Asia must quit 'coal addiction': UN chief

Yahoo – AFP, Joe Freeman, November 2, 2019

Several Asian megacities are at risk of flooding linked to global
warming (AFP Photo/Manan VATSYAYANA)

The UN chief on Saturday warned Asia to quit its "addiction" to coal, as climate change threatens hundreds of millions of people vulnerable to rising sea levels across the region.

The warning follows fresh research this week predicting that several Asian megacities, including Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Mumbai, are at risk of extreme flooding linked to global warming.

Antonio Guterres said Asian countries need to cut reliance on coal to tackle the climate crisis, which he called the "defining issue of our time".

"There is an addiction to coal that we need to overcome because it remains a major threat in relation to climate change," he told reporters ahead of a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bangkok on Saturday.

He said countries in the region need to be on "the front line" of the fight by introducing carbon pricing and reforming energy policies.

"We are lagging behind," he said, adding that the rollback of coal could help curb rising global temperatures.

Coal remains a major source of power across Southeast Asia, where breakneck economic development has spurred soaring energy demands -- but at a cost to the environment.

Antonio Guterres said Asian countries need to cut reliance on coal to
head off the climate crisis (AFP Photo/Joe Freeman)

About one-third of Vietnam's energy comes from coal power with a slew of new plants set to come online by 2050, while Thailand is investing in fossil fuels.

Coastal areas across Southeast Asia have already seen major floods and seawater incursion linked to climate change.

New research this week showed that at least 300 million people worldwide are living in places at risk of inundation by 2050, a much bleaker picture than previous data predicted.

Destructive storm surges fuelled by increasingly powerful cyclones and rising seas will hit Asia hardest, according to the study in the journal Nature Communications.

The UN chief also spoke on Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya Muslims, nearly three-quarters of a million of whom were driven into Bangladesh in 2017.

He urged Myanmar's government to "address the root causes of displacement and allowing of the return, voluntary and in safety and dignity" to Myanmar.

"Some steps have been done but they are too small. We need to do much more," he said.

Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi is also in Bangkok for the summit and is likely to face pressure over her country's treatment of the Rohingya, particularly from Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia.

Myanmar has rebuffed all international pressure so far while only hundreds of Rohingya have returned to Myanmar, due to fear of further repression.

Related Articles:

"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“… 4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet; again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much…

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four.”

“Afraid of Love” + “What’s Wrong Today”, Laguna Hills, California, US(2), Dec 9, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

• Stagnation of the current US Politics: Compassioned (US) leaders will arise in the future
• Shortage of fresh/drinking water: Invention to make salt from salt water magnetic and remove it with water desalination process in high volumes
• Pollution on Earth: 1 - Stop killing the environment! / 2 - The rise of temperature on Earth is “temporary” and is part of the "regular" Watercycle.
• Replacement of current fossil energy source: Use of magnetics based (small/big) engines to produces electricity / free energy
• Plastic pollution in the oceans: Invention to remove the plastics gradually from the oceans

Restart of Notre-Dame restoration pushed back to August 19

Yahoo – AFP, August 9, 2019

Work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris has been halted since July 25 over
lead contamination risks (AFP Photo/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN)

Paris (AFP) - Renovation work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris could resume on August 19, a government official said Friday, after the clean-up was halted last month over fears that workers could be exposed to lead poisoning.

Testing revealed dangerously high levels of lead contamination at the site as well as at nearby schools and other buildings, prompting fears that workers and residents risked exposure to the toxic metal.

Hundreds of tonnes of lead in the roof and steeple melted during the April 15 blaze that nearly destroyed the gothic masterpiece, with winds spreading the particles well beyond the church's grounds.

But after weeks of denying any poisoning risks, authorities admitted in late July that anti-contamination measures were insufficient, and two schools near the church were closed after hazardous lead levels were detected.

A worker sprays a gel to absorb lead on the playground at a school on the Rue 

Saint Benoit, near Notre-Dame, on August 8 (AFP Photo/Martin BUREAU)

Since then officials have been racing to implement tougher safety measures for workers at the site, while deploying new methods to remove lead residue from school playgrounds.

Prefect Michel Cadot, the government's top official for the Paris region, will allow work to resume "once there is a guarantee the new measures are in place," his office said in a statement.

Officials had originally said the clean-up could begin next week, but the target date is now set for August 19, it said.

