I can only go on my own experience with the ill effects of radiation and my child's development of Stage 3 thyroid cancer after I had around a dozen x-rays months 5-9 of my pregnancy.
What this suggests to me is that some of the 'calculated safe dosages' are set too low.
I heard one study that said it would take thousands of x-rays to get a cancer result. Yet; my child's cancer is the reality ... I know something is amiss there ... but I am not able to pinpoint why such a small amount of radiation would have caused this ... The cancer type is pappilary. I had probably 50-75 x-rays (maybe more) over a 10-yr period of time (a dozen or so during last months of pregnancy)
So while I now know more on how the measurements of sieverts are calculated, I know, too, somewhere deep inside, the numbers surely must not be accurate.
I would rather air on the side of caution with children and people of child bearing age than be sorry later. It is no shame to air on the side of caution in this situation. Rather, it is a tribute to common sense.
I was relieved to see some of our television stations returning our fabulous reporters. Danger of one/two getting shot during a conflict is much different than the seriousness of radiation. Because radiation is invisible it might seem harmless. After all, no bullets are flying around. Quite the opposite is true.
Without coming across as sounding crass, my gosh what is wrong with you that you had to have that many x-rays in those 4 months? Was your doctor stupid taking that many while you were pregnant knowing the possible affects on your baby? Prayers for you and your child.
During my 5th month of pregnancy I had a spontaneous pneumathorax. Docs needed x-rays (probably had 3 for diagnosis); then docs wanted to insert a tube to assist in reinflating my lung (2-3 x-rays day of hospitalization before procedure, 2-3 x-rays after insertion of tube to confirm position); next day, 2 or 3 more x-rays to see if it was working. Tube removed, 2 or 3 more x-rays to confirm lung inflated.
Then about every other year for the next decade, I had another spontaneous penumathroax --- more x-rays with each occurrence.
Then had surgery (pleuradesis (sp) on both lungs, ten years after pregnancy. Docs say success rate way up there, in 90%s, let pilots fly again when they have this surgery. Being the 'exception to the rule', I had another partial collapsed lung even after surgery.
These are the x-rays I think caused harm. The ones during pregnancy, of course I think so; but also all those others over a ten-year period when I probably had my daughter pulled close to me reading to her. I was never told by any doc after a routine x-ray to keep a distance from my child. And I wonder about that.
One other source of radiation I had ... child was frank breach birth. Docs took x-rays of her position to assist them with her birth. No lead blankets were used for these as with all the ones for my lung problems.
Every village, town, or city within 200 miles of a nuclear power plant should rewrite their Disaster Preparedness Plan after Fukushima. That being said... I suspect most don't have one anyway.
Hey crawdad, how would YOU know??? Are you some sort of expert on this? And your use of the derogatory term "Japs" in uncalled for and unappreciated. Go back to bed.
I have to agree with Ms Jean Aizawa; crawdad is a big time loser. My guess would be that he has absolutely no knowledge of anything remotely related to a nuclear reactor, radiation, or its effects.
Sounds to me like unless you had a strict, continual diet of milk and spinach, you should be okay. Milk=1 CT scan per year. Spinach=1/5 of a CT scan per year. Maybe instead of getting rid of nuclear power we should put a limitation on the number of CT scans you can get in a certain period of time. Oh wait......that radiation saves your life so that makes it okay.
Coulter, rush sean and fox news says there's NO danger. They say everything the Japanese government says is a lie. Coulter says radiation is good for you and people seek it out. rush says there's more radiation in a bannana. Who do YOU believe?
I was born in Japan and live in Hokkaido 600 kilometers away from Fukushima.
ALL Japanese TV shows and radios restricted by Japanese government (The Democratic Party) and keep telling a lie to all Japanese even there is more high radiation in other prefectures.
Most young Japanese knows these nuclear problems are cause by the Democratic Party with the internet but others like older think Tokyo electric company is responsible.
The Democratic Party starts restricted to watch U.S. CNN and other countries information too.
Information restriction getting worse and worse like Chinese government does.
