A recent series or articles which purport to shed light on the reasons behind the sudden increase in piracy, has revealed that nuclear waste contamination is a lot more pervasive than we imagine.

Apparently there are accusations that Italian mafia is also dumping European radioactive waste off the coast of Somalia and that this, along with over fishing are the main reasons the pirates are hijacking vessels for their lucrative 7 figure ransoms.  The story is reminiscent of a recent film, Gomorra, which depicts a member of the Neapolitan mafia arranging (at a discount) the disposal of toxic waste.

A lot of us in the radiation safety industry have long suspected there’s an enormous amount of unseen undersea radioactive contamination, that’s slowly finding its way into the food chain.  Take a Geiger counter up and down the aisles of a major grocery store and I’m not sure what you’ll find.

Sure it’s not as shocking and spectacular as a Chernobyl, but even in slow motion this kind of unmonitored pollution can wreak havoc on nearby populations.  It can even find its way onto supermarket shelves in the “civilized” world.  In this case, it’s the Somali fishing villages that are bearing the brunt and inflaming anti-Western anger and criminal activity.