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Event Announcement: The Medical and Ecological Impacts of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident

Symposium on
The Medical and Ecological Impacts of  the Fukushima Nuclear Accident
at the New York Academy of Medicine
March 11-12, 2013

A unique, two-day symposium at which an international panel of leading medical and biological scientists, nuclear engineers, and policy experts will make presentations on, and discuss the bio-medical and ecological consequences of the Fukushima disaster, will be held at the New York Academy of Medicine on March 11-12, 2013  the second anniversary of the accident. The public is welcome.

Chaired by Donald Louria, MD, Chairman Emeritus of the Department of  Preventive Medicine and Community Health of the University of Medicine and Dentistry, New Jersey,  the symposium is a project of the Helen Caldicott Foundation and is open to the public.

Registration in advance is $60. This includes attendance and lunch for both days. Please fill out the on-line form and choose the secure PayPal option to pay.

The Presenters:

The event will be chaired by Donald Louria, MD: Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, University of Medicine and Dentistry, New Jersey.

Confirmed speakers include:

  • Dr. Tim Mousseau, Professor of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina – Chernobyl, Fukushima and Other Hot Places, Biological Consequences
  • Ken Buesseler, Marine Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute –Consequences for the Ocean of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident
  • David Lochbaum, The Union of Concerned Scientists – Another Unsurprising Surprise
  • Dr. Wladimir Wertelecki, Former Chair of the Department of Medical Genetics and Birth Defects, University of South Alabama, 1974-2010 – Congenital Malformations in Rivne Polossia associated with the Chernobyl Accident
  • Dr.
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The New Japanese Nationalism

Dear friends,

I’d like to introduce Toshio Nishi’s article, “The New Japanese Nationalism,” which was first published in the Hoover Institution’s Defining Ideas. Dr. Nishi, a frequent contributor, is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution.

His essay, as usual, is hard-hitting and provocative. I was born in Tokyo at almost the same time as Dr. Nishi, and both of us have lived abroad for most of our life and watched our mother nation closely. Our view from afar lets us see Japan’s changing behaviors and values clearly.

Dr. Nishi wonders if Japan has lost its courage, its spirit. I wonder also about Japan’s path. The Fukushima nuclear accident has raised great concerns of how Japan has responded to the unprecedented crisis- the potential catastrophe and the likelihood of thyroid cancer in children. I have difficulty understanding the ludicrously irresponsible actions and inaction of Japanese politicians, TEPCO, media and the public.

I continue to think of the words of Mr. Kiyohsi Kurokawa in his independent report on the nuclear disaster: “Its fundamental causes are to be found in the ingrained conventions of Japanese culture: our reflexive obedience; our reluctance to question authority; our devotion to ‘sticking with the program’; our groupism; and our insularity.”

This is a good time for Japanese to reflect on the basic tenets of democracy and the source of our wealth as a nation.

Crisis and Opportunity.

Akio

The New Japanese Nationalism

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by Toshio Nishi

Japan has been apologizing since the summer of 1945; apologizing to its neighbors in the Asia-Pacific and to the United States.… Continue reading

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Seeking Donations: Support Akio Matsumura

Since the March 2011 earthquake in Japan, this website has become a leading resource for politicians, business leaders, scientists, and the press to find a balanced and international perspective of the Fukushima accident. Our work has been especially important for the political leaders of Japan, but has also brought two main issues to the American and Japanese public’s attention: the potential dangers of the fourth reactor and the likelihood of thyroid cancer in children. This work has come at enormous personal expense, and the demands in the coming period appear to be greater.

Request: We have the pleasure of sharing a review of our work in 2012 and a request for support for the Akio Matsumura Chair, which would enable us to continue to expand the reach and scope of our unique work. The World Business Academy created the Akio Matsumura Chair to develop a framework for an integral approach to seemingly intractable transcultural challenges involving strategic, financial, and spiritual considerations.

Give now by clicking the button or sending a check to:

 

 

Akio Matsumura Chair (tax deductible)

Federal Tax Identification Number: 94-3058028

Payable to: World Business Academy

Memo: Akio Matsumura Chair

308 East Carrillo Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Phone: 805-892-4600

Fax     : 805-884-0900

Email : info@worldbusiness.org… Continue reading

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A Joint Appeal for Peace: Jericho Two Decades Later

Read this letter in German.

 

The UN voted to upgrade Palestine to be a non-member observer state. Rather than allowing this change to spark controversy, all parties should use this shift as fuel to push for a new peace accord. 

