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Why our state housing stock is being sold off while thousands of Kiwis are homeless

This is a repost of this article. Timely as in HNZ has just announced they’ll be shortly out of funds. No surprizes! Why if these people have degrees in accountancy are they running us into the ground peeps? Do check out the links recommended in the older article here (Agenda 21 and Banking), and read about the new debacle here.
EnvirowatchRangitikei


The Prime Minister John Key announced earlier this year that he intended to sell off  1000 to 2000 of NZ’s state houses. Large numbers of these homes were built by the first Labour government in 1935 and as of 2013 the stock numbered 69,000. That era had marked the birth of our welfare state and the tenants of the first house that was finished and let in 1937, paid just one third of their income in rent. Fifty years later we had the Labour government promising to remain involved in NZ’s housing market, then with the event of  Rogernomics and Roger Douglas’s neo liberal economic policies (the new economic ‘experiment’ that benefited those at the top of the capitalist pyramid and launched the ever increasing gap between rich and poor) rents were raised to market rates. Tenants could then apply for a government subsidy called an accommodation benefit,  effectively subsidizing the landlords. By 1997, 60 years later, tenants were paying three quarters of their income in rent. The welfare state in NZ, having officially begun with the Social Security Act in 1938 and the state ensuring every New Zealand family had at least a minimum standard of living, was now descending rapidly into an abyss of debt and for many, poverty. We’ve effectively gone from free milk in schools to kids with no lunch at all.

In a recent article by Bryan Bruce, advocate for NZ’s children in poverty, and maker of the documentaries ‘Mind the Gap’ and ‘Inside Child Poverty‘,  some interesting questions are raised, questions many New Zealanders have also been asking.  Questions like why is the Key government selling off our state housing stock, especially when thousands of families have nowhere to live? NZ is in fact experiencing a housing crisis, described by the Salvation Army as an ‘unfolding social disaster’. On the one hand we have soaring house prices in Auckland that have so inflated the market few can afford them, and on the other, according to Auckland’s City Mission estimates,  the numbers of people sleeping rough in Auckland for the year 2013-2014 virtually doubled.

The NZ Parliament website states that a “2013 University of Otago study using 2001 and 2006 Census figures and emergency housing data estimated that 12,900-21,100 dwellings would be needed to house the 2006 severely housing deprived population. These were in addition to housing required to address other forms of need, and underlying demand”. 

In total, “An estimated 34,000 people, or about one in every 120 New Zealanders, were unable to access housing” in that year  (University of Otago Monday, 23 September 2013).

“A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.”
~ Mahatma Ghandi

Now it gets interesting. The usual rationale proffered for asset sales since they began with Rogernomics,  have been ‘to get us out of debt’ or ‘save us money’, giving the impression they are no longer breaking even let alone making a profit.  Bruce however reveals that the HNZ corporation has in fact been making a very healthy profit (links in his article).  Clearly it would be more prudent to keep this asset.

Further facts Bruce highlights are:

  • the housing stock is worth $18 billion
  • the operating surplus for 2013 was $121 million
  • the same year it returned a $90 million profit
  • the previous two years’ profit were $76 and $68 million
  • profits have increased significantly under the National government

Bruce raises questions like, where did those profits go? Why have they not reinvested the profits into the housing stock?  Why sell housing stock in the regions when they are presumably encouraging folks to move to the regions? (Agenda 21 maybe? … the real plan  for UN’s Agenda 21 aka Sustainable Development is to have populations relocated out of rural and into urban areas).

You may not be aware of this, but NZ is a corporation. Our country is listed on the Securities and Exchange Commission website as a corporation under the name of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. Most will be aware that corporations are required to turn a profit … to maximize profits is their legal mandate. They are not about, nor are they required to be about the welfare of people. (Watch two minute movie trailer for ‘The Corporation’ below).

