After Fukushima 51 US soldiers fall ill with cancer

Several US soldiers fell ill with cancer after Fukushima use

07/01/2014

Numerous US soldiers of the crew of the aircraft carrier „USS Ronald Reagan“, which were exposed to radiation after the tsunami and the disaster of Fukushima off the coast of Japan, are suffering from cancer, according to US media reports. The victims have sued the operating company of the nuclear power plant in Fukushima (Tepco) for damages.

Of the approximately 5,000 sailors on the US aircraft carrier should, according to the „New York Post“ at least 70 suffer from sequelae of radiation exposure. 51 soldiers are suffering from cancer, others show thyroid disease, uterine bleeding and further damage from radiation exposure, the newspaper reports. Two and a half months, the US aircraft carrier was in the contaminated sea off Japan on the way, the sailors were contaminated in different ways.

Radioactive snow on the ship deck
The soldier Lindsay Cooper reports on radioactive snow, which fell on the ship's deck in March 2011. She would have joked with her comrades about it: „Hey, it's radioactive snow“, shot some photos and videos shot. How dangerous the snow actually was, however, the soldiers did not suspect. A cloud of steam released from the Fukushima nuclear power plant struck the cold Pacific air and precipitated as snowfall. The radiation exposure of the snow was correspondingly high. According to the US media reports, later research has shown that the radiation exposure was 300 times higher than the level considered safe. In addition, the contaminated seawater had flowed into the desalination system of the aircraft carrier and thus come from the taps and showers on the ship. The sailors were not only exposed to this daily, but have also used it as drinking water. The burden on the internal organs was correspondingly high. Although the crew became increasingly aware of radiation exposure and were looking for alternatives, the aircraft carrier without available port of call crossed over two and a half months in the contaminated waters, as both Japan and South Korea refused to allow the aircraft carrier to enter.

70 crew members with radiation damage
As a result of the radiation exposure to which they were subjected in their humanitarian mission, the „New York Post“ only three years later, 51 sailors contracted cancer. You have now filed a lawsuit against the operating company of the nuclear power plant. Her lawyer, Paul Garner, told the „New York Post“, that at least 70 crew members „Leukemia, testicular cancer, gynecological bleeding“ and other complaints due to radioactive contamination. The soldier Lindsay Cooper fights according to own data since the time before Fukushima with substantial weight fluctuations, since her thyroid is completely out of balance. „In a month, I lose 60 to 70 pounds and then I put them back next month“, so Cooper. „My menstrual cycle sometimes takes six months and I can not get pregnant anymore“, the soldier continued, adding: „It ruined me.“ Also, her service in the Navy Cooper had to stop for health reasons, six months after the disaster.

Serious long-term consequences of the nuclear disaster
Only three years after the Fukushima catastrophe, the US soldiers' cancers make it clear what long-term health problems can be expected over the next few decades. How serious the damage to future generations of the Japanese population will be, but today is difficult to estimate. It is to be hoped that the affected soldiers succeed with their lawsuit and the operator company is held accountable at this point. Especially since it can be assumed that the crews of other auxiliary ships and other assistants were irradiated accordingly. In the most tragic way possible, the catastrophe has made it clear that the safe use of atomic energy can not be guaranteed, and the devastating magnitude of the damage in the event of a disaster. (Fp)