Saturday, October 10, 2015

Erased Exposure Data Being Used To Shutdown Discussion Regarding Causes of Fuksuhima Children's Thyroid Cancer



I'm sure my blog followers have already read that a new report links spiking thyroid cancer rates among Fukushima's children to the 2011 nuclear plant accident:

New report links thyroid cancer rise to Fukushima nuclear crisis Kyodo Oct 7, 2015 http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/10/07/national/science-health/new-report-links-thyroid-cancer-rise-fukushima-nuclear-crisis/#.VhU3aCtBmFt
But their conclusion is refuted by other epidemiology experts, including Shoichiro Tsugane of the National Cancer Center, who said the results are premature.
“Unless radiation exposure data are checked, any specific relationship between a cancer incidence and radiation cannot be identified,” said Tsugane, director of the Research Center for Cancer Prevention and Screening. He said there is a global trend of over-diagnosis of thyroid cancer.
Majia here: Please note that the epidemiologists' research conclusion that the nuclear explosion caused these children's cancer is being disputed by a Japanese medical authority who claims that without a measure of dose, no effect can be identified.

No dose measurement means NO effects according to Dr. Tsugane.

In August of 2011, NHK reported that Japan’s nuclear commission had erased children’s exposure data derived from a test of 1,000 children aged 15 or younger who had been screened for radiation affecting their thyroid.[i]

By erasing exposure data, Japan's nuclear commission could prevent researchers from knowing children's exposure doses. By erasing exposure data, Japan's nuclear commission could therefore prevent accusations of blame so long as medical authorities such as Shoichiro Tsugane of the National Cancer Center continue to demand specific exposure data as a condition for consideration of radiation harm.


Personally, I think the entire dose model framework is infused with problematic assumptions:

Models predict effects based on each individual radionuclide.

Models do not incorporate synergistic effects nor account for bodily burdens acquired after years of exposure (which is what we have now).

Models do not adequately distinguish between internal and external exposure because the absorbed dose construct averages impacts across organs, rather than addressing targeted effects

Models do not adequately incorporate variation in susceptibility across life span.

Models do not adequately incorporate differences in effects from alpha, beta, and gamma emitters, neutron radiation, and other exotic particle effects and measurements of exposures rarely address radionuclides beyond Iodine-131 and Cesium 134/Cesium-137.

I could go on.

The idea that one cannot possibly say anything about effects in the absence of precise dose information is propaganda, in my opinion, aimed at hiding the cumulative exposure effects of radiation contamination in Japan.



My heart goes out to the children of Japan and elsewhere who face increased health and reproductive risks because of the externalizaties of the ruthless and dispossessing nuclear complex.









[i]           “Nuclear Commission Erases Children's Exposure Data,” NHK (2011, August 11): http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/11_14.html.

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