Meningitis vaccines now pushed onto 9-month-old toddlers
September 14, 2011 by
Filed under Organic Foods
(NaturalNews) Another potentially hazardous vaccination, Menactra, purportedly protecting against an extremely rare disease, meningitis, has been FDA approved for children aged 9 to 23 months. This brings the total vaccine inoculation schedule to over 20 within the child’s first two years. And there are more to come by age five and more after that. Vaccines Benefits are Questionable Most of the childhood diseases supposedly protected by vaccinations come and go without significant damage. Many graphs have demonstrated that serious diseases had already declined naturally and all but disappeared by the time the vaccines for them had been introduced. As a matter of fact, exposure to many minor childhood diseases causes better long term immunization than vaccinations pretend to offer. There have been actual reports of 90% plus MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccinated populations having breakouts with mumps and measles. Rubella hardly happens at all. The more dangerous diseases vaccinated against hardly ever even occur. So the benefits factor is very low in populations with decent hygiene. Vaccine Risks are Real What has been occurring is a surge among the very young with vaccine injury related deaths, as in SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), various forms of paralysis, disabling seizures, autism spectrum behavior often with extreme bowel disorders, ADHD, asthma, and food allergies. The kids are worse off now than before. Most of these alarming events have occurred shortly after vaccinations, especially after a barrage of multiple shots in one day, or within the same time frame as a scheduled series. The fact that cancer and other auto-immune disorders manifest later in life is not included in this vaccine injury summary. But along with increased vaccination schedules, there has been a decline in general health. Cancer cases among the young have increased considerably over the last two to three decades, coinciding with increased vaccination schedules. Impurities occur often in vaccines, especially those derived from animal tissues or human fetuses. Then there are the preservatives that include mercury, formaldehyde, and aluminum. Some vaccines may contain ingredients (adjuvants) to boost the vaccine’s potency. One such adjuvant, squalene, is linked to Gulf War Syndrome. A Japanese researcher has found mercury in all cancer cells. And mercury is a neurotoxin supreme. The U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH) has recently stated that formaldehyde causes cancer. Aluminum is able to cross the blood brain barrier and cause neurological damage. Brain damaging aspartame is used in some vaccines. Several Internet sites have been started and maintained by parents whose children have been seriously vaccine damaged. They share their tragic personal stories that are hidden from public view and ignored or scoffed at by pediatricians and other medical professionals. Do some research. You can start by clicking “vaccines” in the HOT TOPIC bar at the top of Natural News home page or look into the sources below. Sources Include: Hypocritical pediatricians push for stricter chemical laws while injecting babies with toxic vaccines http://www.naturalnews.com/032241_pediatricians_toxic_chemicals.html#ixzz1XZ7s4J2d Pediatricians refusing treatment for children of non-vaccinating parents http://www.naturalnews.com/031913_pediatricians_vaccinations.html The truth about vaccines and modern medicine http://www.vacfacts.info/ Push to reprogram parents and disallow exemptions despite high number of tragic vaccine injury episodes http://healthfreedoms.org/2011/06/23/push-to-reprogram-parents-on-vaccines-disallow-exemptions/ Press release announcing Menactra for babies http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42752591/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/
Hundreds of beef cattle contaminated by Fukushima radiation have been shipped all over Japan, inspection finds
July 23, 2011 by Health Blogger
Filed under Organic Foods
(NaturalNews) The Fukushima Prefecture, a roughly 5,300 square mile region in Japan where the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility is located, recently conducted an area-wide inspection of local farms after discovering levels of radioactive cesium three-to-six times higher than maximum safety thresholds in some beef cattle. To their surprise, they also found that 14 different farms throughout the region had shipped 554 heads of cattle across Japan that had eaten highly-radioactive rice straw. According to reports, the rice straw eaten by the cattle contained up to 500 times more radioactive cesium than the legal limit. And these cattle had been shipped to ten different Japanese prefectures, including Tokyo and Hyogo, which represent two of the most highly populated regions in the nation. Many farmers allegedly did not get the memo that continuing to feed