Traces of Radiation Detected in Arkansas Air Samples; Experts Say There's No Risk to Human Health

Dees Illustration

The following Arkansas Department of Health press release fails to mention the fact that the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is attempting to make the mainstream media cover up of the Fukushima cloud a bit easier. 


Little Rock - Air quality samples taken in the state this week have detected the presence of iodine-131, which is an element that has been associated with the nuclear power plant accident in Japan. According to the EPA, these types of findings are to be expected in the coming days all across the country and are far below levels of human health concern, including for infants and children.

The air monitors are maintained by the Arkansas Department of Health, which routinely monitors air conditions around Arkansas Nuclear One (ANO).

William Mason, MD, Emergency Preparedness branch chief, said, “We know that people are very concerned about possible air contamination from the nuclear power plant in Japan. These levels detected in Arkansas are well below the conservative level of concern for human health. Along with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and other federal and state agencies, we are carefully monitoring the situation.”

"Radiation (including iodine-131) is all around us in our daily lives, and these findings are a minuscule amount compared to what people experience every day from sources other than air, food and water. For example, a person would be exposed to low levels of radiation on a round trip cross-country flight, watching television and medical testing," Mason said.

In response to the ongoing situation in Japan, the EPA has taken steps to increase the level of nationwide monitoring of rainwater, drinking water and other potential exposure routes through its RadNet program. RadNet is operated by the EPA. Its mission is to monitor environmental radioactivity in the United States in order to provide high quality data for assessing public exposure and environmental impacts resulting from nuclear emergencies and to provide baseline data during routine conditions.

In general, data generated from RadNet provide the information base for making decisions necessary to ensure the protection of public health. The system helps EPA determine whether additional sampling or other actions are needed in response to particular releases of radioactivity to the environment. RadNet can also provide supplementary information on population exposure, radiation trends and other aspects of releases.

For more information on RadNet, please go to http://www.epa.gov/narel/radnet/.


Contact: Office of Health Communications and Marketing
Ed Barham, 501-280-4147

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How To Find a Bunker If Doomsday Is on the Way

Anthony Freda Illustration

Activist Post

As signs of the End Times both man made and natural become impossible to ignore, it seems that an increasing number of people are willing to take survivalism to its ultimate conclusion: the doomsday bunker.

It is still a relatively small market, but builders of fallout shelters and survival bunkers of all stripes are recording record sales in the wake of increasing natural disasters, chaotic political upheaval, and the threat of coming earth changes. 

One company, Hardened Structures cites the following client demographics:

• 30% believe in 2012 or end-of-the world scenarios
• 50-55% are concerned about economic collapse and political unrest
• 20% wish to protect against military, data storage and EMP threats

Knowing that U.S. officials themselves have prepared for the very same cataclysmic scenarios through their Continuity of Government agenda, it would be wise to take a look at what the survival marketplace has to offer for those of us who don't have the ultimate bunker, Cheyenne Mountain, at our disposal.A recent story highlighted luxury bunker living, replete with a wine cellar and nearly every manner of creature comforts.  However, there is actually a wide range of survival shelters available at various price points and purpose.  Do you want to prepare for short-term threats such as earthquakes, storms, or political unrest?  Or a doomsday scenario such as 2012,  nuclear strike, or massive earth changes?  Do you want a personal family bunker, or fractional-ownership community living?

Bunker living isn't for everyone, but for those who are curious about what the options are, and at what cost, here is the latest: 

Budget: Less than $10,000

One of the least expensive and perhaps practical ways to protect you and your family in a short-term emergency is a portable Protective Tent from Underground Bomb Shelters.   Starting at $8,800 plus shipping, their LSS-80 Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection System can be made fully operational in less than 15 minutes.

Temet LSS-80

Budget:  Less than $50,000

Option 1: Do-It-Yourself -- The video below shows a functional shelter created from an 8-meter long shipping container done on the cheap.  If prepared properly this will enable survival of anything other than a direct hit.




Option 2: Ready-Made -- According to Hardened Structures, their most popular shelter is a $38,000 unit with a steel shell and blast door with air-filtering system. It is engineered to protect against nuclear, biological and chemical disasters, as well as catastrophic storms.  These structures are waterproof, and can be expanded to accommodate additional residents employing a modular approach.

2012 Genesis Series

Budget:  Less than $100,000 (Family)

These premier underground shelters are built with steel both reinforced and insulated.  One shelter holds over 2 years food supply for a family of up to 5 people.  Shelters can be clustered together for more people and storage space.  Available for 5, 10, 15 people or more.  Shelters also can arrive completely stocked.

