The prefectural government's move is said to be unprecedented." The Mainichi Daily News

Chernobyl: A field trip to no man's land

"...an international team of a dozen researchers...are here to study the ecosystem that was left behind after the 1986 accident.

"They come here to find out what the impacts are of a nuclear accident on the life that is left behind.

"The team's latest studies on birds suggest that the contamination is linked to some unusual genetic effects.

"One member of the team, biologist Gier Rudolfsen from the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, has been focusing on how the male birds' reproductive organs might be affected.

"The constant unzipping and replication of DNA required to produce millions of sperm cells each day means there are many opportunities for the biological assembly line to be broken." See BBC Nature for more detail and videos.

A loss to our community as Dr. Rudi Nussbaum passes

It is with great sadness that we learn of the death of Dr. Rudi Nussbaum, who died in Holland after a fall. Rudi was an avowed pacifist and Holocaust survivor and an expert on the health effects of radiation exposure. As his longtime friend, Lloyd Marbet writes: "His work as a Professor Emeritus of Physics and Environmental Science at Portland State University was instrumental in raising alarm over the health effects of radiation exposure.  He wrote numerous papers on this subject and participated in gathering valuable information on workers and civilians that were exposed to radiation at Hanford and in surrounding communities, for which he became a vocal advocate for environmental justice. He helped bring the famous epidemiologist, Alice Stewart, to Portland, and promoted her life story. You can watch a short video interview with Rudi below.

"Uncanny Terrain," a documentary about organic farmers facing Japan's nuclear crisis

"Uncanny Terrain" is a documentary in progress, about organic farmers facing Japan's nuclear catastrophe. A Chicago-based, Japanese American film making team will spend up to a year in the radioactively contaminated regions of northeast Japan downwind of the devastated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which is still releasing radioactive steam onto the winds nearly five months after the radioactive catastrophe began. Fukushima and neighboring prefectures are famous for their small, family-run, independent organic farms. Husband and wife team Junko Kajino and Ed M. Koziarski have already captured powerful video testimonies, and are requesting monetary donations to enable them to continue their work.

Japan’s Food Chain Threat Multiplies as Radiation Spreads

"Radiation fallout from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant poses a growing threat to Japan’s food chain as unsafe levels of cesium found in beef on supermarket shelves were also detected in more vegetables and the ocean." Bloomberg