North Korea’s Nuclear Tests Are Causing Birth Defects and Destroying the Environment: Report

As reported by Carlos Ballesteros in Newsweek.

There are some dubious claims in this article. For example, how could the conclusion be made that trees planted near the North Korean nuclear weapons test site do not live to maturity? The first nuclear test was conducted in 2006. Most trees take longer than 11 years to reach maturity.

Also, why would radioactive contamination kill mushrooms? Mushrooms could absord dangerous amounts of radioactivity, making them hazardous to eat. But is the contamination so high that it actually kills mushrooms?!

However, claims of birth defects are most alarming. Radioactivity is known to cause both genetic damage (mutagen), as well as harm to fetuses (teratogen).