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.

Nuclear Panic Time? What is Important to You?

I often wonder what people are thinking and how they deem what is important to their lives or not. I never ever wonder if people watch too much TV (they do) or if they are brain-washed by the mass media (they are).


While searching for relative and credible information on the Fukushima nuclear accident and nuclear power in general, I found a forum called, in the expected creative fashion of physicists (I suppose) "Physics Forum" on the Internet that is used by various mathematicians, scientists,  nuclear engineers and physicists to discuss the issues of the day. Some of the things discussed there I found quite interesting. 


There were several threads about Fukushima. The discussions were quite level-headed, it seemed, with a healthy bashing of mass media sensationalism... Just like you've read on this very blog. There were also many scientific comments about the levels of radiation from Fukushima and how the situation was being way blown out of proportion.


I am going to list up just a few of those comments for you and then ask a question that seems to be bothering me concerning my question in the very first sentence of this post; I often wonder what people are thinking and how they deem what is important to their lives or not.


In one thread, several of the engineers were complaining how people are always confusing nuclear energy with nuclear weaponry and how that is a ploy used by the anti-nuclear power lobby to scare people. The over-whelming consensus was that people don't have a clue that there is no way to rationally compare a nuclear weapon and the process one uses to kill people with a nuclear power plant that is designed to generate electricity.


It's true. There's no way that any informed person could compare a nuclear power plant with a nuclear weapon. They are two completely different things. Wikipedia's page on nuclear fission reports:


While the fundamental physics of the fission chain reaction in a nuclear weapon is similar to the physics of a controlled nuclear reactor, the two types of device must be engineered quite differently (see nuclear reactor physics). A nuclear bomb is designed to release all its energy at once, while a reactor is designed to generate a steady supply of useful power. While overheating of a reactor can lead to, and has led to, meltdown and steam explosions, the much lower uranium enrichment makes it impossible for a nuclear reactor to explode with the same destructive power as a nuclear weapon.


One comment, on the "Physics Forum" thread about Fukushima, from a nuclear engineer, was short and to the point. He wrote that the evidence concerning longevity in the USA and around the world since the beginning of the nuclear age does not show that nuclear power has shorten our lives at all. In fact, if the anti-nuclear crowd were to be believed, then our average lifespans would be getting shorter, when, in fact, life expectancy has increased anywhere from 11% ~ 15% in 50 years. He gave this chart below. 

He added: "Obviously, background radiation, atmospheric testing, and nuclear power are major impacts on world health."

Of course, there are many other factors that would play a part in our lives getting longer such as food, water, environment and medicine.... But, I wonder, is there anyone of us who thinks that of the four I just mentioned, the only one that has gotten better over these 50 years can only be medicine. Certainly our environment, food and water has not gotten better.


One only need to look at the average American or the grocery store shelves full of processed, pumped-full-of-chemicals food that many people feed themselves to know that can't be good for you. 

Another engineer commented on how he thought it was curious that people get all riled up and up in arms about nuclear power plants but are basically silent when it comes to nuclear weapons testing.


He wrote:


I guess atmospheric tests were stopped before word "radiation" became synonym of "panic". For anti-nuclear activists, equating nuclear weapons and nuclear power has always been a key tactic. It's just that they haven't had anything to raise panic over in more than 20 years. 


On that note, I strongly agree. Since 1945 to today there have been over 2055 (at least) above ground and underground nuclear weapons tests all over the world. That's an average of 31 nuclear explosions on our earth every year. This chart from Wikipedia on Nuclear Weapons Testing:

Nuclear weapons release thousands of times more energy (read: radiation) into the environment than nuclear power plants do or ever could; known nuclear weapons testing has occurred, on average, over 31 times a year, every year since 1945. We've had three nuclear power plant accidents.


The jury is still out on Fukushima. Many people's lives have been devastated and many people have lost loved ones in the earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima disaster... But, still, to this date, no one has died from exposure to radiation. Hopefully, no one will. 


