Research into birth deformities in children of British nuclear veterans
Miscarriages and Congenital Conditions in Offspring of Veterans of the British Nuclear Atmospheric Test Programme Miscarriages and Congenital Conditions in Offspring of Veterans of the British Nuclear Atmospheric Test Programme.pdf – Google ドライブ Christopher Busby1* and Mireille 1 Escande de Messieres2 Environmental Research SIA, Riga, Latvia 2Green Audit, SY231 1DZ, Aberystwyth, Wales
*Corresponding author: Christopher Busby, 1117 Latvian Academy of Sciences, Academy Square, LV-1050 Riga, Latvia, Tel: +44 7989 428833; E-mail: christo@greenaudit.org Received date: Apr 18, 2014, Accepted date: Sep 22, 2014, Published date: Sep 29, 2014 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract A postal questionnaire case-control study examined miscarriage in wives and congenital conditions in offspring of the 2007 membership of the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association, a group of ex-servicemen who were stationed at atmospheric nuclear weapon test sites between 1952-67. Results were compared with a veteran- selected control group and also with national data. Based on 605 veteran children and 749 grandchildren compared with 311 control children and 408 control grandchildren there were significant excess levels of miscarriages,
stillbirths, infant mortality and congenital illnesses in the veterans’ children relative both to control children and expected numbers. 105 miscarriages in veteran’s wives compared with 18 in controls OR=2.75 (1.56, 4.91; p=. 00016). There were 16 stillbirths; 3 in controls (OR=2.70 (0.73, 11.72; p=0.13). Perinatal mortality OR was 4.3 (1.22, 17.9; p=.01) on 25 deaths in veteran children. 57 veteran children had congenital conditions vs. 3 control children (OR=9.77 (2.92, 39.3); p=0.000003) these rates being also about 8 times those expected on the basis of UK
EUROCAT data for 1980-2000. For grandchildren, similar levels of congenital illness were reported with 46 veteran grandchildren compared with 3 controls OR=8.35 (2.48, 33.8) p=0.000025. There was significantly more cancer in the veteran grandchildren than controls.
Whilst caution must be exercised due to structural problems inherent in this study we conclude that the veterans’ offspring qualitatively exhibit a prevalence of congenital conditions significantly greater than that of controls and also that of the general population in England. The effect remains highly statistically significant even assuming a high selection bias in the responses and credibility is strengthened by the high rates of miscarriage reported by the veterans compared with controls, a result which could hardly have been due selection effects……….Miscarriages and Congenital Conditions in Offspring of Veterans of the British Nuclear Atmospheric Test Programme.pdf – Google ドライブ
“Genocide” by birth defects, cancers, in Iraq, due to depleted uranium weapons
Iraqi Doctors Call Depleted Uranium Use “Genocide” TruthOut 14 October 2014 By Dahr Jamail, | Report Contamination from depleted uranium (DU) munitions is causing sharp rises in congenital birth defects, cancer cases and other illnesses throughout much of Iraq, according to numerous Iraqi doctors.
Iraqi doctors and prominent scientists believe that DU contamination is also connected to the emergence of diseases that were not previously seen in Iraq, such as new illnesses in the kidney, lungs and liver, as well as total immune system collapse. DU contamination may also be connected to the steep rise in leukaemia, renal and anaemia cases, especially among children, being reported throughout many Iraqi governorates.
There has also been a dramatic jump in miscarriages and premature births among Iraqi women, particularly in areas where heavy US military operations occurred, such as Fallujah during 2004, and Basra during the 1991 US war on Iraq.
It is estimated that the United States used 350 tons of DU munitions in Iraq during the 1991 war, and 1,200 tons during its 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation. Official Iraqi government statistics show that, prior to the outbreak of the first Gulf War in 1991, the country’s rate of cancer cases was 40 out of 100,000 people. By 1995, it had increased to 800 out of 100,000 people, and, by 2005, it had doubled to at least 1,600 out of 100,000 people. Current estimates show the trend continuing.
The actual rate of cancer and other diseases is likely to be much higher than even these figures suggest, due to a lack of adequate documentation, research and reporting of cases. Continue reading
Birth defects – the effects of depleted uranium on the city of Basra, Iraq
Iraqi Doctors Call Depleted Uranium Use “Genocide” TruthOut 14 October 2014 By Dahr Jamail,
“………..Basra Iraq’s southern city of Basra was heavily bombarded with DU munitions by US warplanes during the 1991 war.
