MUTATO SALAD

Fruits Nuts and the Maniacal Meltdown

Japan raised the crisis level at its crippled nuclear plant to a severity level that can
now be in the same category as the Chernobyl disaster that happened in 1986. Even
without the official severity level, many have already suspected that this disaster has
now had an effect on the United States; Japan has now fully admitted that the plant has
contaminated the air, tap water, vegetables and seawater. The ecosystem is a loss.
For the longest time news out of Japan has been frightening. There have been stories
of radioactive bodies surrounding the plant and people who have risked their lives by
trying to contain the radiation leaks.

Japanese nuclear regulators now report that they have raised the radiation threat level
from 5 to 7. This is now the highest level on an international scale of nuclear accidents.
This means that the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant has now become the worst nuclear
disaster and the new ranking signifies a “major accident” that includes worldwide effects
on the environment and health.

Of course officials have issued platitudes saying that there is no reason for alarm and
that so far they really have not seen any reports of health damage in the surrounding
villages within a 12 mile radius.

Continued aftershocks following the 9.0-magnitude mega-quake on March 11 are
impeding work on stabilizing the Fukushima plant — the latest a 6.3-magnitude quake
that occurred recently prompted the plant operator Tokyo TEPCO, to temporarily pull
back workers.

Even though Japan has had an unprecedented amount Defense Forces since World
War II trying to end this crisis, they just cannot comprehend or even seem to stop the
worldwide destruction caused by the combined effects of the Mega quake, Tsunami and
Nuclear Meltdown.

Everywhere else there seems to be a maniacal meltdown of denial about the ill effects
of the radiation here in the United States. A New York Times article that was posted
yesterday on the internet demonstrates the denial that many scientists and mainstream
news outlets are having with regard to the effects of the radiation of the disaster in
Japan.

Denise Grady who writes for the New York Times published an article entitled “Yes
we still have Bananas Radiated or Not” on April 11th. She writes “Recently, one of my

interviews took a turn for the weird. I asked a scientist about possible health effects from
radioactive materials leaking out of the Fukushima plant, and he started talking about
bananas”

The reason the scientists insisted on talking about bananas is because they are the
most potent source for a naturally occurring form of radioactive potassium and that we
ingest this potent radioactivity every day.

The potassium is absorbed and is stored in our bones and muscles. Brazil nuts
according to the scientist are even more potent radiation carriers. They are loaded with
radium.

Grady says she had to steer the interview back to the reactors and the scientist gave
some blasé comment to avoid harmful exposure to radiation. When she felt like the
interview gave her nothing she reports that she called another scientist to give his
expert opinion about radioactive iodine and cesium being found in some Japanese
milk and produce. The scientist, who was on another coast told her there wasn’t much
risk, but it would probably still be better not to eat the food. Then he said, “I just had a
banana for lunch.”

“Bananas are radioactive,” he went on soothingly. “Everything is radioactive, including
the food we eat and, for many people in this country, the water we drink.

It seems that there is this gleeful denial that we might be in danger. That we are all
being told that we should be okay and that there is nothing to worry about. The banana
defense is a distraction for what might be something so deadly that the long term effects
are going to be buried under a lot of these distractions to calm the public down.

Are we seeing a cover up? Or are we really seeing authorities irritated by the public’s
ignorance about radiation?

Before Science Fiction Author Michael Crichton died, he was ostracized for a speech
that he gave on the subject of Complexity Theory and Environmental management.
Crichton had said that while researching his “Book State of Fear” he was looking for
a disaster that he could use as a model. He chose the Chernobyl disaster because
he recalled that thousands of people had died. But in his research he found that his
recalling of events did not match the reality.

The initial reports in 1986 claimed that there were 2,000 dead, and then a reported

unknown number of future deaths and deformities would eventually occur in a wide
swath extending from Sweden to the Black Sea. As the years passed, the size of the
possible future deaths increased; by 2000, the BBC and New York Times estimated
15,000-30,000 would eventually be dead. According to Crichton after hearing about
thousands dying and future mega death projections, the final toll of deaths directly
related to the disaster of Chernobyl was 56. Crichton said that the biggest impact from
the disaster was the psychological impact.

People were riddled with fear because of the negative self-assessments of health, the
constant reminders and generated fear in a shortened life expectancy. This created a
lack of initiative, and dependency on assistance from the state. People literally assumed
that their lives were doomed and so they gave up.

Crichton said that the psychological impact of fearing a cataclysmic event can be far
worse than the event itself.

Can thoughts kill? Can we work ourselves into believing we are doomed and dying as a
result? Are the scientists in the article by Denise Grady using Bananas as a distraction
because perhaps the situation is graver than they are letting on?

These are some fascinating questions as we observe human behavior in the face of
certain mental meltdown.