It must be fair to say that the greatest
risk of nuclear accident is negative impact of radiation on human body. With
request of national government, the prefectural government of Fukushima has
been exercising health survey of the residents. For children, the government
has accumulated data of thyroid cancer. Strangely enough, a committee for
evaluation drops the possibility that radiation affected their health, even
though patient of thyroid cancer was found with apparently higher ratio than
children in other places.
Starting from June, 2011, three months
after severe accident in First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, Fukushima
government has been exercising health survey for every resident. Basic survey
is to research activities of every individual for four months from the accident
to determine how much he/she was exposed to radiation. Based on the data, the
government has made four detailed surveys: thyroid examination for children,
research of mental stress of the evacuees, research for pregnant women about innate
deformity and health check for the evacuees.
Thyroid examination is for children who
were 18 years old or younger at the time of the accident. In two rounds of
survey, one was between October 2011 and April 2015 and another was between
April 2014 and March 2016, they found 166 patients of thyroid cancer among the
all recipients amounting to 300 thousands. The frequency of finding thyroid
cancer was 30 times greater than in other places in Japan.
One study team argues that the high ratio
was brought by thoroughness of the research. When the research was exercised to
all children, even harmless thyroid cancer would be detected. There is a data
that detailed survey for thyroid cancer in South Korea found greater number of
patient than ever, while its fatality was not changed. The researchers
concluded that radiation level in Fukushima prefecture, which had been about tens
of mSv, had nothing to do with the phenomenon. Fukushima government endorsed
the study.
But, another team indicated possibility of
influence of radiation. The team detected higher ratio of thyroid cancer in
close area to the nuclear power plant. It also found metastasis of cancer cell
to other tissue like lymph node in 92% of the patients. The fact that the
second round of the survey found 51 new patients does not explain non-relation
theory.
Both national and Fukushima government are
reluctant to recognize relationship between cancer and nuclear accident.
However, the accident in Chernobyl proved that radiation caused thyroid cancer.
All the people in Japan are watching how public authority will determine the
relationship. Even how they are worried about great amount of compensation, it
is too early to call.
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