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Sacrificing Our Children: Nuclear Accidents Challenge Priorities of United Nations
by Akio Matsumura
Japan’s Lack of Concern for Fukushima’s Children
The children of Fukushima need greater medical attention and
assistance. After the Chernobyl accident, concerns grew in that region
as to whether higher rates of cancer, especially in the thyroid gland,
would be found in children due to exposure to radioactive iodine. With
this in mind, to alleviate concern after TEPCO’s nuclear accident, the
Fukushima prefecture has been conducting a “Prefecture Health Management
Survey.” According to the survey (as translated by Fukushima Voice),
there is a high rate of thyroid cysts appearing in the children tested.
The appearance of cysts, fluid-filled sacs, does not translate to
cancer, but something extraordinary is happening in cell development.
Their abnormally high prevalence shows that they were caused by
environmental factors and are cause for concern. In the same vein,
worries exist about decreased pulmonary function and bone marrow
abnormalities.
assistance. After the Chernobyl accident, concerns grew in that region
as to whether higher rates of cancer, especially in the thyroid gland,
would be found in children due to exposure to radioactive iodine. With
this in mind, to alleviate concern after TEPCO’s nuclear accident, the
Fukushima prefecture has been conducting a “Prefecture Health Management
Survey.” According to the survey (as translated by Fukushima Voice),
there is a high rate of thyroid cysts appearing in the children tested.
The appearance of cysts, fluid-filled sacs, does not translate to
cancer, but something extraordinary is happening in cell development.
Their abnormally high prevalence shows that they were caused by
environmental factors and are cause for concern. In the same vein,
worries exist about decreased pulmonary function and bone marrow
abnormalities. |
| http://seetell.jp/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Fukushima-children1-150x150.jpg |
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| http://news.discovery.com/earth/2011/07/05/fukushima-kids.jpg |
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| Drawing by Naoya, age 8, Koriyama City. "I'm worried about nuclear power plants" (Geoff Read) http://www.dianuke.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ sc87-naoya-8_koriyama_fukushima-children-with- geoff-read11.jpg |
The study concludes that “There is a strong concern that waiting for further analysis of above data and the completion of follow-up examinations will lead to irreversible health damages in these children. Consequently, it is strongly desired that small children living in Nakadori (adjacent to the coastal region) and Hamadori (the coastal region) in Fukushima receive immediate implementation of preventive measures such as evacuation and more frequent screening examinations.” Shunichi Yamashita, vice president of Fukushima University Medical School, has urged thyroid specialists across Japan to not give second opinions to concerned families. The survey denounces his “repressive conduct” and considers it a violation of human rights for the affected children and their families. At the very least, why wouldn’t the government err on the side of caution and provide as much help as they can for these children?
Scientists will always offer different opinions, swayed first by
uncertainty, but also, sadly, by politics, money, and ambition. Some
will claim that the evidence has been exaggerated, underestimated, or
that perhaps we’re at too early a stage to be certain. Or that we need
more time to clarify the results. I have seen many instances of these
arguments at the United Nations and international science conferences.
In March 2011 we heard TEPCO and the Japanese government equivocate as
to whether there was a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima power plants
after the earthquake and tsunami. It is ironic and frustrating that the
certainty necessary to science allows for so much ambiguity and
obfuscation.
TEPCO later admitted that a reactor meltdown had indeed occurred
within the first few hours of the quake and tsunami. As Toshio Nishi, a
researcher at Stanford’s Hoover Institute, told us,
“This admission of a triple meltdown popped up two months after the
accident, and their confession came too late for those people who had
stayed but a little distance away from the reactors, and they were
unknowingly rained upon by radioactive dust and vapor day after day.
Tens of thousands of children lived nearby.” Japanese experts reassured
us that the levels of radiation would not present immediate health
risks, even while independent experts shouted otherwise from afar. The
Japanese experts sent to ameliorate local concerns were nuclear
scientists, not medical doctors. Their false reassurances could possibly
result in the loss of thousands of lives. We didn’t need rocket science
calculations, just a concern for the long term health of our children.
Looking for an International Response
Perhaps out of old habit, I look to the United Nations for solutions
to international problems. In the case of Fukushima’s children, the
major problem is health issues caused by a nuclear accident. Which UN
agencies can help, and what challenges do they face in taking on such a
complicated and inter-disciplinary issue?
The International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to
inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It
stands with the nuclear power plant policy of its member states and so
to some degree is a defender for the nuclear industry.
The World Health Organization
(WHO) is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters,
shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards,
articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support
to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends. I have visited
more than one hundred countries, and wherever I visited, among the UN
specialized agencies, UNICEF and the WHO are regarded by people as their
defender.
We all learned from Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear accidents that transparency, accountability, and health take a back seat to national security. When the nuclear accident occurs, it is of critical importance that the WHO, as a defender of public health, should be allowed immediately to make its own assessment.
In 1959, the WHO and IAEA signed an agreement
wherein the WHO recognizes the IAEA as having responsibility for
peaceful nuclear energy without prejudice to the roles of the WHO of
promoting health, and whenever either organization proposes to initiate a
program or activity on a subject in which the other organization has or
may have a substantial interests, the first party shall consult the
other with a view to adjusting the matter by mutual agreement.
It is clear to me from my time in the UN that the political, nuclear
agenda will always take priority over the public health agenda. The
WHO’s ability to investigate health effects of radiation from a nuclear
accident is restricted by the IAEA’s superior political position. Any
assessment will be conducted under and overshadowed by the IAEA’s watch.
Stepping back and reflecting upon over a year’s activity addressing
the challenges of the Fukushima tragedy, it is inescapable to conclude
that pride, power, profit and politics have blocked a critical step that
had potential to ameliorate the slow moving catastrophe at Fukushima
Daiichi. Lessons learned from Chernobyl and Fukushima failed to result
in international understanding and agreement that massive uncontrolled
release of radioactivity is a global event and must be viewed as such
with appropriate international response. And we fail to see that there
is little difference between radiation from a bomb and radiation from a
nuclear power plant accident. With over 400 aging nuclear power plants
online, increasing levels of seismic events and violent weather
patterns, the nuclear power community must become a full partner in
institutionalizing a responsible response to the next nuclear power
plant crises. That would be a wise, self-serving decision on their
part.
What I propose is a UN initiative to create an international
agreement that establishes a protocol detailing emergency response to a
nuclear power plant accident that has the potential of uncontrolled
radioactive release.This protocol would include the use of an
international quick response team of situation-related expert scientists
and engineers that would be welcomed by the host country of the
accident to provide and independent assessment of the situation.
Finally, the international system is only one part of addressing
responses to nuclear accidents. Governments and media cannot shirk their
important roles, and should focus on putting human security before
national security and political survival. The bottom line is that our
children should not be lost in the clamor of the political circus or
forgotten in the debates of headstrong scientists.
Source
Nuclear Free Planet Org.
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