The levels of exposure to radiation following the leaks and explosions at the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in 2011 were so low that they led today to this important conclusion from experts convened in Vienna by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effect of Atomic Radiation:
It is unlikely to be able to attribute any health effects in the future among the general public and the vast majority of workers.
Scientists had met all week to make final adjustments to a report on Fukushima radiation and health that will be submitted to the United Nations General Assembly later this year.
The findings are even more definitive on the lack of risk than those in a World Health Organization report on the nuclear incident in February. An Associated Press account from a news conference following the meeting describes the difference:
Wolfgang Weiss, a senior member of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, ?suggested the UNSCEAR study, carried out by 80 experts and with the involvement of five international organisations including the United Nations health agency, was based on information covering a longer period after the accident.
?So they (the WHO) didn?t have the full picture. We don?t have the full picture either but we have more than one year in addition,? he said.
Here?s more from the news release issued by the United Nations committee:
The additional exposures received by most Japanese people in the first year and subsequent years due to the radioactive releases from the accident are less than the doses received from natural background radiation (which is about 2.1 mSv per year). This is particularly the case for Japanese people living away from Fukushima, where annual doses of around 0.2 mSv from the accident are estimated, arising primarily through ingestion of radionuclides in food.
No radiation-related deaths or acute effects have been observed among nearly 25,000 workers (including TEPCO employees and contractors) involved at the accident site.
Given the small number of highly exposed workers, it is unlikely that excess cases of thyroid cancer due to radiation exposure would be detectable. Special health examinations will be given to workers with exposures above 100 mSv including annual monitoring of the thyroid, stomach, large intestine and lung for cancer as a means to monitor for potential late radiation-related health effects at the individual level.
The assessment also concluded that although the rate of exposures may have exceeded the levels for the onset of effects on plants and animals several times in the first few months following the accident, any effects are expected to be transient in nature, given their short duration. In general, the exposures on both marine and terrestrial non-human biota were too low for observable acute effects. [Read the rest.]
Of course, this is unlikely to reduce nuclear fears related to the disaster, given the deep roots of feelings about such risks. The factors shaping the large ?dread to risk ratio? are only marginally affected by evolving science.
I also don?t imagine that Nancy Grace at CNN will provide an update to viewers of her fear-mongering proclamations about danger to Americans. But hopefully the news division at CNN, at least, will report on this welcome news.
To see the impact of fears on the ground in Japan, I recommend watching ?In Japan, a Portrait of Mistrust,? a short ?Op Doc? produced for The Times on public fears of contaminated food.
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