Scary butterflies

Butterfly effect, anyone?

News from Japan is that the aftermath of the nuclear disaster is already making itself known. Researchers have found mutations in butterflies. Insects were basically thought to be very resistant to radiation. Twelve percent of the specimens were found to be mutant. Disturbing enough, what is more alarming is that these mutations and more are spreading through subsequent generations.

Six months after the first collection, researchers have found a mutation rate more than double that found two months after the disaster

To say that something has gone wrong with the ecosystem around Fukushima seems to be an understatement.

Nuclear power supporters will have us believe it’s just butterflies, there is no proven link to humans, is there? But then that is the point of the butterfly effect, isn’t it? You figure out the chain of events after it is too late.

Alfred Blakey

Barre