Al-Ali, an expert oncologist at the Basra Cancer Treatment Center, was heavily involved in working on two birth defect studies carried out in the wake of that war.
“The types of birth defects were hydrocephaly [an abnormal buildup of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the ventricles of the brain], anencephaly [the absence of a large part of the brain and the skull], cleft lip and phacomelia [loss of limbs],” al-Ali told Truthout. “Other consequences are the cancers which increased three-fold during the last two decades.”
He said that clusters of cancers occurring at higher incidence within the same family were another new phenomenon seen in Iraq only after the 1991 and 2003 wars.
“Other diseases related to effects of DU were the kidney failure of unknown cause and stone formation,” he added. “Respiratory problems like asthma and also myopathy and neuropathy are now very common as well.”
In Babil Province in southern Iraq, cancer rates have been escalating at alarming rates since 2003. Dr. Sharif al-Alwachi, the head of the Babil Cancer Center, blames the use of depleted uranium weapons by US forces during and following the 2003 invasion.
“The environment could be contaminated by chemical weapons and depleted uranium from the aftermath of the war on Iraq,” Alwachi told Truthout. “The air, soil and water are all polluted by these weapons, and as they come into contact with human beings they become poisonous. This is new to our region, and people are suffering here.”
According to a study published in the Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, there was a sevenfold increase in the number of birth defects in Basra between 1994 and 2003.
In addition, never before has such a high rate of neural tube defects (“open back”) been recorded in babies as in Basra, and the rate continues to rise. According to the study, the number of hydrocephalus (“water on the brain”) cases among newborns is six times as high in Basra as it is in the United States.
Childhood cancer also appears to be unusually prevalent in Basra.
“We have noticed bouts of malignant tumors affecting children’s limbs,” an Iraqi doctor who has worked in various parts of the country for 20 years told Truthout. He requested anonymity for security reasons. “These malignancies are usually of very aggressive types and in the view of the shortage of facilities we are running in our hospitals they usually have a fatal outcome.”
His prognosis was grim.
“The only help we can provide to those children is amputation, which sometimes does nothing but prolonging their suffering, in addition to the great psychological impact on both the child and the parents,” he said. “We know that it is possible to save most of these children in specialized oncology centers by advanced salvage surgery, with the attendant chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Unfortunately, this seems to be a kind fantasy for our government and health administrations, which are currently busy with the large amount of trauma overwhelming our hospitals’ resources.”…….http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/26703-iraqi-doctors-call-depleted-uranium-use-genocide
Dental plan to reduce radiation doses to children
Dentists urged to ‘child-size’ radiation doses for young patients Wave News Oct 06, 2014 LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) – The saying goes “The world always looks brighter from behind a smile.” But keeping that smile bright at the wrong hands could hurt your child’s long-term health. That’s the idea behind a new campaign being pushed out to dentists and other dental professionals around the country.
The University of Louisville Dental School’s Director of Radiology and Imaging Science is joining a team of doctors across the country to get that word out to dentists who treat your children………
“They’re up to three to five times as sensitive as myself to radiation,” said dr. William Scarfe, director of Radiology and Imaging Science at UofL’s School of Dentistry.
Scarfe is helping lead an awareness campaign called Image Gently. It asks dentists to consider just how much radiation their young patients are getting.
“Is it necessary is always the first question,” said Scarfe. He says switching from film to digital radiology reduces the dose, as does focusing on a specific region instead of the whole head. “We should reduce the dose to what their size is,” Scarfe said “That’s called child-sizing exposure.”
Parents, Scarfe says, should look for a dentist to use a thyroid collar, a preferred, but not mandated method in Kentucky.”That significantly reduces the dose to children whose thyroids are very sensitive by about 50%,” said Scarfe……….
Scarfe says parents can and should ask questions about the reasons and the way their children are having images taken at the dentist.
The six-step Image Gently plan includes:
- Select x-rays for a patient’s individual needs, not as routine.
- Use the fastest image receptor possible, E- or F-speed film or digital sensors
- Aim the x-ray beam to expose only the area of interest.
