Posted on 06/16/2011 11:51:15 AM PDT by ransomnote
Once a malicious "baseless rumor" on the net, now it is written up in a regional newspaper with readership in Tokyo and Kanto area.
Tokyo Shinbun (paper edition only, 6/16/2011) reports that many children in Koriyama City in Fukushima Prefecture, 50 kilometers from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, are suffering inexplicable nosebleed, diarrhea, and lack of energy since the nuke plant accident. Quick translation of the article:
What's happening to children in Koriyama City in Fukushima right now? Nosebleed, diarrhea, lack of energy - "Effect of radiation unknown" says the doctor
Report by Ao Ideta, Tokyo Shinbun, June 16, 2011
On June 12, a non-profit organization called "The Bridge to Chernobyl" (チェルノブイリへのかけはし) held a free clinic in Koriyama City in Fukushima Prefecture, 50 kilometers [west] from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.
Worried about the effect of radiation exposure, 50 families brought their children to see the doctor.
A 39-year-old mother of two told the doctor that her 6-year-old daughter had nosebleed everyday for 3 weeks in April. For 1 week, the daughter bled copiously from both nostrils. The mother said their doctor told her it was just a seasonal allergy from pollen. Her other child, 2-year-old son, had nosebleed from end of April to May.
(Excerpt) Read more at ex-skf.blogspot.com ...
This sounds like what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors who were not too badly exposed. They were sick and weak for a few months after exposure.
It’s all about the white cell count. That would confirm it.
The diarrhea is one of the typical symptoms of acute radiation exposure, but the nosebleeds aren’t. If someone had a sufficient exposure to cause diarrhea, then hair loss should have followed by now.
Odd that a pediatrician attributed copious nosebleeds to seasonal allergies!
I’ve read a few times that the dropping of the bombs on Japan resulted in less radiation given off than what’s going on here. And in this instance - additional radiation is steaming into the air around the clock from the core melt downs and possibly the fuel pool of reactor 4. Then the kids are consuming milk and likely other contaminated foods and in theory, would continue to do so for months, years etc. So their Nagasaki happens again and again, day after day.
Actually, there is very little more at link, just as there is very little in the excerpt.
The ONLY child with symptoms mentioned is the one child in your excerpt, who had a nosebleed, according to her mother, for 3 weeks in April, so the mother brought her to the clinic in June, and she had no symptoms in may.
I presume some kids must have had the other symptoms mentioned by the doctor, but there is no evidence of that in the article. The doctor is quoted as saying he has no indication there is any radiation illness. He was recommending blood tests to see if there was radiation poisoning.
The clinic was run by “The Bridge to Chernobyl”, which kind of sounds like a group not supportive of nuclear energy.
Then there were “worried parents” quoted. And measurements of radiation at the site: “I [the reporter of the story] used the radiation monitoring device over the low bush near the place where this event was being held. It measured 2.33 microsieverts/hour.”.
Then some “scary” sounding numbers that aren’t scary at all: “If you live one year in a place with 1.3 microsievert/hour radiation, the cumulative radiation will exceed 11 millisieverts. [And that’s only the external exposure.]”
That’s about one full-body CT scan. Natural background average is about 3 mv, so it’s 3 times the average, but within the range of natural background.
inexplicable...right
“The clinic was run by “The Bridge to Chernobyl”, which kind of sounds like a group not supportive of nuclear energy.”
People who have contended with the resulting disease and suffering due to Chernobyl - and the official denials that this suffering and disease exist- are not likely to be supportive of nuclear energy. For example, Soviet officials made it illegal to report deaths due to radiation during the first 3 years following the disaster. That kind of deception no doubt offended the ethics of physicians. I don’t believe that discredits this organization - the physician said tests were needed - he didn’t stampeded in any particular direction. No, what I have found throughout the Chernobyl disaster and the Fukushima disaster is that nuclear apologists lack credibility. Pediatricians dealing with a mother who has two children with nose bleeds (her 2 year old son had nosebleeds too) saying seasonal allergies, following the nuclear disaster, without testing white blood count might fall under ‘lacks credibility’ in my book too. 50 families attended the clinic.
