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Rain came on March 15th, 4 days after the plant accident, washing the land with radioactive water. On the following day, the girl moved to Fukushima city from the shelter.
Fukushima prefectural office measured the radiation level of weeds and rain water on that day and got a result of 1,190,000 becquerels (*) per kilogram of radioiodine from the weeds. However, neither the prefectural office nor the national government disclosed the result to residents this time again. Children were not supplied with potassium iodide pills for radioiodine prevention, and no one heard the evacuation orders from the officials. We finally came to know about these facts on June 4th, 3 month from the plant accident, at a news conference by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) Japan. What the governmental sectors have done to us is violation of the human rights guaranteed by the national constitution and that is a crime by the state. The Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan is especially heavily responsible. During the first critical months after the plant accident, the national government left people, including children and pregnant women, in high radiation environments based on the view presented by some professionals that up to 100 milli-Siverts (**) of annual radiation exposure does not harm the human body. This caused delay in the initial measures for radiation protection, evacuation, and decontamination in Fukushima, and all the process is still kept slow. For example, children’s living environment, such as home, park, and street to school, is left contaminated because there is no solution for the final disposal site for the radioactive soil removed. One year memorial of the accident will come soon. The whole body counting, which is to measure radioactivity within the human body, for infants and pregnant women finally and slowly started in Fukushima-city area, though it has not yet started for children. Such tardy action by governmental offices further increases the anxiety of mothers. I want to appeal to WHO and/or ICRP about this reality in Japan, and request them to strengthen pressure and direction to the national Japanese government based on the global guideline for the low-level radiation. Children are the future of the earth and our treasure, I believe. We should not sacrifice their precious lives for a nation’s nuclear policy. We, people of Fukushima, wish to network with people around the world as quickly as we can. With your support, we will do our best for our children’s physical and emotional health. |
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(*) For example, while the radiation levels for fruits and vegetables in Japan are 500 becquerels per kilogram, in the Ukraine the levels are 40 becquerels for vegetables and 70 becquerels for fruits. (The Asahi Shimbun Newspaper) A new guideline will be activated in Japan in April 2012, which states that 100 becquerels per kilogram is the limit for food in general.
(**) For your information, less than 1 milli-Sivert per year was the standard before the plant accident and is the globally accepted standard. The risk of cancer is believed to increase above that level. Reference: Classification of the evacuation zones by the Japanese government (As of December, 2011, to present)
? 20 mSv/yr or less is an imminent return. ? 20-50mSv/yr the return is pending decontamination efforts. ? 50mSv/yr+ people should plan on not returning. (more than 5 years are estimated for decontamination) Secondly, let me share with you about our effort to regenerate farmland for supplying produce without radioactive contamination.
80% of the population of children in Fukushima did not flee but remain, and are trying to live their lives as usual in Fukushima. The Mothers’ common wish is to reduce internal exposure of their children as much as they can.
We, Fukushima YWCA and local Fukushima mothers, hosted a symposium entitled “Revive Fukushima: Lives returning to the Land” in April, 2011. 250 people from Fukushima and beyond came to this first grassroots event in Fukushima-city after the plant accident in March. The guest speaker was Mr. Masaharu Kawada, who is a director of an NPO which has supported Chernobyl survivors for over 20 years. In Chernobyl, he has been making efforts for farmland regeneration and self-sustaining energy production by utilizing rape plants. Mr. Kawada says, “I came to know about the reality of people in Chernobyl whose health was threatened by eating produce contaminated by radiation. To stop that vicious spiral, we started a project for farmland regeneration. We are happy to contribute our experiences and skills for Fukushima.” Radioactive decontamination of the soil is an urgently needed measure in order to reduce children’s internal exposure to radiation. However, farmers in Fukushima are confronting another challenge. Cesium, a chemical element from the explosion of the plant, mostly stayed on the surface of soil as deep as 2 inches (5 centimeters). Some may think that soil removing solves the problem though, as professional farmers, removing the soil is also removing our history and our pride. Some fellow farmers committed suicide in despair after hearing the voices from consumers in cities saying “we fear to eat contaminated products from Fukushima.” Besides that, no solution has been made as to where to locate the final disposal site for the removed soil containing cesium. The post-accident situation in Fukushima reflects the reality around the nuclear power plant; figuratively speaking, “an apartment without a toilet”. |
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Despite this tough situation, a new project for farmland regeneration has started. I tried bioremediation as a way for decontamination of soil with an organic farming material supplier in the local Fukushima. We got the following interesting result from the experiments we tried during 2011; products from farmland with rich organic substances and active bacteria tend to be radioactive free.
Our effort was positively recognized and selected as a model project for farmland regeneration in Fukushima prefecture this year. My homeland, Fukushima-city area, is famous for fruit growing. In the soon-coming spring, peach, pear, and apple flowers bloom everywhere and the whole area becomes like a flower garden. My wish is to provide children with safe produce by making effort for farmland regeneration, and to maintain Fukushima to be a homeland for children where they can proudly say “we are happy to be born in Fukushima!” To close my speech, let me briefly reflect on our world’s nuclear history and then please allow me to share with you two famous examples of wisdom from Native American people.
Today, March 1st, is a day of grief for the people of Micronesia, and for us Japanese, too. On March 1st, 1954, the US conducted a hydrogen bomb test in the atmosphere at Bikini Atoll, Micronesia, by which a Japanese fishing boat named “Daigo Fukuryumaru” (Lucky Dragon No.5) was contaminated and 23 fishermen on the boat were exposed to radiation.
Radioactive substances fell down on all over the earth by an explosion 1000 times more powerful than the A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The earth has been heavily contaminated by more than 2000 nuclear tests conducted up to today. From Fukushima, we feel grief and pain of the earth. The Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy says “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” And the Hopi prophecy states that we should not mine uranium from the mother earth.
Today, we also raise our voice from Fukushima and appeal; Let’s abolish all forms of nukes, and protect the lives of all living beings! Let’s make a wise decision now for the world to survive! May the Great Spirit guide us on the right path. Thank you.
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