thyroid cancer tumor
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Japan finally releases a nuclear radiation survey that reveals that 45% of Fukushima children had sustained thyroid radiation exposure by the end of March. Despite government attempts to downplay the survey results the data shows that at least 1 in 20 children will develop thyroid cancer. Unfortunately, this is just the latest side show in the 3 ring circus being ran by our corporate dictators.

Residents in Japan are being forced to take radioactive cleanup into their own hands in the absence of a plan from the government to remediate the problem of the nuclear radioactive fallout that is blanketing the nation. According to a report from Reuters, residents are shoveling radioactive topsoil from their lawns and dumping it into forests, parks and streams in an attempt to protect themselves from high levels of radiation. Reuters quotes one resident as saying a Geiger counter measured radiation levels of 10 microsieverts per hour being emitted from the topsoil in her lawn.

An indication of the severity of the radiation exposure can be derived from a Kyodo news article which reports that Japan has finally released the results of a radiation survey conducted over 2 months ago by the central government and several local government located within the Fukushima Prefecture. According to the article, the study revelead that 45% of the children surveyed in the Fukushima prefecture had already suffered thyroid radiation exposure by the time the survey was completed at the end of March. The survey found levels up to an equivalent of a 50 millisieverts per year of thyriod radiation exposure for 1 year olds. To put that in perspective, the US has an annual radiation exposure limit of 4 millisieverts per year in drinking water for adults.

Despite the findings of the survery, Japanese officials are still deceptively attempting to downplay the risks. For example, The Japan Times reports officials as saying the levels detected "in all cases were trace amounts that did not warrant further levels of investigation". Officials further attempt to downplay the situation by stating "a 100 millisieverts total radiation exposure" will only increase of the "cancer mortality risk by 0.5 percent".

Unspinning The Spin

Those who have been following the disaster in Japan will quickly point out that the phrasing chosen by the Japanese government officials closely mimics talking points in guidelines issued by the nuclear industry. As, the Guardian reports, those guidelines have been issued to governments as part of a deliberate conspiracy to launch a PR campaign to downplay the Fukushima disaster to protect the nuclear industry.

The statements are deceptive for several reasons. To begin with the government response indicates the increased cancer mortality rate for a total radiation dose of 100 millisieverts while the survey shows 50 millisieverts per year equivalent radiation dose. Next, the government quoted statistic also refers to a total radiation exposure to the entire body while the survey specifically measured the radiation dose received by the thyroid alone. Since the thyroid is known to accumulate radioactive iodine it is one the most sensitive organs in the body in regard to the risk of cancer due to to radiation exposure. Finally, the government supplied statistic refers to the cancer mortality rates for a radiation dose received by the adult population while the survey was conducted on children, which is a demographic that is more sensitive to the effects of radiation and hence more likely to develop cancer as a result of radiation exposure.

Further analyzing the governments quote it is clear that the radiation isn't going to magically disappear after just two years which makes one wonder why the government would even make reference to a 100 millisieverts total radiation dose in the first place. In fact, the latest data indicates that almost 4 months into the disaster there are 3 reactors are still in a constant state of meltdown.The radiation release from the reactors is still ongoing and the amounts of radiation already released from the reactors are comparable to amounts released from Chernobyl. Cesium is once again being detected in Tokyo drinking water for the first time since April. Other radioactive substances are either being detected for the first time or substances with short half-lives are being detected at March and April levels which are another clear indication of an ongoing meltdown. Even worse is news that Fukushima residents are urinating radiation.

Then the icy manipulators further attempt to deceive the public with their attempt to associate the survey results with an increase of "cancer mortality risk by 0.5 percent", an association which at first appears to statistically insignificant. While initial intuition may lead one to assume that a 0.5 percent increase is not a significant or major increase, in terms of real people it means an additional 1 in 200 children will die. For those who end up being one of the parents of the 1 in 200 children who die from the radiation exposure the risk is indeed significant. Clearly those people are not going to be of the opinion that that the risk should simply be ignored by the government or shrugged off as no big deal. This especially true considering the government alone has the power and responsibility to provide informed consent to the public as to the extent and the severity of the disaster. Yet instead of being honest about the risk, they choose to play hide and seek with crucial data and engage in all means available to cover up the severity of the disaster. These are moves are clearly aimed to protect TEPCO's stock price when the government should be forcing the company to pay the bill to protect the people of Japan from the dangers of the radioactive fallout.

