Evacuation kept Fukushima cancer rates down
Source: Agencies |
June 1, 2013, Saturday
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THE evacuation of tens of thousands of people helped prevent rising cancer rates and other health problems after Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster, the world's worst in 25 years, UN scientists said yesterday.
Radiation exposure following the reactor meltdowns more than two years ago did not cause any immediate health effects, the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation said after its annual meeting.
That would be in contrast to Chernobyl, the 1986 Soviet reactor explosion which sent radioactive dust across much of Europe and is believed to have caused thyroid cancer in some children.
The 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that hit on March 11, 2011, killed nearly 19,000 people and devastated the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, forcing about 160,000 people to flee their homes.
Actions to protect inhabitants in the area, including evacuation and sheltering, significantly reduced the exposure to radioactive substances, the UN scientific body said.
"These measures reduced the potential exposure by up to a factor of 10," said senior committee member Wolfgang Weiss. "If that had not been the case, we might have seen the cancer rates rising and other health problems emerging over the next several decades."
Weiss said that dose levels were "so low that we don't expect to see any increase in cancer in the future in the population."
The findings appeared to differ somewhat from a World Health Organization report published in February which said people in the area worst affected had a slightly higher risk of certain cancers.
Weiss suggested the committee's study was based on information covering a longer period after the accident.
While a few received very high doses, no radiation-related deaths or acute effects were observed among nearly 25,000 workers - including employees of the operator Tokyo Electric Power Co - involved at the accident site, it said.
Highlighting the differences between Chernobyl and Fukushima, Weiss said people close to the then Soviet plant were exposed to radioactive iodine that contaminated milk.
The thyroid is the most exposed organ as radioactive iodine concentrates there. Children are deemed especially vulnerable.
"In Chernobyl, many children used milk which had high iodine concentrations, resulting in high thyroid doses, resulting in an increase of thyroid cancer," Weiss said, adding the doses in Japan were "much, much lower."
Radiation exposure following the reactor meltdowns more than two years ago did not cause any immediate health effects, the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation said after its annual meeting.
That would be in contrast to Chernobyl, the 1986 Soviet reactor explosion which sent radioactive dust across much of Europe and is believed to have caused thyroid cancer in some children.
The 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that hit on March 11, 2011, killed nearly 19,000 people and devastated the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, forcing about 160,000 people to flee their homes.
Actions to protect inhabitants in the area, including evacuation and sheltering, significantly reduced the exposure to radioactive substances, the UN scientific body said.
"These measures reduced the potential exposure by up to a factor of 10," said senior committee member Wolfgang Weiss. "If that had not been the case, we might have seen the cancer rates rising and other health problems emerging over the next several decades."
Weiss said that dose levels were "so low that we don't expect to see any increase in cancer in the future in the population."
The findings appeared to differ somewhat from a World Health Organization report published in February which said people in the area worst affected had a slightly higher risk of certain cancers.
Weiss suggested the committee's study was based on information covering a longer period after the accident.
While a few received very high doses, no radiation-related deaths or acute effects were observed among nearly 25,000 workers - including employees of the operator Tokyo Electric Power Co - involved at the accident site, it said.
Highlighting the differences between Chernobyl and Fukushima, Weiss said people close to the then Soviet plant were exposed to radioactive iodine that contaminated milk.
The thyroid is the most exposed organ as radioactive iodine concentrates there. Children are deemed especially vulnerable.
"In Chernobyl, many children used milk which had high iodine concentrations, resulting in high thyroid doses, resulting in an increase of thyroid cancer," Weiss said, adding the doses in Japan were "much, much lower."
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