In the fall of 1994 in Jericho something extraordinary happened. Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel, and Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, following the Cairo Agreement and the Oslo Accords, both gave their whole-hearted support to The World Assembly on Reconciliation. This peace gathering, bringing together spiritual and parliamentary leaders each in their own personal capacity, was to be held in Jericho in December 1995.

The preparations for the conference were high-spirited. Our team, in addition to ourselves, consisted of the late Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro of Syria, the other Co-Chair of the Global Forum; Mrs. Shulamit Aloni, the Israel Minister of Culture, and Rabbi Adin Steinsalts, Director of the Israel Institute of Talmudic Publications in Jerusalem.  Our focus then was not on the divisive politics and bitter attitudes that surround any territorial dispute; instead we appealed to the two leaders’ higher interests: a joint concern for human development, the health of children, stability for a common and prosperous future. The death of children, in 1994 as with the most recent violence, is tragic, irresponsible, and a failure of our generation and its leadership.

History shows that once violent conflict begins, governments cease to communicate. Once communication stops, misconceptions grow, fear sets in.  Breaking this silence is critical.… Continue reading

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UN Finally Urges Japan to Do More for Health

Read this article in German.

 

by Akio Matsumura and Chris Cote

 

Days after the World Health Organization downplayed the health crisis in Fukushima, UN Special Rapporteur for the right to health Anand Grover strongly recommended that the Japanese government be accountable for the health of its population and take more appropriate action. Finishing an 11-day tour of Fukushima prefecture and other affected areas, he urged that the government take a more cautious and active position on health issues related to the 2011 nuclear accident.

He concluded:

“Ladies and gentlemen, members of the press, during the visit I have also heard from the affected residents, and particularly heard from persons with disabilities, young mothers and pregnant women, children and older persons, that they’ve had no say in the decisions that affect them. The right to health framework requires the state to ensure the participation of all communities in decisions that affect them. This means that the affected people need to be part of the decision making process as well as of the implementation, monitoring and accountability processes. Participation would not only inform decisions holistically, but also build the confidence of the affected community in the government. This is also necessary in restoring normalcy after the disaster in an effective manner.

I urge the government to ensure that the affected people, particularly the vulnerable groups, are fully involved in all decision making processes. This should include their participation, among others, in the formulation of health management service, designing of evacuation shelters, and implementation of decontamination.

… Continue reading
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The Search for Action among Japan’s Ruling Classes

Read this article in Japanese and German.

 

By Akio Matsumura

On Monday the United Nations announced they will send Special Rapporteur Anand Grover to assess and report on the public health situation in Japan in the context of last year’s earthquake. I returned from a long visit to Japan last week and, after participating in several panel discussions and conversing with political leaders, I have a good idea what Special Rapporteur will find.

The debate right now in Japan centers not on the continuing issues with the Fukushima-Daiichi site, but whether to close down Japan’s nuclear power plants.  While politicians are focusing on national nuclear policy there are growing concerns that the children of Fukushima require greater medical attention and assistance. After the Fukushima accident, concerns grew in the region as to whether higher rates of cancer, especially in the thyroid gland, would be found in children due to exposure to radioactive iodine.

The eminent physician Helen Caldicott wrote that the response by Japanese politicians to the Fukushima disaster has been “ludicrously irresponsible,” not just because of their fundamental ignorance but because of their political ties with TEPCO and the nuclear industry, which tends to orchestrate a large part of the Japanese political agenda. Dr. Caldicott’s article was picked up by major media in Japan and began to focus the public’s attention on the medical issue during my time there. Despite this single success, the media has largely underperformed since the earthquake, allowing TEPCO’s influence to prevent the true story from being told.… Continue reading

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The Nuclear Sacrifice of Our Children: 14 recommendations to help radiation contaminated Japan

 

Read this article in Japanese, French, and German.


By Helen Caldicott, M.D.

 

When I visited Cuba in 1979, I was struck by the number of roadside billboards that declared ”Our children are our national treasure.”

 

This resonated with me as a pediatrician, and of course it is true. But as Akio Matsumura said in his article, our children are presently being sacrificed for the political and nuclear agenda of the United Nations, for the political survival of politicians who are mostly male, and for “national security.”

 

The problem with the world today is that scientists have left the average person way behind in their level of understanding of science, and specifically how the misapplication of science, in particular nuclear science, has and will destroy much of the ecosphere and also human health.

 

The truth is that most politicians, businessmen, engineers and nuclear physicists have no innate understanding of radiobiology and the way radiation induces cancer, congenital malformations and genetic diseases which are passed generation to generation.  Nor do they recognize that children are 20 times more radiosensitive than adults, girls twice as vulnerable as little boys and fetuses much more so.

