Radiation Update

The disaster at Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan is old news now. After over two and a half years the situation is still about the same and growing more precarious everyday. All of the power generating nuclear reactors are damaged. There are reports that three of them are in uncontrolled meltdown. The location of the radioactive material may not be clearly known because the radiation levels are so extreme there is no way to get close enough to the melting blob. This material has most likely melted through the containment vessel made of very thick concrete.

This disaster is far worse than the Chernobyl nuclear power disaster. When the hydrogen explosion blew the top off of the reactors there was an incredible fireball sent high into the sky. With it was a release of highly radioactive particles that have drifted into our atmosphere. 8 days after the explosion the radioactive fallout made it to the North American continent where it has been distributed. Background radiations rose but interestingly the government radiation monitors were turned off. Apparently they have not been needed during this time.

The charged radioactive particles are in our environment. The earths surface has been littered with them. Plants and animals are taking up these particles just like they take up other minerals. Because these particles are so small it is difficult to detect with standard radiation instruments. This can be done though with sophisticated instruments that are available. This costs money and if the true extent of the amount of radiation were known for all foods I believe it would send shock waves through society. The levels would come under the Federal guidelines though for food exposure. So in the end they would be deemed safe.

The problem is we are bioaccumulators. It is not that one tiny hot particle would significantly change our health. I see many people who have not shown signs of radiation exposure. Yet I have seen others who have definite signs. The real risk is over a decade or more of consuming these hot particles. There are tipping points for our bodies to be able to successfully repair the damage done to cells. Each of the radioactive isotopes are taken up in the body through the food we eat. They have different qualities and are stored in different areas of the body. For instance Strontium is taken into the bones. After years of eating foods with only a very few of these isotopes there is an accumulation that can cascade and  lead to cancer. The DNA that has been damaged in the cells around the hot particles replicates in error. When there are more damaged cells than the body can successfully destroy, the tide turns and disease follows.

Tepco, the power utility company that manages the power plant has been less than forthcoming about the real condition of the powerplants and the mitigation of further exposure to radiation. The number four reactor was in cold shutdown at the time of the accident. There are fuel storage ponds in a second story of the reactor building. The buildings have all been severely damaged by the earthquake, tsunami and hydrogen explosions. These fuel rods must be kept submerged in water to keep them cool. If they get too hot, damaged or exposed to air they can ignite and another significant above ground release of radiation can happen. To mitigate the problem Tepco has been flooding the damaged cooling ponds and the damaged reactors that are in meltdown with sea water. This water should never come in contact with fuel rods or the buildings because the salt water causes corrosion. This corrosion eats away at the Zirconium cladding on the outside of the fuel rods damaging them. It also eats away at the steel building and cooling ponds. The number four reactor building is so severely damaged that the crane system for removing the rods and storing them in a safe place can not be used. The process of removing the thousands of fuel rods must be done now with remote equipment because the radiation is so high a worker can only be exposed for less than one hour before he receives a lifetime dose of radiation. This makes the problem of fuel rod recovery all the more daunting. The building is susceptible to future earthquake damage as well. It makes me wonder about the sanity of building nuclear powerplants on known earthquake faults.

Tepco has attempted to recover the radioactive water that has been used to flood the powerplants in an attempt to keep them cool. This water has been stored in tanks built on site. Some of the tanks have failed and released radioactive water into the Pacific ocean. The failed containment of the reactors in meltdown is also releasing radiation into the ground water. No one knows for sure the amount of radiation that has been released into the Pacific Ocean. Radiation though, has been carried by the ocean currents to the West Coast of North America and Cesium has been detected in increased levels in fish. Interestingly it is the only radiation that is being monitored. There are many radioactive isotopes being released into the sea. This increase again comes within the standards of radiation exposure for humans. But prolonged eating of creatures from the Pacific Ocean will only increase your risk for disease caused by radiation.

Currently I am seeing more individuals that have symptoms of radiation exposure. These include extreme fatigue that comes in waves. The person reports they are barely able to stand the weakness is so profound. Eventually it passes after a short rest. Headaches of an unusual character for people who have no history of headaches are usually dull and global. The feeling of burning sensation on the skin. and the most common symptoms is mental confusion. This confusion is unique and similar to absent-mindedness. The person is able to track their thoughts but acting on them is difficult. It is as if they are present with their thought but disconnected from action; all at the same time. This has led to an increase in accidents etc.

I have not found a suitable protocol or standard treatment for radiation exposure. I am a Hahnemannian classical homeopath and still try to prescribe for a person based on symptoms and the person and not just a pathology. With this perspective I am not sure if there can ever be a standard protocol for healing radiation exposure. Once the effects have been manifest, then the personal expression of disease will be our guide to the correct remedy or remedies.

There are not a lot of references to radiation in our repertory. Our repertory is very incomplete. I did a word search of radiation in the Complete 2013 Repertory which is the most up-to-date repertory. Here are the results;

• generalities; INTOXICATION, after; radiation therapy (9) : cadm., cadm-i., calc-f., fl-ac., hippoz., phos., 3Rad-br., stront-c., x-ray
• generalities; INTOXICATION, after; radiation therapy; anemia, in subsequent, and cachexia (1) : phos.
• generalities; INTOXICATION, after; radiation therapy; caries, necrosis, with subsequent ulcerating necrosis that defies healing (1) : cadm-i.
• generalities; INTOXICATION, after; radiation therapy; complaints, with subsequent (6) : cadm-i., fl-ac., phos., rad-br., stront-c., x-ray
• generalities; MOBILE phone radiation agg. (1) : glon.
• generalities; RADIATION, sensation of background (2) : arist-cl., tax

Other remedies that may be useful other than the list above include; Uranium Metallicum, Uranium Nitricum, Plutonium Metallicum, Plutonium Nitricum, Polonium, Cesium, and Technitium. Materia Medica of these remedies is scant. There is not a lot written about them.

As homeopaths we need to be more aware of the dangers and exposure to the increased radiation, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. The mainstream media is not openly reporting the real problems and dangers that exist in Fukushima, Japan. This is a man influenced disaster of apocalyptic proportion. The long-term effects have not even begun to appear. With most radioactive substances having a half-life of many hundreds to many thousands of years, this problem is not going away anytime soon. The situation at the power plants has not changed significantly since the day of the accident and is only getting more dire. I am not trying to be a doom and gloom reporter here but am trying to wake people up to what is happening.

It will take a giant outcry from the population to demand that all countries around the world come to the aid of Japan. We need to put the best minds on earth with an unimaginable budget to try to mitigate the damage as quickly as possible. This has not happened yet. Most people either know very little about the disaster and really do not want to believe that it is as bad as it is. Because you can not see, hear, feel, or taste radiation it is very easy to ignore. The short-term effects are for those very near the releases of radiation. We are only now beginning to see the long-term effects in places thousands of miles away.