We need a help to Overthrow of the cabinet by other countries!
You say you're Japanese but you write as if you were not. Do you want other countries to overthrow the government?? And you're asking for help on the internet??
All governments around the world are not perfect because their rulers are humans full of mistakes! Learn that! They promise something, you vote for them, they got power, they got corrupted, and so on. Even with a new government or cabinet or congress, the story repeats itself!!
If other countries intervene, they will bring caos to Japan. The economy will be down for years, unemployment will rise, international trade will stop, thousands of people will die, buildings will be destroyed...in a few words, Japan will disappear.
I love Japan because I live there. I don't agree with most of the work of the government, but you have to admit that there's no other place where you can get an unemployment insurance, economic help for the homeless, single mothers and disabled people.
I'm sure we can blame somebody for what happened in Fukushima, that's the easy part! Point out the guilty people!
Just think and consider this: What are YOU doing for YOUR country? what are YOU doing for the hopeless people in Fukushima? What are YOU doing for all the children that lost their parents? What are YOU doing to make it better?
Do you want to make it better? Stop complaining and stop blaming!
This article is not giving enough information! It just gives the information that this page wants to sell, not what you really need to know!! I hate the media sometimes because they put alarming headlines and the information inside is not complete.
For example: What is the radiation level permited?? What is the radiation level after the nuclear power plants exploded?? Is it higher in other countries, like US or Russia, or Italy?? We need something to compare if it's really dangerous or not!
what i find funny is the fact that there are some, including the owners of the nuclear plant, who continue to downplay the seriousness of this problem. initially, these people said there was no problem. then it became a minor problem. now, it is a major problem. if radiation of unacceptable levels is now in the food chain, this is should concern the japanese people.
another disturbing factor in this is the bashing of the media by people whose experience in nuclear physics and power plant construction is nil. i have watched all three major 24 hour news services and all have had nuclear physicists appear on their shows to relate the seriousness of this problem. it seems that those who do not find this a serious problem are corporate apologists. does the name BP ring an alarm bell?
General Electric---Have fun with your lies while you can.You won't have a pot to pee in when Japan gets through sueing you.Good-bye and good riddance to the lie factory that is NBC/MSMBC/CNBC.
Certainly possible that GE shares the blame. BUT, these Japanese power plants were designed to withstand Tsunamis and earthquakes, except for ones that occur every 1200 years or so.
Massive earthquakes are possible throughout most of the United States, not just the west coast. I hope we have built in safeguards for such rare events.
Sometimes Mother Nature reminds us all who is the boss.
Please check out Rick Simpson's Youtube video entitled, "Run from the Cure"....it's a sure way to help keep people from getting cancer in the first place, and it's a sure way to get rid of most cancers that we know of. Peace
to the Japanese person who wrote in: I am so sorry and apologize for the guy who wrote so rudely to you. Please don;t take them as representative of all Americans. I am friends with the child of two nuclear physicists and he confirmed for me what you wrote here, that likely the radiation is at MUCH higher levels than they let on. The issue is that those in power know there would be riots and food shortages etc if the truth were let on, esp the very likely truth that the radiation has already reached the west coast of the united states via the Gulf stream. I pray for you and your people in these times, and for strength for you all to endure and esp to make your government and leaders responsible for what has occurred, and to fix it, which may be impossible sadly. The likelihood is that reactor three melted down into the water table in Japan, else why else the continuing steam , steam not smoke as they keep saying, smoke is black and this was not. And if so, the Japanese have a HUGE problem. Not to mention the seas and the fish will likely be radioactive, and sorry, that will not go away . This stuff has a half life of 250,000 years. The nuclear industry in Japan is NOT regulated, as it is in the US. God bless you and I pray for you all, and for us all.
It isn't crass at all. I was young-n-dumb ... didn't even question the docs about all these x-rays. Back then the public was thrilled with everything the nuclear age had to offer ... no harm, much benefit ... and we believed it. Hind sight is so grand. (smile). I hope surely today doctors shy away from any x-rays when women are pregnant.
