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Infants in some areas at risk of thyroid cancer from Fukushima radiation

Infants in Namie were thought to have received thyroid radiation doses of 100-200 mSv, it added. The thyroid is the most exposed organ as radioactive iodine concentrates there and children are deemed especially vulnerable.

The report did not deal with radiation exposure suffered by emergencyworkers or people closest to the disaster site……

WHO releases mixed Fukushima radiation report Money Control , May 23, 2012  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) – Spikes in radiation caused by the Fukushima nuclear disaster were below cancer-causing levels in almost all of Japan, but infants in one town appear to be at a higher risk of developing thyroid cancer, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.
In a preliminary report, independent experts said that people in two locations in Fukushima prefecture may have received a radiation dose of 10-50 millisieverts (mSv) in the year after the accident at the power station operated by TEPCO…… The areas estimated to have received the highest doses of radiation were Namie town in Futaba
county and Iitate village in Soma county, northwest of the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the report said.
Infants in Namie were thought to have received thyroid radiation doses of 100-200 mSv, it added. The thyroid is the most exposed organ as radioactive iodine concentrates there and children are deemed especially vulnerable.
“That would be one area because of the estimated high dose that we
would have to keep an eye on,” WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told
Reuters…. Populations exposed to radiation typically stand a greater
chance of contracting cancers of all kinds after receiving doses above
100 mSv, according to the United Nations agency. The threshold for
acute radiation syndrome is about 1 Sv (1000 mSv).
The local government said in December that the highest exposure levels
were in Iitate, where residents were allowed to take their time to
leave. It is located 40 km (25 miles) northwest of the plant and
outside the 20 km evacuation zone…..
The report did not deal with radiation exposure suffered by emergency
workers or people closest to the disaster site……

May 24, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Fukushima 2012, health