With the third anniversary of the earthquake that resulted in the Fukushima nuclear disaster approaching, protests have been on the rise in the country, especially with the increasing concern that young children are slowly becoming cancer victims.
Thousands across the country are now coming out to protest on the third anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe. The protesters are angry on the lies and false information which were being spread on the nature of the disaster.
On 11 March 2011, a catastrophic failure occurred at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant when it was hit by the tsunami, leading to the release of substantial amounts of radioactive materials, beginning on 12 March. It is now considered the largest nuclear incident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
However, for long there have been several lies that have been told to keep the people in the country and the international community in the dark.
The first was by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Speaking on the consequences of the Fukushima disaster the IAEA declared in 2011: "To date no health effects have been reported in any person as a result of radiation exposure from the accident."
The second was what the prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, said before the International Olympic Committee as he successfully pushed to have the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, just 180 miles from Fukushima. "There are no health-related problems until now, nor will there be in the future. I make the statement to you in the most emphatic and unequivocal way," he had said.
But the truth is far from this. The Japan Daily Press reported earlier in February that 75 people living in Fukushima Prefecture have now been diagnosed with either definitive or suspected thyroid gland cancer due to exposure to radiation.
The debate on the ill effects of the Fukushima radiation on the health of children has been getting intense. There were reportedly 400,000 children who were living in Fukushima on 11 March 2011.
In an August 2013 report, the total number of children who have been diagnosed with or suspected of having cancer had reached 44. There has been a steady surge since then, and in the most recent report in February, it was found that as of now eight more children were detected with thyroid cancer.
The government and its machinery still continue to dodge on the real extend of the ill effects of the radiation leaks.
