44% of Children In Fukishima Area Have Thyroid Abnormalities

The Tenth Report of the Fukishima Prefecture Health Management Survey which was released a couple of days ago, and covered data up to January 21st 2013, has shown that over 40% of children from the area have thyroid abnormalities. 44.2% of the 94,975 children sampled have varying degrees of abnormality.

The proportion of children presenting with cysts on their thyroid gland is increasing with time and the size of the cysts in the children that have them is also increasing. Of 186 children with the worst abnormalities 10 have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and the rest are still being monitored. The report states that 3 of those ten are proven to be caused by the radiation from Fukishima.

At the same time as the report is being aired a government official, Kazuo Sakai of Japans National Institute of Radiological Sciences said:

“Since the accident in Fukishima, no health effects from the radiation have been observed, although we have heard reports that some people fell ill due to the stress from living as evacuees and due to worries and fear about radiation……empirical knowledge says it will take years before thyroid cancer is detected after exposure to radiation”

Although governments around the world are downplaying the chance of getting cancer from the massive amounts of radiation that was released and continues to be released from the Fukishima site, many NGO (Non-Governmental Organisations) dispute this and accuse Japan of understating the events and the health risks posed by both the initial incident and the ongoing problems at the plant.