So as our corporation steams along at full speed, rapidly selling off both our country and its assets,  those who head it up are giving us the impression they govern as elected representatives of the people. In a sense they do but their real agenda, their corporate bottom line, is hidden from view. Corporations if you study them, and as the above trailer illustrates quite succinctly, are not required to consider the effects their economic activities have on people. I strongly urge you to watch the full documentary on ‘The Corporation’ page. You will then be joining some dots and making sense of what is really happening in our midst. As long as we remain a corporation, poverty will not disappear. The welfare state has always existed merely to give capitalism a human face. That capitalism is now shamelessly profit driven and the human face is disappearing fast.

nz is a corporation
NZ is registered as a corporation under the name of Her Majesty the Queen of England (Courtesy of wakeupkiwi.com) Click on image to enlarge

Check out the links and see for yourself where and how we are listed on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website here. 

See our Money pages for more info & links, &/or search categories for further related articles (at left of any page).

Please like our FB page &/or follow our blog (right of any page) and do spread the word on all the untruths we have been told!

EnvirowatchRangitikei


Other Links:

Government to sell 1000 to 2000 state houses  Stuff.co.nz

Housing NZ’s the Problem Newstalk ZB

Government’s state housing sell-off gets stranger   Stuff.co.nz


Featured image: “State houses at Arapuni Hydro Works” by Archives New Zealand – State houses at Arapuni Hydro Works. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:State_houses_at_Arapuni_Hydro_Works.jpg#/media/File:State_houses_at_Arapuni_Hydro_Works.jpg

Could this Healthy 23 Year Old’s Cardiac Arrest Have Been Caused by Exposure to 1080? … We Will Never Know Because Incredibly, the NZ Lab Lost Her Heart!

This story is from 2006, a shocking story in more ways than one. Shocking and sad for the family of this young woman, Whitney Robie, who was only 23. She had been hiking in the South Island, felt unwell, and after retiring to bed, died in her sleep of a sudden cardiac arrest it was later ascertained. Now they are left with few answers and no real closure regarding the why of her death. The Doctor she saw that day was concerned she had possibly been exposed to 1080 on her hike. Read on.

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She had come here to our ‘clean green’ paradise to live. Sadly she died here.

(NZ is not clean and green people, it is severely polluted and toxic now … and worse, our authorities lie about that).

Sudden accidental deaths (SADs) do happen however this story has some anomalies which could have but have not been solved due to a medical blunder. It is thanks to a GP who followed up on Whitney & questioned  friends at the hostel where she was staying, that we have a little more of this story than we would otherwise have known.

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Losing a heart for one thing is a shocker in itself. In a random and ordinary course of events such a mistake is feasible. But with a sudden unexplained death of a very healthy, active young woman … how could this possibly happen? When the clues to her death clearly lay within an analysis of her heart’s condition, how could they simply LOSE her heart? Well lose it they did. Or so they say.

The official story about this loss can be found at the following link:

Family face long wait over backpacker’s lost heart
(the link being broken & the 2006 article gone from the internet, the Herald article is reprinted further below at end of article)

A journalist who has been following this story for some time and says it has been shared more than 150 times now, has re posted it on Facebook with the attendant detail from when it first became news…here is the train of events as described by her (edited for brevity & omission of personal detail):

“Regarding Whitney Robie, she went hiking on her own in a 1080’d area (I believe it was gel/jelly) and felt unwell that evening, said so, went to bed and had a cardiac arrest in the night. She was 23. From the USA, her obituary described how she was full of life, fit, loved the outdoors and had moved to NZ for an adventure. She had no previous history of heart problems.
The Doctor concerned said he had gone to the hostel and spoken to the other guests straight after she died. Later when he heard her death had been recorded as a heart attack, he advised and pressed the authorities to run tests relating to possible 1080 exposure. He was told however that the matter was now ‘officially closed’.
Her heart was sent for post mortem and was lost by the govt laboratory. This Dunedin GP was so concerned that he made a submission to ERMA in 2007 that included this account.
It was his opinion that the most probable cause of her death was 1080 poisoning, and that many others in NZ over the years have also died from it but that their deaths are either mistakenly or deliberately misdiagnosed.”
A letter to the editor in 2006 commenting on the actions of the Doctor involved gives further information about the unexplained early deaths of people working with 1080. Read the pdf here: cancer-deaths-from-1080


Here are some points to consider about this story:

  • The 1080 Reassessment Application document for ERMA Oct 2006. Section 3.3 Hazard Classifications. Sub section 4.8.2 [has the] ‘Heart’ as a target organ.

