Fukushima prefecture has been conducting regular checkups of over 360,000 people who were in Fukushima in March 2011 and were age 18 or under when the nuclear crisis struck. As WSJ reported in August, [5] a study by researchers in Fukushima prefecture [6] found 57 minors in the prefecture have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer so far and another 46 are showing symptoms that suggest they may also have the disease. Today, as The Japan Times reports, [7] four more children are suspected of suffering from thyroid cancer in the latest survey bringing the total to 107 out of 385,000 now surveyed. This is dramatically higher than the normal "between 5 to 11 cases per million people," that Okayama University professor Toshihide Tsuda cites for national statistics between 1975 and 2008.
As The Japan Times reports, [7]
Four more children are suspected of suffering from thyroid cancer in the latest survey on the possible health impact of the 2011 triple meltdown at Tepco’s wrecked Fukushima No. 1 plant, sources said Tuesday.
The four, who were 6 to 17 years old at the time of the disaster, had been diagnosed as not having the cancer in the first survey that was conducted within three years of the meltdowns, they said.
The first survey covered all 370,000 children in the prefecture who were aged 18 or younger at the time of the disaster. The second survey , which began last April, covers some 385,000 children, adding those born a year after the disaster struck.
Researchers at Fukushima Medical University, which has been leading the study, will work to confirm if the four have developed the cancer and carefully study if the cases are due to the influence of radiation, according to the sources.
The university takes the results of the first survey as the basic data in assessing whether cases of the cancer may increase in the future.
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"Studies published as early as 1947 demonstrated it [the commonality of papillary child thyroid cancer], and more recently, a report has shown that nearly every thyroid gland might be found to have a cancer if examined closely enough."
Even as one lone voice spoke up...
One dissenter, Okayama University professor Toshihide Tsuda, purported that the frequency of child thyroid problems in Fukushima Prefecture is “several tens of times” higher than before the accident. He said national statistics between 1975 and 2008 showed a variance of between 5 to 11 cases per million people.
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Given the bullshit that Japan's political leaders spew day after day with no consequences, we suggest taking any 'positive' post-radiation-exposure news with a pinch of salt and remaining highly skeptical. If 'experts' can claim the Japanese economy is recovering when it enters a quadruple-dip-depression, then what hope for ivory tower nuclear scientists?
