GI Cancer Rates Are Climbing in Young Adults, Wake Up FDA!
Dear Supporters~
Food safety is never far from my thoughts, even during holiday celebrations. Chances are that you can relate because you signed the original Fukushima Fallout Food Safety Petition at Change (thanks again for signing!).
As you may know, Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN) has focused primarily on food safety since 2011. But did you know that, since 1994, colorectal cancer incidence has increased 51% in people younger than 50, climbing about 3% per year since 2011 in those aged 20 to 49. University of Chicago Medicine gastroenterologist Sonia Kupfer, MD, calls the shift “worrisome” stating, "Right now, we think environmental influences are underlying the rise in incidence.” An important question to ask is if those environmental influences are related to Fukushima Daiichi’s unprecedented triple nuclear explosions and quadruple hydrogen explosions in 2011. Long-lived, hazardous radioactive fallout circled the earth before coming down in rainfall. Cesium - 137 has a half-life of 30 years, yet remains hazardous for 100. Japan’s government continues to systematically dump Fukushima radioactive wastewater (which is only partially filtered) into the Pacific over the next 40 years at minimum. And that's not counting accidents.
The problem doesn't stop with Fukushima. Take the widespread radioactive shrimp recalls in 35 US states. Cesium-137 was traced to a metal recycling plant in Indonesia. Near the end of the recalls, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a warning that radioactive shrimp could continue to enter the US.
Then, in January, and for the first time in food pyramid history, health officials put an image of shrimp on the new food pyramid, along with guidelines urging pregnant women to consume up to 12 oz. of shrimp per week! Women, pregnant women and girls are far more vulnerable to the effects of carcinogenic cesium-137 than boys and men, although it impacts everyone. The food pyramid provides guidance for national healthcare policies, military menus, federal nutrition programs like the national school lunch program, and much more.
IMPORTANT to remember: at the start of the recalls, radioactive shrimp was flagged at 68 Becquerels per kilogram or 17 times lower than what the FDA currently deems fine for US citizens at 1,200 Bq/kg! The recalls brought intense public scrutiny to the massive gap between federal enforcement guidelines and actual public health concerns.
What can be done now? FFAN's Citizen Petition to FDA remains open to public comment. Demand stricter guidelines than the current derived intervention level of 1,200 Becquerels per kilogram of cesium-137 in our food supply. Commenting with a few sentences is fine, because all input counts as public record. Even if you already left a comment, the situation is only getting more alarming with the news of colorectal cancer rising in young adults at an alarming rate. Feel free to comment again about the food pyramid as well.
If you have any trouble accessing the FDA petition for comment link via this MoveOn petition for signature, contact me at FFAN0311@gmail.com for help. Then call FDA at 1-888-SAFEFOOD and leave a quick message for Acting Commissioner Kyle Diamantes strongly and politely urging him to act on the 2013 Citizen Petition. Time to wake up, FDA!
Thanks for reading and for taking action today.
Kim
Kimberly Roberson, Director
Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network
A Project of the National Institute for Science, Law and Public Policy
ffan0311@gmail.com