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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."

2 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: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.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.