"Radio-phobia" rears its ugly head once again, this time at Fukushima

An especially cynical manifestation of "Nukespeak" is the use of "radiophobia" to explain away actual radiological injuries.Nuclear power boosters have long tried to convince victims of radioactive catastrophes that "it's all in your head." Both at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, the nuclear power industry -- and its friends in government regulatory agencies, the PR industry, and even academia -- tried to convince the public that any ill effects were not due to physical impacts of radioactive fallout, but rather to stress and worry caused by "anti-nuclear fear mongering." A short piece in NewScientist gives this Orwellian "psy-ops" ploy "airtime" yet again, this time in the context of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe.

Fukushima parents and NGOs appeal to UN to save children from perils of radioactive fallout

Fukushima children were ordered back to school last April despite severe radioactive contamination of their schoolyards by Fukushima Daiichi fallout.On August 17th, in a statement entitled "Violation of the Human Rights of the Children of Fukushima," a coalition of Japanese Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), including Fukushima Prefecture parents, appealed to the United Nations' Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to save the children of Fukushima from the perils of radioactive contamination resulting from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe that began on March 11th. The appeal is necessary because of the inaction, and worse, of the Japanese federal government and Fukushima prefectural government. The appeal to the UN was signed by the Fukushima Network for Saving Children from Radiation; Citizens Against Fukushima Aging Nuclear Power Plants (Fukuro-no-Kai); FoE Japan (International Environmental NGO); Green Action; Osaka Citizens Against the Mihama, Oi and Takahama Nuclear Power Plants (Mihama-no-Kai); and Greenpeace Japan.

This appeal to the UN comes on the heels of two petitions, submitted to the Japanese government on May 2nd and June 16th, which accumulated over 80,000 signatures, including 1,383 organizational signatories, from across Japan and 61 other countries worldwide. The petitions urged a speedy expanded evacuation and minimization of children's radioactive exposures by withdrawing the Japanese government's "provisional" 20 millisievert (2 Rem) per year radiation exposure limit for Fukushima children, and restoring the 1 millisievert (100 millirem) per year limit. However, the petitions have fallen on deaf ears at the Japanese federal and Fukushima prefectural governments. A third, related petition was launched on June 30th, and is still open to international signers.

The appeal to the UN concludes: "The children of Fukushima have the same right as all other children in Japan to live a life free from unnecessary, preventable radiation exposure. We urgently request that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights/OHCHR come to Japan to investigate this matter."

"Fukushima radiation alarms doctors"

Dahr Jamail reports at Al Jazeera that medical doctors far removed from Fukushima Daiichi's radioactivity spewing triple meltdown "have begun to see increased nosebleeds, stubborn cases of diarrhoea, and flu-like symptoms in children." Children are significantly more susceptible to radioactivity's hazards than adults. Helen Caldicott, Beyond Nuclear's founding president, is quoted extensively in the article.

Fukushima fallout, radioactive Sulfur-35, detected in California, concentrates in human testicles

Chart showing where various radionuclides concentrate in human body (see link at right for larger sized chart)A post at Forbes.com reports that researchers at University of California-San Diego detected significantly increased concentrations of radioactive Sulfur-35 in air, which they concluded had blown to California from the Fukushima Daiichi meltdowns. Radioactive Sulfur-35 is known to concentrate in human testicles. A chart of radionuclides shows where other radioactive toxins concentrate in the human body. While an L.A. Times post downplays the health significance of the radioactive Sulfur-35 fallout for Californians, the same Forbes reporter earlier wrote about the debate on such fallout's health risks. After all, the BEIR 7 report reaffirmed that any exposure to radioactivity, no matter how small, still carries a health risk. That is, there is no "safe" level of exposure to radioactivity.