Budget:  Less than $100,000 (Community)

For the crème de la crème of community fallout shelters, one company has risen above the rest;:Vivos, in the middle of the Mojave Desert.  Their ultimate vision is one of a network of shelters near major cities where people could retreat in case of nearly any conceivable magnitude of disaster.  They already have designed an underground community that can house up to 200 people for one year of living. Units are sold on a fractional-ownership basis starting at between $25K - $50K depending on geographical location:

Budget: Unlimited

Luxury Survival Condos:  Developer Larry Hall has chosen Kansas as the place to house his 15-story condo complex with units ranging from $900K to nearly $2M.  Living space is roughly 900 sq. ft. for 3-5 people and double that for 6-10 people.  Beyond these luxury survival condos, all manner of custom construction is available, with suppliers stating that they have received orders into the many tens of millions of dollars.

Unfortunately, less and less people have the means to afford a fully equipped, long-term survival structure, even if staying underground for months or years on end sounds like a viable option.

If you have constructed, or purchased your own short- or long-term doomsday bunker, please contact us about the process, product report, or tips to reduce the cost -- and we will post your experience anonymously if you wish.

In the meantime, absent the ability to prepare for a doomsday that may or may not happen, it is wise to take reasonable precautions against rising food costs, supply line disruptions, and the host of natural disasters which are on the rise.

* Note: Activist Post does not endorse or receive compensation from any of the companies mentioned in this article.  Products were selected based on quality of information and presentation only.

Sources for this story:
http://money.ca.msn.com/banking/homebuyersguide/article.aspx?cp-documentid=27932220

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EPA to Help Mainstream Media Obscure The Truth About Radiation Exposure to Americans

Dees Illustration

Brandon Turbeville

Activist Post 

As Americans focus on March Madness and Dancing With the Stars instead of the radioactive plume spreading all across the country, the US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is attempting to make the mainstream media cover up of the Fukushima cloud a bit easier. 

The agency now notorious for itsinfamous claim that the air was safe to breathe after 9/11 is now seeking toraise the PAGs (Protective Action Guides) to levels vastly higher than those at which they are currently set allowing for more radioactive contamination of the environment and the general public in the event of a radioactive disaster.

PAGs are policies established by the EPA that guide the agency in enforcing the various environmental laws such as the Clean Air and Water Act in the invent of a radioactive emergency such as a nuclear/dirty bomb or factory meltdown like that occurring in Japan.

The EPA had already established PAGs in this area in 1992. They can be found here. However, the agency now plans to amend and revise these standards this year. Because regulatory agencies form their own policies (although they can be directed by either the President or the Congress), there is no requirement to seek Congressional approval for these changes. All that is required is that the agency place the proposed changes in the Federal Register for public comment before it finalizes its draft into legal policy.

According to PEER  (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, the new standards would drastically raise the levels of radiation allowed in food, water, air, and the general environment. PEER, a national organization of local, state, and federal employees who had access to internal EPA emails, claims that the new standards will result in a “nearly 1000-fold increase for exposure to strontium-90, a 3000 to 100,000-fold hike for exposure to iodine-131; and an almost 25,000 rise for exposure to radioactive nickel-63” in drinking water. This information, as well as the emails themselves were published by Collapsenet on March 24.

In addition to raising the level of permissible radiation in the environment, PEER suggests that thestandards of cleanup after a radioactive emergency will actually be reduced. As a result, radioactive cleanup thresholds will be vastly lowered and, by default, permissible levels of radiation will be vastly increased in this manner as well.

As Michael Kane writes for Collapsenet, the current EPA numbers, as well as those generally agreed upon in the international radiation assessment community, all point to the fact that these increases in permissible levels would create a level of radiation where approximately 1 in 4 people would contract cancer from exposure to them.

The changes to the 1992 PAGs are not a new attempt by the EPA. The agency attempted similar changes in 2009 but the revisions were stopped largely by a barrage of FOIA requests and a lawsuitfiled by PEER. However, in 2009 there was no massive radiation disaster the EPA needed to cover up as there is at the current time. In 2009, the EPA could afford to back off, regroup, and try again at a later date. Unfortunately, it is not likely to react the same way this time around. 

As of the time of this writing, a toxic cloud of radiation has not only reached the US West Coast, but has spread all the way across the country to states like South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, and Massachussetts. Both the US government and the mainstream media have largely denied any risk associated with the radiation and have actively engaged in covering up the extent to which it has spread across the country. 

