Organic Foods Loaded with E. Coli Kill More People Than Fukushima and BP Oil Spill Combined

DESCENDENTS - I LIKE FOOD

It's true. In just the past two years, according to World Health Organization statistics, organic foods loaded with E.Coli bacteria have killed more people worldwide than all nuclear fission accidents and the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan combined. 


The Washington Times reports: 


Right now, someone nearby is buying organic bean sprouts. It may be the last thing he ever does. Last week’s E. coli outbreak in Germany - potentially traced to an organic farm - was more deadly than the largest nuclear disaster of the last quarter-century.

Indeed, in the past two years, two public safety stories have dominated global news headlines - an explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and a nuclear power plant meltdown in Japan. Yet in the recent German organic-food-disease outbreak, nearly twice as many people already have died as in the two other industrial disasters combined.

In spite of these facts, people will panic and demand that oil drilling be stopped or that nuclear power be curtailed. I've said it a hundred times: the worse thing that could happen to us is to lose cheap renewable energy.... Well, either that or we eat food loaded with E. Coli bacteria. 


The articles continues...

Yet, 23 deaths and more than 1,000 hospitalizations caused by an industrial accident at an organic farm in northern Germany have caused no such newfound caution toward the expansion of that industry. It is easy to understand why. Organic farming has a reputation for being the domain of small-scale family businesses focused on caring for the Earth more than profits. Every organic-produce customer I interviewed at three supermarkets since the German outbreak began have cited better health as a key reason for buying organic food.

That’s exactly what the organic industry wants them to think. In a question-and-answer article directed at consumers, the Organic Trade Association says this: “There is mounting evidence at this time to suggest that organically produced foods may be more nutritious. Furthermore, organic foods … are spared the application of toxic and persistent insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers. Many EPA-approved pesticides were registered long before extensive research linked these chemicals to cancer and other diseases.”

If that view of the organic industry was ever true, it has changed over the past 20 years. Organic food has grown into a multibillion-dollar global food enterprise driven by the very same bottom-line pressures that safety advocates blame for Tokyo Power and BP putting their corporate profits before public safety. If you don’t believe it, ask yourself why organic bean sprouts cost twice as much as modern bean sprouts. In a word, greed.


In Japan, they cost a lot more than twice as much. That's why I never buy them.

The scale of the danger we ignore by pretending organic food isn’t a business like every other is nearly unimaginable. According to World Health Organization statistics on E. coli deaths, in just the past two years, more people have been killed by the disease than all fission-related events since the dawn of the nuclear age - even if you include the use of nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.


Well, there you go. What can we do and eat that is safe? Good question. I can tell you one thing, though. I started peeling all fruits and vegetables completely. I may not be able to get rid of radiation that way, but I can get rid of pesticides and other chemicals... And, judging by the evidence, those are much more dangerous.

No Scientific or Medical Basis for Restrictions on Japan Travel & More

Once again, let's deal with just the facts concerning the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan. 

The fact of the matter is, folks, that there are too many pundits writing sensationalism about subjects they are not expert in and scaring people. I am not a nuclear power expert but I am an expert in mass media and know a BS story when I see one. And I've seen lots of them in these last 10 years or so: Swine Flu, SARS, Bird Flu, Man Made Global Warming. These mass media cretins pronounce this stuff as gospel truth, interjecting their scare tactic with words like, "might," may have," "could have"... etc. When it is all total conjecture and doesn't deserve to be on the pages of "respectable" media but rather on the pages of tabloid sensationalism. As Tech Crunch aptly put it:

This is all just going to get worse, because, increasingly, all stories are tech stories. Politics? Obama’s staggering online fundraising. Sports? BALCO and high-tech new equipment. Culture? These days, even fine art is all about the Arduino. Technology has insinuated itself into our lives to such an extent that every story now has a technical aspect — but yesterday’s dinosaur journalists will continue to write about them in the same clumsy-to-moronic way that they wrote about Fukushima.

Searching for more factual reporting from a reputable source about the safety of Japan. I found this: In an official public announcement from the International Maritime Organization, in spite of the scaremongering and sensationalism reported in the mainstream mass media (MSM) there is no basis for any medical restrictions to and from Japan regarding radiation or any other problems:


No Restrictions on Travel to Japan


International flight and maritime operations can continue normally into and out of Japan’s major airports and sea ports, excluding those damaged by the tsunami, according to the latest information available from the World Health Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Maritime Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization. 