4.8.2. Heart as a target organ That single or repeated sublethal exposures to fluoroacetate can have toxic effects on the heart has been recognised for some time (e.g. Steyn 1934; Quin and Clark 1947; Hicks 1952). In general, the action of fluoroacetate on the heart is to decrease the metabolic energy available in heart muscle, which affects the conduction system controlling the rate and strength of heart beats (e.g. Chenoweth and Gilman 1947)  (found on page 11 of the pdf)

  • St Johns put out their Sudden Cardiac Arrest Annual Report in June and it shows the figures for rural as opposed to urban. The rates are far far higher in rural areas.

Rural New Zealanders had more than double the incidence of cardiac arrest than those in urban centres – approximately 160 versus 78 (per 100,000 person-years).

  • 1080 is effective as a poison regardless of the mode of entry. It can be absorbed by the intact skin, but not readily, however it is easily absorbed through cuts, abrasions, and is rapidly absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract and through the lungs. One teaspoon of 1080 is enough to kill 30-100 adults weighing around 150 pounds. The potential for misuse is great
  • How toxic is 1080? Toxicologist explains – Professor Ian Shaw explores why and how 1080 is so toxic and asks what is the risk of a child dying from contaminated formula.

The main point is that although these deaths may or may not be attributed to 1080,  more importantly, if nobody looks and checks then we are left with this element of doubt. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Plausible deniability is not good enough. There are questions that are not being answered or even addressed.It recently came to light from an Official Information request that DOC had lost 89 Kiwi, and yet they had not tested one of them for 1080. Doing so is not rocket science.

A blogger, NZRose commented here recently: 
My partner and I spoke to the poison people late last year. They are contracted to lay everything from cyanide to feratox to take care of the ‘pests’ on behalf of the NZ Government. I will never forget them laughing as they said that the 1080 had been doubled more than a year prior to our conversation. When we asked why they said “to Kill the deer, and the activists aren’t even aware yet”. We responded with “Well now they are”. These people were too stupid to realise they were talking to the wrong people. (See the whole comment here)


Proceed with Caution

And in the meantime, this is all evidence enough for us to be extremely wary of exposing ourselves in any way to 1080. It is clearly a lethal product and by all reports right now, is being spread around quite indiscriminately. Finding it on walking tracks, in streams and on public seating and anywhere near where humans are likely to be, is simply not good enough. Families with young children walk these tracks. If you intend hiking in our bush, please avail yourself of data about when 1080 was last spread in the area where you intend walking. You can obtain this from DOC. We recently heard of two women who were surprised during a picnic by a 1080 drop who continue to experience illness, they believe, because of that unintended exposure. Clearly they were not aware of any intentions by DOC to be dropping 1080 where they picnicked that day.


About 1080: 1080 is an alias for Monofluoroacetate, a chemical. Monofluoroacetate was originally developed and marketed as an insecticide. It functions primarily by interfering with the citrate step in the Krebs cycle [5]. The Krebs cycle is the major and an essential mechanism by which all air breathing creatures utilize food to produce energy. It is therefore universally toxic to all animals, essentially every living thing except plants and some micro-organisms. The degree of toxicity of 1080 is extreme, but varies somewhat among species. It is categorised by the World Health Organization (WHO) as 1A, their highest rating, “extremely toxic” [1,2]. * The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies 1080 as ‘Extremely Hazardous’, most countries ban it outright. NZ uses 85% of the world’s supply … perhaps the world hasn’t figured out what a wonderful thing it really is. (References 1-5 are at the source)
*Dr Q Whiting-OKeefe (BA Chemistry, Math), MD, FACMI


What I deduct from all of this is that until the NZ government desists from using it, we the public must be very vigilant in protecting ourselves. That to my mind includes warning others, particularly tourists who are sold our country on the basis of being ‘clean and green’. The corporations (and our government is one) have a priority (a legal mandate) of profits over people, so they are not going to put your safety first. We believe it is far safer to err on the side of caution when there are any suspected or known risks.
Educate yourself on 1080 … find links at our 1080 page to the many resources available. Search for further articles exposing the risks of 1080 by searching ‘categories’ at the left of any page.
Note: for some reason, the Facebook sharing button is not working … in the meantime, to share please use the url.
 
