Near Fukushima plant ...[ 2512 ]

Journalists must empower those who have to stay near Fukushima plant

One-year-old Himari, center, held by her mother Tomomi Sato, left, undergoes a radiation screening test at the welfare office in Oyama, Fukushima Prefecture, on May 24, 2011. (Mainichi)



Mainichi Japan) October 24, 2011
Eight days after the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant began to unfold, samples of spinach and raw milk were found to be contaminated with radioactive iodine in amounts exceeding the provisional permissible amount set by the Food Sanitation Act.
Government officials have tried to underplay the dangers with messages such as, "It's all right as long as you're not eating 4,200 servings of spinach," and "Even drinking 1 liter of milk every day will not cause any problems."
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However, the problem boils down to how much radiation we're exposed to at the dinner table. As radiation contamination fears spread to water, vegetables and fish, we decided that releasing the reference dosages of radiation found in various food products, including those that were found to have lower-than-maximum levels of radiation permitted by the government, would help the public feel more at ease in the decisions they make. We asked radiation experts to come up with the numbers, which we published in the Mainichi's April 5 morning issue.
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As the crisis continued, there came a shift in the focus of concern from radioactive iodine to cesium, which has a longer half-life than the former and was detected in beef and tea leaves. In addition, a growing number of people began to feel that the maximum permissible amounts set by the government were too high. To allay consumers' fears and prevent foods from being rejected by the public merely because of where they had been produced, it is necessary to find ways for individuals to learn how much radiation they have been personally exposed to through food.
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We also looked at the impact of radiation-tainted soil on children. The regulations on outdoor activity issued by the government in late April said that it was permissible for children to be exposed to up to 20 millisieverts of radiation per year -- the same level of radiation at which an area would be designated a "planned evacuation zone." We felt it was too high for children, who are more easily affected by radiation than adults. 
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On May 23, we reported on the decontamination efforts taking place in the disaster areas, along with testimony from experts arguing that children's radiation exposure limits should be lowered. Parents of children in Fukushima also protested against the government's numbers, and in August the government revised the maximum permissible exposure to radiation for children down to 1 millisievert per year.

Yumiko Sugihara, who has returned to the emergency evacuation preparation zone within 30 kilometers of the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, walks her son Takuya to school in the city in this Aug. 30, 2011 file photo. (Mainichi)
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Many people are unable to evacuate despite fears of radiation exposure because of work and a variety of other reasons. 
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While experts all agree that the lower the radiation exposure the better, such generalizations only serve to weigh heavily on the people who must stay in Fukushima. It is crucial that we offer those people who have no choice but to live under conditions of low-level radiation exposure with information that will empower them, including what they can do to cut down on the risk of developing cancer. (By Yoshiko Tamura, Lifestyle News Department)