The ‘one-full body’ CAT scan thing. You used the lower of two numbers - not the one actually recorded low over a bush (kid height?) and apparently chose to ignore the text [and that’s only external exposure]. The kids have been eating and drinking local milk and other foods. Their total internal plus external exposure is unknown - the readings on playgrounds and lawns may be higher. With this clinic - parents will get answers that Japanese officials, and apparently the pediatrician, are not interested in pursuing. I hope it turns out fine - but that’s not an assumption I’d make given the information coming out of Japan detecting excessive radiation in tea leaves 300km from the site.
Actually, according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_radiation_syndrome), “bleeding due to low platelets” is a symptom of acute radiation sickness.
Also, the wikipedia text has only one reference to hair loss as ‘very large skin doses can cause permanent hair loss’.
Detecting radiation mildly in excess of the national standards. There is no indication the radiation is "excessive" in terms of risk or danger, or that the number set by the government might be too low, or too high for that matter.
You used the lower of two numbers -- I quoted from the article. The article used some average number. It wasn't either the high or the low readings taken by the reporter. The article provided no indication that radiation has been measured in the milk the children are drinking -- other articles have indicated that milk and other items ARE being tested, and that milk consumption was stopped when unnatural readings were found, so it is simple speculation that there is a risk in consumption.
If I lived in Japan, I'd spend some money on test equipment, and do enough of my own testing to make myself reasonably sure the risks were acceptable.
detecting excessive radiation in tea leaves
Detecting radiation mildly in excess of the national standards. There is no indication the radiation is “excessive” in terms of risk or danger, or that the number set by the government might be too low, or too high for that matter.
*****************************
Then let’s use ‘detecting radiation mildly in excess of the national standards’ 300km from where the children are - this likely means that the levels of radioactive contamination are higher near the plant where the children live. But how high? They are finding hot spots in Tokyo and are now going to test 100 locations in that city. And thats about 140km from the children. Symptoms similar to those found in ARS in children living near Fukushima should be examined and not brushed off as seasonal allergies. A white blood count test should have been a slam dunk and if the Japanese pediatrician isn’t interested in doing it then I am grateful to the mobile clinic that will.
So sad. Many of these children will develop leukemia.
They should have all been evacuated as soon as possible after the explosion.
It would be almost unheard of for radiation to be acute enough to cause a constant nosebleed, but without any other symptoms, including hair loss (which doesn’t have to be permanent).
Bleeding from acute radiation poisoning often is accompanied by death.
It is more likely that a nosebleed be the result of excessive nose-blowing because of allergies, although as the doctor said, you’d need to do a blood test. Since the nosebleed stopped, and the mother reports no other symptoms, it again suggests a seasonal allergy — you don’t normally recover from acute radiation symptoms while still exposed to the same level of radiation that caused the symptoms.
Of course, we are assuming that the mother accurately reported the symptom, and the translation is accurate. Did the nose bleed “constantly”, or was there just lots of nose bleeds over the time period? Were there other symptoms the mother didn’t notice?
It was, in essence, a purely anecdotal article. The doctor isn’t reported to have scientifically observed a single symptom of radiation illness, and no results of blood tests were reported.
Telling is the doctor’s comment that they needed the blood test “to keep a record”. I would think you’d want the blood test so if you had been poisoned, you would get treatment. You keep records if you are trying to build up information for a big lawsuit, or to push to shut down an industry.
Which seems likely — set up a clinic, advertise for radiation treatment, get every scared parent to show up with whatever sicknesses are common among children, and try to put together enough evidence to make for a good legal filing.
The symptoms described are open to interpretation - why wasn’t anyone interested in interpreting them until a clinic showed up? Nosebleeds may occurr more often in children (sensitive skin) or may result from irritation of the mucous membranes by inhaled contaminants (kid keeps rubbing her nose). The clinic will run the white blood count and find out- I’m glad they are there. TEPCO and the gov has lied to people so much by now they need an outside party to assure them or help them.
‘You keep records if you are trying to build up information for a big lawsuit, or to push to shut down an industry.’