cattle with straw, grass, and other feed exposed to open air was dangerous, and that it had been discouraged by the Japanese government. “It was announced soon after the disaster when there was neither electricity nor gasoline and roads were disrupted,” said Jiro Ohsaki, an official from the Fukushima prefecture government, concerning the apparent misunderstanding among farmers in the area concerning radioactive feed. “[S]ome farmers did not understand that the category of grass and other feed includes rice straw.” The Fukushima prefecture plans to inspect all 4,000 of Fukushima’s cattle farms by August 3. The central government in Japan also plans to implement restrictions on beef cattle shipments following the disturbing discovery. Back in April, NaturalNews reported that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had found radiation in US milk supplies that exceeded EPA maximums by as much as 2000 percent (http://www.naturalnews.com/032048_radiation_milk.html). And various other reports indicated that radiation had also been found in rainwater, leafy greens, tea, and seafood in various parts of the world (http://www.naturalnews.com/Fukushima.html). Though the mainstream media seems to have all but forgotten about the Fukushima disaster and its ongoing consequences, radioactive fallout continues to be a problem throughout Japan, and likely throughout other parts of the world — including the US — as well. Sources for this story include: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/18/us-japan-nuclear-idUSTRE76F09J20110718
Japan radiation specialists accuses TEPCO of total cover-up regarding radiation exposure of nuclear plant workers
July 18, 2011 by
Filed under Organic Foods
(NaturalNews) Reports continue to surface about Japan’s tsunami-caused nuclear disaster at the Fukushima complex, and this time Japanese radiation specialists say the plant’s owner, Tokyo Electric Power Company, is engaged in a number of cover-ups and misinformation campaigns. One specialist, Nishio Masamichi, director of the Hakkaido Cancer Center, who initially called for “calm” in the early days following the disaster, wrote recently in a top Japanese business journal that the crisis has caused Japan’s “myth of nuclear safety” to fall apart. Nishio, according to this independent report , says it’s time to confront the very real prospect of long-term radiation exposure, and has accused TEPCO executives of hiding the truth about the real damage caused by the disaster at the expense of saving the company. He also laid some blame for the way the aftermath of the disaster was handled on the country’s leadership, saying Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his Cabinet lacked urgency and direction. Regarding TEPCO, Nishio said the company gave broken dosimeters to temporary workers and only giving monitors when they are working, despite high levels of radiation throughout the entire site. He also accused the company of putting its workers in a gymnasium-type structure to sleep in order to keep them from running away. Nishio also believes that company executives, lawmakers and other officials simply do not grasp the severity of the accident. For instance, he says one treatment – Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Harvest – has been recommended by doctors as a way to reduce the chances of bone marrow deterioration caused by excessive doses of radiation. But, he said, that treatment was disregarded by the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan. In addition, he says workers are only being given iodine – used to block the absorption of radiation into the thyroid especially, because it’s one of the most radiation-sensitive parts of the body – instead of other treatments as well like Radiogardase (Prussian blue insoluble capsules). He asserts that the best preventative medical expertise is not being brought in to help treat those who are being exposed, an injustice he has deemed “graveyard governance.” He also believes the Japanese people – not just those living near Fukushima – are not being told the truth about the level of radiation to which they are being exposed. “Giving us the truth once is much more important than saying ‘hang in there Japan’ a million times,” he wrote, in response to reports that former Minister for Internal Affairs Haraguchi Kazuhiro has alleged that radiation monitoring station data were three decimal places higher than the figures released to the public. If true, Nishio writes, that constitutes a “national crime” against the Japanese people. In recommending solutions to these and other issues, Nishio essentially argues that more information must be sought by the government about the actual dangers posed by the disaster and, when known, provided to the public. He believes part of the reason why the information is not forthcoming is because there are powerful factions within the Japanese government and power industry that want to rely more on nuclear power in the future, an idea Nishio recommends against.
