Just as we should be re-assured by Shinzo Abe's declaration that the Olympics will be 'safe' in Japan (despite his incessant calls for recovery in the Japanese economy when it is actually collapsing under its own devalued currency import costs); the UN is out with a report that states it did not expect “significant changes” in future cancer rates that could be attributed to radiation exposure from the reactor meltdowns. The levels, according to their report, were much lower than Chernobyl and therefore the Fukushima nuclear disaster is unlikely to lead to a rise in people developing cancer. But... some children 'might' have received doses that could affect their risk of developing cancer later in life...
Via Japan Times, [5]
The Fukushima nuclear disaster is unlikely to lead to a rise in people developing cancer as happened after Chernobyl in 1986, even though the most exposed children may face an increased risk, U.N. scientists said Wednesday.
In a major study, the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) said it did not expect “significant changes” in future cancer rates that could be attributed to radiation exposure from the reactor meltdowns.
The amounts of radioactive substances such as iodine-131 released after the 2011 accident were much lower than after Chernobyl, and Japanese authorities also took action to protect people living near the stricken plant, including evacuations.
...
“No discernible changes in future cancer rates and hereditary diseases are expected due to exposure to radiation as a result of the Fukushima nuclear accident,” UNSCEAR said in a statement accompanying its nearly 300-page study.
...
“The occurrence of a large number of radiation-induced thyroid cancers as were observed after Chernobyl can be discounted because doses were substantially lower,” it said.
But, having said all that, the UNSCEAR report finds...
...some children — estimated at fewer than 1,000 — might have received doses that could affect their risk of developing thyroid cancer later in life...
UNSCEAR chairman Carl-Magnus Larsson said there was a theoretical increased risk among the most exposed children for this type of cancer, which is rare among the young.
But “we are not sure that this is going to be something that will be captured in the thyroid cancer statistics in future,” he told a news conference.
So, in summary: The UN finds that a) Fukushima is 'unlikely' to cause cancer rates to rise, but b) some children might have been exposed to cancer-increasing doses, however c) you will never know coz the data probably won't show it...
Seems like a good enough excuse to allow people back into the death zone?