4 members leave Fukushima panel overseeing prefectural health survey

A Fukushima Prefectural Government panel set up to monitor tests of residents' health in the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant announced the exit of four members and the introduction of a new goal at a meeting on June 5.

The panel, which earlier came under fire over "secret meetings" to harmonize the opinions of its members, announced that it would change its goal from "alleviating anxiety" of residents to "maintaining and promoting the health of prefectural residents into the future."

Four panel members from Fukushima Medical University including Vice President Shunichi Yamashita, a leading figure in the Fukushima Prefectural Government's health survey, have stepped down.

The move came in response to growing distrust among prefectural residents that members were working on the basis that there are no adverse health effects from radiation leaked during the nuclear crisis. By having people associated with the university, which is leading the tests, step down from the panel, officials hope to establish objectivity and neutrality in its evaluation of the prefectural health survey.

New members of the panel include Shuji Shimizu, a professor at Fukushima University who has pursued the issue of nuclear-related payouts, and Hirosaki University professor Shinji Tokonami, who has been conducting health checks in collaboration with the Fukushima Prefecture town of Namie.

The panel announced in a meeting June 5 that nine more children from the prefecture had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer during testing, bringing the total number to 12. Another 15 are suspected of having cancer.

"In a large-scale survey, we would expect to find this many cancer cases. But large-scale surveys are not normally conducted, and we can't draw comparisons," said panel member Kazuo Shimizu, a professor at Nippon Medical School.

The prefectural government has now provided data on the results of local government bodies' thyroid cancer tests and lists of cancer patients to the panel. Previously it had withheld the data on privacy grounds.

June 06, 2013(Mainichi Japan)

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