Eat Me

Michael Collins | Jul 15, 2011 | Comments 97

When Denise Anne and I started Radiation Station exactly four months ago today, we had no idea how much the ongoing meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex were going to change our lives.

Within days, we began live-streaming ambient interior and exterior radiation readings 24-7 in the western Los Angeles Basin where millions of people live. We equipped ourselves with High Efficiency Air Particle (HEPA) filters and a countertop reverse osmosis water purification system* which we use along with a previously purchased Berkey water filter.

We began growing a variety of sprouts in this controlled environment. We then inventoried our previous survival supplies which are robust because of the threat of earthquakes in Southern California. Figuring out what we then needed became paramount considering the meltdowns’ ongoing and increasingly lethal threats.

Growing crucial foodstuffs in our controlled environment

While the ambient air readings have been generally benign, our tests of rain water, so-called June Gloom mist, HEPA filter dust, some powdered milk, chocolate and fruit have shown preliminary indications of elevated radiation levels that point to a culprit upwind of us, Fukushima. Astronomical amounts of highly fissile radioactive material have been spewing out of Fukushima unceasingly since three reactors melted down March 15.

Generally, Los Angeles has been the beneficiary of being south of where the jet stream across the Pacific has flowed since March. Fukushima is upwind of the United States, however, and other regions like the Bay Area, Northern California, the Northwest and Midwest have been hammered by high radiation. Potrblog in St. Louis has repeatedly tested rainwater coming in at 62 times background radiation, a level that is dozens of times more than what the Environmental Protection Agency considers harmful.

GO TO EAT ME RECEIPTS

So where is the EPA in testing your food for Fukushima fallout contamination? They tested for it from March 11 through June 30 and then said sayonara to enhanced monitoring even though many of their readings were abnormally high.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has repeatedly discounted any possibility that Fukushima fallout could impact America. This week, the NRC released its Near-Term Task Force report on Enhancing Reactor Safety in the 21st Century.

The NRC regulates America's 104 nuclear reactors

Scanning this report we discovered that it includes a dedication to individuals who responded to the Fukushima disaster for their efforts that have resulted in “no fatalities and the expectation of no significant radiological health effects” from the disaster.

The amount of radiation that has oozed into the ocean and steamed into the air at Fukushima is huge and will most certainly have significant radiological health effects. To dare to print such dangerous nonsense belies either incomprehension of science or another agenda driven by money and power. Neither is acceptable.

The government’s take on this is that it’s over even though just one of the destroyed reactors contains enough Plutonium-239 to kill every person on the planet six times over. The deliberately misleading head-in-the-sand policy adopted by the government has put the citizenry at risk without their consent.

The EPA decision to halt testing came over a week before the Japanese owner of the stricken reactors, TEPCO, admitted that three of the six reactors melted down on the first day. The EPA didn’t reconsider resumed fallout testing upon learning this nor did it when it was subsequently informed through the media that these reactors have undergone something much more terrifying and uncontrollable which is called a melt-through.

A melt-through is when the molten goo of a reactor in full meltdown burns its way through its containment vessel of steel and concrete. Now TEPCO says it won’t even be able to fix the destroyed fuel rods for at least ten years as if these “rods” even were intact.

Clean air in primary places of residence and work cuts down rad exposure

And the EPA has not even made a peep about resumed and more robust radiological testing across the nation that has already seen environmental contamination of air, water and food. Finds in foodstuffs and rainwater by the University of Berkeley have shown extensive impacts from radionuclides associated with meltdowns. Fukushima’s fingerprints are all over the place.

The American people are on their own, ‘reassured’ by people claiming authority to posit what on the face of it is a complete falsehood: that this out of control situation, which is getting worse by the day, could in no way affect the health and well being of the creatures that inhabit this land. It already has. It could take years or decades to see the tragic results.

Geiger counters are virtually impossible to obtain. Most Americans haven’t a clue about the threat that this silent and growing menace poses to our water supply, crops, animals, land, environment, health and gene pool. Even now, with two reactor complexes threatened with flooding from the Missouri River and another back east spewing water from its reactor, most folks carry on as if there aren’t three meltdowns upwind of us, three melt-throughs that threaten an ecological calamity the likes of which humanity has never seen.

They won’t see it either because radiation is invisible. It’s also tasteless and doesn’t smell. That makes foraging for fallout-free food so challenging.*

Radiation free water is especially crucial for children and pregnant women

Even though Denise Anne and I have radically adapted our diet to the new realities of radiation contamination, searching out pre-March 11 produced items, finding food grown south of the Equator, growing our own and knowing which foods currently on the grocery shelves were made with last summer’s harvest, most corn being an important example.

We still consume items that aren’t guaranteed to be fallout free. These items have to be tested.

Lucky for us we have an Inspector nuclear radiation monitor which I have used for nearly a dozen years in my role as an environmental investigative reporter. While it may not catch everything due to limitations beyond my control, it sure does catch a lot.

When we go shopping, we first aim to shop rad-smart and then test the items upon returning home. Sometimes, however, I will test items in stores to save me the problem of buying something I know could be impacted by Fukushima. Other times, I’ll test the groceries out in the car before driving off.

The EPA is not testing our food adequately. Our answer to that is Eat Me. We want to share with you our purchases in an effort to let you see what we have found to be rad-free. It’s no guarantee that these items are totally rad free – to better elucidate that we would need this Ludlum Isotopic Identifier which only costs a mere $15,678.57. (Of course, if you’d like to help us move towards our goal of purchasing this radionuclide identifier, please see the PayPal button on the sidebar of this site.)

But you can damn well bet the farm that I’m not serving up anything contaminated to my bride. And I will work to the best of my ability to find food that’s not hot and test the stuff that may be.

We try to eat radiation free food every day

The receipts we’re sharing are from post-Fukushima purchases and do not include everything we eat (we are fortunate to be stocked up on plenty of pre-Fukushima food). You may notice we aren’t exactly gourmet diners and it’s possible you’ll not share our preferences.

We simply want to put our money where our mouth is and our mouth where our money is so to speak. You can too – please feel free to share your discoveries and tips in our Comments section below.

One last thing – if you use these receipts to better judge food options open to you, you agree to abide by our Disclaimer.

We will update Eat Me with receipts every time we shop.

Bon Appétit!

GO TO EAT ME RECEIPTS

*We bought our reverse-osmosis machine from Southern California-based Advanced Purification Engineering Corp. and were so impressed that we became an affiliate. If you buy through us the company will pay us a commission which will be used to run EnviroReporter.com’s Radiation Station and our multiple investigations.

Filed Under: Blog • Featured • Fukushima Meltdowns • Radiation Station