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Radioactive fallout from Fukushima nuclear meltdowns caused abnormalities in Japan's butterflies
- 8-13-2012
- Categorized in: Fukushima
Indicators of a future where mutations are carried down the years in the gene pool. Note that the worst harm was done to larvae, eggs, and "reproductive cells."
Jiji l Japan Times Aug. 12, 2012
"...Abnormalities such as unusually small wings were found in 12 percent of the total. But the rate rose to 18 percent in a second generation produced through mating among the butterflies collected and some even died before reaching adulthood.
When second generation butterflies with abnormal traits mated with healthy ones, the rate of abnormalities rose to 34 percent in the third generation, according to the article.
The team collected another 238 butterflies last September and determined that the abnormality rate stood at 28 percent. However, it nearly doubled to 52 percent among a second generation born to the original butterflies caught...."
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More detailed article on the mutations in butterflies in Japan:
'Severe abnormalities' found in Fukushima butterflies
Scientists found an increase in leg, antennae and wing shape mutations among butterflies collected following the 2011 Fukushima accident.
The link between the mutations and the radioactive material was shown by laboratory experiments, they report.
The work has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.
...
"This study is important and overwhelming in its implications for both the human and biological communities living in Fukushima," explained University of South Carolina biologist Tim Mousseau, who studies the impacts of radiation on animals and plants in Chernobyl and Fukushima, but was not involved in this research.
"These observations of mutations and morphological abnormalities can only be explained as having resulted from exposure to radioactive contaminants," Dr Mousseau told BBC News.
