Staff Writer: Katalina Lawrence

In December of last year, a Youtube video entitled “Fukushima Radiation Hits San Francisco” caused community uproar.

The amateur video is seven minutes long and is of a man walking along the Pacifica State Beach in San Francisco with a Geiger counter radiation detector. The detector alarms once he gets closer to the ocean, showing that radiation levels are five times higher than what is typically found in that area.

Radiation can affect us all in many ways, causing cancer and even affecting the seafood that we all enjoy, making it toxic for humans to consume. After the video became viral, officials investigated the radiation levels along the pacific. Their response was not as alarming.

“There is no indication that radiation levels have reached a hazardous point,” officials said. There is no reason for us to think that the pacific is unsafe.

Dr. Daniel Stram from the University of Southern California is a preventative medicine professor that had studied the effects of radiation from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He said the data collected so far on Fukushima does not show a health risk. He believes that there is no way the radiation levels that were detected could affect our seafood.

It is comforting to know that government officials have properly tested our beaches, but I still believe that this is something that everyone should keep an eye on. I believe that the best thing for us to do as a community is be aware of our surroundings. We have to take everything that we see in the media with a grain of salt and strictly look for the facts. Although we should be able to relax and trust that our government is giving us true facts, we all understand that it does not always run as efficiently as it should.

Before deciding on what stand to take on such an issue, check out theradiationnetwork.com, where you can clearly see all the radiation levels across our country. This website is very useful, is updated daily and will send alerts if any radiation levels are urgent. This is not a government site but has clear, scientific data where the community can get the facts. It is easy to get wrapped up in all of the hype that is presented by our media. But some things are not worth a single worry as the information presented is not always factual. I think that we should all be cautious and make judgments based on facts, not propaganda.