Women Fight to Save Fukushima’s Children via IPS

By Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Nov 6, 2011 (IPS) – Hundreds of Japanese women have been converging on the Japanese capital demanding better relief for some 30,000 children exposed to nuclear radiation by the Fukushima meltdown.

“Official recovery policy focuses on decontamination rather than protecting the health of those most vulnerable – children and pregnant women,” activist Aileen Mioko Smith told IPS.

“Our meetings with officials to force faster evacuation programmes for high-risk groups are only met with promises to clear radioactive waste. This is totally irresponsible,” said Smith, who leads the non-government organisation (NGO) Green Action Japan.

Smith criticised the government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, for focusing energies on defusing public tension by promising to reduce exposure in affected areas to below one millisieverts (a measure of radiation) per year.

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