OMG more pointless radiation hype THANKS! I needed more of that.
I can only go on my own experience with the ill effects of radiation and my child's development of Stage 3 thyroid cancer after I had around a dozen x-rays months 5-9 of my pregnancy.
What this suggests to me is that some of the 'calculated safe dosages' are set too low.
I heard one study that said it would take thousands of x-rays to get a cancer result. Yet; my child's cancer is the reality ... I know something is amiss there ... but I am not able to pinpoint why such a small amount of radiation would have caused this ... The cancer type is pappilary. I had probably 50-75 x-rays (maybe more) over a 10-yr period of time (a dozen or so during last months of pregnancy)
So while I now know more on how the measurements of sieverts are calculated, I know, too, somewhere deep inside, the numbers surely must not be accurate.
I would rather air on the side of caution with children and people of child bearing age than be sorry later. It is no shame to air on the side of caution in this situation. Rather, it is a tribute to common sense.
I was relieved to see some of our television stations returning our fabulous reporters. Danger of one/two getting shot during a conflict is much different than the seriousness of radiation. Because radiation is invisible it might seem harmless. After all, no bullets are flying around. Quite the opposite is true.
Without coming across as sounding crass, my gosh what is wrong with you that you had to have that many x-rays in those 4 months? Was your doctor stupid taking that many while you were pregnant knowing the possible affects on your baby? Prayers for you and your child.
Jim,
During my 5th month of pregnancy I had a spontaneous pneumathorax. Docs needed x-rays (probably had 3 for diagnosis); then docs wanted to insert a tube to assist in reinflating my lung (2-3 x-rays day of hospitalization before procedure, 2-3 x-rays after insertion of tube to confirm position); next day, 2 or 3 more x-rays to see if it was working. Tube removed, 2 or 3 more x-rays to confirm lung inflated.
Then about every other year for the next decade, I had another spontaneous penumathroax --- more x-rays with each occurrence.
Then had surgery (pleuradesis (sp) on both lungs, ten years after pregnancy. Docs say success rate way up there, in 90%s, let pilots fly again when they have this surgery. Being the 'exception to the rule', I had another partial collapsed lung even after surgery.
These are the x-rays I think caused harm. The ones during pregnancy, of course I think so; but also all those others over a ten-year period when I probably had my daughter pulled close to me reading to her. I was never told by any doc after a routine x-ray to keep a distance from my child. And I wonder about that.
One other source of radiation I had ... child was frank breach birth. Docs took x-rays of her position to assist them with her birth. No lead blankets were used for these as with all the ones for my lung problems.
Every village, town, or city within 200 miles of a nuclear power plant should rewrite their Disaster Preparedness Plan after Fukushima. That being said... I suspect most don't have one anyway.
we are being lied to by the japs, it's worse than they say.
Japanese would be better than Jap don't you think Mr big time loser!!!
we are being lied to by the japanese,it's worse than they say. howzat
Hey crawdad, how would YOU know??? Are you some sort of expert on this? And your use of the derogatory term "Japs" in uncalled for and unappreciated. Go back to bed.
I don't think anyone should waste their time arguing with bigots.
I have to agree with Ms Jean Aizawa; crawdad is a big time loser. My guess would be that he has absolutely no knowledge of anything remotely related to a nuclear reactor, radiation, or its effects.
Don't eat the spinach or drink the milk.
Sounds to me like unless you had a strict, continual diet of milk and spinach, you should be okay. Milk=1 CT scan per year. Spinach=1/5 of a CT scan per year. Maybe instead of getting rid of nuclear power we should put a limitation on the number of CT scans you can get in a certain period of time. Oh wait......that radiation saves your life so that makes it okay.
Coulter, rush sean and fox news says there's NO danger. They say everything the Japanese government says is a lie. Coulter says radiation is good for you and people seek it out. rush says there's more radiation in a bannana. Who do YOU believe?
I was born in Japan and live in Hokkaido 600 kilometers away from Fukushima.
