Urine of Fukushima children contaminated with radiation

"Trace amounts of radioactive substances were found in urine samples of all of 10 surveyed children from Fukushima Prefecture in May, where a crippled nuclear power plant is located, a local citizens group and a French nongovernmental organization said Thursday." The Manichi Daily News

Such contamination suggests the children have been contaminated with radioactive substances internally, something Beyond Nuclear and other groups have been concerned about since releases from the accident were first reported.

"From the perspective of protecting human health from radiation, it is clear that they unfortunately cannot continue to live in their homes"

CNN has reported that on June 19th it was announced that all 15 persons tested last month by Nanao Kamada at the Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine of Hiroshima University were positive for internal radioactive contamination, such as with cesium and iodine (detected in urine). The evacuated residents from Iitate and Kawamata towns, 25 miles northwest of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, ranged in age from 4 to 77 years old. Their towns are well outside the primary 19 mile evacuation zone, but were evacuated over two months after the catastrophic radioactivity releases began because of the undeniable intense fallout falling with rain onto their mountainous communities. Given confirmed external exposure levels as high as 4.9 and 13.5 millisieverts (0.5 rem to 1.35 rem) in just two months of exposure, Kamada was moved to say "From the perspective of protecting human health from radiation, it is clear that they unfortunately cannot continue to live in their homes."

Japan Times Online also reported on this story, quoting Kamada as saying "This won't be a problem if they don't eat vegetables or other products that are contaminated...But it will be difficult for people to continue living in these areas...The figures did not exceed the maximum of 20 millisieverts a year, but we want residents to use these results to make decisions (to move)." But 20 millisieverts, or 2 rem, per year is the amount of radioactivity German nuclear power plant workers are limited to.

Health checkups for 2 million Fukushima residents to begin

NHK World reports that the first 28,000 of a grand total of 2 million Fukushima residents will begin to have health checkups in coming days. However, only about 10% will be subjected to more rigorous testing by whole body radiation counters at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences near Tokyo, about a 150 mile bus ride away. The rest will be subjected to "dose reconstruction modeling": filling out forms about their lifestyle activities since the beginning of the nuclear catastrophe, which began on March 11th.

"Experts urge great caution over radiation risks"

Japan Times reports that Sugenoya said it is his understanding that the current limits set by the commission (see table) are "relatively stringent" by international standards. However, he added that infants, children up to the age of 14 and pregnant and breastfeeding women should avoid eating food contaminated with even the small doses of radiation.In a short, but hard-hitting, article, the Japan Times Online reports:

"In order to address public concerns over post 3/11 food safety, the government should be more forthcoming in the monitoring and disclosure of data regarding radiation contamination of soil, Akira Sugenoya, mayor of Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, told this reporter recently.

Sugenoya, a medical doctor, speaks from experience, having spent 5½ years from 1996 in the Republic of Belarus treating children with thyroid cancer. He was there because the incidence of that disease in children surged after the Chernobyl disaster in neighboring Ukraine in 1986...

...he added that infants, children up to the age of 14 and pregnant and breastfeeding women should avoid eating food contaminated with even the small doses of radiation. In fact he said that adults should leave safer food for these more at-risk segments of the population even if it means they will eat contaminated food themselves.

[Sugenoya said] 'What the central government must do now is release all data, no matter how bad, because if it doesn't it can only add to people's suspicions that it is manipulating information...So many people in Japan are now saying that they can't trust their own government.'...".

Richard Broinowski, a former Australian diplomat and now adjunct professor at the University of Sydney, added: "What I am anxious to know is: Are qualified Japanese epidemiologists and public health experts (that is, those not in the pay of the nuclear industry) undertaking objective and impartial research into how deeply and to what intensity, radiation dispersal of cesium-137, strontium-90, iodine-131, noble gases and plutonium-239 ... has spread, and how much the general population of the Tohoku region and other regions of Japan have been exposed?...I also suspect that full disclosure of such data is not in the interests of the Japanese nuclear industry."

Fukushima disaster could mean fewer female babies in US

"Nuclear radiation from power plant leaks and bomb tests resulted in millions fewer baby girls born worldwide, according to a new study.

'Scientists noted these types of atmospheric blasts rather than on-the-ground incidents like Chernobyl, effected birth gender across the globe.

'And in the wake of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident experts are predicting another baby boy boom could be imminent, especially on the U.S. West Coast." Daily Mail