Fukushima Radiation Victims

Japan has evacuated residents of the town of Namie near the crippled nuclear plant in Fukushima contaminated with radiation. They now have to take responsibility for their health into their own hands. When one of the victims Fujiwara Minako tells the story of the dog who died last June, he was sad.


The hair on the dog's neck apart and his skin turned black. Similar symptoms were also detected in animals after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster there in 1986. Fujiwara family had to leave the dog behind when they were ordered to leave the town of Namie, located nine kilometers (5.6 mi) north of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Pet may die due to high radiation. Fujiwara has so far not experienced health problems, except for high blood pressure. But Shunji Sekine, a doctor in Namie, radiation believe will ultimately have a negative impact on public health. Children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to radioactive iodine in the thyroid uptake of them,
The high number of cancer cases
Although a comprehensive study of missing, I see the relationship between cancer and the nuclear accident,said the retired doctor who specializes in thyroid and breast cancer, adding that there are too many cases. A barricade blocks the road in no zone - go in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, in January 2014, nearly three years after the date of March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami that triggered a leak at the nuclear power plant Fukushima Daiichi.
According to official figures, 33 cases of cancer have been identified in about a quarter of a million children and adolescents since the beginning of February.
This translates into 13 cases for every 100,000 inhabitants, a figure nearly four times higher than the world average for all age groups. However, the government refused to publish Fukushima Prefecture relevant details about the prevalence of cancer. Requests for information made by Sekine related to previous cancer cases among the children and the levels of contamination remain unanswered, with authorities citing data protection laws.
 
But Shunichi Yamashita, Japan's top thyroid specialists and health adviser to the prefectural government, plays down the issue.We still need to do further investigation, and the time is not yet ripe to make any statement on this issue,
Mute authority
But Namie town do not want to wait for government support - and once again fall victim to extinction state. Just four days after the explosion of a nuclear reactor, given orders to evacuate the city of Tsushima in the northwest. This causes the refugees were transported through an invisible radioactive cloud, so more exposed to contamination than if they had stayed at home. Officials in Tokyo knew this from their computer models. But they remained silent, because they feared widespread panic.
This traumatic experience has led to Namie to collect as much data as possible about the effects of radiation, the local health inspector said Norio Konno. In the case of compensation claims should be filed against the plant operator Tepco, which required proof that would stand up in a court of law. A doctor at a clinic in the compound while Shunji Sekine (L) examination of the thyroid in children in Nihonmatsu, about 50 km (31 miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant crippled tsunami, Fukushima prefecture February 25, 2013, next to the second anniversary years from March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami. As the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the children in Fukushima may have a higher risk of developing thyroid cancer after Daiichi nuclear disaster two years ago, mothers in Fukushima are worried that local health authorities are not doing enough. Picture taken February 25, 2013.  







Sekine doctors have examined the thyroid gland toddlers
This is why Namie decided to provide full body scanners to population settlements Nihonmatsu. All persons under 40 years old can use the device once a year to measure the amount of cesium 134 and 137 in their bodies. In comparison, Japan country offering this service only once every two years.
"Victims also have no future '
About half of the population of the city refused to take part in the examination. Kazue Yamagi, for example, said her daughter 21 years does not want to undergo thyroid checks. "Since he left the Fukushima, he has been avoiding watching the news on TV. He did not want to get married and says there is no future for victims of radioactivity," said Yamagi.
 The idea may not be as far-fetched as it seems. To this day, "Hibakusha," as the survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are called, have been marginalized in Japan, together with their offspring. This is why the local health inspector Konno demanding legislation that is designed to support the disaster victims. "The people of Namie also feel like Hibakusha, such as radiation victims."
Therefore Konno decided to issue passports to all citizens of the radiation, the same as used inHiroshima and Nagasaki. A column in the passport reminding the need for a medical check-ups for leukemia.
Two confirmed cases of thyroid cancer among young residents of Namie 3200. Shinji Tokonami, a radiation expert at Hirosaki University, was surprised by the findings. "It was more than expected," he said, adding that the reason behind this may be an increase in the accuracy of measuring instruments.
Experts have a theory about why the number of cases of thyroid cancer is not higher. He believes seaweed containing iodine consumed by coastal residents somehow prevent the thyroid gland from a lot of young people who are affected by radioactive iodine from a nuclear plant crippled.