ENENews: Former Japan TV News Anchor: The mutations have begun in Fukushima; Birds found blind, unable to fly

Former Japan TV News Anchor: The mutations have begun in Fukushima; Birds found blind, unable to fly — Magazine: “Birds in tailspin 4 years after Fukushima… the proverbial canary in a coalmine” — Professor: Birds with mutations popping up all over in contaminated areas (VIDEO)
Published: May 12th, 2015 at 1:04 pm ET
By ENENews
http://enenews.com/former-japan-tv-news-anchor-mutations-begun-fukushima-birds-found-fly-magazine-birds-tailspin-4-years-after-fukushima-proverbial-canary-coalmine-professor-partial-albinos-popping-all-place-conta?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29

(Katsuhide Okada revisits the Futaba Rose Garden after the triple disaster. | COURTESY OF KATSUHIDE OKADA)
Japan Times, Mar 8, 2015 (emphasis added): Katsuhide Okada… didn’t worry much about the power plant: It was so safe, Tepco told the Futaba community… [T]he roses that Mr. Okada cultivated over a lifetime — more than 750 varieties, nearly 8,000 bushes — have perished. Still, Okada has returned to Futaba 10 times… he was interviewed on NHK appearing grim and heartbroken… Maya Moore, a former news anchor and journalist at NHK, happened to catch Okada’s interview… she collaborated with Okada and the group in putting together the book “The Rose Garden of Fukushima.”
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2015/03/08/issues/labor-love-left-wither-die-fukushima#.VaXXHvmrStY

The forward to ‘The Rose Garden of Fukushima’ was written by US Ambassador to Japan (2009-13) John Roos: “The incredible tale of Katz Okada and his Fukushima rose garden as told here by Maya Moore… gives you a small window into what the people of Tohoku faced”
http://maya87mh.wix.com/rosegardenfukushima

WHYY, Apr 24, 2015 – Interview with Maya Moore, former NHK news anchor and author of The Rose Garden of Fukushima (22:15 in): It’s just poisoned wasteland. The last time Mr. Okada actually went back in there, he found baby crows that could not fly, that were blind. Mutations have begun with animals, with birds.
http://whyy.org/cms/youbetyourgarden/some-tips-and-tricks-to-fight-miserable-mosquitoes/

Click to access Mousseau-Caldicott-2015-sm.pdf

Several studies have linked the Fukushima disaster to mutations in wildlife and specifically discussed negative effects on crow populations:

Dr. Tim Mousseau, Professor of Biological Sciences at the Univ. of South Carolina, 2014 (pdf): We have studied biodiversity at Chornobyl since 2000 and Fukushima since 2011. Most organisms that we have examined showed significantly increased rates of genetic damage in direct proportion to the level of exposure… Many organisms showed increased rates of deformities, developmental abnormalities, eye cataracts, and even tumors and cancers.

Smithsonian, Apr 30, 2015: Birds Are in a Tailspin Four Years After Fukushima — Like the proverbial canary in a coalmine… Mousseau and his team have assembled a grim portrait… their data show that bird species and abundances are in sharp decline, and the situation is getting worse… “where it’s much, much hotter, it’s dead silent. You’ll see one or two birds if you’re lucky.”… birds such as the carrion crow… demonstrated higher susceptibility… 2012, he began capturing birds [with] patches of bleach-white feathers… the patches have a high coincidence with… cataracts, tumors, asymmetries, developmental abnormalities… By 2013, the birds… had white patches big enough to be seen through binoculars.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/birds-are-tailspin-four-years-after-fukushima-180955134/?no-ist

Click to access Moller-et-al-JO-2015b.pdf

Journal of Ornithology (Moller, Nishiumi, Mousseau). Mar 2015: Recent seminal studies of butterflies… found strong evidence for increased mutation rates, developmental abnormalities and population effects as a direct consequence of exposure to [Fukushima] radionuclides… these unambiguously supported observations of the elevated mutation rates and phenotypic effects observed in the field.

Click to access JORN-D-14-00257b.pdf

Journal of Ornithology (Moller, Nishiumi, Mousseau), Feb 2015: [S]pecies showing the strongest negative correlated with level of background radiation level at [Fukushima] were Tree Sparrow [and] Carrion Crow…

Journal of Heredity (Moller & Mousseau), 2014: Developmental Effects: Albinism, Asymmetry, Brain Size, Cataracts, Sperm, and Tumors — There is an increasing array of empirical studies in Chernobyl, and now Fukushima [documenting] consequences of exposure… white spots on feathers of birds and perhaps the fur of mammals (i.e., cattle in Fukushima)… first detected in Fukushima in 2012 [were] observed in increasing frequencies in 2013 and 2014.

Presentation by Mousseau, 2014 (48:15 in): We’re actually starting to see these partial albinos popping up in Fukushima… They’re popping up all over the place in contaminated areas.