I have tried to keep up with the news regarding the damage at the Fukushima Dalichi Nuclear Plant since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11. I was one of many tens of thousands of people who protested the building of Diablo Canyon and San Onofre on the Pacific Coast of California and the hundreds of Nuclear Power Plants in the United States so I was aware of the dangers of radiation and the fact that it travels the world after an accident.
The Japanese Government handling of the crisis has not engendered confidence as it fluctuates from reports of “radioactive materials 10 million times normal levels” to mentioning “a clean-up worker would reach the yearly maximum exposure limit is 15 minutes or less.” Dr. Robert Peter Gale, an American physician and expert on radiation said in an interview “once credibility is lost, it’s very difficult to recover.”
Then I read in the Los Angles Times that the radiation monitors from San Diego to San Francisco are not working so there was no way to let us know what the radiation levels were here in California when the radioactivity passed over us. Then at the same time we had that horrendous storm last Sunday that gave us torrential rain for it seemed like 24 hours. There were higher levels of radioactivity detected in Reno, Nevada, and in Connecticut this past week. Our government tells us “not to worry.”
I am trying not to panic as I calmly go about pulling up my winter garden of the most beautiful kale, chard and arugula and the top four inches of soil and putting it in the trash because I do not have a Geiger counter to tell if radiation has affected it. I have also added a detox powder to my smoothies, started having miso broth daily and added seaweed salad to my meals.
Are you concerned for your children because radiation affects them more then adults? I heard the schools were sending messages home telling the parents not to worry. Do you believe them?
Are you aware that after almost 30 years of no new nuclear plants in America that there are now more being built? We have trillions of dollars for weapons, wars and destruction but where are our priorities for health and sustainability of life on earth.
Valerie Sklarevsky