The Fukushima accident will cause more cancer for populations close to the site. In order to protect them, surveillance will have to last for decades, according to WHO.
The World Health Organization (WHO) published the first study of the global health effects of exposure to radioactive radiation since the accident at the Fukushima plant in March 2011. This study is the product of a series analyzes conducted for two years by WHO on estimated doses and their potential effects on health. The results that emerge are more or less worrying depending on the populations studied.
“A breakdown of the data according to age, sex and proximity to the nuclear power plant indicates that the risk of cancer is increased for people located in the most contaminated areas,” said the report. A increase in the estimated risks which is established at: approximately 4% for all solid cancers, in women; About 6% for breast cancer; About 7% for leukemia, in men; and a maximum of 70% for thyroid cancer in females. For people living in the second most contaminated area of Fukushima prefecture, the estimated risks would be about half of those in the area where the doses received were the highest.
In this document of nearly 200 pages, a section is also devoted to the specific case of emergency workers in the Fukushima nuclear power plant. It is estimated that two-thirds have cancer risks similar to those of the general population, and one-third of them have an increased risk of 20%.
For these populations more at risk than others, the WHO underlines in its report that it will be necessary “to monitor in the long term the state of health of people exposed to a high risk while providing the necessary medical follow-up and support services. “. Dr Maria Neira, Director of the Department of Public Health and Environment of the WHO, believes that “this will remain for decades an important element of the public health response to the disaster”.
Ongoing monitoring of the environment, especially food and water, and enforcement of existing regulations, with a view to reducing potential radiation exposure in the future should be among the concerns, according to the Oms. In addition, the report notes that the psychological impact could have consequences on health and well-being.
Outside of these most contaminated areas, “no observable increase in the incidence of cancer is expected.” Predicted risks which would therefore be low for the entire population inside and outside Japan. For the latter, for example, the report claims that no observable increase in cancer rates is expected.
These conclusions are already strongly criticized by the NGO Greenpeace which judges that “the WHO report shamefully underestimates the impact of the first radiations of the Fukushima disaster on the people present inside the evacuation zone. with a radius of 20 kilometers, and which were not able to leave quickly ”.
Greenpeace cites the work of a German expert, Oda Becker, who estimates at “hundreds of millisieverts” the dose to which people within 20 km of the plant were exposed. The NGO considers that this report is “a political declaration to protect the nuclear industry” and not “scientific work focused on human health”.
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