Why Do We Fear Radiation 8
Photo taken in Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum in May 2024 by my husband Dr. David Jones
The Bombing Of Japan in 1945
On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrendered to the Allies on 15 August, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki and the Soviet Union’s declaration of war against Japan and invasion of Japanese-occupied Manchuria. The Japanese government signed the instrument of surrender on 2 September, effectively ending the war.
The firebombing of Tokyo, on 9–10 March, killed an estimated 100,000 people and destroyed 41 km2 (16 sq mi) of the city and 267,000 buildings in a single night. Firebombing then switched to smaller cities. According to Yuki Tanaka, the U.S. fire-bombed over a hundred Japanese towns and cities. (Tanaka, Yuki; Young, Marilyn B. (2009). Bombing Civilians: A Twentieth Century History. New York: New Press, and Kerr, E. Bartlett (1991). Flames Over Tokyo: the US Army Air Forces’ Incendiary Campaign against Japan 1944–1945. New York)
Two Atomic Bombs Were Dropped
These are the only nuclear weapons to ever be used. All war is horrific. Nuclear weapons should not be used. A uranium bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki.
An estimated 90,000 to 166,000 people in Hiroshima (between 26 and 49 percent of its population) and 60,000 to 80,000 people in Nagasaki (between 22 and 32 percent of its population) died in 1945, of which a majority in each case were killed on the days of the bombings, due to the force and heat of the blasts themselves. Nearly all of the remainder of victims died within two to four months, due to radiation exposure and resulting complications.
Cancer
Cancers do not immediately emerge after exposure to radiation; instead, radiation-induced cancer has a minimum latency period of some five years and above, and leukemia some two years and above, peaking around six to eight years later. Almost all cases of leukemia over the following 50 years were in people exposed to more than 1Gy (1000mSv).
The Hibakusha
The survivors of the bombings are called hibakusha (被爆者), a Japanese word that translates to “explosion-affected people”. The Japanese government has recognized about 650,000 people as hibakusha. As of 31 March 2024, 79 years later, 106,825 were still alive.
Hibakusha and their children were (and still are) victims of fear-based discrimination and exclusion for marriage or work due to public ignorance. So they married each other. Some of the public persist with the belief that the hibakusha carry some hereditary or even contagious disease. This is despite the fact that no statistically demonstrable increase of birth defects/congenital malformations was found among the later conceived children born to survivors of the nuclear weapons used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or has been found in the later conceived children of cancer survivors who had previously received radiotherapy. The surviving women of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who were exposed to substantial amounts of radiation, had children with no higher incidence of abnormalities/birth defects than the rate which is observed in the Japanese average.
A study of the long-term psychological effects of the bombings on the survivors found that even 17–20 years after the bombings had occurred survivors showed a higher prevalence of anxiety and somatization symptoms. (Yamada, Michiko; Izumi, Shizue (2002), Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. 37 (9): 409–415.)
City of Hiroshima Statement
Talking to residents in Nagasaki last year, we found very varying views. One tourist operator claimed she was scared to work in Nagasaki as you couldn’t believe what the Government tells you and fears that Nagasaki is still radioactive. She did not live there. Another resident loved living in Nagasaki and said, “what radiation?”.
LNT: Linear No-Threshold Model
A great deal of research has been undertaken about the effects of radiation from the use of the 2 bombs. Research still continues particularly on the offspring of survivors. Some of the early results led to the creation of the LNT which has been used extensively ever since.
The Linear No-Threshold Model describes the relationship between the amount of exposure to ionizing radiation and the risk of harmful effects. It is graphed as a straight line and passes through zero despite the fact that there is no data in the low dose region. This assumes that even low levels of radiation exposure are harmful.
LNT is used to set radiation standards. The LNT model remains a prudent basis for radiological protection at low doses and low dose rates. It is simple to use and is strongly protective and conservative. However, there is increasing evidence that it is overprotective and leads to massive unnecessary costs.
The LNT does not take into account 2 important facts about low dose radiation. Firstly, it assumes radiation is accumulative and takes no account of the fact that all cellular living things have repair mechanisms. Secondly, it does not differentiate between total dose and dose rate. However, attempts to further lower the standards must be carefully justified and based on thorough research.
However, when collective dose is combined with a linear dose-response coefficient to predict risk in large populations exposed to low doses, the number generated will overestimate real risk. The slope of the graph is often used in epidemiological studies to calculate risk and relative risk thus assuming the risk to calculate the risk. This is biased thinking and may even lead to fear mongering.
If you are interested in reading more about the bombing of Japan this Wikipedia article is very extensive and thorough. It has hundreds of reference links. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki#CITEREFKerr1991
No radiation-induced genetic (= hereditary) diseases have so far been demonstrated in human populations exposed to ionizing radiation. (HEREDITARY EFFECTS OF RADIATION United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation UNSCEAR 2001 Report to the General Assembly, with Scientific Annex) https://www.unscear.org/docs/publications/2001/UNSCEAR_2001_Report.pdf
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