Interview
with Nick Redfern
Nick
Redfern August 15, 2012 By: Frank Zero
Worth
a read
'Severe
abnormalities' found in Fukushima butterflies
By Nick Crumpton BBC News
Mutated pale grass blue butterfly The study found
that mutation rates were much higher among butterfly collected near Fukushima. Scientists
found an increase in leg, antennae and wing shape mutations among butterflies
collected following the 2011 Fukushima accident. The link between the mutations
and the radioactive material was shown by laboratory experiments, they report. The
work has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.
By comparing mutations found on the butterflies collected from the different
sites, the team found that areas with greater amounts of radiation in the
environment were home to butterflies with much smaller wings and irregularly
developed eyes. "It has been believed that insects are very resistant to
radiation," said lead researcher Joji Otaki from the University of the
Ryukyus, Okinawa."In that sense, our results were unexpected," he
told BBC News.
Read rest here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19245818
I can remember an
article in the Observer newspaper , many years ago, possibly the 80’s, in which
an artist had drawn pictures of mutated insects she had found near a nuclear power station. It’s not the first time insects
have been found to be affected by radiation. Which begs the question what would
survive a bad leak from a power station unscathed?
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