Tuesday, August 16, 2011

PROTECT FUKUSHIMA CHILDREN


Kodama Tatsuhiko, Radiation Effects on Health: Protect the Children of Fukushima, The Asia-Pacific Journal Vol 9, Issue 32 No 4, August 8, 2011

MAJIA HERE: The article above is a very good summary of the significant health dangers facing Fukushima children.
The article draws upon previous research studies to demonstrate that even relatively low levels of exposure to ionizing radiation have significant effects long term for children.
here is an example of some of this research cited in this article:
"What is being done now is this. Professor Fukushima Akiharu of the state-run Japan Bioassay Research Center observes the effects of chemical substances on the human body. He has been examining matter that collects in the urinal tract in Chernobyl. In consultation with Ukrainian doctors, he and his colleagues collected over 500 cases of operations for prostatic hyperplasia, non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate. In a prostate operation, some bladder tissue also comes off. Examination of this clarified that the mutation of P53 had markedly increased in the highly contaminated area, though the amount of radiation in urine is very small—6 Bq/l— in that area. Moreover, it was found to be in the precancerous state of a malignant kind. In our view, MAP kinase (Mitogen-activated protein kinases) called P38 and a signal called NF-κB (nuclear factor-kappa B, or nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells in full) are activated, resulting in inflammation of the bladder. It has been reported that cancer is already present in the outer skin in a large percentage of cases.
MAJIA HERE: Perhaps even more importantly the researchers point out that medical accounts of whole body scans are meaningless unless the scans look at how particular isotopes concentrate in bodily organs:
"In short, internal exposure has generally been talked about in terms of such-and-such levels of μSv, but that is totally meaningless. I-131 concentrates in the thyroid gland. Thorotrast gathers in the liver. Cesium gathers in the outer skin of the urinal tract and bladder. Unless these concentration points in the body are taken into consideration, it is totally meaningless no matter how many times the whole-body scan is performed..."'
MAJIA HERE: The researchers in this article point out that radiation contamination is extremely uneven and most be mapped at each and every location to protect children. Furthermore, they observe that policies currently in place are actually increasing children's exposure risks:
(excerpted) "The definition [of the danger zone] such as 20 kilometers or 30 kilometers, is totally meaningless. It’s absolutely useless unless you make minute measurements from kindergarten to kindergarten. At present, 1,700 Minami-Sōma children are being bused to areas between 20 to 30 kilometers, but in fact, in central Minami-Sōma facing the sea, the radioactive dose at seventy percent of the schools is relatively low. And yet children are forced to travel daily by school bus, and at a cost of one million yen, to schools closer to Iidate-mura, located 30 kilometers from the power plant. Please stop this immediately"
MAJIA HERE: This is a very useful article and I hope Japanese policy makers read it carefully.
I also hope that US and Canadian public health advocates come forward as bravely as Japanese ones have to urge their respective governments to more carefully monitor the accumulation of radiation contamination in these countries, as reports are showing alarming levels
 







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