© Natural News
The extent of radioactive contamination in Fukushima Prefecture is at the center of important debates as some scientists, NGOs, and citizen's groups argue that the Japanese government has not gone far enough in dealing with the fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi accident and has deliberately downplayed the potential health effects of radiation. With so much attention focused on Fukushima, however, there has been less consideration of the impact of the crisis, ongoing since March 11, on other parts of Japan. The August 22 issue of
AERA magazine, published by Japan's major progressive newspaper
Asahi Shimbun, ran a feature on contamination in the Kanto region entitled
Kanto no ko kara hoshano (Radiation Detected from Kanto Children), which broadens discussions of the Fukushima Daiichi crisis' potential impact. Below is a summary of the
AERA article, published under the byline of editor Yamane Yusaku.
The Kanto region is a large area of central Japan that includes Tokyo and nearly 1/3 of Japan's population including Tokyo. The Japanese government has taken the position that no one outside of the vicinity of the Fukushima Daiichi plant is likely to suffer health effects from the radiation that has been released since March. Many Japanese, especially parents of young children, are doubtful. The article begins by reiterating a point that has been made frequently by critics of the Japanese government - that we simply do not know what effects low levels of radiation and the presence of isotopes in the human body will have on long-term health. The piece tells the story of a mother in Saitama Prefecture who, in the absence of direct government support, arranged to have a sample of her daughter's urine tested. The test indicated that despite stringent efforts to protect her fifth grader from exposure to contaminated food and airborne radiation, the result was 0.4 Bq of Cesium 137 per kilogram of urine. Cesium 137, with a half-life of just over 30 years, is one of main radioactive isotopes released from the Fukushima Daiichi plant. "I felt a mixture of shock and a feeling that of course this is the case", laments the girl's mother.
Comment: "I don't know the details of former vegans/vegetarians who now live a primal lifestyle.
Has there ever been someone who lived a lifestyle based on the SAD and then went vegan, vegetarian or primal and saw their health improve dramatically?"
Read Lierre Keith's The Vegetarian Myth for answers to these questions and more addressing the health, moral, and political issues of vegetarianism.