Please take extreme care….. EnvirowatchRangitikei

rest-in-peace-1389856_1280.jpgWhitney Robie 

 


NZ Herald Article

Family face long wait over backpacker’s lost heart

By

James Ihaka

7:50 PM Wednesday Jun 14, 2006

The family of an American backpacker whose heart went missing after she died suddenly in Queenstown last month face a long wait.

The Auckland District Health Board is investigating the disappearance of 23-year-old Whitney Robie’s heart from LabPlus, the hospital’s pathology laboratory.

Miss Robie collapsed while watching TV at Deco Backpackers in Queenstown on May 15 and died shortly afterwards despite efforts to revive her.

Invercargill pathologist Dr Ahmed Shogun could not determine her cause of death. Queenstown coroner Alan Macalister and police requested a further investigation and her heart was couriered to LabPlus for tests.

But Miss Robie’s heart was lost and had been missing since, despite a “thorough and repeated search” for it.

“I can confirm … [it] has not been located,” said the health board’s external communications manager Fleur King.

She said the normal procedure was for the board to conduct its investigation before presenting its findings to relatives.

The process could take several months, she said.

“The family will be presented with the document. It is up to them if they want to present it to the public.”

Ms King would not say if anyone or any organisation would be punished over the matter but said “additional measures” had been introduced to ensure it did not happen again.

In a statement issued to the media, the board and LabPlus expressed deep regret at what had happened and said the organisation had been in contact with Miss Robie’s family.

However, Miss Robie’s mother, Alison, told the Herald on Sunday she and her husband Chuck were angry at the lack of information and contact from both LabPlus and the health board.

“Auckland Hospital has never called us. The lab has never called us. The only communication from anyone over there, other than the police and the original doctor who was with Whitney after the incident, has been through a funeral director here,” said Mrs Robie.

The couple want to know what caused their daughter’s death and what went wrong at LabPlus.

“I’m kind of speechless to be honest with you over the whole thing,” said Mr Robie. “It’s a personal matter when we start talking about something of our daughter’s.

“We have struggled with that whole issue. We’re really at a loss at this point in time, without any information on what we should do,” he said.

Miss Robie was buried in her New Hampshire home town on May 23.

Read more by

 

James Ihaka

 

 


For further information on 1080 read here: http://ban1080.co.nz/1080-facts/

or watch a trailer at this link:  http://www.thegrafboys.org/movies/preview.html  You can purchase the Graf Boys’ excellent documentaries on 1080 at this link: http://www.thegrafboys.org

See the TheGrafBoys YT channel and website for more videos.

See also http://1080science.co.nz/


DISCLAIMER:

This site aims to educate the public by providing independently researched evidence and by exposing untruths. Corporations are not inclined to tell you the full facts because they have a priority of profits over people.

We do not in any way encourage or condone violence in raising these issues. It is our ultimate wish that the government/corporation desist from unleashing toxic poisons into our once clean and green environment, but until they do we simply wish to warn people to protect themselves from possible harm.


 

 

 

 

Deer Mass Poisoned – 1080 Dropped Directly into Streams that Flow into Lake Taupo – Farmer Speaks Out

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More indiscriminate poisoning of paradise, the no longer clean green Aotearoa. As the farmer points out, “they do the drops, and they walk away. They never see the aftermath like we see.” If you feel 1080 is safe and nothing to worry about, please watch the Graf Boys’ videos on Youtube (see our 1080 pages for links). Real eye openers!  And remember the NZ corporation parading as a government has vested interests in its continued use with recently revealed investments in the poison.

EnvirowatchRangitikei

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See how widely our corporation (the NZ ‘govt’) utilizes 1080

scoop.co.nz

” … poisonous baits were dropped directly into almost all streams within the forested areas. The streams all flow into Lake Taupo”.

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1080, in spite of denials, finds its way into our precious and already polluted waterways
Friday, 19 August 2016, 4:21 pm

Deer Mass Poisoned – Lake Taupo Farmer Speaks Out

On the 3rd Of July 1080 poison bait was spread across 50,000 hectares of the Hauhungaroa Ranges, which are situated on Western Bays of Lake Taupo.

