As a result of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe huge amounts of radioactivity were released into the environment. While the Japanese authorities made much of the contamination by radioactive iodine and cesium and while these radioisotopes are measured regularly in samples of soil, water and foodstuffs, the radioactive strontium contamination of humans and the environment is hushed up. Contamination maps do not exist ; at best, strontium measurements are carried out sporadically by individual research groups. Furthermore, strontium is not at all looked for in the foodstuffs-database, which is used to calculate the radiation exposure of the population through taking in contaminated food. But it is known that relevant amounts of radioactive strontium were found in the teeth and bones of livestock in Fukushima.
IPPNW-Report: Health consequences resulting from Fukushima - Update 2015
By Henrik Paulitz, Winfrid Eisenberg, Reinhold Thiel
[March 3 2015] On 11 March 2011, a nuclear catastrophe occurred at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan in the wake of an earthquake and due to serious safety deficiencies. The initial health consequences of the nuclear catastrophe are now, two years after the incident, scientifically verifiable. Similar to the case of Chernobyl, a decline in the birth rate was documented in the nine months following the nuclear catastrophe. In the Fukushima Prefecture alone, some 55,592 children were diagnosed with thyroid gland nodules or cysts. In the long term there are many expected cases of cancer due to Fukushima.
IPPNW-Report "Health consequences resulting from Fukushima" (2013)
IPPNW-Report "Health consequences resulting from Fukushima Update 2015" (German)
Three years after Fukushima
Three years ago, thousands of people died and almost half a million lost their homes in Japan's worst peacetime disaster. But the catastrophe isn't over as experts still struggle to contain radioactive leaks from the stricken plant. DW spoke to Angelika Claußen of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.
WHO data predicts between 22,000 and 66,000 incidences of cancer in Japan
By Henrik Paulitz, Winfrid Eisenberg, and Reinhold Thiel
[March 14 2013] On 28 February 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) published its "Health risk assessment" from the nuclear accident of Fukushima. On 6 March 2013 Soon afterwards, on 6 March 2013, the IPPNW, a medical organization critical of nuclear power and weapons, released its dissenting report "Health consequences resulting from Fukushima". The availability of reliable information and comparable assessments on the consequences of such a nuclear catastrophe are essential for the political policy making process. An IPPNW information is therefore intended to show that utilizing the WHO data and assumptions, one arrives at comparable figures for the incidence of illness as those arrived at by the IPPNW.
"WHO data predicts between 22,000 and 66,000 incidences of cancer in Japan"
Critical Analysis of the WHO’s health risk assessment of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe
By Alex Rosen
[March 1 2013] On February 28th, 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) published its „Health risk assessment from the nuclear accident after the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami“. This report concluded that “for the general population inside and outside of Japan, the predicted risks are low and no observable increases in cancer rates above baseline rates are anticipated.” This analysis discusses the eight main objections to the current WHO report and shows why it should not be considered a neutral scientific assessment of the actual health risks of the affected population, nor a valid basis for future decisions and recommendations.
"Critical Analysis of the WHO’s health risk assessment of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe"
