nuclear-news

The mental health effects of the nuclear accident at Fukushima

they live in fear of the invisible threat in their midst. ….  there is agreement that the Fukushima case is unprecedented.

conflicting information has left them confused and fearful about the future.

“We’re being treated like lab rats. The authorities should have told us as soon as they knew the reactors had melted down and helped us leave immediately

Fukushima residents plagued by health fears of nuclear threat in their midst A year after the power plant’s triple meltdown, conflicting official information leaves families confused and fearful for their future, Justin McCurry in Fukushima guardian.co.uk,   9 March 2012  The noise levels soar inside Fukushima city’s youth centre gymnasium as dozens of nursery school children are let loose on bouncy castles and pits filled with plastic balls.

The handful of teachers and volunteers on duty are in forgiving mood: for the past year, the Fukushima nuclear accident has robbed these children of the simple freedom to run around.

Instead, anxious parents and teachers have confined them to their homes and classrooms, while scientists debate the possible effects of prolonged exposure to low-level radiation on their health.

“Many parents won’t let their children play outside, even in places
where the radiation isn’t that high,” said Koji Nomi of the Fukushima
chapter of the Japanese Red Cross, which organised the event. “Unless
they have the opportunity to run around, their physical strength is at
risk of deteriorating.

“That in turn puts them at risk of succumbing to stress. Some are
allowed to play outside for short periods every day, but that’s not
enough.”

Hundreds of thousands of children in the area have been living with
similar restrictions since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant’s
triple meltdown last March, sending radioactive particles over a wide
area. The immediate threat of a catastrophic release has passed, but
residents of several towns, including those outside the 12-mile (20km)
exclusion zone, say they live in fear of the invisible threat in their
midst. ….  there is agreement that the Fukushima case is
unprecedented.

Much of the unease stems from the wildly varying levels of radiation
recorded in the same areas: in parts of Fukushima outside the
evacuation zone, readings vary from negligible to as high as 50
millisieverts a year. Normally, the Japanese are exposed to about 1
millisievert of background radiation a year.

The emergence of thyroid cancers in children living near Chernobyl is
on many parents’ minds, despite UN data showing that exposure to
radioactive iodine, an established cause of the condition, was much
lower in Fukushima.

Campaigners said this week that Japan’s government had been too slow
to providing health checks and information to residents….
Anti-nuclear campaigners accused the authorities of putting children’s
health at risk by ignoring calls to help women and young people leave
at-risk areas outside the evacuation zone. “We are finding that
radioactive contamination is concentrating in many places, creating
hot spots that pose serious threats to health and safety,” said Jan
van de Putte, Greenpeace’s radiation expert.

“These spots are worryingly located in densely populated areas, but
people do not have support or even the right to relocate, and
decontamination work is patchy and inadequate at best.”….
For a more comprehensive assessment of the accident’s impact on
health, Fukushima residents will have to wait for the UN scientific
committee on the effects of atomic radiation to publish its findings
in May 2013.

Iitate residents say the conflicting information has left them
confused and fearful about the future. “Young children were living in
the village for months after the meltdown,” said Toru Anzai, a rice
farmer who now lives in temporary housing on the outskirts of
Fukushima city said: “We’re being treated like lab rats. The
authorities should have told us as soon as they knew the reactors had
melted down and helped us leave immediately. That’s why people here
are so angry.”

Anecdotal evidence suggests that fear of radiation, rather than
contamination, is triggering stress-related problems among
evacuees….. Tadateru Konoe, president of the Japanese Red Cross,
said parents from Fukushima were living in an “information vacuum”….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/09/fukushima-residents-plagued-health-fears

March 10, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, psychology - mental health