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Source: http://rt.com/news/un-fukushima-underestimate-nuclear-626/
Not good enough: UN says Japan is underestimating nuclear fallout risks
A man in the Fukushima region undergoing medical screening.
A UN official charged with investigating Japan’s handling of the health risks from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 says the authorities are not doing enough to protect the population from effects of the accident.
Anand Grover, a UN special rapporteur on the right to health, says the Japanese government is not screening enough of its people, and is being overly optimistic with radiation exposure thresholds.
Grover has just conducted an independent on-site report for the government.
Currently, only residents of the Fukushima area surrounding the power plant that failed after the tsunami and earthquake caused its reactors to melt down in March 2011 are given medical screening. Only a quarter of the region’s 2 million people have been tested so far.
Grover believes that the check-ups should be extended throughout the North East of Japan, as radiation may have spread in an unpredictable pattern.
“The government has to err on the side of caution," he said.
He is also upset the government has chosen to play down the risks associated with radiation exposure. It has labelled only contaminated areas around the plant with radiation of above 20 millisieverts per year as off-limits. These are the limits adopted by radiation industry workers, who are properly trained in handling contaminated materials, and exceed similar civilian limits by over three times.
In its official pronouncements and literature, the government also reassures the population that exposure of under 100 millisierverts per year is unlikely to be harmful.
Grover does not agree.
"They draw on the limited lessons from the Chernobyl accident and ignore epidemiological studies that point to cancer as well as other diseases in low-dosage radiation,"Grover said.
A World Health Organization (WHO) report leaked to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper over the weekend showed that cumulative exposure from the accident in towns around the damaged plant was between 43 and 122 millisieverts.
Grover has also chastised the government for its top-down approach to handling the situation. The government has relied on teams of experts, and has been slow to share information with ordinary citizens subjected to the risks. Even in hospitals, those screened have often not been given their exposure results, and haven’t had them properly explained.
"I personally think experts only know part of the real situation. Communities must be involved," the rapporteur summed up.
The parallel WHO report, which used statistics from previous accidents, estimated that the overall increase in cancers was likely to be insignificant. Nonetheless, in some areas the number of thyroid cancers among children is expected to go up by more than nine times, while the incidence of leukaemia is expected to double.
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WARNING FROM RAEL: For those who don't use their intelligence at its full capacity, the label "selected by RAEL" on some articles does not mean that I agree with their content or support it. "Selected by RAEL" means that I believe it is important for the people of this planet to know about what people think or do, even when what they think or do is completely stupid and against our philosophy. When I selected articles in the past about stupid Christian fundamentalists in America praying for rain, I am sure no Rael-Science reader was stupid enough to believe that I was supporting praying to change the weather. So, when I select articles which are in favor of drugs, anti-semitic, anti-Jewish, racist, revisionist, or inciting hatred against any group or religion, or any other stupid article, it does not mean that I support them. It just means that it is important for all human beings to know about them. Common sense, which is usually very good among our readers, is good enough to understand that. When, like in the recent articles on drug decriminalization, it is necessary to make it clearer, I add a comment, which in this case was very clear: I support decriminalizing all drugs, as it is stupid to throw depressed and sad people (as only depressed and sad people use drugs) in prison and ruin their life with a criminal record. That does not mean that there is any change to the Message which says clearly that we must not use any drug except for medical purposes. The same applies to the freedom of expression which must be absolute. That does not mean again of course that I agree with anti-Jews, antisemites, racists of any kind or anti-Raelians. But by knowing your enemies or the enemies of your values, you are better equipped to fight them. With love and respect of course, and with the wonderful sentence of the French philosopher Voltaire in mind: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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