Why the Cancer Cases in Fukushima Aren't Likely Linked to the Nuclear Disaster
An increase in thyroid cancer may just reflect the intensive testing of children.
Three years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, reports are surfacing of a "cancer cluster." The Japanese government has reportedly tested 254,000 of the 375,000 children and adolescents in Fukushima Prefecture and found 33 cases of thyroid cancer. In Japan, the rate of this disease in 10- to 14-year-olds is typically one or two per million.
The Japanese government is investigating the matter, but it has already stated that the high prevalence is not a direct result of the radiation released during the meltdown. (See: "Pictures: A Rare Look Inside Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant.")
To learn more, we interviewed Norman Kleiman, who is on the faculty of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Columbia University Mailman School of