In the event of any real journalism, the revelation of the danger and scale of the Japanese radiation cloud could be disastrous for those who hide the truth from the people who are sure to suffer the consequences. Indeed, the revelation that a toxic cloud of cancer-causing particles is littering the United States (especially in real time) might even be too much for the average television- and sports-obsessed American to handle.

However, the lowering of safety standards for radiation contamination would be a major victory for those wishing to cover it up. After all, the talking heads would then be able to claim that the radiation levels are within the safety range set by the EPA. 

No cause for worry.

Regardless of the motivation behind these new changes, they must be actively opposed. We cannot allow the veil to be pulled even further over the eyes of the American people. At the very least, we cannot allow an agency charged with protecting both the environment and the people who live in it to set standards alleviating itself of that responsibility.
 

Brandon Turbeville is an author out of Mullins, South Carolina. He has a Bachelor’s Degree from Francis Marion University where he earned the Pee Dee Electric Scholar’s Award as an undergraduate. He has had numerous articles published dealing with a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, and civil liberties. He also the author of Codex Alimentarius - The End of Health Freedom 

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Gold, Guns, and Getaway Plans: Gerald Celente Talks to Lew Rockwell

Lew Rockwell
The government and the power elite are out of control. The president rips up the constitution to start another war, and the American boobeosie sit back and watch TV. Wall Street and the big banks rip us off, and Boobus Americanus eats more junk food. But ignoring the criminals who are ruining the entire West with their monetary Ponzi scheme is hardly a cure. For one thing, we have to be prepared for retaliation by Gadaffi in New York or some other American city. But as individuals and families, we don’t have to take it. Given what lies ahead, here is what courageous Americans can do.

Gerald Celente is Founder/ Director of The Trends Research Institute. The Trends Research Institute publishes The Trends Journal.

Listen to the interview here 

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US launches review of nuclear plant safety

The Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station
(L, dome) and cooling tower (R) in New Jersey
© AFP/File Stan Honda

AFP

"Examining all the available information from Japan is essential to understanding the event's implications for the United States."

Tokyo has declared an exclusion zone with a radius of 20 kilometers (12 miles) around the northeastern Fukushima power station and evacuated tens of thousands of people, after it was crippled by the March 11 quake and tsunami.

Engineers hope to restart the cooling systems of all six reactors that were knocked out by the 14-meter (46-foot) tsunami, and they have already reconnected the wider facility to the national power grid.


But the crippled plant northeast of Tokyo has been leaking radiation and has suffered a series of explosions and fires since the country's worst natural disaster in nearly a century.

US President Barack Obama last week ordered a "comprehensive review" of US nuclear safety and vowed to learn lessons from Japan's nuclear crisis.

The NRC said the task force would provide updates on its work in 30, 60 and 90 days, and a full report with its recommendations would be published in six months.

"We will perform a systematic and methodical review to see if there are changes that should be made to our programs and regulations to ensure protection of public health and safety," Jaczko said.

The review will include information from NRC inspectors who are posted at every US nuclear power plant, the regulator said.

"This work will help determine if any additional NRC responses, such as orders requiring immediate action by US plants, are called for," said NRC executive director for operations Bill Borchardt.

Meanwhile, the NRC said its staff "reiterated their conclusions that the United States and its territories will avoid any harmful radiation levels as a result of the ongoing events at the Fukushima Daiichi plant."

© AFP -- Published at Activist Post with license

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3 Ways To Protect Yourself From Radiation NATURALLY

Mary Hickcox, R.N.
Activist Post

Radiation is something that we all come into contact with on a daily basis.  It generally comes in two forms: terrestrial and cosmic.

Terrestrial radiation elements are found all over; in soil, water, air, and even in the food that we eat, particularly if it is grown in the ground.   The largest contributor to radiation in the natural world, though, is radon which is a decaying product of Uranium, released from rocks and soil.  This gets into our air, as well as our water supply, and we are usually completely unaware of its presence.  Cosmic rays of radiation are another source that we get everyday.  Most of it is blocked by our atmosphere, but not completely.

Then of course there are the ways in which humans are creating more radiation.
Smokers inhale a form of radiation; the rocks, cement, and bricks we use in building often times contain uranium ores; and increase in air travel has contributed to our exposure of cosmic rays.  The medical field also contributes via dental X-rays, CT scans, MRI, radio isotope injection to diagnose cancer and radiation therapy to treat cancer.  While these are generally necessary, the TSA has introduced dangerous backscatter devices to airport security, which is set to be rolled out in neighborhood security vans, on buses, trains and in malls as well.  This additional radiation exposure has no place in our daily lives.  Meanwhile, our modern conveniences such as microwaves, radio towers, cell phones, wireless routers and the vast spectrum of electromagnetic pollution contribute to the bombardment.

