Japanese Doctor’s Fukushima Warning: I am worried because I received calls complaining of health problems much earlier than expected

Published: July 12th, 2012 at 1:38 am ET
By ENENews
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A-bomb doctor warns of further Fukushima woes
Kyodo News
July 12, 2012

[...]

[Shuntaro] Hida says he has received calls from residents around the Fukushima plant complaining of unexplained fatigue and diarrhea as well as hair loss, symptoms he suspects were caused by internal exposure to radiation.

It remains unknown if the health problems are linked to the release of massive amounts of radioactive materials from Tepco’s damaged plant. But Hida is concerned.

“I am worried because I received such calls much earlier than I expected,” he says.

[...]

He has spent much of his life researching the unexplained fatigue called Bura Bura disease he believes is caused by radiation exposure. Hida says some people could begin showing symptoms “in one to three years” after the Fukushima meltdowns.

[...]

Published: July 12th, 2012 at 1:38 am ET
By ENENews
Email Article
13 comments

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dharmasyd

July 12, 2012 at 1:59 am

Dr. Hida was a in his 20s assigned to the Medical Corps at Hiroshima when the A-bomb was dropped. He was an early observer of the effects of radiation:
"Going by the calls he has received from numerous residents around the Fukushima plant in the past year, the symptoms being described are similar to the ones experienced by the unfortunate victims of the atomic bombs. They are complaining of unexplained fatigue and diarrhoea and hair loss; symptoms that are usually caused by internal exposure to radiation. Hida has researched the unexplained fatigue symptom called Bura Bura disease. According to him it is caused due to radiation exposure."

From Japan Daily Press" http://japandailypress.com/doctor-shuntaro-hida-says-symptoms-of-fukushima-patients-is-similar-to-the-a-bomb-era-126451

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Max1

July 12, 2012 at 3:04 am

This man is a hero…
… We must listen to him.

andagi

July 12, 2012 at 4:14 am

Dear Folks,
I would like to hope people and the powers that be will. 'Nite.

arclight

July 12, 2012 at 6:57 am

this guy has been threw the mill..

truly inspiring..

"It is a fight to change the mindset of each and every person," Hida says, recalling his decades-long struggles to make people aware of the danger of internal exposure to radiation amid a lack of scientific data.

Under the Occupation until the early 1950s, people were forbidden from "speaking, recording or doing research into symptoms of atomic-bomb survivors," he says. "I was stalked by the military police when I was talking about what I witnessed in Hiroshima," and arrested several times by the Occupation forces for "not abiding by their Occupation policy."

Bobby1

July 12, 2012 at 7:47 am

The doctor should not have been surprised at the number of sick people. But it is true that it gets worse as time goes on.

This is the percentage of Chernobyl liquidators who were classified as "ill" by year (Yablokov book):

1986: 0%
1987: 18%
1988: 27%
1989: 34%
1990: 42%
1991: 57%
1992: 66%
1993: 75%
1994: 81%
…
2004: 94%

July 12, 2012 at 10:27 am

Radiation in the Mountains: Q & A
The following is a translation of an interview conducted with Katsumi Shozugawa, an Associate Professor and Researcher at The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, which appeared in the January 2012 issue of Yama-To-Keikoku Magazine, a monthly outdoor magazine published in Japanese.

"…Question 1: Aren’t the radiation levels in mountains streams high?

Recently we tested Karasugawa river (on Mt. Adatara) and found that above Karasugawa bridge radiation levels varied from 0.05 microsieverts/hour* to 0.312 microsierverts/hour. However, at the bridge level at the river embankment the readings were 0.184 and decreased to 0.176 at the surface of the river. From this we can see that because of wind and rain, soil or leaves containing radioactive cesium have been transported, the speed of which varies according to region. For this reason, over time the areas which have previously had a high air dose rate can fluctuate. In this way, due to the fact that environmental conditions are constantly changing, it’s difficult to accurately predict whether mountain streams have high or low levels of radiation…"

http://japanhike.wordpress.com/2012/04/08/radiation-in-the-mountains/

from this uk gov advice

http://www.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmsctech/writev/risk/m04.htm

page deleted ??

arclight

July 12, 2012 at 10:30 am Log in to Reply

In this way, due to the fact that environmental conditions are constantly changing, it’s difficult to accurately predict whether mountain streams have high or low levels of radiation

they should have monitored the area like safecast is trying to do! imo

only limited testing being done thus far!!
and the uk government is uncomfortable about what?

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flatsville

July 12, 2012 at 10:46 am

After TMI, those individuals who were losing hair were told by the authorities that it was stress caused by the claims of environmentalist that they had been contaminated.

Harvey Wasserman from Rolling Stone posed the question as to why the pets (that is the ones that survived, many did not) were also appearing to lose their fur?

Were the pets listening to the environmentalists as well?

flatsville

July 12, 2012 at 1:00 pm Log in to Reply

Killing Our Own by Wasserman is on line and free to read and download.

http://www.ratical.org/radiation/KillingOurOwn/KOO.pdf

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July 12, 2012 at 10:51 am

In Containment 「格納容器の中」 part 3/5

Part 3 STORY: Hiroshi takes Ian into Odaka, the southern-most part of Minamisoma which is between 10 to 20 km from the damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima. After the nuclear meltdown Odaka was evacuated and became part of exclusion zone, and since access has only recently been allowed, much of the destruction remains exactly as it was after the earthquake and tsunami. Ian speaks with a resident of Odaka about the current state of limbo they are in and their fears for the future. Later, on his way to the exclusion zone, just 10 km from the nuclear plant, Ian meets a woman and her father who are also heading to the no-go zone to visit their home for the first time since the disaster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf2MLTPymxk