The Fukushima prefectural government decided to end in fiscal 2020 its health survey of expectant and nursing mothers, which began in the wake of the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
At the end of that fiscal year, ten years will have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake and the start of the nuclear disaster.
In past survey results, the percentages of birth defects, babies with low birth weights and other abnormal conditions have been almost the same in the prefecture as the nationwide average.
Therefore, the prefectural government judged that there have not been any remarkable negative effects feared to be caused by radioactive substances discharged by the nuclear accident on the health of mothers and children.
From now on, the prefectural government aims to place more importance on assistance based on the needs of expectant and nursing mothers.
The maternal health survey is one of a number of surveys that the prefectural government commissions from Fukushima Medical University to check on the condition of local residents’ health in the wake of the nuclear disaster.
Another of the surveys has been conducted mainly on residents who were 18 or younger when the nuclear accident happened to check whether they have developed thyroid cancer.
The prefectural government presented a plan to its examination committee to discontinue the survey of mothers in July, and the plan was approved.
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