The escalating crisis in Japan has led many of us to start thinking about serious radiation exposure from the worst threat of all -- nuclear fallout, which has resulted in a lot of impulse buying of the most common treatment, Potassium Iodide, to the point that it is disappearing all together.  But fear not, there are many other natural ways to protect ourselves from radiation poisoning that we should be taking on a regular basis to combat all forms of daily radiation.

Herbs There are several easy-to-obtain herbs that can be used for your protection.  One of the best herbal protectors against radiation is Rosemary which contains Carnosic and Rosmarinic acids.  According to Natural News, two different studies were done in Spain showing the positive effects of using Rosemary.  It fights radiation damage to cells and rids the body of DNA damaging free radicals.  It is readily available at any grocery or health food store, or can be grown in a windowsill herb garden, while being a wonderful addition to many meals.  Herbs such as Cilantro help to remove heavy metals from the body, while others such as Dandelion help to rid the body of free radicals and protect the liver.   

Key Foods Obviously a healthy diet is a great start for having a body capable of removing some of the toxins related to radiation, as well as to strengthen the immune system.  Some foods, though, are more helpful in the event of excess radiation.  Any food containing caffeic acid, such as apples, citrus fruits, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage offer support.  In a study done in India, caffeic acid was injected into cells and then those cells were subjected to varying degrees of radiation, while the control group was not.  In all of the cells injected with the acid, there was no damage to the cells at all.  The control group showed various degrees of genetic damage.  Another food source of great protection is seaweed (kelp, spirulina, brown algae), due to its natural iodine content and ability to slow the accumulation of nuerotoxic metals.   Buckwheat, tumeric, ginko, and any potassium-rich foods are also great ways to protect yourself. 

Vitamins and supplements   Simple vitamins receive very little attention for their anti-radiation benefits.  The British Journal of Radiology reports that Vitamin C, E, and beta carotene are all effective tools for protection against radiation.  Vitamin C can protect against radiation as well as repair damage done to cells from previous exposure.  Calcium, magnesium, and bee pollen are also key supplements that should be added to a healthy, balanced diet.

Don’t let anyone fool you.  Radiation exposure on any level is not OK.   Radiation disrupts our cellular growth, can make our cells grow abnormally, or even die off completely.  Some of the cells will be mutated and reproduce; this is the process leading us to cancer. Obviously the more exposure we receive the worse the situation is as the cells do not have time to replace the ones killed off by the radiation, but any level is bad.  Do yourself a favor: regardless of what happens in Japan, or at any of the other countless nuclear facilities, start taking action now with the products listed above, and prevent exposure in any way that you can.

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US not prepared for 'mega-disaster': official

© AFP/File Mandel Ngan

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States is not as prepared as it should be for a disaster on the scale of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, a former top emergency response official said Thursday.

"If you ask me if we as a nation are better prepared than we were 40 years ago, five years ago, the answer is yes.

"But if you ask me are we as prepared as we can or should be, the answer to that is, no, we're not," retired Department of Homeland Security inspector general Richard Skinner told a Senate hearing.

Lessons learned from disasters like Hurricane Andrew, which killed 26 people in 1992, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the September 11, 2001 attacks should have left the United States "much better prepared than we are today," said Skinner.
"The tragic events that are unfolding today in Japan are a stark reminder of how important catastrophic preparedness is. It can and will happen here -- it's just a matter of when," he told the hearing.


"Nevertheless, I remain concerned about FEMA's capability and resolve to sustain an effective catastrophic preparedness strategy and program," he said.

FEMA, or the Federal Emergency Management Agency, came under fire for its ineffectual response to Hurricane Katrina, which claimed some 1,200 lives in the US Gulf states and caused an estimated $75 billion in damage.

The agency was revamped after Katrina, but Skinner, who authored a recent report on FEMA, said the agency was still mired in the same inefficiencies that were found by auditors 20 years ago, and was dragging its heels to implement changes.

Republican Senator Susan Collins said US Geological Survey data show there is a 94 percent probability of a powerful earthquake of magnitude seven or more hitting California in the next 30 years.

"It's also inevitable that there will be hurricanes, floods and tornadoes, and a terrorist attack using a weapon of mass destruction in a large city would strain our capability," she said, questioning whether United States can "handle a mega-disaster."

© AFP -- Published at Activist Post with license

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