Beef and sheep farmer Lance Aldrige was informed by a farm hand that he had found four poisoned deer laying on the farm four days after the aerial operation was completed. A field trip was arranged so that Waikato Regional Councillors could be shown the impacts of the resource consents their Council issues.

Many more poisoned deer were found as the group made their way around the farm and bush edges. Lance Aldridge has had to endure the impacts of aerial poison drops for over 30 years ” This is the sort of thing a lot of people don’t see. They do the drops, and they walk away. They never see the aftermath like we see.” He goes on to explain on camera how the operations are difficult to live and work around.

READ MORE


RELATED:  

WAIKATO REGIONAL COUNCIL PERMITS POISONING OF WATERWAYS TO KILL DEER

Like our FB page &/or follow us for updates. We are about exposing the corruption and lies of particularly corporations whose only allegiance is to their shareholders & not the environment.

Expose them by sharing this information! And be thoughtful about who you vote for this Local Body election time!

EnvirowatchRangitikei

Pediatrics Journal says to stop calling breastfeeding natural

Here we have a pediatrics journal dissuading mothers from breast feeding because it interferes with vaccine delivery and the introduction of GM foods. We need to be asking ourselves here, how can this be reasonable & normal? If natural practices like breastfeeding and home schooling among other things (as the article sets out) interfere with vaccination & GM food – there you have a warning bell. Right there. This is NOT NORMAL. We have for years been weaned onto bottles of formula being best, now your freedom of choice is being even further eroded – and not so subtly at that. And this from the a journal of pediatrics!! Our so called experts on children. How can a needle with chemicals (in ever increasing proportions and toxicity) and canned formula surpass a mother’s breast milk to promote a healthy immune system?  Very well if children’s health had improved over recent decades however the complete opposite is true.  Vaccines have been linked by certain Doctors to the growing rate of Autism among other things. Do the research for yourself (see our related pages for links) or have your normal mother instincts been taken from you as well?

EnvirowatchRangitikei



Pediatrics Journal says to stop calling breastfeeding natural

From examiner.com – a new article in the journal Pediatrics is calling on health professionals to stop saying that breastfeeding is natural, arguing that doing so gives the impression that natural parenting practices are healthier. The authors have started a public campaign to end the positive use of the word natural, claiming that it is associated with such “problematic” practices as home birth, homeschooling and the rejection of GMO foods, and that natural parenting movements are interfering with vaccination efforts.

Pediatrics Journal says to stop calling breastfeeding natural
Breast is best [Photo: examiner.com]

In the article, Unintended Consequences of Invoking the “Natural” in Breastfeeding Promotion, Jessica Martucci and Anne Barnhill, Medical Ethics and Health Policy researchers at Penn Medicine, wrote:

“Building on this critical work, we are concerned about breastfeeding promotion that praises breastfeeding as the “natural” way to feed infants. This messaging plays into a powerful perspective that “natural” approaches to health are better… Promoting breastfeeding as “natural” may be ethically problematic, and, even more troublingly, it may bolster this belief that “natural” approaches are presumptively healthier.”

The authors are especially concerned that promoting natural practices such as breastfeeding will harm vaccination rates, since many parents who follow natural parenting practices also delay or decline vaccinesfor their children. Thy also cite other examples of the “fallacy” that natural choices are intrinsically better, including the rejection of GMO foods, the preference for organic over conventionally grown foods and concerns over water fluoridation.

READ MORE

RELATED:

Paediatrics Journal link:
Unintended Consequences of Invoking the “Natural” in Breastfeeding Promotion

OTHER SUGGESTED LINKS

DOC’s dubious ‘success’ rate with 1080 – $3.5 billion, a decade later and not a single endangered bird species in recovery 

DOC has received $3.5 billion of taxpayer’s money in the past decade, and not a single endangered bird species is in recovery on mainland NZ. And they have another significant drop planned for 2016.


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From Bill Wallace at stuff.co.nz
“DOC is currently preparing the New Zealand public for another massive aerial 1080 poisoning of our forests in winter 2016, supposedly in response to yet another beech mast.

Masts or good flowering years of beech trees and other native plants are normal sporadic events. Some native birds only breed in mast years, it’s the way of nature, fluctuations of populations in response to food supply and environmental conditions. The same natural fluctuations occur with introduced species.

