Medical Journal Article:
14,000 U.S. Deaths Tied to Fukushima Reactor Disaster
Fallout
Fukushima Power Plant
EMF Protection Devices
Magnetic Field Detector
Impact Seen As Roughly Comparable to Radiation-Related
Deaths After Chernobyl; Infants Are Hardest Hit, With
Continuing Research Showing Even Higher Possible Death
Count.
WASHINGTON,
Dec. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- An estimated 14,000 excess deaths in
the United States are
linked to the radioactive fallout from the disaster at the
Fukushima nuclear reactors in
Japan, according to a major new article in the
December 2011 edition of the
International Journal of Health Services. This is the
first peer-reviewed study published in a medical journal
documenting the health hazards of Fukushima.
Authors Joseph Mangano and Janette
Sherman note that their estimate of 14,000 excess
U.S. deaths in the 14 weeks after the Fukushima meltdowns is
comparable to the 16,500 excess deaths in the 17 weeks after
the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986. The rise in reported deaths
after Fukushima was largest among U.S. infants under age
one. The 2010-2011 increase for infant deaths in the spring
was 1.8 percent, compared to a decrease of 8.37 percent in
the preceding 14 weeks.
The IJHS article will be published Tuesday and will be
available online as of 11 a.m. EST
at
http://www.radiation.org.
Just six days after the disastrous meltdowns struck four
reactors at Fukushima on March 11,
scientists detected the plume of toxic fallout had arrived
over American shores. Subsequent measurements by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found levels of
radiation in air, water, and milk hundreds of times above
normal across the U.S. The highest detected levels of
Iodine-131 in precipitation in the U.S. were as follows
(normal is about 2 picocuries I-131 per liter of water):
Boise, ID (390);
Kansas City (200);
Salt Lake City (190);
Jacksonville, FL (150);
Olympia, WA (125); and
Boston, MA (92).
Epidemiologist Joseph Mangano,
MPH MBA, said: "This study of Fukushima health hazards is
the first to be published in a scientific journal. It
raises concerns, and strongly suggests that health studies
continue, to understand the true impact of Fukushima in
Japan and around the
world. Findings are important to the current debate of
whether to build new reactors, and how long to keep aging
ones in operation."
Mangano is executive director, Radiation and Public Health
Project, and the author of 27 peer-reviewed medical journal
articles and letters.
Internist and toxicologist Janette
Sherman, MD, said: "Based on our continuing research,
the actual death count here may be as high as 18,000, with
influenza and pneumonia, which were up five-fold in the
period in question as a cause of death. Deaths are seen
across all ages, but we continue to find that infants are
hardest hit because their tissues are rapidly multiplying,
they have undeveloped immune systems, and the doses of
radioisotopes are proportionally greater than for adults."
Dr. Sherman is an adjunct professor,
Western Michigan University, and contributing editor
of "Chernobyl - Consequences of the Catastrophe for
People and the Environment" published by the NY Academy
of Sciences in 2009, and author of "Chemical Exposure and
Disease and Life's Delicate Balance - Causes and Prevention
of Breast Cancer."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issues
weekly reports on numbers of deaths for 122 U.S. cities with
a population over 100,000, or about 25-30 percent of the
U.S. In the 14 weeks after Fukushima fallout arrived in the
U.S. (March 20 to June 25),
deaths reported to the CDC rose 4.46 percent from the same
period in 2010, compared to just 2.34 percent in the 14
weeks prior. Estimated excess deaths during this period for
the entire U.S. are about 14,000.
EDITOR'S NOTE: A streaming audio replay of a related news
event will be available on the Web at
http://www.radiation.org as of 4
p.m. EST/2100 GMT on
December 19, 2011. Embargoed
copies of the medical journal article are available by
contacting Ailis Aaron Wolf,
(703) 276-3265 or
aawolf@hastingsgroup.com.
SOURCE
Joseph Mangano and
Janette Sherman,
International Journal of Health Services
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