New techniques

This week workers dressed head-to-toe in white hazmat suits sprayed a blue-green gel onto the playground at the two closed schools on the Rue Saint-Benoit, where dozens of children had been attending summer daycare programmes.

Hundreds of tonnes of lead in the roof and steeple melted during the April 15 blaze 

that nearly destroyed the gothic masterpiece (AFP Photo/Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT)

According to city officials, the gel attracted and trapped the lead particles on the ground as it dried, and was later removed with high-pressure hoses.

That procedure and others will also be used on the square in front of Notre-Dame and on streets in the immediately vicinity.

Readings of more than 70 microgrammes per square meter indicate potential health hazards, but testing has found much higher levels at buildings as far as one kilometre from Notre-Dame.

Last week, the city revealed that some schools and daycares beyond a 500-metre perimeter of the church still showed isolated readings of more than 1,000 microgrammes on playgrounds or windowsills.

The clean-up was halted last month over fears that workers could be exposed

to lead poisoning (AFP Photo/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN)

Critics have accused the city of failing to notify the public about the worrying results, while an environmental group has filed a lawsuit alleging that officials failed to sufficiently contain the contamination.

Others have urged authorities to cover the entire church with protective cladding to contain the particles, a system often used when removing asbestos.

City officials have rejected the proposal as too costly and complex.

But they have vowed that no schools will reopen in September unless the lead risk has been completely eradicate.

French workers began efforts to remove lead from the area around Notre-Dame cathedral which was contaminated by the devastating April fire, sparking public health concerns and forcing the suspension of restoration work https://t.co/HKQVPcMBLh

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 13 augustus 2019

US firm stops sales of Grenfell Tower cladding for high-rises

Yahoo – AFP, June 26, 2017

The June 14 inferno at Grenfell Tower, a residential block in west London, left
79 people presumed dead after the fire spread rapidly up its 24 storeys (AFP
Photo/Niklas HALLE'N)

London (AFP) - The US supplier of the cladding which encased London's Grenfell Tower before it was destroyed by a devastating fire announced Monday it was stopping sales of the material for high-rise buildings.

"Arconic is discontinuing global sales of Reynobond PE for use in high-rise applications," a company spokesman told AFP.

The firm put the decision down to "issues that have arisen in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy" and differences in building regulations around the world.

The June 14 inferno left 79 people presumed dead after the fire spread rapidly up the 24-storey residential block in west London.

As emergency services continue to search through the ashes of the gutted building, suspicion has fallen on the recently installed cladding with allegations it may have contributed to the ferocity of the blaze.

The Arconic spokesman said the company "will continue to fully support the authorities as they investigate this tragedy".

Sales of the Reynobond PE cladding for use in low-rise buildings will continue.

An estimated 600 tower blocks in England believed to have similar cladding to that used at Grenfell are currently going through tests.

Samples taken from 75 high-rises tested so far have all failed safety tests, communities minister Sajid Javid said on Monday.

"We have witnessed a catastrophic failure," he told MPs, lamenting the slow speed at which samples were being submitted for tests.

Buildings which have already undergone safety checks include four tower blocks in north London which were evacuated on Saturday, with Javid saying inspectors discovered 1,000 fire doors were missing.

The minister also warned unsafe cladding "may not be a problem unique to social housing or tall buildings".

All hospitals have been asked to conduct additional checks and 15 government buildings "require further investigation", he said without giving further details.

Child identified by teeth

As work continues to prevent a repeat of the Grenfell Tower blaze, a London coroner's court heard how a five-year-old victim choked to death on fumes as he tried to escape.

The boy had to be identified by dental records after his body was found on the 13th floor, five levels lower than his home as he family tried to flee.

"It can't really be explained in enough detail how complex an investigation this is in terms of identification and in terms of recovery of bodies on a dangerous site that my team are not allowed to enter because the building is being shored up," Westminster coroner Fiona Wilcox told the court.

So far 18 people have been identified including Khadija Saye, a 24-year-old photographer who had exhibited at the Venice Biennale and lived on the 20th floor.

Saye was discovered on a hallway in the ninth floor and is believed to have died from fumes and burns.

Her mother Mary Mendy, 52, was identified by dental records after being found on the 13th storey. Her sister Betty Jackson said she will "be missed for a lifetime".

