Fukushima Radiation Still Poisoning Insects

sciencehabit writes: Eating food contaminated with radioactive particles may be more perilous than previously thought — at least for insects. Butterfly larvae fed even slightly tainted leaves collected near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station were more likely to suffer physical abnormalities and low survival rates than those fed uncontaminated foliage, a new study finds. The research suggests that the environment in the Fukushima region, particularly in areas off-limits to humans because of safety concerns, will remain dangerous for wildlife for some time. In other lingering radiation news, reader Rambo Tribble writes: Forest detritus, contaminated in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster (abstract), is decaying at a much slower rate than normal, building up and creating a significant fire risk. This, in turn, is creating a real potential for the residual radioactive material to be distributed, through smoke, over a broad area of Europe and Russia. Looking at different possible fire intensities, researchers speculate, "20 to 240 people would likely develop cancer, of which 10 to 170 cases may be fatal." These figures are similar to those hypothesized for Fukushima.

Comments

Re:Debunked

[Hands of Blue]

Those responsible for this study likely picked this species to serve as an indicator species. Indicator species must be indigenous to the area (check) and are generally the most susceptible to ecological upset (also check).
In high-profile environmental disasters (like reactor leaks), factors such as bio-amplification and bio-accumulation may lead to delayed consequences throughout an ecosystem; indicator species are used as canaries of sorts.

This seems to me like a commonplace study being somewhat misconstrued and given a click-bait headline (in the traditional Slashdot manner).