nuclear-news

Cover-up of radiation effects makes Fukushima victims’ lives even worse

There is absolutely no negative discussion of radiation exposure in the mainstream media, to the point where journalists risk being fired if they discuss radiation exposure in their articles, and even liberal newspapers refuse to print articles discussing this topic.

The Taboo Of Radiation Exposure In Japan: The Social Effects Of Fukushima, Activist Post,  By Erin O’Flaherty, 11 Dec 15  It is understood that radiation is physically harmful to those who are exposed to it. However, it is also harmful on a social level. Those who become exposed to radiation form a new class within society, one that is discriminated against and even feared by many ordinary people. This has certainly been the case with the Fukushima nuclear incident. This discrimination is worsened by the government and mainstream media’s treatment of the incident. This essay will discuss the social effects of the Fukushima incident by comparing it with the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It will also explain how the media play into this discrimination and attempt to understand why Japanese society is reacting in such a way.

From “the A-bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki” came “a new group of human beings – hibakusha, literally ‘A-bombed persons’”.[1] Hibakusha not only had to deal with radiation sickness and other health-related effects of the bomb(s), but they were also subject to much social discrimination. They lost “educational and professional opportunities”, received “discrimination in marriage and in the workplace”,[2] and became “targets of bullying”.[3] Because they could not get work, they also often found themselves in poverty[4] and many lived in hibakusha slums, physically separated from the rest of society. This discrimination was due to their perception as ‘contaminated’[5]. They were seen as unfit to work and as potentially producing deformed children (a worry which the hibakusha themselves had to shoulder, with many too afraid to reproduce). But beyond this, there was the fear that contact with hibakusha would result in contamination, perhaps a natural response due to the “still ‘mysterious’”[6] nature of radiation. Furthermore, due to its ‘invisible’ nature, even those who displayed no signs of radiation poisoning were discriminated against in exactly the same way.

We will see that victims of the Fukushima incident have experienced very similar social effects, despite the difference in time of over 60 years. Many Fukushima victims were forced to leave their homes because of radioactive contamination. In many cases, this may have meant leaving the place where their family has resided for generations, meaning “one’s identity may be deeply connected to the home and the land around the home”.[7] They have lost their connection to their ancestors; they can no longer visit the graves of their loved ones or properly observe rituals such asObon.[8] They also lose their sense of community, and their ability to participate in community life. With this comes a loss of their way of making a living. “Tohoku is among Japan’s poorest areas, one that has industrialised and urbanised less quickly than has much of Western Japan. It is a region notable for the existence of farms and fishing communities, some already marginal and depopulated before the earthquake and tsunami. Many of the displaced people come from families that have been farming the same land or living in the same community for generations.”[9] Thus, those evacuated from Fukushima have lost the only way they had to make a living. This means they become dependent on state subsidies and are usually placed into temporary housing, which is generally “shoddy and cramped”.[10] However, with no real means to get themselves out, this housing becomes permanent; like the Hiroshima/Nagasaki hibakusha, the victims of Fukushima often live in poverty.[11].

To add to this, Fukushima victims have received social discrimination in their new homes. Children have been bullied at their new schools, and cars with Fukushima license plates have been found scratched[12] or have been denied service at gas stations.[13] The same attitude of fear of contamination (resulting in a desire to separate oneself from the contaminated) that surrounded the Atomic bombings can also be seen here.

The treatment of the Fukushima Incident by the Japanese media compounds the negative impact on Fukushima victims. Just as it was with the atomic bombings – the history of which “is itself the history of U.S. military censorship and propaganda”[14] – an air of secrecy and cover-up has pervaded the media treatment of Fukushima. It took months for the government to evacuate the most at risk area of Fukushima (meaning many would have received a large dose of radiation), claiming they did so to avoid instilling “panic”[15]. They have since refused to discuss radiation, give no information about the harms of radiation, and have even gone so far as to say radiation is healthy……

There is absolutely no negative discussion of radiation exposure in the mainstream media, to the point where journalists risk being fired if they discuss radiation exposure in their articles, and even liberal newspapers refuse to print articles discussing this topic.[17] All this suppression and misinformation creates a great deal of anxiety for the victims of the incident. They cannot be sure to what extent they were exposed to radiation, what effect this radiation will have on them and their children, or how soon these effects will come into play………http://www.activistpost.com/2015/12/the-taboo-of-radiation-exposure-in-japan-the-social-effects-of-fukushima.html

December 12, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, social effects