– Gov’t: 75 Fukushima children with cancers confirmed or suspected in thyroid — ‘Genetic alterations’ to be analyzed — Expert: “Gene pool is damaged, next generations will carry burden catastrophe”; Surge in disease expected (ENENews, Feb 7, 2014):
Jiji Press, Feb. 7, 2014: Eight more Fukushima kids found with thyroid cancer — Eight more Fukushima children have been confirmed as having thyroid gland cancer following the prefecture’s checkups, a local panel of experts said Friday […] it is unlikely the disease was caused by exposure to radiation […] The panel said 75 people were suspected of having thyroid gland cancer as of the end of last year, of whom 33 were confirmed as having the disease. Three months before, the number of confirmed patients stood at 25. […] 270,000 have been examined.
Fukushima Voice, Feb. 7, 2014: […] the news post published today in multiple newspapers regarding the Fukushima Medical University beginning a genetic analysis of the cancer tissues […] to analyze for genetic alterations to help figure out why the cancer originated. What was odd was that [Shinichi Suzuki, a Fukushima Medical University physician in charge of the thyroid ultrasound examination], as if avoiding a swarm of questions, offered an explanation that such genetic analyses are routinely performed on adult cancer specimen […] He asked for an understanding as he felt it was the mission of Fukushima Medical University to conduct the genetic analysis in order to watch over the children’s future. As for the perceived “slow” speed of confirming the cancer cases, Suzuki said that some of the cases suspected of cancer did not warrant immediate surgeries […] As usual, no information was offered such as the type of nodules and also details of each surgical case […]
Andrey Dyomin, president of the Russian Association for Public Health, Feb. 6, 2014: [A surge of diseases 5-6 years after March 2011] is to be expected in Japan. “We cannot say that the problem would disappear in five years. The rise of morbidity will continue as the general gene pool has been damaged. Next generations will carry the burden of that catastrophe”.