- Use thyroid collars
- Child-size the exposure
- Use cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) only when necessary http://www.wave3.com/story/26716108/dentist-urged-to-child-size-radiation-doses-for-young-patients
In Hanford’s radioactively polluted area, rise in babies born without brains
“It’s Terrifying”: Rapid rise in babies with missing brains and spinal cords sticking out in area surrounding most contaminated nuclear site in US — Mother: Actual number is WAY higher than officials are reporting (VIDEO)http://enenews.com/its-terrifying-rapid-rise-in-babies-with-missing-brains-and-spinal-cords-sticking-out-in-area-surrounding-us-nuclear-site-mother-actual-number-is-way-higher-than-officials-are-reporting-vi?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
Tweet by JoNel Aleccia, former NBC News reporter, Sept 2, 2014: Five pregnancies with anencephaly in Central WA state with due dates this year. State, CDC plan interviews w/ moms
After writing reports on the extremely high rate of babies missing part of their brain (anencephaly) in the 3 counties surrounding the Hanford nuclear site, Aleccia left NBC News. She is now a staff writer at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson1 Cancer Research Center and authored this Sept. 2, 2014 article: Outreach workers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center are drawing on years of community connections in [the counties of Yakima, Benton, and Franklin] to raise awareness about a devastating cluster of severe birth defects that no one can explain… babies are born without parts of the skull and brain… 32 babies since 2010… there were five women in the region who reported they were pregnant with babies with anencephaly, all due later this year… “A lot of what we do is around cancer prevention, but when we hear of other things that also affect health disparities, we take it on.” State and federal officials are urging groups like the Fred Hutch team to help…
It is interesting that a cancer center is getting involved with this Hanford-area birth defect cluster, especially when that cancer center played a key role in the controversial ‘Hanford Thyroid Disease Study’.
According to a review of the study by the National Academy of Sciences: “Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle enjoyed greater public trust than the federal agencies while carrying out the HTDS… [The study’s] public summary… was misleading… the results of the HTDS were presented with unqualified certainty… Statements attributed to the HTDS investigators appear to have overstated the certainty of the results [such as claiming:] ‘These results provide rather strong evidence that exposures at these levels to 131I do not increase the risk [and] consequently provide a substantial degree of reassurance to the population exposed to Hanford radiation that the exposures are not likely to have affected their thyroid.’”
NBC Right Now, Aug 1, 2014: Local Birth Defect Moms Asking Why They’re Excluded From Cluster — “It’s terrifying”… said Nikki Shelton. Her son Corbin was born just months ago with Spina Bifida… When we asked Shelton and Alicia Jones, whose son Noah has the same defect, if they were under the assumption the Department of Health was including them under their research they both said, “Yes”. “To come to find out that they’re heading onwards with anencephaly and not looking into Spina Bifida is disheartening,” explained Shelton… In Spina Bifida the baby is born with part of their spinal cord sticking out.
On the ‘Washington Neural Tube Defects Cluster’ Facebook page, Nikki Shelton recently wrote: “I wanted you all to have a few numbers to reference to see just how rapidly the Neural Tube Defects are rising in our area. The Department of Health says we are 4 times the national average but we have to be WAY higher than that!… Physicians in Washington are NOT required to report birth defects!! The hospitals also code any termination/miscarriage as a “Complication of Pregnancy”. There are many families that choose to abort once they find out their unborn child has a defect, these are NOT counted in the national average. Not to mention all the defects that are not being reported by the physicians!!!”
Perhaps state officials will see this report that was removed from their website: “Studies… reported an association between neural tube defects [anencephaly/spina bifida] and theradiation dose fathers received… This effect was observed in children whose parents received low doses… while working at Hanford… Other research suggests there is reason to believe that radiation exposure before pregnancy can increase the frequency of birth defects… a study of birth defects in Washington’s Benton and Franklin counties near Hanford…. examined the number of cases of certain birth defects between 1968 and 1980.There were more neural tube defects than expected… Conclusion — As with other health effects from radiation, it is assumed that any exposure to radiation carries some risk of genetic effects and birth defects.”
India’s uranium legacy of birth defects
India’s nuclear nightmare: The village of birth defects The Star.com By: Raveena Aulakh on Mon Sep 15 2014 Indian court trying to unravel mystery of sick and disabled children, miscarriages and fatal cancers around the country’s first uranium mine……..Now, an Indian court wants to unravel the mystery of what is happening in Jadugora, the hub of India’s uranium mining industry since the late 1960s……..
Today, nuclear power provides less than 5 per cent of India’s electricity. The aim is to make it 25 per cent by 2050. This month, Australia signed an agreement giving India access to its vast supplies of uranium.