"My beloved sister, words can never describe the pain of losing you. I can't believe you are gone," she said in a statement published through London's Metropolitan Police.

Related Article:

Safety fears for thousands of tower block residents after London inferno

Six more officials charged in Flint water scandal

Yahoo – AFP, July 29, 2016

The damage to the Flint's water pipes may be long-lasting, if not permanent,
causing residents to use filters to make their water drinkable (AFP Photo/
Brett Carlsen)

  

Chicago (AFP) - Authorities in the US state of Michigan filed criminal charges Friday against six current and former state officials over lead water contamination in the city of Flint, signaling that their probe is expanding.

"Many things went tragically wrong in Flint. Some failed to act," Michigan State Attorney General Bill Schuette told a news conference as he announced the new charges.

"Some intentionally altered figures, and covered up."

More than 8,000 children are believed to have consumed lead-tainted water in the hardscrabble northern city, which has become a focus of the 2016 White House race.

Until now, three state workers had been criminally charged over the health crisis, which occurred in the aftermath of government officials' cost-saving effort in 2014 to switch the city's source of drinking water.

One took a plea agreement to cooperate in the probe.

Chief investigator Andrew Arena said his team was "starting to work our way up" in the areas of state government they were investigating, and expanding the probe "into other departments."

"This at the end will be the largest criminal investigation in the history of the state of Michigan," he said.

On Friday authorities charged another six current and former state employees for covering up evidence of water contamination. They face various felony and misdemeanor counts, including conspiracy, misconduct in office and tampering with evidence.

Flint residents Gladyes Williamson (C) holds a bottle full of contaminated water,

and a clump of her hair, alongside Jessica Owens (R), holding a baby bottle full

of contaminated water (AFP Photo/Mark Wilson)

Experts say the new source of water proved more corrosive on aging pipes and caused lead contamination that exposed thousands of children to the toxin.

"In essence, these individuals concealed the truth. They were criminally wrong to do so," Schuette said.

The highest ranked official charged is Liane Shekter Smith, who was fired in February from her post as chief of Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality.

"Shekter Smith ignored reports that the (water treatment) plant was out of compliance, lied that the water plant was certified, and deliberately misled her superiors," Schuette said.

She faces a felony charge of misconduct in office and a misdemeanor charge of willful neglect of duty.

The others charged are: Nancy Peeler and Robert Scott, who are current employees in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services; Corrine Miller, a former MDHHS employee; and Patrick Cook and Adam Rosenthal, current employees of the state's Department of Environmental Quality.

Todd Flood, special counsel for the Flint probe, said he was in talks with Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's office in connection with the investigation and that talks had been "constructive."

The damage to the city's water pipes may be long-lasting, if not permanent. Residents must use filters to make their water drinkable.

Last month officials also filed a lawsuit accusing a French company and a Texas firm of negligence and fraud, for their roles in the Flint water crisis.

Chinese prosecutors announce probe into deadly warehouse blasts

Chinese prosecutors are to probe whether deadly blasts at a warehouse in Tianjin were due to illegal storage of dangerous materials, state media say. The explosions killed 112 people and injured hundreds.

Deutsche Welle, 16 Aug 2015

State prosecutors in China said on Sunday they had started an investigation to see whether owners of the warehouse where the explosions occurred were guilty of violating laws on the storage of hazardous chemicals.

The announcement comes as authorities confirmed that hundreds of tons of the toxic chemical sodium cyanide had been on the site of the blasts late Wednesday evening in a mostly industrial area of the northern port city of Tianjin, 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Beijing.

Such a large amount would be a clear violation of rules cited by state media that a maximum of 10 tons of the chemical may be stored at any one time. Chinese laws on hazmat storage also stipulate that such substances should not be kept closer than 1 kilometer from residential areas and public structures.

The Chinese military is helping with cleanup operations

Sodium cyanide can form a flammable gas upon contact with water, and members of the public have questioned whether this fact had been taken into account by firefighters responding to the accident. At least 21 firefighters were among those killed in the warehouse fire and ensuing explosions, making the disaster the deadliest for the Chinese fire brigade in more than six decades.

Eighty-five of the 1,000 firefighters sent to combat the blaze remained unaccounted for on Sunday, with 88 bodies of victims still unidentified.

In addition to the 112 people confirmed dead, more than 700 people were hospitalized with sometimes serious injuries. Many were hurt by glass shattered in the huge fireballs that rose over the city on Wednesday night.

