“The 2011 Fukushima disaster has already impacted the animal world in many ways. Radiation contamination has been found in California bluefin tuna, and now researchers in Japan have found a mutation in butterflies. The mutation causes irregularly developed eyes, stunted wings, disfigured antennas, and different color patterns. Though this news is perhaps disturbing enough, what researchers say is even more alarming is that these mutations are spreading rapidly through subsequent generations. When Otaki and his team bred the butterflies in a laboratory setting, they discovered that a whole “suite of abnormalities that hadn’t been seen in the previous generation” began to appear. Moreover, six months after the first collection, researchers found that butterflies from the Fukushima area showed a mutation rate “more than double” that of those found two months after the accident.”
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 21:14:30 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015