First Cases of Throat Cancer Linked to Fukushima Nuclear Plant

[Jilly_in_VA]

Two men developed throat cancer after being employed at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and one of them reportedly died from the illness—the first known cases of the condition linked to working at the site.

The unnamed men, one in his 60s and another in his 40s, had removed debris and measured radiation doses at the plant to rid the surrounding area of radioactivity in the aftermath of one of Japan’s worst nuclear disasters. In 2011, a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami, which killed more than 15,000 and displaced over 160,000, also caused nuclear meltdowns, leaving some parts of Fukushima prefecture uninhabitable.

Japanese news outlet NHK reported the employee in his 40s has died after developing cancer in 2019. He was a radiologist hired by a partner company of TEPCO, the company that owns the Daiichi nuclear power plant. The man in his 60s worked for TEPCO.

The Japanese ministry of health on Wednesday linked the men’s illness, pharyngeal cancer, to their time working at the Fukushima plant.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/4avezq/cancer-fukushima-plant-japan

[FBaggins]

1. Right on time

A decade ago, the Helen Caldicotts and Arnie Gundersens of the world were saying that Fukushima was going to kill hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of people.

I said that a decade from now, we'll be arguing whether an uptick in thyroid cancer would be attributable to an actual increase in the disease or just more precise and more common testing and whether a handful of deaths could be attributed to the radiation or could be just the legal standard by which we make the determination.

And here we are a decade later.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. There's good (brief) discussion in the article about other cases which were dismissed.

Cancer does occur without identifiable cause in the general population, and some workers who have died from cancer almost certainly had cancer before the meltdown. Statistically, such things are bound to happen, especially with the more common cancers. It sounds like Japan's Ministry of Health is being fairly cautious about attributing cause, and relying on expert medical opinion at every turn (novel idea, that).