New cancer cases arise after clean up crews are exposed to radiation.
Four and a half years ago, the nation of the former Sun Empire was struck again by catastrophe. After a tsunami wave blanketed the Fukushima Daiichi region, the nuclear power plant registered multiple reactor breakdowns. The power plant exploded, releasing toxic debris and radiation into the neighboring area. Nearly 30000 people have been evacuated from the affected area and cleanup crews were enrolled in order to cleanse the soil from radiation. Since the aftermath, Japan is still paying for the Fukushima incident.
This week, in Tokyo, a man that took part in the cleanup crew, was diagnosed with severe leukemia and became eligible to receive compensation from the Japanese governments. This could be easily construed as being the first official case, showing that exposure to radiation at the disaster could cause cancer.
The force labor enrolled in the action to cleanse the soil in and around the Fukushima Daiichi plant was vast. About 40.000 workers have participated in this action. Sadly, it was recently found that a great number of those workers were diagnosed with any number of cancer forms.
Presently, the Japanese Government has quite of a mystery on its hands. To pinpoint the exact cause of any type of cancer is virtually an impossible task. Japan’s National Cancer Center states that 1 in 150 individuals are diagnosed with cancer each year and it is not the leading cause of death in Japan.
Workers, entrenched in an endless and fiery debate, say that they are being framed by both politicians and doctors. Because the direct cause is impossible to establish, doctors stated that any of the affected workers could have contracted a form of cancer regardless of them being exposed to radiations.
Besides the 30000 people that were evacuated from the immediate area, another 80.000 were displaced from around the affected zone. Although the government is spending about $10 billion in order to scrape up the remaining affected soil, the former residents are unwilling to return to the area.
Measurements taken after the incident shows the radiation levels are even higher than before the disaster occurred. Although the man that received compensation was exposed to less radiation than the rest of the works, Japan expect the cancer pay bill to rise in the years to come.
Japan’ Health Ministry said that most workers who worked at the plant we’re exposed all the time to radiation and the developing a cancer could very well qualify as an occupational hazard.
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