While there is currently no medical basis for imposing restrictions, the United Nations organizations are monitoring the situation closely and will advise of any changes.  

Screening for radiation of international passengers from Japan is not considered necessary at this time. Currently available information indicates that increased levels have been detected at some airports, but these do not represent any health risk. 

The page has a link to the World Health Organization's site. The link is broken. I searched, Japan Nuclear Concerns and found this FAQ page:

What is the current risk of radiation-related health problems in Japan for those residing near the reactor in comparison to those in other parts of Japan?

• Radiation-related health consequences will depend on exposure, which is dependant on several things, including: the amount and type of radiation released from the reactor; weather conditions, such as wind and rain; a person’s proximity to the plant; and the amount of time spent in irradiated areas.
• The Government of Japan’s recent actions in response to events at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are in line with the existing recommendations for radiation exposure. The Government has evacuated individuals who were living within a 20-kilometre radius around the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Those living between 20 km and 30 km from the plant are being asked to shelter indoors. People living farther away are at lower risk than those who live nearby.
• As and if the situation changes, the Government of Japan may change their advice to the public; WHO is following the situation closely.

In short, the risk near the reactor exists. The exclusion zone of 20 km ~ 30 km (12 miles ~ 18 miles) are in line with existing recommendations for radiation exposure. Once again, Tokyo is about 150 miles away. Common sense should prevail in helping you to avoid any risk. The article goes on to talk about food contamination:

  

Is there a risk of radioactive exposure from food contamination?

• Yes, there is a risk of exposure as a result of contamination in food.
• However, contaminated food would have to be consumed over prolonged periods to represent a risk to human health.
• The presence of radioactivity in some vegetables and milk has been confirmed and some of the initial food monitoring results show radioactive iodine detected in concentrations above Japanese regulatory limits. Radioactive caesium has also been detected.
• Local government authorities have advised residents to avoid these food and have implemented measures to prevent their sale and distribution.

The last two bullet points are important here. The final one says that the government has blocked sales of these foods and prevented their distribution. Translation: You can't buy this stuff legally, so if you don't eat it, there's no problem.


People worried about food safety are advised to search the USA Food & Drug Administrations sites about how many parts per million of rat excrement and bug parts are allowed in our food... You also won't ever want to eat out at a restaurant if you are worried about getting sick from your food either... Trust me, I worked at a restaurant when I was 18 years old. 


Reuters reports Deaths From Food Poisoning Under Reported


The Centers for Disease Control (CRC) in the United States estimate that about 5,200 people there die each year from food poisoning but the Danish researchers believe the true figure could be nearly twice as high.


Also, this delectable article on the FDA:  


An eruption at the Peanut Corporation of America led to at least 9 reported deaths, hundreds of diseases and a huge recall of product. Recently, bagged spinach, tomatoes, jalapenos and raw cookie dough have been linked with food borne diseases. For food safety, people have to follow the guidelines which are given by FDA. 


There's millions of articles like this available for anyone who wishes to do a Google search. Salmonella kills over 1,000 people a year alone in the USA. Deaths from eating radiated spinach or milk in Japan? Zero. 


Trust that this irradiated food has been destroyed and will never reach the market. Your chance of eating it and dying from it are about as high as your chances of winning the lottery. Once again, this is a non-story being inflated by an increasingly desperate mass media. 

HENRY ROLLINS - LIAR

You can read more from a technical publication that blasts this mass media sensationalism in: UK Tech Publication Blasts Sensationalist Reporting on Nuclear Reactor:


The situation at the quake- and tsunami-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear powerplant in Japan was brought under control days ago. It remains the case as this is written that there have been no measurable radiological health consequences among workers at the plant or anybody else, and all indications are that this will remain the case. And yet media outlets around the world continue with desperate, increasingly hysterical and unscrupulous attempts to frame the situation as a crisis.


Crisis? Up north for the poor folks in Miyagi and Fukushima, yes. For us in Tokyo? No. Merely an inconvenience in spite of how much people want to believe the sensationalist shrill... 


Next up, killer flu coming to a neighborhood near you. 

The Great Tokyo Food and Water Panic of 2011 Begins?

I think we could be seeing the beginning of a great panic in Japan that hasn't been seen since the oil shock of 1979: People fighting for groceries and water. I saw it this morning at the grocery store.