Last year’s Battle for the Birds poisoned an area the size of Taranaki supposedly in response to a beech mast and rat plague. The beech mast was light to moderate in most areas, and rat numbers in high altitude areas were at zero at the time of the 1080 drop in many areas. 1080 is a cruel inhumane poison that effectively chemically strangles it’s victims to death over many hours for the birds or days for large mammals.”

“Aerial 1080 randomly scattered over vast areas of our bush and mountains, often in breach of DOC’s own scientist’s advice and Standards, is the “dirtiest and cruellest” pretence at Conservation amongst developed nations (personal observation).”

Read the article:  http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/74695030/1080-drop-by-doc-for-beech-mast-unnecessary

For further information on 1080 visit our 1080 page (at main menu). See the sub pages also on suspected poisonings and more.

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EnvirowatchRangitikei

 

The Horrible Truth About Fukushima — Helen Caldicott, MD

Like many folk today you possibly think that Fukushima has gone away and all’s well. At least that is what the media would have us believe. Dr Helen Caldicott, co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility, has authored many books on this topic & for over four decades has been the embodiment of the anti-nuclear banner. Listen to her tell you how things really are. (38 min Video)

Published on May 6, 2015

“Australia Nobel Prize Candidate Helen Caldicott MD discusses the grave danger of Fukushima Radiation – Helen Caldicott, MD was among 45 leading scholars, authors and activists who convened at The Great Hall of Cooper Union, New York City, on October 25-26, … Helen and Arnie talked about the lies and deception practiced and sustained by TEPCO, the Japanese regulators and government, even to this day at Fukushima … Streamed live on Nov 10, 2013 “
PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH EVERYONE YOU LOVE…IMMEDIATELY! Take notice of what Helen Caldicott is saying.”
The Horrible Truth About Fukushima — Helen Caldicott, MD


What’s Really Going On At Fukushima? by Tyler Durden

“Fukushima’s still radiating, self-perpetuating, immeasurable, and limitless, like a horrible incorrigible Doctor Who monster encounter in deep space.

Fukushima will likely go down in history as the biggest cover-up of the 21st Century. Governments and corporations are not leveling with citizens about the risks and dangers; similarly, truth itself, as an ethical standard, is at risk of going to shambles as the glue that holds together the trust and belief in society’s institutions. Ultimately, this is an example of how societies fail….Tens of thousands of Fukushima residents remain in temporary housing more than four years after the horrific disaster of March 2011….[radiation] is insidious because it cannot be detected by human senses. People are not biologically equipped to feel its power, or see, or hear, touch or smell it (Caldicott). Not only that, it slowly accumulates over time in a dastardly fashion that serves to hide its effects until it is too late….

Chernobyl’s Destruction Mirrors Fukushima’s Future

As an example of how media fails to deal with disaster blowback, here are some Chernobyl facts that have not received enough widespread news coverage: Over one million (1,000,000) people have already died from Chernobyl’s fallout….

Fukushima is literally a time bomb in quiescence. Another powerful quake and all hell could break loose. Also, it is not even close to being under control. Rather, it is totally out of control. According to Dr. Caldicott, “It’s still possible that Tokyo may have to be evacuated, depending upon how things go.” Imagine that!…As the disaster happened, enormous levels of radiation hit Tokyo. The highest radiation detected in the Tokyo Metro area was in Saitama with cesium radiation levels detected at 919,000 becquerel (Bq) per square meter, a level almost twice as high as Chernobyl’s “permanent dead zone evacuation limit of 500,000 Bq”….“The US government has come up with a decision at the highest levels of the State Department, as well as other departments who made a decision to downplay Fukushima….

Dr. Caldicott ended her speech on Sept. 2014 by saying: “In Fukushima, it is not over. Everyday, four hundred tons of highly radioactive water pours into the Pacific and heads towards the U.S. Because the radiation accumulates in fish, we get that too. The U.S. government is not testing the water, not testing the fish, and not testing the ambient air. Also, people in Japan are eating radiation every day.”…

Read the full article with links to Dr Caldicott’s and other books on this issue: 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-24/whats-really-going-fukushima