The explosions caused massive
blast waves

Official reassurances

In the face of internet rumors to the contrary, authorities have sought to reassure the public that the air in Tianjin remains safe to breathe, despite slightly raised levels of some pollutants.

In a bid to further dispel public mistrust, the Chinese premier Li Keqiang arrived in the city on Sunday afternoon and came within a kilometer of the blast site without wearing any form of protective clothing.

Li also visited those injured and displaced by the disaster.

The government has also shut down a total of 50 websites and 360 social media accounts for "creating panic by publishing unverified information or letting users spread groundless rumors," according to the Cyberspace Administration of China.

The Tianjin accident was one of the deadliest to occur in China in recent years. In June 2013, a fire at a poultry plant in the northeastern province of Jilin killed 121 people. In August 2014, 97 died in an explosion at a metal plant in eastern Jiangsu province.

tj/sgb (AP, dpa, AFP)

An aerial view of Tianjin Port, October 2012. (File photo/Xinhua)

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How lead paint is poisoning Asia's children

While the global use of lead has decreased, paint sold across Asia still contains excessive levels of the toxic substance. Meanwhile, awareness of the risks and health consequences from lead exposure remains inadequate.

Deutsche Welle, 18 Sep 2014

With the almost complete phase-out of leaded petrol worldwide, attention has turned to other sources of lead exposure and its deadly effect on humans. Statistics from a 2013 New York University report on the cost of lead exposure to the economies of developing countries reveal that consumption of the damaging element has increased since 1970, despite the fact that lead petrol has been almost entirely phased out.

One way that people who, despite having no connection to industries where they might be directly exposed to lead are still consuming huge amounts of it, is through paint.

Lead is used in paint because it makes it less susceptible to cracking and increases its opacity. It is also used to intensify colors, meaning the brighter the color of the paint the higher concentrations of lead it is likely to have. Lead is also used to speed up drying times and to stop rust.

But the danger doesn't start until years after the paint has dried and begins to wear. Dust from paint flakes or the sanding of painted surfaces creates lead-filled particles that can be inhaled, and collect in people's systems.

Dr Sara Brosché from IPEN, a global organization working to eliminate toxic substances around the world, says the reasons why lead is still being used in Asia are a lack of knowledge of the dangers and a reluctance to change, "because that is how they have always done it."

An expanding middle class means more
 people will be able to afford to paint their
homes

While globally the paint industry has contracted, the opposite has occurred in Asia which is now the biggest paint market in the world. Brosché says that while low income earners typically do not live in painted homes, "with rising incomes and an emerging middle class, the number of people who can afford painted interiors and exteriors in their homes and schools has been increasing dramatically."

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), just 30 countries have completely phased out the use of lead in paints, and most other places have some sort of guidelines around the substance. The "Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint" run by the WHO and the UN Environment Program (UNEP) aims to raise that figure to 70 by next year.

Meanwhile figures from the European Union and IPEN's 2014 Asia Regional Paint Report show that while countries such as the Philippines have introduced regulations, overwhelmingly paints sold in Asia still contain excessive lead levels.

Worse still, Brosché says none of the paints found to contain lead in the research had any warnings on their labels.

Despite industry making up the majority of users of high lead products in Asia, the problem is exacerbated by the fact that industrial and residential living areas are growing geographically closer together. This has been highlighted in China, with a series of cases in recent years of mass lead poisonings, with the victims living nearby to factories.

Even cookware has been shown to contain lead. Published in August of this year a study by Ashland University in the United States revealed the excessive amounts of lead that can leach out of metal used for cooking when it is heated up. Across Africa and Asia cookware and utensils made of scrap metal are commonplace, and can include parts from cars and materials used in construction.

The report's authors refer to the high numbers of people exposed to lead as a "global lead poisoning epidemic," and stress that cookware is just one of a number of factors contributing to lead exposure.

Lead's burden

Even limited contact with lead, at levels earlier regarded safe by the WHO and without any external symptoms, can cause irreversible health consequences. These can include kidney damage, high blood pressure, and an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. Pregnant women with a build up of lead in their systems can pass on toxic side effects to their unborn children.

However, it is young children who are most at risk. A report from the New York-based environmental research organization the Blacksmith Institute showed that many children who were exposed to lead during their childhoods grew up to have lower IQs, and that this and other damage to the brain "is permanent and irreversible and that there is no current form of medical treatment that can reverse the brain injury caused by lead once this injury has occurred."

