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VICE: What types of tests have you conducted?
Shigeru Mita: I’ve done examinations on more than 1,500 patients. Many of these were children whose parents were worried about their health since the Fukushima meltdown. I asked the patients how they felt, if there are any abnormalities with their health, and then I carried out some inspections. I run blood work and conduct thyroid ultrasound examinations.What were the results?
I’ve mostly tested patients living in Tokyo, and I’ve found a lot of harmful symptoms in children, especially in kindergarten students or elementary school students. I’ve also seen some serious effects in the elderly.
There have been abnormalities in their differential white-blood-cell count. Blood is produced in the bone marrow, which is one of the organs that is most vulnerable to radiation. I’ve seen a decline in the neutrophil component in white blood cells. In severe instances, this can lead to fatal conditions like septicemia.
Have these effects been getting better or worse since the meltdown?
I conducted the first tests in December 2011, so I cannot compare the result with any from before the meltdown. But I can say the threat has seemed to be spreading into Tokyo since then.What are the worst symptoms you’ve seen?
There was a baby with a serious illness. She had far fewer neutrophils in her blood than there should be for a healthy baby. After my inspection, she had another test in a bigger hospital.At that time she had no neutrophils. It means that she could easily have caught a serious disease. And had that happened, she would have been in grave danger of dying. Thankfully, she recovered after moving to the Kyushu area.
Read more at A Japanese Physician Is Encouraging the Evacuation of Tokyo
