The United States military is issuing Potassium Iodide pills to helicopter crews flying operations in Japan. The crews take the pills before their missions.
U.S. nuclear experts now in Japan will start taking their own radiation readings. Officially this is to “help” Japan with the Fukushima nuclear disaster, but I think it’s because U.S. officials don’t trust what TEPCo, and Japanese officials, are reporting.
A Miami Herald article says people living on the West Coast of the United States are buying up anti-radiation pills.
nukepills.com, in North Carolina, has sold 6,500 orders of iodide pills (it is still being incorrectly called iodine pills) in four days. Normally they sell only 100 in the same time period. Most of the orders came from Washington state, Oregon and California.
The problem with Iodide, is that it can be a health hazard if misused. Iodide builds up in the thyroid, and can cause health issues. Another problem is that the more Iodide is used the less effective it is. Radioactive Iodine-131 causes thyroid cancer.
When Iodide and oxygen mix you get Iodine. So Iodine is a byproduct.
On 13 March 2011, the French embassy in Japan told French citizens to leave.
The memo described a worst case scenario that had most of Japan being hit by radioactive clouds. The memo also warned of overuse of Radiation Pills (Iodide), “Excessive repeated use can be harmful to your health.”
“It looks like the situation is creeping towards a radiological disaster,” said John Large, a nuclear consultant. He also says that he believes Japan will experience a worst case scenario. Partly due to officials not being honest about the situation.
Another problem is that the weekly weather forecast is predicting the winds will shift southward, which would blow radiation clouds onto Japan. Currently the winds are blowing eastward.
Retail pharmacies in Japan report they have run out of anti-radiation Iodide pills.
Richard Thornburgh, who was Governor of Pennsylvania during the Three Mile Island incident, says “You can’t assure against every kind of natural disaster.” He also admitted that officials are helpless in the face of natural disasters.
Japan’s NHK has interviewed survivors on the coast of North East Honshu.
Survivors in one coastal town say they have been told that the official tsunami height was put at 4 meters, for their area. They say that can not be, because sea wall tsunami barriers are built 10 meters high, and the tsunami easily went over the 10 meter high sea walls. One resident says the tsunami that hit their town had to be at least 14 meters high.
1 meter = 3.28 feet. 14 meter wave is 45.9 feet high.
13 March 2011
In February there were several reports that a massive geological event was beginning under Japan. This was driven by the sudden increase in volcanic and quake activity south of Japan. It’s all tied to the increasing activity of the Pacific Plate, and surrounding tectonic plates. It’s also believed that disasters will resonate around the world.
13 March, a report in a Wales newspaper says the Japan event was part of a larger event that changed the tilt of the Earth on its axis. The tilt was changed by 10cm. The article also says Japanese professors claim that events will occur around the world on “…faults that are already on the brink of a tectonic upheaval.” They also say this event in Japan happens every 1000 years.
Another report says that the speed of Earth’s rotation has increased, as a result of the Japan event. It was increased by 1.6 microseconds. The speed was also increased after last years big Chile quake. But after the big 2004 Sumatra quake/tsunami the Earth was slowed down by 6.8 microseconds. The point is that these events are not just ‘normal’ quake events. They are deep events affecting the very rotation of the planet.
For the past few years there have been growing events of quakes and tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean. There’s a reason it’s called the Pacific Ring of Fire: An event on one side of the Pacific will result in an event on the other side. The intervals of events have been getting closer together. So far this year we had New Zealand quake event, then volcanic event in Hawaii, now Japan. There was also a moderate quake off Chile the same day as the big Japan quake. It looks like the Pacific Ring of Fire events are intensifying.
Be prepared.
Signs of a coming food crisis are everywhere. Most notably at the source, the farms that grow the basic crops. Here on the east side of Idaho, farmers had to deal with a spring that was too cool too long, resulting in crops being planted weeks late, and then a short summer (www.noaanews.noaa.gov) (www.kidk.com).
It’s not just Idaho, but many of the crop growing states in the U.S. are experiencing lower yields, and you can blame the weather. Any type of extreme weather will affect crops (sciencepolicy.colorado.edu). In Idaho it’s too cool & too dry. In other parts of the United States it’s too wet (just look at all the flooding in the southern states), or too hot & dry. And it’s not just the U.S.; Canada & Mexico, South America, Eurasia & Africa as well as Australia, are all dealing with the adverse affects of weird weather on their crops. Pakistan can kiss most of their crop production goodbye after the incredible floods they experienced. Russia is loosing crops due to record heat & fires (www.voanews.com) (rt.com) (rt.com). Just in the past couple of days flooding in Nigeria has destroyed 240 acres of farmland (www.cnn.com).
The result is that overall, globally, less product is heading towards the markets, which means higher commodity prices paid for those crops (Law of Supply & Demand). This is good for farmers who can still produce big crop yields, as farmers in Colorado are finding out (www.agweek.com), but it’s bad for the average consumer. Coffee retailers have finally started passing on the higher costs they’re paying for the beans (starbucks.tekgroup.com). This will only add to the specter of inflation, a three pronged attack caused by governments printing too much money, precious metal prices blasting off and food prices soaring.
Here’s what has happened to wheat commodity prices: In March 2010 Hard Red Winter Wheat was at a value of 191.07, by August 2010 it hit a value of 246.35 (www.indexmundi.com). Not all commodities have experienced such a big increase, a few have actually dropped. But, there is a trend of reduced availability & increased cost, so much so that the UN held an emergency meeting to discuss the issue (www.guardian.co.uk). Some UN officials blame inexperienced commodity speculators for the increases in prices. One example of that is that it looks like the December 2010 Corn futures were “overbought” (Idaho Grain Market Alert 9.23.10). This is a double whammy for the average consumer; not only will some foods become limited but some food will be too expensive. So the coming food crisis may probably be more about people not being able to buy the food, than it’s limited availability.