But activists say Jadugora is paying the price for India’s nuclear dreams……….
Until a decade ago, miners took their uniforms home to be washed by their wives or daughters, says Xavier Dias, a political activist who has worked for decades with the indigenous people who made up the majority of the mine’s workforce.
“They never wore masks then … or boots. Or even gloves.”
The workers were free to take building materials from the mine and even waste material, which they used to build their homes, he says.
When people began to notice that young women were having miscarriages, witches and spirits were blamed. Prayers were said to ward off the “evil eye.” But people had lesions, children were born with deformities, hair loss was common. Cows couldn’t give birth, hens laid fewer eggs, fish had skin diseases.
“If you ask the tribals (as the indigenous people are known) who have lived there for decades, long before uranium was discovered, they will tell you that they lived healthy lives, drank from the rivers, ate fruits and vegetables … and they never saw the inside of a hospital,” says Dias……
In Jadugora, tailing ponds take up more than 65 hectares — and they are all uncovered with easy access for people and animals. A few homes stand fewer than 50 metres from the pond’s edge. There are some no-trespassing signs, but children still play cricket or hopscotch nearby. Another tailing pond a few kilometres away sits beside a busy street with pipes constantly delivering more sludge.
The tailing ponds tend to overflow, especially during monsoon season, say villagers. If that happens, radioactivity can seep out and contaminate the groundwater and rivers. River water is used for washing and bathing, sowing and irrigation — and sometimes for drinking.
Trucks filled with yellow cake or mine waste trundle day and night along the highway. The cakes are covered with flimsy plastic covers; sometimes bits of rubble fall off………
The Jharkhand High Court is also looking for answers.
In March, it sent a notice to UCILasking for an explanation for the deformities, cancers and miscarriages around the Jadugora mine. It based the notice on local media reports, which included shocking pictures of children who were sick or deformed. (The demand was made by the court unilaterally, without a filing by officials or victims, in what is known as a suo moto action.)
According to local reports, UCIL told the court that the radiation emitted through its mining is under permissible limits and contained within a safe zone. The court refused to accept the submissions because they were old.
In August, the court also asked that the company disclose the radiation levels and the presence of any heavy metals in soil and water in the cluster of villages around Jadugora. It also asked UCIL to explain how it ensures the safety of those who live near radioactive waste.
The answers are due in November……….
While families of children with deformities will tell their stories to reporters, the families of women who have been unable to get pregnant or who have had unexplained miscarriages often don’t.
Since Jadugora’s health problems made the local newspapers, few families receive marriage offers for their daughters. In a country where not being able to bear children is such a stigma that women are either thrown out by their in-laws or banished to their parents’ homes, Jadugora women are now tainted and unwanted……….http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/09/15/indias_nuclear_nightmare_the_village_of_birth_defects.html
Children with birth defects – Britain’s nuclear veterans still wait for compensation
Nuclear test veterans STILL waiting on £25million compensation fund as David Cameron suns himself BNTVA Recognition Campaign 15 Sept 14
Birth deformities and cancers in Indian villagers near uranium facilities
Independent studies of the health status of people who live near the uranium mines and mills have found both that there are physical deformities occurring at a much higher rate than controlled villages which are having similar population but are a little bit further away from the mines and mills, as well as lung diseases coming in at a much higher rate among those who work in the mines and mills.
Australia to sell uranium to India but at what cost to its people? Australian Broadcasting Corporation Broadcast: 03/09/2014 Reporter: Stephanie March
As Prime Minister Tony Abbott prepares to sign off on a deal to sell Australian uranium to India, critics are warning of the cost to the lives and safety of India’s most vulnerable.
Transcript
CHRIS UHLMANN, PRESENTER: “……. critics say India’s drive towards a nuclear future is coming at a cost – the lives and safety of the country’s most vulnerable.
South Asia correspondent Stephanie March reports.
STEPHANIE MARCH, REPORTER: This lush forest land in eastern India is home to the Adivasi, one of the country’s Indigenous tribes people. Here in the town of the Jaduguda, the Adivasi live simple lives, much the way they have for centuries.
But the locals feel something isn’t right with the world around them.
Mohammad Yusuf is just one child in the village deformed since birth.
MOHAMMAD MOIN (voiceover translation): We didn’t realise that there was anything wrong with him immediately, but four to five months after he was born, we realised that his legs and arms were not functioning properly.