High levels of lead exposure can cause comas, convulsions and even death, with children who survive these conditions likely left with permanent physical and mental injury.

The WHO attributes around 600,000 new cases of intellectual disabilities in children to lead exposure every year.

In a study published in 2013 by New York University, the total cost to Asia's economy was calculated at around 700 billion USD, compared to 134.7 billion USD in Africa and 142.3 billion USD in Latin America and the Caribbean. The report's authors say East and Southeast Asia make up the bulk of this shortfall, and the "burden of lead-associated disability and economic cost is now borne by developing countries."

The cheapest public health intervention

While regulations around lead were introduced in most parts of the world in the 1970s and 80s, a 2012 UNEP and IPEN survey showed large parts of Asia continued to ignore or under-regulate the issue.

The 2014 report on the Asia lead paint elimination project states that "a few countries in Asia do regulate the allowed lead content in decorative paints," including Singapore and Sri Lanka. Other places have voluntary standards, such as Thailand whose regulation calls for paints to include less than 100 parts per million (ppm) of lead. But tests conducted by the Ecology Alert and Recovery Thailand Foundation showed that despite the alleged checks, most paints still contained levels higher than this.

Other experts say the problem is the developing world is always playing catch-up, and the infrastructure needed to test and properly regulate the use of lead across the country just doesn't exist.

Many developing countries don't have
 the infrastructure to test and regulate
the use of lead

Low public awareness is another factor stopping manufacturers from switching from lead to less dangerous additives. Johnson Ongking, vice-president of one of Indonesia's largest paint companies, Boysen Paints, agrees with this, admitting they simply didn't realize the danger. "Honestly, we just weren't that aware of the hazards of lead in paint." Since 2007 the company has phased out lead completely from its range.

Jack Weinberg, Senior Policy Advisor with IPEN is more blunt. He says there is one reason the issue hasn't yet been solved: laziness.

He dismisses the argument that using lead saves money on production costs for manufacturers, saying the savings are marginal at best.

Research from IPEN's Regional Paint Report supports this view, calling the costs involved in reformulating paints to avoid adding lead "minimal." Their research showed the majority of suppliers that had eliminated the deadly element hadn't raised the price of their paints.

Weinberg says intervention now will save costs in the long run. "Eliminating lead paint is about the cheapest public health intervention with the greatest public health benefit imaginable."

Dr Leonardo Trasande has a similiar view. The expert says that in order to avoid future complications arising from childhood lead exposure - such as continuing medical care - action must be taken now. "The only way to avoid the large economic costs related to lead exposure is primary prevention," he says.

According to IPEN the best way to get rid of lead in paint once and for all is through binding legal requirements, company-mandated action and national certification schemes in each country. Brosché is also confident. "It is absolutely possible to eliminate dangerous levels of lead in paint," she says.

'Tokyo should no longer be inhabited,' Japanese doctor warns residents regarding radiation

Natural News, David Gutierrez, staff writer, July 21, 2014

Tokyo City View Buildings Roads

(NaturalNews) In an essay addressed to his colleagues, Japanese doctor Shigeru Mita has explained why he recently moved away from Tokyo to restart his practice in western Japan: He believes that Tokyo is no longer safe to inhabit due to radioactive contamination caused by the March 11, 2011, meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The essay, titled "Why did I leave Tokyo?" was published in the newsletter of the Association of Doctors in Kodaira, metropolitan Tokyo.

Soil tests prove contamination

Dr. Mita opens his essay by contextualizing his decision to leave, noting that he had a long history as a doctor in Tokyo.

"I closed the clinic in March 2014, which had served the community of Kodaira for more than 50 years, since my father's generation, and I have started a new Mita clinic in Okayama-city on April 21," he wrote.

Dr. Mita notes that, for the past 10 years, he had been working to persuade the municipal government of Tokyo to stock iodine pills to distribute to the population in the case of a nuclear accident. Dr. Mita's concern had been that an earthquake might trigger a meltdown at the Hamaoka nuclear power plant. All of his requests were rejected, however, under the excuse that there was no reason to expect such an accident.

