Doctors demand shutdown of all nuclear power plants

Doctors worldwide demand the shutdown of all nuclear power plants

14/03/2011

The medical organization IPPNW calls for the immediate shutdown of all nuclear power plants worldwide in view of the dramatic events in Japan. „The risks can not be controlled even in the supposedly safe nuclear power plants of the western world. The IPPNW points out that the population density in Japan is about 15 times higher than in the Chernobyl region (Japan: 337 inhabitants / square kilometer). Depending on the wind direction and weather conditions, the health effects in Japan can be dramatic.“

The radioactive cloud will not stop at the borders of Japan. After the supergain in Chernobyl, radioactivity increased even in Japan, thousands of miles away. „Although it is likely that the cloud in Japan will be able to move with the radioactive isotopes in lower air layers than after Chernobyl, a widespread spread of hazardous substances in the northern hemisphere is not ruled out. It is to be feared that Japan's fallout will be more concentrated due to asset differences.“

Sharp criticism also expressed the doctors in the direction of the Federal Minister Norbert Röttgen (CDU). “The same was said 25 years ago by the then Federal Government after the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl,“ IPPNW board member Reinhold Thiel. „It is now time for politics to prevail in Germany against the powerful nuclear lobby. It is irresponsible that we citizens are endangered just because a few corporations want to make a profit“, explains Thiel.

The IPPNW had been founded in 1980 from Russian and American cardiologists. According to own data approximately 7000 physicians and medical students are organized in the medical community. (Sb)

Also read:
Radioactive Radiation: Health Effects
Nationwide actions planned for the nuclear phase-out

Picture: Gerd Altmann