Japan’s ‘most dangerous reactor’ severely damaged, could become worse than Fukushima
June 29, 2011 by Health Blogger
Filed under Organic Foods
(NaturalNews) If you have been following the events surrounding the unfolding Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe here on NaturalNews over the past several months, you are already likely aware that it is now considered by some to be the worst industrial disaster the world has ever seen, and one that will continue to worsen in the coming months and years ahread. However, according to a recent New York Times (NYT) article, another severely damaged nuclear plant 300 miles from Fukushima could supersede it, should current efforts there to fix a major accident fail. The Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor, located directly over an earthquake fault line near Tsuruga, Japan, lies on the opposite coast of Japan’s crippled Fukushima plant. Last August, a 3.3-ton fuel relay device broke and fell off into the reactor’s inner core, which severed access to its plutonium and uranium fuel rods. Experts have repeatedly tried to remove the device and fix the damage, but all efforts thus far have failed. The Monju plant had also been shut down for 14 years following a massive fire in 1995, a nuclear accident that was considered to be the worst one Japan had ever seen, that is until the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Fukushima back in March. Monju has basically been plagued with problems since it was first built, and because it is “fast-breeder” design, it has the potential to become far worse than Fukushima in the event of another major disaster. According to Hideyuki Ban, co-director of the Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center (CNIC), a Japanese nuclear public interest group, the Monju reactor uses highly deadly plutonium fuel, and even if officials do even up effectively removing the lodged fuel device and fixing the damage, restarting the plant could be catastrophic. “Let’s say they make this fix, which is very complicated,” said Ban to the NYT. “The rest of the reactor remains highly dangerous. And an accident at Monju would have catastrophic consequences beyond what we are seeing at Fukushima.” The plant is also located right on a major fault line, which makes the situation even more precarious. Back in the US, at least two nuclear reactors in Nebraska are now threatened by rising Missouri River flood waters. As of Monday, June 20, 2011, both reactors are in a state of “Notification of Unusual Event” (http://www.naturalnews.com/032750_no-fly_zone_nuclear_power_plant.html). Sources for this story include: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/world/asia/18japan.html?_r=1
TEPCO: Stopping melt-through fuel from contaminating groundwater will cost too much, hurt company stock price
June 24, 2011 by Health Blogger
Filed under Organic Foods
(NaturalNews) The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which owns the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility struck by the massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11, has made it abundantly clear that protecting people and the environment from the radioactive fallout of its three massive reactor “melt-throughs” is not a priority (http://www.naturalnews.com/032657_Fukushima_meltdown.html). According to a recent report in The Mainichi Daily News , TEPCO officials claim that installing proper containment vessels to prevent melted fuel from seeping into groundwater will cost too much, and hurt the company’s stock value — and thus it is fighting against calls by the Japanese government to install a concrete containment barrier below the damaged reactors. After all that has occurred since that fateful March day, including the revelation that TEPCO has been basically lying about the true, dire condition of the Fukushima plant for months, the company has the audacity to openly put profits before public safety by denying the only logical propositions being made to contain deadly radiation from contaminating the environment even further. When reporters questioned the company as to why it had not already begun construction of such underground barriers, TEPCO officials actually responded by claiming that “[u]nderground water flows at a speed of about five to ten centimeters a day, so we have more than a year before it reaches shores.” In other words, TEPCO believes there is no need to really do anything because radioactive hot particles will move slowly, and may take years to reach the ocean. Such blatant disregard for human life is astounding in light of the ongoing fallout and devastation coming from Fukushima, the extent of which could take months or years to fully materialize. And if TEPCO ultimately rejects pleas to build proper containment fortifications at Fukushima because it costs too much, the company will be willfully guilty of causing untold destruction and death because of its greed. Sources for this story include: http://www.myweathertech.com/2011/06/22/fukushima-nuclear-fuel-leaking-into-groundwater-tepco-says-barrier-too-expensive-will-hurt-stock-price/
Fukushima: Strontium levels up to 240 times over legal limit near plant, uninhabitable land area now the size of 17 Manhattans
June 19, 2011 by
Filed under Organic Foods
