Original Japanese written by staffer
The English below written and arranged by Heeday, based on the original Japanese
The English edited by Rev. Dr. Henry French, ELCA
Below: Article from the June 7th, 2016 edition of the Fukushima Minpo newspaper
The Round 2 results
Following the meltdown of TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), thyroid examinations of children of Fukushima have been conducted. The second round of the examinations (full checkups) began in April 2014, and by the end of March 2016, it had been determined that 30 of the children examined had thyroid cancer. This number has grown larger—by 14—than the 16 children found to have cancer in the first round, whose results were officially announced at the end of December 2015.
The chairperson of the “Kenmin Chosa Kento” Committee (Committee to Survey Fukushima Citizens and Consider Rebuilding Measures) repeated the Committee’s official statement that, “At this moment it is hard to discern influences from the radioactivity,” on the ground that, among other reasons, not many cases of thyroid cancer have been found in younger children, who are more sensitive to radioactivity than older children.
Can we trust the “experts”?
Here, we need to look closer at the examination results, as shown in Table 1 below. There, you can easily see that the “rate of malignant and suspected malignant cases” is higher in districts with higher radioactivity, such as those municipalities around Fukushima Daiichi currently specified as evacuation zones, as well as in the cities of Fukushima, Koriyama, etc. It is reasonable to suspect some cause-effect relationship between the meltdown and the thyroid cancer cases. Still, some experts deny such a cause-effect relationship.
(Table 1)
Results of the thyroid examinations, Round 2
(As of March 31st, 2016)
| FY2014 | No. of subjects, Round 1 | No. of subjects to be covered by Round 2 | % of Round 2 subjects | No. of subjects who received Round 2 | Malignant and suspected malignant cases | % of malignant and suspected malignant cases |
| Kawamatamachi Namiemachi Idatemura Minamisoumashi Dateshi Tamurashi HIronomachi Narahamachi Tomiokamachi Kawauchimura Okumamachi Futabamachi Kuzuomura Fukusimashi Nihonmatsushi Motomiyashi Otamamura Koriyamashi Korimachi Kunimimachi Teneimura Shirakawashi Nishigoumura Izumizakimura Miharumachi |
1,763 2,500 759 8,882 9,100 5,005 679 999 1,994 213 1,752 684 150 42,653 7,872 4,804 1,262 47,773 1,632 1,237 790 9,652 3,172 996 2,375 |
23 27 14 81 84 51 9 5 24 2 14 2 2 344 58 31 5 351 14 9 11 63 27 3 23 |
1.3 1.1 1.8 0.9 0.9 1.0 1.3 0.5 1.2 0.9 0.8 0.3 1.3 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.4 0.7 0.9 0.7 1.4 0.7 0.9 0.3 1.0 |
19 22 11 68 76 42 7 4 20 1 12 1 2 286 50 26 5 269 10 8 6 46 19 2 13 |
0 2 0 4 7 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 8 1 3 0 17 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 |
0.00 0.08 0.00 0.05 0.08 0.04 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.11 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.01 0.06 0.00 0.04 0.06 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 |
| Subtotal | 158,698 | 1,277 | 0.8 | 1,025 | 48 | 0.03 |
| FY2015 | No. of subjects, Round 1 | No. of subjects to be covered by Round 2 | % of Round 2 subjects | No. of subjects who received Round 2 | Malignant and suspected malignant cases | % of malignant and suspected malignant cases |
| Iwakishi Sukagawashi Soumashi Kagamiishimachi Shinchimachi Nakajimamura Yabukimachi Isikawamachi Yamatsurimachi Asawakamachi Hiratamura Tanaguramachi Hanawamachi Samegawamura Onomachi Tamakawamura Furudonomachi Hinoematamura Minamiaizumachi Keneyamamachi Showamura Mishimamachi Shimogoumachi Kitakatashi Nishiaizumachi Tadamimachi Inawashiromachi Bandaimachi Kitasiobaramura Aizumisatomachi Aizubangemachi Yanaizumachi Aizuwakamatsushi Yugawamura |
44,143 11,382 4,697 1,971 1,028 751 2,386 2,009 732 1,016 848 2,136 1,161 485 1,250 961 784 66 1,757 120 93 120 611 5,558 643 456 1,710 398 376 2,484 2,026 385 14,025 503 |
322 99 30 15 13 5 15 13 4 8 6 16 8 6 10 9 3 0 16 0 0 1 4 37 4 6 12 3 2 13 10 0 91 3 |
0.7 0.9 0.6 0.8 1.3 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.7 1.2 0.8 0.9 0.4 0.0 0.9 0.0 0.0 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.6 1.3 0.7 0.8 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.0 0.6 0.6 |
105 72 24 13 10 2 10 8 3 6 4 6 7 2 4 4 2 0 11 0 0 1 2 2 2 3 8 2 2 0 2 0 3 0 |
4 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 |
0.01 0.01 0.02 0.05 0.00 0.13 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.00 |
| Subtotal | 109,071 | 784 | 0.7 | 320 | 9 | 0.01 |
The Japanese author’s concerns
Here in Fukushima, some 130 children, diagnosed to have thyroid cancer, have already undergone surgery. Metastasis to a lymph node has been detected in more than 70% of these children. Some 70% of those children whose cancer has metastasized have a tumor 1cm (0.4”) or larger in size. In some children, the cancer has metastasized to a lung. These facts show that these children are suffering from fast-developing cancer. No one can claim that these children had surgery too soon.
Some experts fear that some children can be over-diagnosed, and that some of them might undergo unnecessary surgery after such an over-diagnosis. If such a case occurs, then good compensation and long-term care should be provided to the affected child and his/her family.
Also, we have to keep in mind that all those children who go through cancer checkups, as well as their parents, live every day with worry and stress.
We have to keep searching for the truth. Otherwise, many children might be forced to live at the mercy of some adults who turn their eyes away from these grave issues. Some adults are even trying to cover up these issues.
※Note on the thyroid examinations in Fukushima
The pilot examinations, Round 1, covered those Fukushima children who were 18 years in age or younger, some 370,000 in number, when the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown began. Round 2, the full examinations, covered some 380,000 children in all, including those born within a year of when the meltdown began. Round 1 inspected a “lumps” within the thyroid with an ultrasonic device, to discover their shape, size, etc., and ranked each lump as “A1,” “A2,” “B,” or “C,” in the order of seriousness. (“A1” is the easiest to treat.) If a child is found to have a lump of a certain size or larger that falls under either “B” or “C,” then Round 2 examinations look in more detail into his/her blood, cells, etc.