Japan Refutes World Health Organization's Fukushima Cancer Findings

KYODO (Japan), WHO, AFP

TOKYO – The Japanese government on Friday refuted a World Health Organization report that found a higher cancer risk for people living in areas contaminated by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, reports Kyodo news.

The UN health agency’s report, which was published on Thursday, said that there was a 70% increased thyroid cancer risk, a 6% increased breast cancer risk and a 4% increased cancer risk for females exposed as infants, as well as a 7% increased leukemia risk for males exposed as infants.

“This is the first-ever analysis of the global health effects due to radiation exposure after the Fukushima nuclear plant accident,” said the report.

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Towns evacuated near the nuclear facilities (wikipedia)

Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director for Public Health and Environment, added that the report focused on "the need for long-term health monitoring of those who are at high risk, along with the provision of necessary medical follow-up and support services.”

But Japan's Environment Ministry said the report “overestimates the risks, and could lead to misunderstandings of the likelihoods of developing cancer,” and that id did not reflect "reality," according to the AFP.

Environmental organization Greenpeace, also criticized the 166-page report, saying it underestimated the risks to the population.

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Migrant Lives

Migration

What's Driving More Venezuelans To Migrate To The U.S.

With dimmed hopes of a transition from the economic crisis and repressive regime of Nicolas Maduro, many Venezuelans increasingly see the United States, rather than Latin America, as the place to rebuild a life..

Photo of a family of Migrants from Venezuela crossing the Rio Grande between Mexico and the U.S. to surrender to the border patrol with the intention of requesting humanitarian asylum

Migrants from Venezuela crossed the Rio Grande between Mexico and the U.S. to surrender to the border patrol with the intention of requesting humanitarian asylum.

David Peinado via Zuma Press

Julio Borges

-Analysis-

Migration has too many elements to count. Beyond the matter of leaving your homeland, the process creates a gaping emptiness inside the migrant — and outside, in their lives. If forced upon someone, it can cause psychological and anthropological harm, as it involves the destruction of roots. That's in fact the case of millions of Venezuelans who have left their country without plans for the future or pleasurable intentions.

Their experience is comparable to paddling desperately in shark-infested waters. As many Mexicans will concur, it is one thing to take a plane, and another to pay a coyote to smuggle you to some place 'safe.'

Venezuela's mass emigration of recent years has evolved in time. Initially, it was the middle and upper classes and especially their youth, migrating to escape the socialist regime's socio-political and economic policies. Evidently, they sought countries with better work, study and business opportunities like the United States, Panama or Spain. The process intensified after 2017 when the regime's erosion of democratic structures and unrelenting economic vandalism were harming all Venezuelans.