(NaturalNews) Representing the first time the substance has been detected at the crippled plant, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) reported on Sunday that seawater and groundwater samples taken near the ravaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility in Japan have tested positive for radioactive strontium. And according to a recent report in The Japan Times , levels of strontium detected were up to 240 times over the legal limit, indicating a serious environmental and health threat. Radioactive strontium, which is known to accumulate in bones and eventually lead to diseases like cancer and leukemia, is one of at least three “hot particles” being continually released by the damaged plant, according to experts. The others include radioactive cesium and plutonium, both of which are implicated in causing birth defects, cancer, and death. “We are discovering hot particles everywhere in Japan, even in Tokyo,” said Arnold Gundersen, a former nuclear industry senior vice president with 39 years of nuclear engineering experience, to Al Jazeera . “Scientists are finding these everywhere. Over the last 90 days these hot particles have continued to fall and are being deposited in high concentrations. A lot of people are picking these up in car engine air filters.” TEPCO has allegedly installed a new water decontamination system that it claims will eventually help filter dangerous radioactive isotopes from polluted water, and thus limit environmental and human exposure to the poisons. But that system has already run into several problems as flow rates have been lower than intended. “Fukushima has three nuclear reactors exposed and four fuel cores exposed,” added Gundersen. “You probably have the equivalent of 20 nuclear reactor cores because of the fuel cores, and they are all in desperate need of being cooled, and there is no means to cool them effectively.” Al Jazeera also reports that a nuclear waste advisor to the Japanese government recently explained that roughly 966 square kilometers (km), or 600 square miles, around Fukushima are now uninhabitable due to the unfolding disaster. This massive dead zone area is the equivalent size of 17 Manhattans placed next to each other. Sources for this story include: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110613a1.html http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/06/201161664828302638.html
Fukushima already ten times worse than Chernobyl in ocean waters, suggests data
June 11, 2011 by Health Blogger
Filed under Organic Foods
(NaturalNews) Recent readings taken roughly 19 miles out to sea from the Fukushima nuclear power facility in Japan have revealed radioisotope levels ten times higher than those measured in the Baltic and Black Seas after the massive Chernobyl disaster. Because Fukushima is much closer to water than the Chernobyl plant is, the ongoing fallout there is shaping up to be far worse than Chernobyl, at least as far as the world’s oceans are concerned, and time will tell just how devastating this massive disaster will be on the entire world as radiation continues to circulate around the globe. “Given that the Fukushima nuclear power plant is on the ocean, and with leaks and runoff directly to the ocean, the impacts on the ocean will exceed those of Chernobyl, which was hundreds of miles from any sea,” said Ken Buessler, Senior Scientist in Marine Chemistry at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, several months back. Since that time, it has been revealed that Fukushima reactors 1, 2, and 3 have all experienced “melt-throughs,” which are considered to be the worst possible outcome in a nuclear disaster (http://www.naturalnews.com/032657_Fukushima_meltdown.html). Various atomic experts are now in agreement that the unfolding situation in Japan truly is “as serious as it gets in a nuclear disaster.” Even the Japanese government itself is now admitting the grave reality of the situation, having recently announced it will submit a report to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) explaining the details of the melt-throughs, which basically mean that radioactive fuel appears to have burned through the outer containment vessels of the reactors and have gone directly into bare earth. “Dangerous levels of radioactive iodine and cesium have already contaminated the sea, the soil, groundwater, and the air,” said reporter Mark Willacy of the Australian Broadcast Corporation in a recent Lateline interview (http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2011/s3241508.htm). “This week plutonium was detected for the first time outside the stricken plant, and Strontium-90, known as a bone seeker because it can cause bone cancer and Leukemia, has now been found as far away as 60 kilometers (37+ miles) from the facility.” Sources for this story include: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/05/26-7
Land around Fukushima now radioactive dead zone; resembles target struck by atomic bomb
May 31, 2011 by Health Blogger
Filed under Organic Foods
