Two informative articles about West Coast radiation from Canadian papers

[suffragette]

I thought it might be useful to see what's being reported in British Columbia since they are part of the west coast as well.

Here is some of the info I found from two articles.

There's quite a bit of info in this article, so I'm just pasting a few paragraphs, but if interested, you will want to go read all of it. For example, at the end of the article they give a description of the process employed in changing the filters and communicating the information from the detectors.


The 1st part is as you can see from text in the link, they are reporting from the same point of view as current reports in the U.S.
They note they are consulting each day. I have included some info on food and dairy, since they provide some points of note about that and it is being much discussed here and there. There is more info on that in the article after the section I included.
One thing I'm noticing in articles from here and there is that it's not always clear tom if they are talking about radiation totals from all the days of the events or about what is blowing in at the moment. I find myself wishing they would specify that more since they seem to switch that reference without noting they've done so. Of course, part of that may be uncertainty on their part until it gets here and they are able to measure.


http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Radiation+nothing+worry+about/4462648/story.html
Radiation 'nothing to worry about' in B.C.
By Randy Shore and Margaret Munro, Vancouver Sun; Postmedia News March 18, 2011


Officials from the health and environment ministries of B.C. and coastal U.S. states are holding a conference call each morning to monitor the approach of radioactive material and form a coordinated response.

~~~

An advisory from B.C.'s Ministry of Agriculture says the amounts of radioactive material released in Japan pose no threat to the province's food supply.

Contamination by the radioactive element iodine 131 -the most likely to be released by the troubled reactors -would take only a single growing season to clear, the note says, and dairy cows could be protected from exposure simply by feeding them stored silage.

"If it was suspected that radioactive material was dispersed over farmland, it would not be a hard thing to detect it and confirm or refute a significant health hazard," said Mildenberger.

If a significant amount of radioactive material were to deposit in British Columbia, it could enter the food supply through field crops directly consumed by humans or through forage crops consumed by beef and dairy cattle, according to associate professor Andrew Riseman of the University of B.C.'s faculty of land and food systems.




For the 2nd article, I'm posting the 1st 4 paragraphs since they provide a good summary.

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110318/bc_radiation_health_fears_110315/20110318?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

9 more radiation monitoring stations coming for B.C.

By: Darcy Wintonyk, ctvbc.ca
Date: Friday Mar. 18, 2011 4:03 PM PT

Health Canada is adding nine more radiation monitoring stations in B.C. to check for any fallout from damaged Japanese nuclear power plants.

There are already six stations in B.C. Dr. Paul Gully, senior medical health advisor with Health Canada, says the 15 stations will provide continuous information on radiation levels in the air. The agency says it will work with Environment Canada to monitor wind patterns that affect the trajectory of any radiation plumes.

"Our assessment ... is that there's no risk to residents in Canada and no foreseeable risks, even with modelling of the worst case scenario," Gully said. "However, we feel it's right in order to be able to continue to reassure Canadians we have the information available on which to base that assessment. It's a precautionary measure."

Meanwhile, B.C.'s provincial health officer says authorities are considering deploying portable nuclear monitoring devices around the province to measure radiation levels coming across the Pacific Ocean from Japan.

[Hannah Bell]

1. kr

[suffragette]

3. Thanks Hannah

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. How would they protect cow's water supply, I wonder.

I see the bit about feeding silage, which theoretically would have been under cover of some sort, but water??

Also, this part leaves me going hmmmmmmmmm........
US and Canadian officials "holding a conference call each morning to form a coordinated response."

[suffragette]

4. Good question

No mention of that and not finding much in searching.
Would water dissipate it? Would particles go to the bottom as sediment and be filtered?

I don't know.


The part on coordination clearly drew my attention as well.
On the one hand, I think coordination is a good move and important to do, especially since wind, particles etc. don't stop at the lines we draw on maps.
On the other hand, this type of "coordinated response" means we need to keep in mind, we'll be hearing one point of view on this, not two independent ones.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. You can bet a lot of shoppers are carefully looking at the source of their veggies

and meat for awhile.
I say that because Geiger counters and KI tablets have all sold out, so people ARE taking this seriously.

Fortunately, milk can be frozen for quite awhile.

[suffragette]

6. From watching Canadian news, that's been going on up there. too.

Found some more monitoring links in today's paper here:
http://www.epa.gov/radiation/rert/radnet-seattle-bg.html
http://www.doh.wa.gov/topics/japan/monitor.htm

The 2nd one says it will have historical data for comparison.

I don't drink much milk, but I eat it with cereal sometimes or use it in recipes. Had forgotten about how handy UHT can be for that since I can have it hand and use if needed. Found a sale and bought some yesterday.

I do like dairy products: yogurt, cheese, butter, creme fraiche, etc. Can get these made from other places if it gets worse, though.

After reading the CDC info on KI, I'm not getting it unless it's urgent. Did get some spirulina in drink and pill form, since it looks like it's a great source of immunity support in addition and could use that anyway.

Was going to go to Uwajimaya store today to contribute and have donation matched (and pick up some yummy groceries) but I had a lot of apartment and work issues this week and slept in too late, so I'll go tomorrow.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. What I miss about Seattle is the Japanese and Chinese markets down by Yesler.

( and the Pike Place Market)

My brother lives in Seattle and I made him send me some packets of dried seaweed, for miso. Now they will come in handy, seems like.

[suffragette]

8. Miso - need to add that to my list for tomorrow.

The down side of waiting until tomorrow - the list grows.

If you ever pop up to visit him, let me know and we'll go visit all those markets! I missed them too when I lived away from here. And the seafood. Annd specific fruits.

I may pop out to Bartell's today though. They have a special on Dilettante and I could use some good chocolate right now :)

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. Ya gotta deal!

[suffragette]

10. Cool

:)