STEPHANIE MARCH: The 14-year-old tries hard to be independent, but his wasted and stiff body makes it hard for him to move.
MOHAMMAD MOIN (voiceover translation): The doctor’s examined him. They said it wasn’t polio. They said that there was some damage that had taken place before he was born. His nerves were damaged or something like that.
STEPHANIE MARCH: A few doors down, Jobarani Acharya’s three-year-old son, Zariyadev (phonetic spelling), struggles to breathe and can’t sit without help. She doesn’t know what’s wrong with him and can’t afford to take him to hospital to find out.
JOBARANI ACHARYA (voiceover translation): I worry about what will happen when he grows older. What can we do for him? How do we cope with this situation?
STEPHANIE MARCH: Jobarani’s neighbour is a young boy named Gunda, born blind and mentally handicapped. In this hamlet of a few dozen houses there are at least three children with obvious physical deformities and locals believe they know the cause.
MOHAMMAD MOIN (voiceover translation): One of my other children, just six days old, died after dark patches erupted on its body all of a sudden. With Yusuf too, it seems that there was some poisoning or radiation that led to a birth defect.
STEPHANIE MARCH: The village where Mohammad Yusuf and Zariyadev were born is less than two kilometres from this tailing pond, attached to a uranium mine run by the Government-owned Uranium Corporation of India Limited, UCIL.
MOHAMMAD MOIN (voiceover translation): We feel that these are due to the affects of uranium. We’ve seen these kinds of incidents not just with humans, but also with the babies born to animals.
GHANSHYAM BIRULLE, JHARKHAND ORG. AGAINST RADIATION (voiceover translation): We cannot see any benefits. We have received only cancer and diseases. UCIL has given us nothing else.
STEPHANIE MARCH: Independent studies on the impact of the mining operation have been scathing. One survey by Indian Doctors for Peace and Development found that children born to families living near the mining operations were almost twice as likely to have congenital deformities than those born in villages 30 kilometres away and that those with deformities were five times more likely to die than those living in non-mining areas.
30-year-old Rapta Sadr has been physically disabled since birth and blames his problems on being born near the tailing ponds.
In addition, cancer rate are 50 per cent higher in the villages near the tailing ponds and people are 20 per cent less likely to reach the average life expectancy for the state.
M.V. RAMANA, NUCLEAR FUTURES LAB, PRINCETON UNI.: Independent studies of the health status of people who live near the uranium mines and mills have found both that there are physical deformities occurring at a much higher rate than controlled villages which are having similar population but are a little bit further away from the mines and mills, as well as lung diseases coming in at a much higher rate among those who work in the mines and mills.
STEPHANIE MARCH: M.V. Ramana is a nuclear physicist based at Princeton University who’s written extensively on the nuclear industry in India. He’s closely studied the situation in Jaduguda.
M.V. RAMANA: As far as I know, UCIL has offered no evidence that is has actually carried out any kind of detailed epidemiological studies. All it has done is make various assertions. These assertions start with denial, saying that there is no such problem, or claiming that these problems have to do with malnutrition – exactly the kind of thing epidemiological studies rule out……http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2014/s4080503.htm
Fukushima’s young thyroid cancer sufferers – the tip of the coming cancer iceberg?
Thyroid cancer diagnosed in 104 young people in Fukushima, Asahi Shimbun August 24, 2014 By YURI OIWA/ Staff Writer The number of young people in Fukushima Prefecture who have been diagnosed with definitive or suspected thyroid gland cancer, a disease often caused by radiation exposure, now totals 104, according to prefectural officials.
The 104 are among 300,000 young people who were aged 18 or under at the time of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster and whose results of thyroid gland tests have been made available as of June 30. They were eligible for the tests administered by the prefectural government.
Of these 104, including 68 women, the number of definitive cases is 57, and one has been diagnosed with a benign tumor. The size of the tumors varies from 5 to 41 millimeters and averages 14 mm.
The average age of those diagnosed was 14.8 when the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami triggered the meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011……..
The figure can be extrapolated for comparison purposes to an average of more than 30 people per population of 100,000 having definitive or suspected thyroid gland cancer.
The figure is much higher than, for example, the development rate of thyroid cancer of 1.7 people per 100,000 among late teens based on the cancer patients’ registration in Miyagi Prefecture…….http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201408240011
Compelling evidence that nuclear power stations cause childhood leukaemias
Nuclear power stations cause childhood leukemia – and here’s the proof http://www.ianfairlie.org/news/childhood-leukemias-near-nuclear-power-stations-new-article/ Ian Fairlie 24 Aug 14
In March 2014, my article on increased rates of childhood leukemias near nuclear power plants (NPPs) was published in the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity (JENR). A previous post discussed the making of the article and its high readership: this post describes its content in layman’s terms.