Well you see something sinister in ‘keeping a record’ that I do not. Why wouldn’t someone track platelet levels over time? Knowing how the Gov treated the people in Chernobyl (lied about their exposure etc, raised the legal exposure limit so they could declare sick patients ‘well’ and evict them from hospitals), the clinic workers already know that officials will try to deny that anyone suffered any illness from the worst nuclear disaster in history so I don’t have a problem with them ‘keeping records’.
‘Which seems likely — set up a clinic, advertise for radiation treatment, get every scared parent to show up with whatever sicknesses are common among children, and try to put together enough evidence to make for a good legal filing.’
So there just aren’t physicians who don’t want to see what happened in Chernobyl happen again in Japan? Those who offer a clinic to those living in Fukushima MUST have a profit motive? I think it is TEPCO and the Japanese gov. who should answer for their stance toward children, not the mobile clinic.
Stop looking at all that hentai, and the noses will stop bleeding.
Thanks for the link. The description there is for external exposure only - according to the introductory text (distance from source and strength of source absorbed) whereas these children MAY be experiencing both external and internal exposure. Drinking the school milk - not a good idea. Officials have stressed that the Fukushima vegetables are 100% safe so the schools are using them. Then there’s drinking water and inhalation. I think inhalation may irritate little noses to where they either itch (and are scratched) repeatedly or actually bleed due to irritation. But I wait to hear more and hope/pray for the best possible outcome. At least they are being tested.
If you read the chart under “Signs and Symptoms” at the URL you provided, you would have see under “2-6Gy” in the box marked “Illness” the following:
“Leukopenia, purpura, hemorrhage, infections, epilation.”
Epilation means “hair loss.”
The text of the page says “...very large skin doses can cause permanent hair loss...”
Hair loss due to transient, acute radiation exposure is brought about by the same mechanism that causes leukopenia/infections and hemorrhage: damage to the cells from ionizing radiation at a rate faster than the body can repair.
The chart on WP’s page bears out what I said earlier: By the time diarrhea sets in, hair loss is beginning.
Now, as to the nosebleeds: I’ve had more nosebleeds in a week than some people will have in their entire lives. They vary greatly between people, and without any prior history, a doctor can’t make a determination as to the cause. As a kid, I had nosebleeds that in two cases, went on for more than one day.
As a kid, I thought I was a freak. After reaching middle age and talking to friends who were now middle-aged, I come to find out that chronic nosebleeds are far more common in kids than I ever thought. The “solutions” that the medical community proposed in our age group were so inept that most of us who had these just started to keep them hidden, because we weren’t all that keen on getting a soldering iron up our noses or a dose of acid squirted up there.
So a kid comes into a clinic in an area with heavy flooding with a parent complaining of nosebleeds and diarrhea. Could it be acute radiation exposure? Yes, possibly. It is statistically more likely that the kid has ingested some untreated water and might have had nosebleed problems before, or might have been exposed to mold spores or other contaminations.
So, just for the record:
You’re equating the current government of Japan with the second most brutal communist totalitarian government on the face of the earth, the USSR?
I ask purely for my own edification here.
“her 6-year-old daughter had nosebleed everyday for 3 weeks in April. For 1 week, the daughter bled copiously from both nostrils. The mother said their doctor told her it was just a seasonal allergy from pollen. Her other child, 2-year-old son, had nosebleed from end of April to May.”
I just think that kids living close to the largest nuke disaster in history should be tested if they have nosebleeds three weeks running. You must know by now that they are finding high contamination outside the exclusion zone - why not test the kids? If they are fine it will assure the parents who have no reason to trust their government or nuke officials insistence that all is well. Why not accept international calls to widen the exclusion zone? What’s wrong with a free clinic seeing 50 families and those families reporting the illnesses in the thread title? I don’t know that tables in Wiki would answer all concerns because these are young children which are known to be more sensitive to radiation. Screen them and if possible, rule out rad illness. If necessary, treat and move them from their location.
Might have been a good public relations move if the gov or TEPCO had organized these free clinics - it would show their confidence that nothing is wrong and it might even show a willingness to stop lying/hiding and start telling the truth and then they’d have parent’s support.
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