YURI OIWA: High thyroid radiation levels found in Fukushima residents

Von: Labor Video Project

Datum: Samstag, 10. März 2012 01:45

Betreff:

High thyroid radiation levels found in Fukushima residents

Datum: Samstag, 10. März 2012 01:45

High thyroid radiation levels found in Fukushima residents March 09,

2012

By YURI OIWA/ Staff Writer

Radioactive iodine exceeding international health standards was found

in the thyroid glands of five of 65 Fukushima Prefecture residents who

were examined by a team of researchers.

The researchers at Hirosaki University’s Institute of Radiation

Emergency Medicine detected radioactive iodine in 50 residents, nearly

80 percent, after examinations conducted April 11-16.

 

Radiation levels of five residents were above the International Atomic

Energy Agency’s 50-millisievert standard for taking iodine tablets to

prevent damage to thyroid glands, with a maximum reading of 87

millisieverts.

 

The highest reading among children was 47 millisieverts. Levels of 24

residents, or about half, were 10 millisieverts or less.

 

“Levels could have exceeded 100 millisieverts if infants had stayed in

a district with a high iodine concentration,” said professor Shinji

Tokonami, who led the research team. “The central and local

governments need to provide thorough care to protect the health of

children.”

 

Children are more vulnerable to internal radiation by radioactive

iodine because their thyroid glands absorb it more actively than adults.

 

Thyroid radiation can lead to cancer. But little was known about the

levels of radioactive iodine amid confusion in the days immediately

after the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant was crippled by the

March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake. Radioactive iodine has a short

half-life.

 

A government survey of 1,080 children in the three municipalities of

Iwaki, Kawamata and Iitate in Fukushima Prefecture last March found a

maximum level of 35 millisieverts. But the accuracy was limited

because only simple measuring devices were used.

 

The Hirosaki University team conducted more detailed measurements,

spending five minutes on each resident.

 

“The research is valuable because it is based on measurement data more

detailed than the government’s, although iodine 132, whose half-life

is two hours, is not considered,” said Yoshio Hosoi, a professor at

Hiroshima University’s Research Institute for Radiation Biology and

Medicine.

 

After the 1986 Chernobyl accident, about 6,000 people, mostly

children, developed thyroid cancer, and less than 20 died. According

to a U.N. report, the average levels of thyroid radiation among

evacuees were 490 millisieverts.

 

The Fukushima prefectural government plans to conduct lifelong thyroid

gland examinations for 360,000 residents who were 18 years old or

younger on March 11.

 

Hosoi said examinations need to be considered also for adults, citing

an epidemiological survey that found increased thyroid cancer risks

among people 40 years old or older after the Chernobyl accident.

 

The government will start a project in fiscal 2012 to estimate the

levels of thyroid radiation for each district in and around Fukushima

Prefecture.

 

Officials will ask for data from other researchers who conducted

examinations on residents before radioactive iodine decayed and also

gather related data from air and soil monitoring.

 

Gen Suzuki, who heads the clinic of the International University of

Health and Welfare, said it is time to re-evaluate the reality of

thyroid radiation because a number of data, albeit piecemeal, have

recently become available.

 

“The government should have conducted accurate examinations of thyroid

radiation immediately after the accident,” Suzuki said. “The

government failed to conduct such examinations partly because the

division of responsibilities was ambiguous within its organization. It

must also review its setup for examinations.”

 

The Hirosaki University research team examined 48 people who evacuated

from around the Fukushima No. 1 plant to the city of Fukushima, and 17

people who remained in the Tsushima district of Namie, Fukushima

Prefecture, around 30 kilometers northwest of the plant.

 

The researchers measured concentrations of radioactive iodine in their

thyroid glands and calculated levels of internal exposure on the

assumption that the residents inhaled iodine on March 12.

 

The IAEA lowered the standard for taking iodine tablets from 100

millisieverts to 50 millisieverts after a report on the Chernobyl

accident said cancer risks increased when thyroid radiation levels

were 50 millisieverts or higher.

 

The Japanese government, which uses the 100-millisievert standard, is

expected to soon lower it to 50 millisieverts.

 

By YURI OIWA/ Staff Writer