Before we start, some background is necessary to grasp the new report’s significance. Many readers may be unaware that increased childhood leukemias near NPPs have been a contentious issue for several decades. For example, it was a huge issue in the UK in the 1980s and early 1990s leading to several TV programmes, Government Commissions, Government committees, a major international Conference, Government reports, at least two mammoth court cases and probably over a hundred scientific articles. It was refuelled in 1990 by the publication of the famous Gardner report (Gardner et al, 1990) which found a very large increase (7 fold) in child leukemias near the infamous Sellafield nuclear facility in Cumbria.
The issue seems to have subsided in the UK, but it is still hotly debated in most other European countries, especially Germany.
The core issue is that, world-wide, over 60 epidemiological studies have examined cancer incidences in children near nuclear power plants (NPPs): most (>70%) indicate leukemia increases. I can think of no other area of toxicology (eg asbestos, lead, smoking) with so many studies, and with such clear associations as those between NPPs and child leukemias. Continue reading
Japan thyroid cancer children – crimes against humanity – Tokyo Press Conference
Tokyo Press Conference: Gov’t is committing crimes against humanity; Fukushima children living in war zone and can’t leave — Childhood cancer developing much faster than Chernobyl; Rate now 14 times higher — Parent: “I’m revealing the reality of what’s going on… it’s only way to get rid of the criminals” (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/tokyo-press-conference-officials-committing-crimes-against-humanity-fukushima-children-living-war-zone-evacuate-childhood-cancer-developing-faster-chernobyl-rate-14-times-higher-parent-im-reveal?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=e
Press Conference at The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, August 18, 2014:
Toshio Yanagihara, attorney representing Fukushima children and their parents
- 5:00 — Thyroid cases after Chernobyl in Belarus — comparing that with the present situation in Fukushima, [here] there’s 14 times [the rate] of children with thyroid cancer.
- 6:00 — Fukushima prefecture’s announced that the massive number of thorough screenings [is the reason why there’s] more numbers of people with cancer — but we found that doubtful. In Fukushima prefecture, the west part of Fukushima compared to those areas that are closer to the nuclear power plant, there are about ¼ or even 1/5 the people who are found with thyroid cancer.
- 7:00 — June 10th of this year, the Fukushima committee in charge of researching thyroid cancer admitted for the first time that the suspicion of malignancy is due to the lymph node metastasis. This is the common thing that was found after the Chernobyl accident.
- 8:00 — In Fukushima right now, we see that the number of the children found with thyroid cancer — and the scale of this catastrophe is ongoing — it is going much faster than it was in the Ukraine after Chernobyl.
- 11:45 — The announcement from the Sendai high court from April 2013 that the Fukushima children’s lives are threatened… this didn’t cause Fukushima or the Japanese government to help provide support.
- 16:15 — We emphasis that the Japanese government is discriminating against the Fukushima children, and in the international [court], we can say this is a crime against humanity. This is Japan’s most important and most criminal human problem that we’re facing right now.
- 17:15 — Fukushima is a war zone, and children have a right to be evacuated to a safer place… In Japan, this present situation is the most harsh child-rearing situation in the world.
- 19:15 — They’re supposed to support and evacuate children from Fukushima during this war zone… It must be argued at the international court that this is a crime against humanity. We would like to take this case to the International Criminal Court, and we’re preparing for that.
Katsumi Hasegawa, parent of two young children who evacuated from Koriyama (60km from Daiichi)
- 22:45 — We currently live in Shizouka prefecture where we evacuated to in August 2011 — my pregnant wife and 5 year-old son… Why did the Japanese government contain us in the no-go zone 20 or 30 km radius, while many foreign countries had told residents within 80 km from Fukushima Daiichi to evacuate?
- 35:00 – I’m a parent of children, and I’m an adult whose living at the time of this accident — this era. I would like to reveal the reality of what is going on. And I would like to do my best, even if I’m starting right now, I would like to do my best. That is my responsibility, and that is the only way to get rid of the criminals — and irresponsibility that we have committed already… Even though raising my voice is hard, I know that there are things that we need to do. Thank you.
