(NaturalNews) How can a nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan affect ecosystems, plant and animal life, and even insects on the other side of the world? What are we doing right now that could ultimately impact someone else's future on an entirely different continent? What are we doing to the earth that could eventually come back to harm us? In what ways are our decisions and actions impacting others -- how are we connected as one consciousness?

The collective craving for nuclear energy, the escalating perceived need for this power, has driven mankind in pursuit of it. It's apparent now: man and nuclear energy cannot coexist in harmony on Earth. The unintended consequences of the Chernobyl explosion in 1986 and the Fukushima meltdown ongoing from 2011 now echo throughout the planet. Low-level radiation now affects our food, starting from the site of the meltdown and spiraling out through the water.

Higher rates of death and disease in butterflies eating leaves contaminated with low-level radiation

According to a study published in the open-access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology, cities around the Fukushima nuclear meltdown area are not only sending out contaminated food but also show rates of death and disease in butterfly populations that eat from these food sources. Scientists from the University of the Rukyus, Okinawa, Japan, studied the effects of the 2011 meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant by examining two generations of butterflies.

The researchers fed to various groups of Zizeeria maha butterflies a collection of leaves from six different areas near the disaster site starting at 59 km from the site to 1,760 km. The butterflies' offspring were fed the same contaminated leaves. Some offspring were given clean leaves. The researchers found that second-generation butterflies were affected the most from contaminated leaves nearest to the radiation site. The damages of low-level radiation were magnified greater in the offspring than the parents. In contrast, second-generation butterflies fed uncontaminated leaves grew up to be normal butterflies.

Cleaning up the food supply can save the next generation from shortened life spans and malformations

The dose of cesium radiation in the contaminated leaves ranged from 0.2 to 161 bq/kg. Even at the lowest levels of cesium, second-generation butterflies suffered shorter life spans. Some grew morphological abnormalities which included unusually shaped wings.

One of the professors of the study, Joji Otaki, said, "Wildlife has probably been damaged even at relatively low doses of radiation, and our research showed that sensitivity varies among individuals within a species."

The most revealing part of the study was that offspring coming from parents fed a radiation-contaminated diet had similar life spans as their parents, even when their diet was clean and uncontaminated. If the offspring also ate contaminated leaves like that of the parents which they came from, then the damages were magnified and their lives were shorter than their parents.

The researchers suggest that by decontaminating the food now, the next generation can be saved from shortened life spans and defects. Not doing anything about the radiation in food could make life on Earth undergo a spiraling condition of shortened life spans. The authors showed that the effects of eating contaminated food are significant and can be passed on, but they also can be minimized if the next generation has access to clean food.

Professor Otaki summed up the findings: "Our study demonstrated that eating contaminated foods could cause serious negative effects on organisms. Such negative effects may be passed down the generations. On the bright side, eating non-contaminated food improves the negative effects, even in the next generation."

Sources:

http://www.eurekalert.org

http://www.biomedcentral.com

http://science.naturalnews.com