When the disaster did occur -- albeit at a different plant than Dr. Mita had feared -- Tokyo did not act to protect its population, and still has taken no measures. Yet, based on soil surveys, Dr. Mita noted, "It is clear that Eastern Japan and Metropolitan Tokyo have been contaminated with radiation."

Dr. Mita compares radioactive contamination of the soil (measured in becquerels per kilogram, Bq/kg) in various parts of Tokyo with that observed in various portions of Europe following the Chernobyl disaster.

Prior to 2011, Shinjuku (the region of Tokyo that houses the municipal government) tested at only 0.5-1.5 Bq/kg. Today, levels at nearby Kodaira are at 200-300 Bq/kg.

"Within the 23 districts of Metropolitan Tokyo, contamination in the east part is 1000-4000 Bq/kg and the west part is 300-1000 Bq/kg," Dr. Mita wrote.

For comparison, Kiev (capital of the Ukraine) has soil tested at 500 Bq/kg (Cs-137 only). Following the Chernobyl accident, West Germany and Italy reported levels of 90-100 Bq/kg, and both experienced measurable health effects on their populations.

Dr. Mita notes that the radiation situation in Tokyo is getting worse, not better, due to urban practices of concentrating solid waste in small areas such as municipal dumps and sewage plants. That is why, he says, radiation levels in Tokyo riverbeds have actually been increasing over the prior two years.

"Tokyo should no longer be inhabited, and... those who insist on living in Tokyo must take regular breaks in safer areas," Dr. Mita writes. "Issues such as depopulation and state decline continue to burden the lives of second and third generation Ukrainians and Belarusians today, and I fear that this may be the future of Eastern Japan."

Patients showing radiation-induced sickness

Dr. Mita's essay also chronicles the many cases he has observed of patients presenting with radiation-induced health problems. He notes that, since 2011, he has observed while blood cell counts declining in children under the age of 10, including in children under one year old. In all of these cases, symptoms typically improve if the children move to western Japan. He has similarly observed persistent respiratory symptoms that improve in patients who move away.

Other patients have shown symptoms including "nosebleed, hair loss, lack of energy, subcutaneous bleeding, visible urinary hemorrhage, skin inflammations, coughs and various other non-specific symptoms." He also notes high occurrences of rheumatic muscle symptoms similar to those observed following the Chernobyl disaster.

"Ever since 3.11, everybody living in Eastern Japan including Tokyo is a victim, and everybody is involved," he wrote.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.save-children-from-radiation.org

http://science.naturalnews.com

Japanese farmers bring a cow to the front of the agriculture
ministry in Tokyo, on June 20, 2014

Related Articles:

Angry Japan farmers bring Fukushima cow to Tokyo

"Fast-Tracking" - Feb 8, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Reference to Fukushima / H-bomb nuclear pollution and a warning about nuclear  (> 20 Min)

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“... Japan

Let us talk for a moment about Japan, and then I'll close the day of messages. There are thousands of souls on my side of the veil and they're just fine, more than fine. We have spoken so often of what happens at the Wind of Birth. I told you, before they even came in, they saw the potential. I looked in their eyes. "You may not last long. You know that, don't you? You're coming into this planet and you may not be here very long. And the passing that you will have with your family will not be pleasant, if any ever are. Why would you come in anyway?" I want to tell you what they said. When a soul has the mind of God, it understands fully what generates peace and what generates energy shift. You can clearly see what generates what the planet needs the most when you are about to arrive. So they said, "We're going to be part of one of the biggest compassion events the planet has ever seen." One earthquake, one tsunami. All of those who left that day will change the earth forever. And it already has. It was the same for the last tsunami as well.

Every single one of them on my side of the veil is getting ready to come back. Many old souls were involved, and just for a moment, if they could give you any information, if they could talk to you right now, if they could speak your language and look into your eyes, they would thank you for your compassion for them and those who are left. And they would say, "Be with those family members who are still alive. Enter their hearts every day and give them peace and keep them from crying, because we're OK."

Nuclear Power Revealed

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time.

So in closing, do you understand what you're seeing? You're seeing intelligent design, quantum energy and high consciousness. You are seeing changes in Human nature. You're seeing countries putting things together instead of separating. You are seeing those who don't want war and instead want peace, good schools for their children, safety in their streets and a say in their government. We told you it was going to happen this way. I want my partner to teach these things that I have said in his 3D lectures for awhile. Many won't be able to know these things otherwise.  …”