- 36:30 — Lucy Birmingham, FCCJ president: Thank you so much. OK… wow.
Indian Uranium Corporation ordered to probe birth deformities near mines
The health issue came to the attention of the High Court earlier this year after pictures of Jadugora’s deformed children appeared in the Indian press. The court in February ordered Uranium Corp. to produce documents that might shed light on the health issues. The court noted then that children living near the mines in Jadugora are “born with swollen heads, blood disorders and skeletal distortions.”
India Court Orders Uranium Corp. to Probe Deformities Near Mines Bloomberg By Rakteem Katakey and Tom Lasseter Aug 20, 2014 India’s sole uranium mining company is being ordered by a regional court to disclose radiation levels and the presence of any heavy metals in soil and water in a cluster of villages with reports of unusual numbers of deformed and sick children.
The order by the Jharkhand High Court also mandates thatUranium Corp. of India Ltd.explain how it ensures the safety of nearby civilian populations who may be exposed to its 193-acre (78-hectare) radioactive waste dump near the village of Jadugora in eastern India.
The move comes about a month after a Bloomberg News story chronicled the plight of parents living near the Uranium Corp. mines who are seeking answers to what’s sickening and killing so many of their kids. The story also reported that local residents routinely wander the unfenced dump sites and fish and bathe in a river that receives water flowing from the dumps, known as tailings ponds. The Bloomberg article was submitted to the judges of the High Court by Ananda Sen, the lawyer appointed by the court to review the case.
Uranium Corp. has denied its mining operations have anything to do with village health issues. In 2007, a survey of more than 2,100 households by an Indian physicians group found mothers in villages 1.5 miles from the mines reported congenital deformities more than 80 percent higher than the rates just 20 miles (32 kilometers) away, with reported child death rates from such abnormalities more than five times as high.
Independent Experts
A warning from UK’s National Health Service on the risks of radiation from CT scans
Caution urged over CT scan radiation doses, NHS UK, 15 Aug 14
BBC News reports on a sharp rise in the number of CT scans being performed, exposing people to the potential health risks of radiation.
However, as The Daily Telegraph says, it is not possible to calculate the cancer risk due to exposure to CT scans because there is a lack of data.
These media stories follow the publication of a report by theCommittee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE). COMARE has reviewed trends in the use of CT scans in the UK. The review weighs up the risk-benefit balance of using CT scans, and considers ways to obtain the best quality scan image while minimising the necessary radiation dose.
The COMARE report sets out good practice guidance, encouraging doctors to take a more “proactive approach” to protecting patients and reducing radiation doses.
The committee recommendations cover equipment and procedures already in place, but also note there are dose reduction features available on some of the newer CT scanning machines that should be considered when new equipment is purchased.
What is COMARE and why is it looking at CT scans?….…
only 15% of our radiation exposure comes from medical sources. However, it has still increased from 0.33mSv per person per year in 1997, to 0.4mSv in 2008.
CT scans account for much of this exposure. ……..The report says there has been wider use of CT scans among younger people and children, whose tissues may have greater sensitivity to radiation. They also, of course, have a longer lifespan ahead of them in which potential harmful effects may be observed…..
70% of indications for CT scans recommended by guidance relate to benign (non-harmful) or potentially benign conditions. It says that CT scans are increasingly being used as a standard investigation, replacing other conventional ways of detecting health problems.
There are potential risks related to radiation…….
