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Researchers Say Fukushima Child Cancer Rates 20-50x Higher Than Expected (ap.org)

New submitter JackSpratts writes: According to the Associated Press, "A new study says children living near the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer at a rate 20 to 50 times that of children elsewhere, a difference the authors contend undermines the government's position that more cases have been discovered in the area only because of stringent monitoring.

Most of the 370,000 children in Fukushima prefecture (state) have been given ultrasound checkups since the March 2011 meltdowns at the tsunami-ravaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. The most recent statistics, released in August, show that thyroid cancer is suspected or confirmed in 137 of those children, a number that rose by 25 from a year earlier. Elsewhere, the disease occurs in only about one or two of every million children per year by some estimates."

4 of 143 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Stop spreading misinformation. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If only epidemiology were so simple. Care to point me to the double blind study showing that cigarettes cause cancer?

  2. Re:So... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Are the usual pro-nuke ppl. here going to trumpet the same old "no injuries from Fukushima" line, over and over again?

    Probably, but nobody except other wackjobs believes them. The more interesting but infinitely harder to address question is whether or not nuclear power, with all it's warts (Chernobyl, Hanford, Fukishima, bog-knows-what-all-is-left-in-Russia) is more or less dangerous than fossil fuels in general.

    My best guess is that it's considerably safer since the data on coal looks pretty bad.

    The only real problem for nuclear is that it's too damned expensive compared to fossil fuels and now even solar and wind. It's a horribly complex technology that it's adherents fucked up badly by not carefully and consistently holding to the highest of engineering standards (like naval reactors). They cheaped out and they are paying the price.

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    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  3. Re:Survey bias by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When control groups are considered, these kids actually exhibit the same results.

    Really? The child cancer rates are 20-50x higher everywhere than people think?

    You should read the article.

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    You are welcome on my lawn.
  4. Re:Hmm... by Rei · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Big percentage of small number = slightly bigger small number

    Perhaps you should go around hospitals and explain this to the children with the excess cases of thyroid cancer while they're receiving their chemo.

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    The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems.