AUSTRIA/FILE: U.N. scientific committee says cancer rates are not expected to rise after Japan's 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident

Record ID: 216041

  • Title: AUSTRIA/FILE: U.N. scientific committee says cancer rates are not expected to rise after Japan's 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident
  • Date: 31st May 2013
  • Summary: KORIYAMA CITY, FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE, JAPAN (FILE - MARCH 12, 2011) (REUTERS) AREA SET UP TO SCREEN EVACUEES FOR RADIATION EMERGENCY WORKERS IN PROTECTIVE GEAR VARIOUS OF SOLDIER BEING SCREENED FOR RADIATION VARIOUS OF PEOPLE BEING SCREENED FOR RADIATION MINAMISOMA CITY, FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE, JAPAN (FILE - APRIL 9, 2011) (REUTERS) BARRICADE SHOWING OUTER LIMIT OF 20
  • Embargoed: 15th June 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Disasters,Health,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAYYTOVPXR8DEDAY37GHIX9O6Q
  • Story Text: Cancer rates are not expected to rise after Japan's Fukushima nuclear accident as people quickly left the area hit by the world's worst such disaster in 25 years, a U.N. scientific committee said on Friday (May 31).
    Wolfgang Weiss, a senior member of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), said the levels of radiation people were exposed to were "so low" that an increase in the number of cancer cases was not expected.
    "The committee at the end of the week concluded that radiation exposure following the nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi NPP did not cause any immediate health effects, and it is unlikely to be able to attribute any health effects in the future among the general public and the vast majority of workers for which dose histories have been assessed," Weiss told reporters during an UNSCEAR meeting to discuss a draft report to be presented to the U.N. General Assembly later this year.
    He said the fast evacuation of tens of thousands of people had sharply lowered radiation exposure.
    "The committee also concludes that the actions taken by the authorities early on to protect people - namely evacuation and sheltering - significantly reduced radiation exposure that would have otherwise been received. The reduction is by as much as a factor of ten," Weiss said.
    UNSCEAR's findings appeared to differ somewhat from a World Health Organisation (WHO) report published in February which said people in the area worst affected had a slightly higher risk of developing certain cancers.
    Weiss 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.
    A magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, killed nearly 19,000 people and devastated the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, spewing radiation and forcing about 160,000 people to flee their homes.
    It was the biggest nuclear accident since a reactor exploded at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine in 1986. Studies into that accident have linked thyroid cancer to radioactive iodine from Chernobyl.
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