R.E.M. - THE END OF THE WORLD

It wasn't a full-fledged panic, but it is awful close. If we keep having big after shocks like we did just ten minutes ago and the problems at the nuclear power plants do not get under control, and things do not calm down then the panics will definitely come. I was here on vacation in 1979 and remember the oil shock panic back then.


No toilet paper, no water. Same as now.

It wasn't just the grocery store either. The Nikkei 225 has dropped like a rock since morning trading but recovered slightly to 450.15 as of this very moment. 

UPDATE: The Nikkei 225 ended the day down ¥633.94 (- 6.18%)

to finish at ¥9,620.49 

Because the of after-effects of the earthquake and the resulting damage to the two nuclear reactors in Fukushima, certain areas of Japan will be experiencing daily blackouts.


It was suddenly announced this morning that this immediate area that I am in now (Setagaya-Ku in Tokyo) will experience a blackout starting at 1 pm today until 4 pm. This morning I was about 60 kilometers away (about 30 miles) in Isehara, Kanagawa prefecture. We left Kanagawa because they were experiencing a blackout and I thought we'd take our chances back home.


We got back just in time for the blackout to be announced here.

No water... They do have Pepsi Zero, though!

My home is concrete and we have a basement, so it is a very safe place. Not to mention that I also have more than six months of food, water and paper products stored up down there in case of emergencies. I've written many times before about why you should do the same.


Usually, every week, like clockwork, I go to the local grocery super-store on Monday morning and get there just before opening time in order to stock up on groceries. I take Gary North's great advice that "Time is the only non renewable resource" so I don't waste time in long lines. Usually, on Monday mornings, I'm one of the first ones in the store and one of the first ones out. 

Toilet Paper? You can see the last 8 or so packs to the left.

They won't be there in 2 more minutes.

Since I knew that these blackouts might occur, I decided to go buy some extra water (even though I have more than 200 liters (about 52 gallons) stored up, I figured a few extra couldn't hurt. I had read on the Internet that "millions of people in Northern Japan" didn't have any drinking water and that concerned me too.


When I got to the grocery store, I was so surprised by what I saw; there were cars lined up all the way down the block to get into the store parking lots and it was 20 minutes before opening time! People trying to drive their cars into the parking lots were honking and yelling at each other and jockeying for position.

No bottled anything

People were lined up at the elevators so I walked up the stairs and entered the second floor. There, too, people were lined up 100 deep to enter the store. At that moment, there was a palatable tension in the air. People looked really nervous. I asked one lady what everyone was lining up for and she told me that, because of the blackouts, people were going to stock up on water and canned goods.


As we quietly stood in line, people began to slowly shove forward as opening time approached. Suddenly, an older man at the front of the line angrily yelled to the store staff, "They have already opened the doors on the third floor! Why aren't you opening the doors?"


With that the flood gates broke. There was a rush of panicking people who pushed past the chained entrance. People were pushing their shopping carts and running for the canned goods and water section. I wanted to take photos of this so I ran too. Too late. I got to the water section and could only see an older man and a younger man fighting over the final six pack of 500 ml. pet bottles of water. By the time my iPhone had powered up, they were long gone.

Frozen food rack

The shelves were empty. Bare as the desert. I gathered that there must have been a similar scene last night.   


I walked upstairs to the fruit and vegetable section. The scene there was not as bad but I could tell that they were going to sell out of everything edible easily before noon.  Don't forget, folks, this is a grocery super-store, much like a Ralph's grocery store you have in America. It's huge.


It's a big deal when one of these places sell out of food.


When I returned home, I saw my next door neighbor. I asked her if she had been grocery shopping yesterday. She said, "Yes! At the smaller grocery store just up the street, it was like people were panicking!"


I'd agree. But, this is Tokyo. The earthquake was 200 miles away. How could a 3 or 4 hour power blackout cause people to get into a near panic like this?


Oh, yes. I forgot. People have been watching TV. Thank you, once again, television station for your sensationalism in broadcasting. You do us all a great favor when you scare everyone with this sensationalism. Anyone care to remember Swine Flu, SARS, Bird Flu, Etc.? They were all horrible deadly epidemics that were going to surely kill us all... Well, at least they were horrible deadly epidemics that were going to surely kill us all - on TV! 

Less than 20 minutes after opening time the lines were 

over 50 carts deep - and this at a place that has 10 registers!

If things don't get under control here, the panic could start full blast and things could get very ugly quickly. This year could be remembered as the great Tokyo or Japan Panic of 2011.