(NaturalNews) It is nothing short of astonishing that the nuclear catastrophe we’ve all been told was “no big deal” has now escalated into the worst nuclear disaster in the history of human civilization. It’s so bad now that soil samples taken from outside the 12-mile exclusion zone (the zone considered safe enough by the Japanese government for schoolchildren to attend school there) are higher than the 1.48 million becquerels a square meter limit that triggered evacuations outside Chernobyl in 1986. In other words, the radiation level of the soil 12 miles from Fukushima is now higher than the levels considered too dangerous to live in near Chernobyl. This is all coming out in a new research report authored by Tomio Kawata, a fellow at the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan. That same report also reveals that radiation from Fukushima has spread over 230 square miles . What we’re facing here, folks, is a Fukushima dead zone where life will never return to its pre-Fukushima norms. Radiation levels similar to nuclear bomb test site Bloomberg is now reporting, “Tetsuya Terasawa said the radiation levels are in line with those found after a nuclear bomb test, which disperses plutonium. He declined to comment further.” (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-30/japan-risks-chernobyl-like-dead-zone-as-fukushima-soil-radiation-soars.html) One soil sample taking 25 kilometers away from Fukushima showed Cesium-137 exceeding 5 million becquerels per square meter . This level, of course, makes it uninhabitable by humans, yet both the Japanese and U.S. governments continue to downplay the whole event, assuring their sheeple that there’s nothing to worry about. By their logic, since all the people are sheeple anyway, as long as the area is safe enough for sheep, it’s also safe enough for the human population. Both Japan and the U.S. have made huge efforts to raise the limits of allowed radiation exposure in foods and beverages. This was, of course, a deceitful tactic to try to reclassify radiation contamination as somehow magically being “safe” by redefining it. The outright lying and tactics of deception that have been used to try to downplay the severity of the radioactive fallout from Fukushima are nothing less than despicable. In a time when radiation threatens the safety and food supply of hundreds of millions of people, we are getting nothing but a Fukushima whitewash . Fukushima is now far worse than Chernobyl ever was and yet we’re all being told it’s no problem and that the government has it all under control. I ask: How is 5 million becquerels per square meter not a problem? It’s amazing that we even got this information, considering how frequently TEPCO claims its sensors and meters aren’t working (basically any time they get a reading that’s “too high”). The Japanese government can’t wait to corral the sheeple back onto the radioactive soil, by the way. “Basically, the way in which the current zones have been drawn up aren’t a concern in terms of the impact on health,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano. “Using Mr. Kawata’s report as a guide, we want to do what we can to improve the soil, so people can return as soon as possible.” (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-30/japan-risks-chernobyl-like-dead-zone-as-fukushima-soil-radiation-soars.html) Barely two weeks ago, TEPCO finally admitted Fukushima suffered multiple core meltdowns in the hours following the tsunami strike (http://www.naturalnews.com/032378_nuclear_meltdown_TEPCO.html) (http://www.naturalnews.com/032437_Fukushima_nuclear_meltdown.html). This was the first time TEPCO openly admitted to something the alternative media had been reporting for months. What has become perfectly clear in the reporting on Fukushima is that: • Governments lie to the people • Mainstream media lies to the people • Only the alternative media was correct in reporting the severity of the core meltdowns and the release of radioactive material into the environment. That’s why more and more people are turning away from traditional sources of (mis)information and instead relying on the alternative media to get accurate information about world events.
Land around Fukushima now radioactive dead zone; resembles target struck by atomic bomb
May 31, 2011 by
Filed under Organic Foods
(NaturalNews) It is nothing short of astonishing that the nuclear catastrophe we’ve all been told was “no big deal” has now escalated into the worst nuclear disaster in the history of human civilization. It’s so bad now that soil samples taken from outside the 12-mile exclusion zone (the zone considered safe enough by the Japanese government for schoolchildren to attend school there) are higher than the 1.48 million becquerels a square meter limit that triggered evacuations outside Chernobyl in 1986. In other words, the radiation level of the soil 12 miles from Fukushima is now higher than the levels considered too dangerous to live in near Chernobyl. This is all coming out in a new research report authored by Tomio Kawata, a fellow at the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan. That same report also reveals that radiation from Fukushima has spread over 230 square miles . What we’re facing here, folks, is a Fukushima dead zone where life will never return to its pre-Fukushima norms. Radiation levels similar to nuclear bomb test site Bloomberg is now reporting, “Tetsuya Terasawa said the radiation levels are in line with those found after a nuclear bomb test, which disperses plutonium. He declined to comment further.” (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-30/japan-risks-chernobyl-like-dead-zone-as-fukushima-soil-radiation-soars.html) One soil sample taking 25 kilometers away from Fukushima showed Cesium-137 exceeding 5 million becquerels per square meter . This level, of course, makes it uninhabitable by humans, yet both the Japanese and