Furthermore, the government quotes a statistic dealing with the mortality rate for the entire population. Why is such statistic cited when the survey conducted measured the radiation exposure of thyroids of children? Why provide such an irrelevant statistic, which is for a full body radiation exposure to the adult population? From it must be assumed that the government is diluting real mortality rates of children by burying the expected death rates for children exposed in with statistics that are derived from the entire entire population. This implies that the actual mortality rate for children will in fact be much higher than the 1 in 200 deaths quoted by the government. This appears to be another feeble attempt by government of Japan to hide the true risks of the radiation exposure to the public. Instead, the government should be required to produce the applicable statistic based on a 50 millisieverts per year radiation dose to the thyroid of a child.

Finally, the governments statistical reference to the increase in mortality rates from cancer misleads the public by hiding the total number of children that will develop thyroid cancer due to the radiation exposure. Specifically, according to the American Cancer Society, the 5 year survival rate for stage 1 thyroid cancer is 100%. In fact, according to research conducted by Doctor James Norman, the 10 year survival rate of all thyroid cancer is between 80 and 90%. That means that as few as 1 in 10 cases of thyroid cancer ends in fatality. After applying a 90% survival rate to the 1 in 200 mortality rate quoted by the Japanese government means that 1 in 20 Fukushima children are expected to develop thyroid cancer.

The Real Cost Of Corporate Profits: The Health And Safety Of The Public

The spinsters will point out that 1 in 20 children developing thyroid cancer is only a mere 5% of the population. In a with a population of 300 million people that translates into 15 million people developing thyroid cancer and at the end of the day the nuclear apologists will argue that is a small sacrifice to pay in the name the cheap and so-called "clean electrically" produce by our corporate gods. Of course, unless somehow all of the other points raised above are magically declared null and void we are looking at a much higher number than 15 million people developing cancer, but even then it will be argued that in the greater scheme of things it is small sacrifice to be made in the name of corporate profits.

Nuclear apologists will be quick to say this is all hysteria and turn to their common talking points such as "show me one person who has become sick or has died from Fukushima radiation." Even though it is well known it can take up to 20 years after radiation exposure to develop cancer they stick to such cleverly constructed tricks which easily deceive the majority of the masses who are have not yet been equipped with the knowledge required to counter their propaganda. Yet we all know that statistics are easily manipulated and the endless funds of the nuclear industry twists and turns those statistics until they are stretched beyond the limits of our imagination. This is clearly evidence by nuclear industry studies from the Chernobyl disaster which claim only 6,000 people have died from the disaster. Such numbers are not surprising since increased levels of cancers in areas with elevated levels of radiation cannot be definitively tied to the radiation exposures and any studies claiming there is such a correlation can easily be discounted as relying on circumstantial or anecdotal evidence which is far short of scientific proof. Such a reality means radiation statistics lend themselves to easy manipulation by the industry even when our intuition tells us over 1 million statistically significant cancer related deaths in the areas of the Chernobyl fallout our were due to the radiation exposure. Making matters worse is most modern statistical correlations between radiation exposure and cancer rates are extrapolated from the limited and uncontrolled data sets that have been compiled from data collected on the nuclear fallout that was released from the atomic bombs being released on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Clearly what we have here is the dark side of fascist socialism rearing its head. Instead of TEPCO being forced to take proactive measures to protect the health and safety of the public the ruling corporate dictatorship has decided to take the opposite course of action. The corporate dictatorship has decided that company's stock price is more important. Hence they have made the decision that the health and safety of the public will be a sacrifice to protect the company.

For example, TEPCO is refusing to build a concrete barrier beneath the reactor to stop molten fuel from spreading through the water table and into the surrounding environment because the cost of taking on such a project will reflect poorly on their companies stock price. Instead of TEPCO being forced to pay for soil remediation, residents are being forced to take matters into their own hands and dig up radioactive soil from their lawns and dump it into nearby rivers, parks and streams. Instead of TEPCO being forced to pay for the disposal of the radioactive sewage sludge, which is spreading all over eastern Japan, companies are using it to produce radioactive cement and are burning off into the atmosphere at local incinerators, once again at the cost of the health and safety of the public.

Even with nuclear radiation being detected at levels 4 times higher than Chernobyl evacuation limits, in areas far beyond the Fukushima evacuation zone, Japan still refuses to evacuate those areas. Once again a decision that can only be explained by the desire to limit TEPCO's liability and to protect the nuclear industry. Indeed the nation of Japan, along with other nations around the world, continue to bow down before the one's they serve. They continue to downplay the crisis by withholding radiation data, censoring the release of tests, and participating in widespread conspiracies to cover up the incident. Even more shocking, perhaps, is even after there participation in the cover up has been revealed to the public the unspeakable actions continues.

Now we know that not only is Japan forcing taxpayers to pay to clean up TEPCO's mess financially, but taxpayers are also being forced to pay by sacrificing their health, safety and in fact their lives. Welcome to the new millennium and the era of the corporate dictatorship.