The Detrimental Effects of the Fukushima Disaster on United States Public Health

Despite the assurance of Japanese government officials, radioactive material from the Fukushima disaster has spread far beyond the evacuation zone. In fact, not only has a great deal of Fukushima radiation been detected in Tokyo way beyond the evacuation zone, but United States researchers are now revealing that radioactive cesium has been detected in US soil in levels that indicate a severe threat to human health.

Marco Kaltofen, PE, of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts, recently discussed current issues revolving around radiation exposure in Japan. A Registered Professional Engineer investigating Fukushima nuclear material release, Kaltofen stated his findings in a presentation entitled ‘Radiation Exposure to the Population in Japan After the Earthquake’. Presented in Washington D.C. on Monday morning, Kaltofen stated:

• The Fukushima nuclear accident dispersed airborne dusts that are contaminated with radioactive particles. When inhaled or ingested, these particles can have negative effects on human health that are different from those caused by exposure to external or uniform radiation fields.
• A field sampling effort was undertaken to characterize the form and concentration of radionuclides in the air and in environmental media which can accumulate fallout. Samples included settled dusts, surface wipes, used filter masks, used air filters, dusty footwear, and surface soils.
• Isolated US soil samples contained up to 8 nanoCuries per Kg of radiocesium, while control samples showed no detectable radiocesium.

Fukushima Disaster Affecting United States Citizens

Researchers from UC Berkley also released some startling information regarding radioactive cesium. UC Berkley found the highest cesium content in topsoil for each California location sampled was quite consistent:

• Sacramento, CA Topsoil on Aug. 16, 2011: Total Cesium @ 2.737 Bq/kg
• Oakland, CA Topsoil on Sept. 8, 2011: Total Cesium @ 2.55 Bq/kg
• Alameda, CA Topsoil on Apr. 6, 2011: Total Cesium @ 2.52 Bq/kg
• San Diego, CA Topsoil on June 29, 2011: Total Cesium @ 2.51 Bq/kg
• Sonoma, CA Topsoil on Apr. 27, 2011: Total Cesium @ 2.252 Bq/kg

The levels that Kaltofen reports are in fact much higher. The highest cesium levels of any topsoil measurements by UC Berkley since the beginning of the Fukushima disaster was 2.737 becquerels/kg in Sacramento. This is the equivalent to 73.9 picocuries/kg. (The conversion is: 27 picocuries = 1 becquerel). Kaltofen recorded cesium levels as high as 8 nanoCuries per Kg of radiocesium. This is equal to 8,000 picocuries/kg. (Conversion: 1 nanocurie = 1,000 picocuries).

The highest findings by Kaltofen were 108 times greater than the reports by UC Berkley researchers. You can view the entire ‘Radiation Exposure to the Population in Japan After the Earthquake’ slideshow on the Fairewinds website.

Even more shocking is the fact that hot particles, which are highly radioactive objects, have been found at 2 out of 3 Boston monitoring stations.

In a new video report, nuclear experts detail the coming health epidemic that may result from Fukushima radiation:

The video transcript states:

In the United States, it is a different story. It is a public health issue and not a personal health issue. What that means is that we will never know who is the individual who got cancer from Fukushima. But we can be sure that the radiation did reach here and that there will be an increase in cancers, especially on the West Coast where the Rocky Mountains stopped most of the radiation and deposited it on the ground.

Survivors of Nuclear Disasters are Racked with Psychological Disorders

On the 70^th anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, The Lancet published several studies by scientists that counter the misconception that widespread death and illness are the primary traumas of nuclear disasters; rather, researchers found that the mental health effects were far more profound.

Some survivors of the Hiroshima bombing thought they had died and gone to hell because of the terrifying scenes.

“Night came and I could hear many voices crying and groaning with pain and begging for water… so burned that we couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. The sky was red with flames. It was burning as if scorching heaven.”

“Many of [the injured] died along the road—I can still picture them in my mind—like walking ghosts… They didn’t look like people of this world.” [2]

Over the past 60 years, five nuclear accidents have been rated “severe”: Russia’s Kyshtym (1957), Britain’s Windscale (1957), Three Mile Island in the United States (1979), Ukraine’s Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima in Japan (2011). Koichi Tanigawa, one of the study’s authors and a researcher at Fukushima Medical University, said the psychological burden for people living in areas affected by a nuclear disaster often goes overlooked.

A 2006 United Nations Chernobyl study backs Tanigawa’s claim. That study found that the most serious public health issue caused by the 1986 disaster was damaged mental health, which was worsened by the government’s failure to communicate the severity of the health risks caused by radiation. Twenty years later, depression and PTSD are still higher than average.

The same has generally been found to be true of Fukushima survivors. Since the accident, the proportion of adults with psychological distress is nearly five times higher among disaster evacuees (14.6 percent compared with only three percent in the general population).

“Although the radiation dose to the public from Fukushima was relatively low, and no discernible physical health effects are expected, psychological and social problems, largely stemming from the differences in risk perceptions, have had a devastating impact on people’s lives,” Tanigawa said.

Farmers and ranchers who were evacuated from the Fukushima area were allowed to return home in 2012; but they are uncertain of which, if either, government claim is true – that the area is safe or that it could take up to 40 years to clean it. They are afraid to eat their own food, and they feel guilty about selling it to anyone else. [3]

About 170,000 residents from 20 miles (30 km) around Fukushima were forced to flee their homes in the wake of the explosion and subsequent meltdown at the TEPCO plant. Frighteningly, at least a third of the world’s 437 nuclear power plants have even more people living within that distance – more than a million people live near 21 of the plants, and more than three million people live near six of the facilities.