Fukushima dismisses radiation as cause of youth thyroid cancers

 March 25, 2015

Fukushima gov't says nuclear disaster 'unlikely' cause of thyroid gland cancer

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150325p2a00m0na006000c.html

FUKUSHIMA -- Prefectural authorities here have dismissed any effect of radiation from the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant disaster on 86 thyroid gland cancer patients found in the prefecture as of the end of 2014.

An interim report compiled by the Fukushima Prefectural Government, released at a meeting of experts on March 24, stated that the cancer was "hardly attributable to the effects of radiation."

The meeting was convened to evaluate thyroid gland testing of children in the prefecture.

In giving reasons for ruling out the possibility of the nuclear catastrophe having contributed to cancer development, the report noted that the radiation exposure doses were lower than those in the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. It additionally pointed out that no cancer had been found among children aged 5 or under -- the group most susceptible to radiation effects.

Thyroid gland testing covered some 370,000 residents aged 18 or younger. Of these, about 300,000 have undergone the first round of screening. The second round started in April last year and is scheduled to be completed by the end of fiscal 2015.