All Bluefin Tuna Caught in California are Radioactive - Facts

Story:

Do Not Eat Tuna

ALL Bluefin Tuna Caught In California Are Radioactive:

Every bluefin tuna tested in the waters off California has shown to be contaminated with radiation that originated in Fukushima. Every single one.

Analysis:

This is a health warning message asking people not to eat Bluefin Tuna fish caught in California, claiming that all of them are found to be contaminated with radiation originated from Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. It is partially fact!

The source of these messages is an article published on NaturalCuresNotMedicine.com with the same title. The article mentions a related study reported by The Wall Street Journal in May of 2012. The Wall Street Journal did publish an article titled ‘U.S. Tuna Has Fukushima Taint,’ reporting a Stanford University study on Bluefin Tuna fish caught in California.

Screenshot of article on Natural Cures Not Medicine website

From the Study

Marine ecologist Daniel Madigan, who led the study team on Bluefin Tuna fish caught in California at Stanford University, said the tuna packaged the radiation up and brought it across the world’s largest ocean, Pacific. They were surprised to see the radiation in every tuna fish they measured. Another marine biologist Nicholas Fisher at Stony Brook University in New York, who was also part of the study group said they found that all tuna fish they studied had comparable concentrations of cesium-134 and cesium-137.

The researchers found slightly elevated levels of cesium-137 and cesium-134, two primary products of nuclear fission concentrated in muscle tissue of the Tuna fish. They also estimated that the Pacific Bluefin Tuna fish in Japan had 1.5-15 times higher radio cesium concentrations than that measured at time of capture in California. However, the scientists said that the amount of radioactivity in the fish was one-tenth the level the U.S. and Japan consider dangerous, and likely do not pose any public-health hazard or risk to the people eating the seafood. In other words, the amounts of radiation found in Bluefin Tuna fish caught in California were well below levels considered unsafe for humans. It should also be noted that scientist Madigan had collected samples of muscle tissue from only 15 two-year-old tuna fish in 2011. The video shown is a news report talking about this concern.

Further Studies

The scientists also planned a new study collecting samples from a new group of bluefin tuna that have migrated to the waters off San Diego and determine their levels of radioactive cesium. Nicholas Fisher said they do not think there will be any public health concern from the results of the new tests, but if see any higher concentrations of cesium, they said they will certainly alert the public health agencies again.

For your information, Bluefin Tuna fish can live up to 30 years old and are prone to building up high levels of pollutants in their bodies. The scientists also said that the aforementioned radiation concerns are not limited to these fish, even the albacore tuna, sea turtles, and several sharks, seals and seabirds are prone to this. And for high levels of radioactive cesium in or near your body, it can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding, coma, and even death.