What does the COMARE report recommend?……..http://www.nhs.uk/news/2014/08August/Pages/caution-urged-over-use-of-ct-scan-radiation-doses.aspx
Thyroid cancer in Fukushima children: an inconvenient fact for Japan’s government
Japan Professor: Outbreak of cancer is now underway in Fukushima children; Clear evidence of an epidemic — All of Japan is still being exposed to nuclear radiation — Gov’t Official: It will be ‘disastrous’ if we have to conclude there’s an actual increase in thyroid cancer from Fukushima http://enenews.com/japan-professor-outbreak-cancer-fukushima-children-clear-evidence-epidemic-underway-all-japan-being-exposed-nuclear-radiation-govt-official-will-be-disastrous-conclude-actual-increase-thyroid-ca?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
Excerpts from a report by Dr. Yuri Hiranuma, a physician specializing neuromusculoskeletal medicine, published by Fukushima Voice version 2e, Aug 3, 2014:
[At the July 16, 2014 Expert Meeting Regarding the Status of Health Management of Residents Following the Tokyo Electric Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plan Accident, held by the Ministry of the Environment]
- Toshihide Tsuda, a physician and an epidemiologist at Okayama University, has just emphatically stated that in certain Fukushima municipalities there was a clear evidence of a thyroid cancer epidemic […] Calling this an “outbreak, occurring only 3.1 to 3.2 years after the accident” […] “outbreak” of thyroid cancers in Fukushima children cannot be explained by the “screening effect,” when the data is analyzed and compared with the national cancer statistics as well as within Fukushima Prefecture against municipalities with the lowest exposure dose. Critical of the commonly accepted notion that health effects do not occur below 100 mSv, Tsuda presented numerous published studies that proved otherwise. […] “This Expert Meeting has not brought up these studies so I must do it” […] Tsuda also said that the Expert Meeting should consider the fact that all age groups including pregnant women were still being exposed to radiation in Fukushima Prefecture. […] Tsuda said, “We are all being exposed to radiation in Japan” […]
- [Committee] Chairman Shigenobu Nagataki, emeritus professor at Nagasaki University, a former chairman of Radiation Effects Research Foundation, and a mentor to infamousShunichi Yamashita [said] “Committee members, please do not hesitate to ask questions. Given what was just stated, it will be disastrous for this committee to have to conclude that there is an actual increase in thyroid cancer (due to the Fukushima accident).” […] if the Expert Meeting were seriously considerate of the disaster victims […] why would it be disastrous for this Expert Meeting to have a conclusion that cases of thyroid cancers might be increasing? […]
Excerpts from an article by Japanese independent media outlet OurPlanet-TV summarizing the July 16 meeting, translated by Dr. Yuri Hiranuma, Aug. 3, 2014:
- Professor Shinzo Kimura [who conducted] field investigations in Chernobyl, reported that currently there are many cases of thyroid cancer […] more than 250 km away from Chernobyl
- Matsumoto City Mayor Sugenoya, who has provided medical care to children with thyroid cancer in Belarus [said] even in areas contaminated with low-level radiation with an annual radiation level below 1 mSv, residents showed a depressed immune function, hematopoietic disorders, and perinatal abnormalities [and] medical personnel are not allowed to refer to the Chernobyl accident.
- Okayama University Professor Tsuda pointed out that there is no end of the number of researchers who say, “No cancer occurrence is expected from radiation exposure dose under 100 mSv,” after the Fukushima accident. Tsuda candidly said researchers should refrain from making such statements. […] As of the end of March 2014 [Nakadori, the central region of Fukushima that is 40-80 km from the Daiichi plant] had the highest detection rate [of thyroid cancer,] as much as 11 times higher than Aizu [western region of Fukushima, over 80 km from the plant]. […] thyroid cancers from municipalities other than Aizu region showed rates which were 15 to 40 times higher [than data from the National Cancer Center]. He sounded an alarm […] “It’s only been 3.1 to 3.2 years but there are so many cases observed in Fukushima. We need to take immediate countermeasures.” […] “They are still exposed to radiation. We can’t wait until the results come out. […] All of us as well as Fukushima residents are being exposed to radiation.”
- During this session, the audience applauded several times when witnesses spoke.
Judicious use of medical radiation
Radiation risk or timely diagnosis, Kevin MD,com SKEPTICAL SCALPEL, MD | CONDITIONS | JULY 8, 2014 “………..An article in Scientific American puts some of the radiation risk into perspective. It is long, but worth reading as it explains how risk has been calculated, the best guess as to the true level of risk, and what radiologists are doing to lower the radiation exposure associated with CT scanning.
According to that article, “Any one person in the U.S. has a 20 percent chance of dying from cancer [of any type]. Therefore, a single CT scan increases the average patient’s risk of developing a fatal tumor from 20 to 20.05 percent.”
No one ever comments about weighing the potential harms that may have been prevented by a timely CT scan diagnosis against the radiation risk.
CT scans should be ordered judiciously. The area scanned and the amount of radiation should be limited as much as possible.
But if you need a CT scan to help diagnose your problem, go ahead and have it. Bottom line: When it comes to accuracy in diagnosis versus radiation-induced cancer risk, parents overwhelmingly chose the former.
“Skeptical Scalpel” is a surgeon blogs at his self-titled site, Skeptical Scalpel. http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2014/07/radiation-risk-timely-diagnosis-parents-choose.html
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