Man arrested over Fukushima-related YouTube videos — Charged with criminal harassment of university scientists — Professor: I certainly don’t want to jeopardize the prosecution (VIDEO)
ENE News
Globe and Mail, Nov 1, 2015 (emphasis added): After the Japanese nuclear reactor melted down… fears arose that radiation would pollute the Pacific and spread to Canada’s West Coast. To address those concerns… Dr. [Jay] Cullen started a radionuclide-monitoring program… “The goal and motivation … was that people were asking me, family and friends and the public at large, what the impact of the disaster was on B.C. on the North Pacific and on Canada,” he said… Shortly after he began blogging about the findings… [Cullen] was not only called a “shill for the nuclear industry” and a “sham scientist” but he was told he and other researchers who were reporting that the Fukushima radiation wasn’t a threat deserved to be executed… Even in Japan, he says, the [U.N.] determined the doses of ionizing radiation “are low enough that there will be no discernible increased incidence of radiation-related illness in them or their descendants.”… Dr. Cullen said he frequently hears from people that his science simply can’t be right because the Pacific Ocean is dying… Dr. Cullen said he understands that people are afraid of radiation, that they distrust governments and are wary of scientists… “I feel that the education system has failed these individuals in certain respects,” he said…
Globe and Mail, Nov 6, 2015: A British Columbia man who posted a video calling for the death of scientists whose research shows the Fukushima nuclear accident is not destroying the Pacific has been charged with two counts of criminal harassment. The charges were laid against Dana Durnford… In a video posted on Thursday, he said he had just been charged, and that many of his past videos had been taken down… “I was arrested… I was in court and I was charged with criminal harassment of nuclear industry PR people,” he said… he was charged under Section 264 of the Canadian Criminal Code, which makes it illegal to engage in conduct that causes someone to fear for their safety… “It’s new territory for me, and I certainly don’t want to jeopardize [the prosecution] by speaking out of turn,” [Cullen] said…
Durnford is not alone in voicing concern about the impact of the Fukushima disaster on North America. Here are a few examples from officials, professors, and other experts:
- Former US Gov’t Official: “The elephant in the room is Fukushima radiation” when it comes to Pacific Ocean animal die-offs -Source
- Experts: Fukushima radioactive contamination a “major concern for public health of coastal communities” on west coast -Source
- US Gov’t: Alaska island “appears to show impacts from Fukushima”; Scientists anticipate more marine life to be impacted as ocean plume arrives -Source
- AP: Unprecedented deaths along U.S. Pacific coast; Samples “being tested for radionuclides from Fukushima”-Source
- Professor: “Fukushima emerged as a global threat to the conservation of the Pacific Ocean, human health, and marine biodiversity” -Source
- Gov’t conducts more tests on sick animals to look for Fukushima radionuclides -Source
- Scientists predict west coast killer whales will exceed 1,000 Bq/kg of radioactive cesium; Over 10 times gov’t limit in Japan -Source
- Professors: Seafood off west coast predicted to exceed gov’t radioactivity limit -Source
- Scientist expects Fukushima radiation will cause marine bacteria in US to mutate -Source
- Boat Captain: Fishermen “talking about Fukushima… convinced it has something to do with” poor condition of marine life -Source
- Professor: Fukushima a suspected factor in ‘unusual mortality’ of seals, walruses -Source
- Scientists present links between Alaska seal deaths and Fukushima fallout -Source
- “Many researchers initially believed radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster could be at the heart of the [sea star wasting] disease” -Source
- Mystery disease kills seals in Atlantic Ocean; Gov’t tests for Fukushima radiation -Source
- “Fish along the Orange County coast may have been affected by [Fukushima] radioactivity… researchers say” -Source
- US gov’t experts looking into whether Fukushima is cause of sea lion strandings in California; NOAA: “Radiation epidemic could be potential cause” -Source
Watch Durnford’s video addressing the charges here
Published: November 11th, 2015 at 7:17 am ET
By ENENews |