International Symposium in Fukushima Comes Up with Recommendations to Government via CNW

TOKYO, Sept. 11, 2014 /CNW/ – The Nippon Foundation held an International Expert Symposium on September 8 and 9, 2014, in Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture, on the theme “Beyond Radiation and Health Risk – Toward Resilience and Recovery,” putting together a group of international and Japanese experts to examine the effects of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident on the health of local residents and to discuss recovery measures in the future.

Fukushima Medical University, which has conducted the Fukushima Health Management Survey, and international organizations present at the Symposium, including World Health Organization (WHO), agreed that no direct health effect from radiation has been seen. At the same time, they recognized the fact that local residents still suffer from lingering anxieties about radiation and, as a result of prolonged life in evacuation, that some suffer from secondary health and mental effects including obesity and depression.

The Symposium was co-organized by Sasakawa Memorial Health Foundation and Fukushima Medical University with the cooperation of Nagasaki University. Experts from four international organizations – the WHO, the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) – participated as panelists.

The Nippon Foundation Chairman Yohei Sasakawa said in an opening speech, “through scientific discussions on the current state of Fukushima from multiple angles, we hope to identify measures that can strengthen the resilience and recovery of Fukushima.”

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One Response to International Symposium in Fukushima Comes Up with Recommendations to Government via CNW

  1. norma field says:

    It is important to note that this symposium was organized and attended by expert supporters of nuclear power. Who would deny that subjection to a nuclear disaster would cause “lingering anxiety,” possibly “obesity” and most probably, “depression”? But to make it appear that these are the sum of the problem, the obstacle to “recovery,” is to compound the criminal negligence that led to the disaster itself.

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