As far as Chernobyl is concerned, the Physics Forum moderator had this comment about claims that Chernobyl has caused cancers:


"...there is no Chernobyl effect visible in the epidemiological data - background is high enough to mask it."


This claim is backed up by a BBC Documentary called "Nuclear Nightmares." Episode Three, from 1:20 ~ is particularly relevant.  

The BBC documentary confirms the remarks by the moderator in that "According to standard models for radiation risk, the Chernobyl nuclear accident should have caused over 9,000 deaths due to cancer... Numbers have varied widely... But the most authoritative were published in 2005 by the Chernobyl Forum, an international forum of scientific agencies, including a number of UN bodies...." The total confirmed deaths were 47 and those were from the clean up crews at Chernobyl. 


You can view the BBC Documentary "Nuclear Nightmares", in full, here. 


(Please also pay close attention to the information about children's cancer in the same part three.)  


Continuing on, many will say that the discovery of irradiated tea in Kanagawa or other vegetables in Ibaraki are proof that the Fukushima accident is worse than reported. I have another thought on this notion. 


We have a saying, "If you go looking for trouble, you'll find it." I think that now, since everyone is so concerned about Fukushima, that we are being much more careful and diligent in our checking of our immediate environment. But I want to postulate one idea that won't be comfortable for most people...  I am wondering if this newly found radiation is not from Fukushima and we found it because we actually bothered to look. The fact is, it came from somewhere else.


Perhaps it came from another nuclear power plant? Perhaps Tokai or Hamaoka? You know, there was a cooling breakdown at the Tokai nuclear reactor on March 14th? Could these sorts of things be the origin of this radiation? Or could it be from something else? 


I suppose we might never know. Like I said, if you go looking for trouble, you'll most probably find it.


Do not misunderstand what the purpose of this blog post is. I am not pro nor anti nuclear power. I do believe that the worst thing that could happen to us is a loss of cheap and clean energy. But the real purpose of this post is not to defend the nuclear industry. It is to go back to my comments at the very start of this post: "What is important to people?"


Specifically, in this case, and finally to the point; we know that many nations have a massive amount of nuclear weaponry. We know that these nations have been testing these weapons, that, I think is an easy guess, to say that they've released hundreds of millions and millions more time the radiation into the earth and atmosphere than our three nuclear power plant accidents up until now... The USA and NATO nations have, and continue to do so until this very day, used highly radioactive depleted uranium weapons in the Middle East, yet you don't hear a peep about that from most people.

Effects of depleted uranium in mid east. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

Most people panic and crap their pants about Fukushima, but when their governments wage war and use nuclear weaponry, they say nothing.


It's a real head scratcher for me. What are these people thinking about? What is important to these people?


As these people stuff their face daily with food laced with chemicals, preservatives and other carcinogenic agents that they eagerly put into their own bodies; things they buy that are part and parcel of the processed foods, chips, pizza, etc., from the grocery store. They eagerly lunch daily on chemical trash from fast food establishments like McDonald's or the like. Then they wash it down with other chemical drinks like Coke that can dissolve metals...


Ex-Max Health Reports: According to a new study led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), with collaborators from the University of Toronto and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. The researchers found that smoking is responsible for 467,000 premature deaths each year, high blood pressure for 395,000, and being overweight for 216,000. The effects of smoking work out to be about one in five deaths in American adults, while high blood pressure is responsible for one in six deaths. 


People don't seem worry about these things that are known to cause all sorts of health problems like high-blood pressure, diabetes, heart attacks, etc.... These things that they could handle if they showed some self restraint for a better, healthier life... They don't seem to worry about that...


No, they won't do anything, won't say anything, about that... 


But, they will worry, and be very vocal, about the effects on their health from a minuscule amount of radiation from a nuclear power plant's accident hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away.


You really have to wonder how people create their priorities. 


Is "what is important" only what the mass media tells people what is important at that time? It seems so. We have a society of people who are being led by the nose who have lost the ability to think for themselves.


Interesting, no? Just what is important to people? What is important to you?


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I present for you now, a video showing a marker for every nuclear weapons test made from 1945 to 1998

A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 to 1998 

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.