 

Hence the response of Japanese politicians to the Fukushima disaster has been ludicrously irresponsible, not just because of their fundamental ignorance but because of their political ties with TEPCO and the nuclear industry which tends to orchestrate a large part of the Japanese political agenda.

 

Because the Fukushima accident released 2.5 to 3 times more radiation than Chernobyl and because Japan is far more densely populated than the Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, and because one million people have died within 25 years as a result of Chernobyl, we expect to see more than one million Japanese casualties over the next 25 years.  … Continue reading

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Fukushima Needs a Hero: Responsibility and Democracy in Japan

 

Read this article in Japanese.

 

By Akio Matsumura

 

 

Yastel Yamada is 73 years old. He seems a little tired after weeks on the road in the United States. He is trying to save Japan.

One of the first people I have met who can tell the inside story of the Fukushima accident, Yamada is concerned that work is not being done on the three nuclear reactors that melted down last year because the high radiation levels are still keeping TEPCO workers away. The crippled buildings are unstable, still contain nuclear assemblies, and present a long term threat to the people in the area. The cooling systems especially are a cause for concern. Mr. Yamada, founder and president of the Skilled Veterans Corps for Fukushima (Fukushima Genpatsu Kodotai), along with 700 members, want to help clean up the site.

 

The rationale behind the Skilled Veterans Corps is that even if the workers get cancer from the radiation, it may take 20 years to develop, wherein average life expectancy only gives them 12 to 15 years to live anyway. He doesn’t believe they should risk young lives to do work that his group can happily and capably handle. On his current tour of the United States he is gaining support for Americans to pressure the Japanese government into taking a more responsible route with the disaster: his group, as well as an international assessment team, should be let in.

 

Beyond cleanup of the site, Mr.… Continue reading

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Fading Memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

By Akio Matsumura

 

 

That indelible black and white image of an ever-expanding mushroom cloud still sits in many homes and offices and still haunts many minds. It conveys a sense of awe in the face of tremendous power. There are fewer iconic images that depict the sometimes barely tangible fallout of this power: the vanquished bodies of loved ones, the slow onset of cancer, the terror of the unknown. The true effects of nuclear weapons. For that, we have to rely on memory and story, the recollections of a generation now old and fading away. The survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki–not just Japanese but of many nationalities– are the sole witnesses and survivors of nuclear weapons used as an act of war.  Their stories of initial pain and eventual strength must be a constant reminder for the nuclear-armed. If used properly, these memories remain a powerful deterrent against nuclear war.

 

Hiroshima commemorated the 67th anniversary of the city’s atomic bombing earlier this week on Monday, August 6. Yesterday, August 9, Nagasaki marked theirs at Nagasaki Peace Park with a ceremony attended by representatives from over 40 countries, including the U.S. Ambassador.

 

Reading a Peace Declaration, Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue urged the international community to conclude the Nuclear Weapons Convention. Prime Minister Noda said that Japan has a responsibility to encourage countries to eliminate their nuclear arsenals.

 

Each year as both cities mark these anniversaries, I am more concerned with the average age of the survivors.… Continue reading

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Nuclear Risk in Japan – The Need for Independent Assessment

Read this post in Japanese and German.

Dear Akio Matsumura,

I write in response to your blog post of 11 June 2012, titled “What is the United States Government Waiting for?”  Your post addressed the radiological risk currently associated with the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear generating station in Japan, especially the risk associated with the spent-fuel pool at Unit 4.

Your concern is appropriate.  The radiological risk at Unit 4 will remain high until all spent fuel in that pool has been removed and transferred to dry storage.  Options are available for reducing the risk in the interim period until transfer of spent fuel to dry storage has been accomplished.  Please note, however, that risk is not unique to the Unit 4 spent-fuel pool.  Various risks are associated with the nuclear-energy sector in Japan, and options are available to reduce those risks.

You have called for an independent assessment of risks and risk-reduction options at the Fukushima Dai-ichi station.  Such an assessment, if properly conducted, could be very useful.  Experience suggests that major Japanese institutions, in industry and government, may not be fully aware of the risks and the risk-reduction options.

At various times and places, there have been independent assessments of risks and risk-reduction options associated with the nuclear-energy sector.  An example is the Gorleben International Review of 1978-1979.  I had the privilege of participating in that Review as one of 20 international scientists.  The Review was commissioned by the government of the state of Lower Saxony, in what was then West Germany, to examine a proposal to construct a nuclear fuel center at Gorleben. … Continue reading