nuclear-news

This week in nuclear news

Christina Macpherson’s websites & blogs

Fukushima is in the news – much as the nuclear lobby and mainstream media like to forget it, or pretend that it’s all over.  Public protests in Tokyo express the concern of Japanese people about Fukushima radiation, and about the danger inherent in the nuclear industry.   Never mind, Japan’s Prime Minister Abe is determined to restart the nuclear reactors, and many are worried that the industry might somehow circumvent Japan’s new safety regulations.

The World Health Organisation has released its Health Risk Assessment on the Fukushima nuclear accident.http://www.who.int/ionizing_radiation/pub_meet/fukushima_report/en/index.html The WHO report acknowledges the likelihood of increased cancer incidence and mortality from radiation exposure from the Fukushima disaster

1.  It pulls together lots of information on radiation exposures from the Fukushima disaster.
2.  It uses information / estimates on radiation exposure to predict increases in cancer incidence risks

What the WHO report does NOT do The WHO report does not consider cancer incidence and mortality statistics to see if there is a significant increase that can be attributed to Fukushima.  Because of the way it is framed,   it is not possible from this WHO study to come to any estimate as to the total number of cancer deaths that could arise from the Fukushima disaster.

What the WHO report finds − cancer incidence estimates   for people in the most contaminated location, the estimated increased risks over what would normally be expected are:

• all solid cancers – around 4% in females exposed as infants;
• breast cancer – around 6% in females exposed as infants;
• leukaemia – around 7% in males exposed as infants;
• thyroid cancer – up to 70% in females exposed as infants

I am happy to be going to  the New York Symposium on The Medical and Ecological Impacts of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident To Be Held at the New York Academy of Medicine  nuclearfreeplanet.org .  Still hoping that some other Australians will join me – to hear this most impressive array of international scientists and doctors .

March 2, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes