Four years after the meltdown of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, photos are making the rounds on the Internet of frighteningly deformed daisies in Nasushiobara City, just 70 miles from the facility. At least some in the mainstream media are leaving out important details about the cause of the flowers’ defects.
A resident of Nasushiobara City tweeted out the photos on Twitter with the following caption that was translated into English by Fukushima Diary:
“The right one grew up, split into 2 stems to have 2 flowers connected each other, having 4 stems of flower tied beltlike. The left one has 4 stems grew up to be tied to each other and it had the ring-shaped flower.”
According to the International Business Times (IBTimes), the malformations are the result of a hormonal imbalance. The flower deformities seen in Nasushiobara City may very well be caused by a hormonal imbalance, but IBTimes conveniently omits one very important fact: Radiation affects the production and function of plant growth hormones, even at low doses. [1]
Furthermore, the mutated daisies are far from an isolated case. Locals have been reporting cases of deformed animals (including a rabbit born without ears), fruits, and vegetables and other plants ever since Fukushima melted down in 2011.
In August 2012, LiveScience published photos of deformed butterflies. The images of the pale blue grass butterflies were taken in Shiroishi, Fukushima, Motomiya, Koriyama, Hirono, Iwaki, Takahagi, Mito, Tsukuba, and Tokyo and show the creatures with dented eyes and misshapen wings, among other defects. [2]
@San_kaido via Twitte
The crisis unfolding in Japan doesn’t show any signs of slowing any time soon, and may in fact be getting worse. CounterPunch reported the following information late last month:
“On June 19th Tepco reported the highest-ever readings of strontium-90 outside of the Fukushima plant ports. The readings were 1,000,000 Bq/m3 of strontium-90 at two locations near water intakes for Reactors 3 and 4. Tepco has not been able to explain the spike up in readings. The prior highest readings were 700,000 Bq/m3.”
The site went on to explain that strontium-90 is a byproduct of nuclear reactors or the explosion of nuclear weapons, and is considered the most dangerous component of radioactive fallout from a nuclear weapon. Strontium-90 causes cancer by damaging the DNA in cells.
The Fukushima disaster spewed nuclear material into the atmosphere that eventually circled the globe, and the United States has not been immune from the contamination.
In November 2014, traces of Fukushima radiation was detected 100 miles off the California coast. Health officials, of course, said it was benign. When a YouTube video popped up in December 2013 showing an off-the-chart Geiger counter reading at a California beach, the California Department of Public Health said the radiation came from naturally occurring materials that did not pose a danger to humans. [3] [4]
It’s important to note that in January 2014, radiation levels were found to be 500% higher than normal in San Francisco. [10]
Do you think these daisies are the result of radiation exposure?
[1] Biotech Articles
[2] News.com.au
[3] USA Today
[4] Berkeley Patch