Thank you for signing the first petition to keep harmful Fukushima nuclear radiation out of our food supply. Today April 26th marks 39 years since the start of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. When Unit 4 exploded, it released extraordinarily dangerous long-lived nuclear fallout into the environment, including cesium 137. Nuclear radiation fell on cities, villages, countryside, forests, rivers and seas. Cesium bioaccumulates and biomagnifies in the food chain, and creates transgenerational DNA damage that causes cancer and chronic illnesses. Women and girls are the most vulnerable, but it affects us all. 

MIT's Kate Brown, author of "Manual for Survival, An Environmental History of the Chernobyl Disaster" investigated something rather shocking in 2016 as relayed in the chapter "Berry Picking Into the Future".  Workers in the forest of Rivne Provence, northern Ukraine were, and may still be, picking, sorting, mixing, and selling berries for jam to be sold in European markets. (In the process, "hot" radioactive berries are mixed with non-radioactive fruit to render lower radiation readings for sale.)  And there are no regulations in place to stop the U.S. from importing and then selling that jam here, because the FDA's current extreme guideline of 1,200 Becquerel per kilogram of cesium 137 in food won’t keep it out of the U.S. It's a wonder that Chernobyl jam isn't being sold as a delicacy like Fukushima peaches. At least for now.

Instead of being accurately informed about our food, what does mainstream media offer up as information every year for the Chernobyl anniversary? "The world's largest nature preserve is thriving" as recently told again, this time by a self-proclaimed pet blogger and lover of "cuteness" for Nice News. We all like a happy story, but science tells a far different one. The European Commission supported project Chernobyl: Ecology and Health has tracked generations of devastating health problems, including cancer, in people of all ages.  When you read that data is still needed from the Fukushima Daiichi and Three Mile Island nuclear disasters to understand health impacts, we know that the data already exists. 

When does the disinformation stop, and how about now? Wind, water, and solar power have far safer impacts on our health and climate than man-made radiation from nuclear power.

There's something easy you can do to honor the victims of Chernobyl. Please take a minute to sign this petition and share it with your networks. It will be delivered to Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. and the MAHA Commission.

Sincerely, 

Kim 

Kimberly Roberson, Director
Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network
A Project of the National Institute for Science, Law and Public Policy

#FollowTheTritium to #WindWaterSolar #MAHA

ffan0311@gmail.com