U.S. governments continue to downplay the whole event, assuring their sheeple that there’s nothing to worry about. By their logic, since all the people are sheeple anyway, as long as the area is safe enough for sheep, it’s also safe enough for the human population. Both Japan and the U.S. have made huge efforts to raise the limits of allowed radiation exposure in foods and beverages. This was, of course, a deceitful tactic to try to reclassify radiation contamination as somehow magically being “safe” by redefining it. The outright lying and tactics of deception that have been used to try to downplay the severity of the radioactive fallout from Fukushima are nothing less than despicable. In a time when radiation threatens the safety and food supply of hundreds of millions of people, we are getting nothing but a Fukushima whitewash . Fukushima is now far worse than Chernobyl ever was and yet we’re all being told it’s no problem and that the government has it all under control. I ask: How is 5 million becquerels per square meter not a problem? It’s amazing that we even got this information, considering how frequently TEPCO claims its sensors and meters aren’t working (basically any time they get a reading that’s “too high”). The Japanese government can’t wait to corral the sheeple back onto the radioactive soil, by the way. “Basically, the way in which the current zones have been drawn up aren’t a concern in terms of the impact on health,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano. “Using Mr. Kawata’s report as a guide, we want to do what we can to improve the soil, so people can return as soon as possible.” (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-30/japan-risks-chernobyl-like-dead-zone-as-fukushima-soil-radiation-soars.html) Barely two weeks ago, TEPCO finally admitted Fukushima suffered multiple core meltdowns in the hours following the tsunami strike (http://www.naturalnews.com/032378_nuclear_meltdown_TEPCO.html) (http://www.naturalnews.com/032437_Fukushima_nuclear_meltdown.html). This was the first time TEPCO openly admitted to something the alternative media had been reporting for months. What has become perfectly clear in the reporting on Fukushima is that: • Governments lie to the people • Mainstream media lies to the people • Only the alternative media was correct in reporting the severity of the core meltdowns and the release of radioactive material into the environment. That’s why more and more people are turning away from traditional sources of (mis)information and instead relying on the alternative media to get accurate information about world events.
TEPCO to cover damaged Fukushima reactors with useless polyester tents
May 14, 2011 by Health Blogger
Filed under Organic Foods
(NaturalNews) In a demonstration of the company’s shocking ignorance concerning the nature of radioactive particles, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has announced that it is going to place large polyester domes — yes, you read that right — around the damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in an alleged attempt to help contain radioactive particles. The polyester domes will begin appearing next month, and all are expected to be in place by the end of the year, say reports. The TEPCO announcement, of course, is an insult to the intelligence of billions of people worldwide that understand that a thin layer of polyester fabric will do absolutely nothing to contain radioactive particles. Nevertheless, the company is moving forward with its plan to tent the facility, which also happens to conveniently hide from the public the true condition of the reactors behind a layer of opaque plastic material (http://www.myfoxny.com/dpps/news/japan-nuclear-reactors-giant-tents-dpgonc-20110513-fc_13185892). The announcement comes just one day after TEPCO announced that the Reactor 1 cooling pools are dry, and that its nuclear fuel rods have melted (http://www.naturalnews.com/032378_nuclear_meltdown_TEPCO.html). So while most of the world falsely believes that the Fukushima crisis is over, TEPCO has quietly admitted that it basically lied about the dire condition of the plant, and that it now plans to cover up the facility with plastic tents. TEPCO still insists, however, that things are under control, and that the constant stream of poured water — despite the admitted cracks and holes in Reactor 1 — is helping to cool other fuel rods and prevent additional meltdowns. But others question the legitimacy of these claims, especially considering TEPCO dismal record of dishonesty in this ongoing saga. “The reactors can NEVER be placed in ‘cold shutdown’ because the cores are partially melted together. We are talking about hundreds of tons of fissile material inside reinforced concrete containment vessels,” wrote Tom Burnett in a recent Hawaii News Daily piece. “The containment vessels are cracked. They are releasing radiation. Fission excursions are still occurring and no one can go inside those containments for hundreds of years — even if they could get to the fuel” (http://hawaiinewsdaily.com/2011/05/will-fukushimas-next-earthquake-start-a-global-extinction-event/). Meanwhile, the Japanese government has announced it will provide financial aid to TEPCO in order to prevent the company from going bankrupt (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-05-13/japan-to-help-tepco-with-fukushima-payouts-s-p-lowers-rating.html).