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Petition 02: Protect the Children of Fukushima

To:
Naoto KAN, Director-General of Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters
Yuhei SATO, Governor, Fukushima Prefecture
Yoshiaki TAKAGI, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Ritsuo HOSOKAWA, Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare

Emergency Petition to Protect the Children of Fukushima
By encouraging the temporary and long-term evacuation of children and strictly adhering to the legal annual radiation limit of 1 milliSievert

On May 27, in response to the urgent pleas of Fukushima parents and supporting citizens’ groups, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced that it intended to restrict the annual radiation limit at Fukushima schools for the current academic year (April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012) to 1 millisievert (mSv). This standard, however, does not include radiation exposure outside of school, radiation received between the March 11 nuclear accident and March 31, or internal exposure. Children have already absorbed several times more than 1 mSv, and Fukushima residents are insisting that prefectural and local governments immediately act to reduce the cumulative radiation risk by relocating children temporarily or for longer periods to safer areas and closing schools early for summer recess. We demand that the central government and Fukushima authorities implement the following measures without delay.

In areas with particularly high levels of radiation, promote short-term or long-term evacuation and close schools early for summer recess. Give top priority to the relocation of infants, children, and expectant mothers. In many parts of Fukushima, the cumulative radiation exposure far exceeds the limit of 1 mSv per year. Since atmospheric radiation levels show no sign of abating, the inhabitants of heavily contaminated areas will continue to endure high radiation doses, both externally and internally. In order to minimize such exposure, residents should be evacuated promptly to areas where radiation is less severe. Top priority must be given to infants, children, and expectant mothers—all highly susceptible to radiation effects, and schools should be closed early for summer recess. The Education Ministry has stated that early closure is up to the discretion of school principals. Early closure should be implemented for all schools immediately.
Monitor regularly the degree of internal exposure for all Fukushima residents, including children, using whole-body counters. Presently, central and local authorities do not calculate internal exposure when computing radiation doses. In fact, however, radiation absorbed internally through food, drink, and inhaled dust particles is thought to be a potent danger to health and is causing growing anxiety among Fukushima residents. The authorities must provide medical examinations using whole-body counters so that any inhabitant who so desires can be tested for internal exposure and have access to the results.

Continue reading at Petition 02: Protect the Children of Fukushima

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15 comments

By norma field – 2011/07/01

15 Responses

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  1. Bronach Anglin says

    Cherish our little children !!

    2011/07/02, 1:51 am Reply
  2. Patricia says

    Take good care of our children for if there are no children there will be no future….

    2011/07/02, 4:32 am Reply
  3. r reyes says

    I remember hearing a sound , sung by Whitney Houston:) Remember children are our
    future ,treat them right and they will ________Fill in the Blanks!

    2011/07/02, 4:25 pm Reply
  4. Thomas L Carroll says

    FOR HEAVENS SAKE AND FOR ALL HUMANITY, PLEASE STOP ALL NUCLEAR ENERGY UNTI WE CAN MANAGE AND ALTER THE DESTRUCTIVE NATURE, MY GOD!

    2011/07/15, 4:15 pm Reply
  5. christa link says

    protect all children. i have a child and i would not any harm to come to her either.

    2011/07/15, 11:12 pm Reply
  6. Deborah Stucklen says

    The people of the world need to develop and use clean energy, *solar, wind, geothermal, etc. and stop using unsafe fuels until we have the knowledge and willpower to safely use and recycle the wastes.

    2011/07/16, 9:32 am Reply
  7. Merryla Fidler says

    Pleeeeeeeeeeeease let us take care of our children.They are the future+need to live with no harm,but PEACE.
    Thanks.

    2011/07/17, 12:07 pm Reply
  8. Daniel Rous says

    Even in the hypothetical case that nuclear plants could be made secure, the nuclear waste they produce is not biodegradable. Let’s get serious about clean energy.
    Dan Rous

    2011/07/23, 7:27 am Reply
  9. Pauline Wittry says

    I am concerned that children do not suffer from the mistakes of their elders and beg that they be protected from radiation sources that may prevent them from having healthy children and normal lives.

    2011/07/23, 9:58 am Reply
  10. Diana Crane says

    Let’s be mindful and with love make the best choices for our future generations! Please!

    2011/07/28, 2:14 pm Reply
  11. ken sansom says

    To hurt children is sick. The first step is to express anger…

    2011/08/17, 3:52 am Reply
  12. Irene Tognetti says

    We must do all in our power to stop these high levels of radiation and BAN nuclear energy in the future. Make Governments show transparency and report what is happening at Fukushima. We are destroying our world and Australia must STOP mining and selling uranium.

    2011/08/18, 6:50 am Reply
  13. Sumiko Ishikawa says

    I really hope the Japanese government tells the truth and take an action to save children promptly and seriously. If not now, when? There is more important thing than an industrial development for the county. It is its children. Wake up, Japan!!!

    2011/08/30, 2:54 am Reply
  14. Stephen Hanuman says

    The children living in & around Fukushima will likely start getting sick with various forms of deadly cancers when they are in their teens or early 20′s unless they are helped to Re-Locate immediatley!
    On September 1st, the The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that: “Soil at 34 spots in six Fukushima Prefecture municipalities has been contaminated with levels of radioactive cesium higher than the standard used for forcible evacuations after the Chernobyl disaster”…(http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20110830dy05.htm)
    A country can be truly judged by how it treat its’ children!

    2011/09/01, 9:35 pm Reply
  15. 금나와라 says

    후쿠시마의 어린이들은 끔찍한 위험에 방치되어 있습니다.
    지금 당장 도움의 손길이 필요합니다
    일본정부는 이 귀한 목숨들을 위해서 하루라도 빨리 필요한 조치를 취해야 할 것입니다
    또한
    방사능 정보의 진실을 거짓없이 솔직하게 국민들에게 밝혀야 할 것입니다.
    잊지마세요.
    후쿠시마의 어린이들은 미래의 일본을 짊어질 꽃보다 귀한 생명들입니다.

    2011/09/08, 6:21 am Reply



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