ALL Japanese TV shows and radios restricted by Japanese government (The Democratic Party) and keep telling a lie to all Japanese even there is more high radiation in other prefectures.
Most young Japanese knows these nuclear problems are cause by the Democratic Party with the internet but others like older think Tokyo electric company is responsible.
The Democratic Party starts restricted to watch U.S. CNN and other countries information too.
Information restriction getting worse and worse like Chinese government does.
We need a help to Overthrow of the cabinet by other countries!
PLEASE HELP US!
At last, sorry for my poor English and thanks.
You say you're Japanese but you write as if you were not. Do you want other countries to overthrow the government?? And you're asking for help on the internet??
All governments around the world are not perfect because their rulers are humans full of mistakes! Learn that! They promise something, you vote for them, they got power, they got corrupted, and so on. Even with a new government or cabinet or congress, the story repeats itself!!
If other countries intervene, they will bring caos to Japan. The economy will be down for years, unemployment will rise, international trade will stop, thousands of people will die, buildings will be destroyed...in a few words, Japan will disappear.
I love Japan because I live there. I don't agree with most of the work of the government, but you have to admit that there's no other place where you can get an unemployment insurance, economic help for the homeless, single mothers and disabled people.
I'm sure we can blame somebody for what happened in Fukushima, that's the easy part! Point out the guilty people!
Just think and consider this: What are YOU doing for YOUR country? what are YOU doing for the hopeless people in Fukushima? What are YOU doing for all the children that lost their parents? What are YOU doing to make it better?
Do you want to make it better? Stop complaining and stop blaming!
This article is not giving enough information! It just gives the information that this page wants to sell, not what you really need to know!! I hate the media sometimes because they put alarming headlines and the information inside is not complete.
For example: What is the radiation level permited?? What is the radiation level after the nuclear power plants exploded?? Is it higher in other countries, like US or Russia, or Italy?? We need something to compare if it's really dangerous or not!
what i find funny is the fact that there are some, including the owners of the nuclear plant, who continue to downplay the seriousness of this problem. initially, these people said there was no problem. then it became a minor problem. now, it is a major problem. if radiation of unacceptable levels is now in the food chain, this is should concern the japanese people.
another disturbing factor in this is the bashing of the media by people whose experience in nuclear physics and power plant construction is nil. i have watched all three major 24 hour news services and all have had nuclear physicists appear on their shows to relate the seriousness of this problem. it seems that those who do not find this a serious problem are corporate apologists. does the name BP ring an alarm bell?
Would they tell us even if there were? I don't know who to trust or believe anymore.
General Electric---Have fun with your lies while you can.You won't have a pot to pee in when Japan gets through sueing you.Good-bye and good riddance to the lie factory that is NBC/MSMBC/CNBC.
Don,
Certainly possible that GE shares the blame. BUT, these Japanese power plants were designed to withstand Tsunamis and earthquakes, except for ones that occur every 1200 years or so.
Massive earthquakes are possible throughout most of the United States, not just the west coast. I hope we have built in safeguards for such rare events.
Sometimes Mother Nature reminds us all who is the boss.
Please check out Rick Simpson's Youtube video entitled, "Run from the Cure"....it's a sure way to help keep people from getting cancer in the first place, and it's a sure way to get rid of most cancers that we know of. Peace
to the Japanese person who wrote in: I am so sorry and apologize for the guy who wrote so rudely to you. Please don;t take them as representative of all Americans. I am friends with the child of two nuclear physicists and he confirmed for me what you wrote here, that likely the radiation is at MUCH higher levels than they let on. The issue is that those in power know there would be riots and food shortages etc if the truth were let on, esp the very likely truth that the radiation has already reached the west coast of the united states via the Gulf stream. I pray for you and your people in these times, and for strength for you all to endure and esp to make your government and leaders responsible for what has occurred, and to fix it, which may be impossible sadly. The likelihood is that reactor three melted down into the water table in Japan, else why else the continuing steam , steam not smoke as they keep saying, smoke is black and this was not. And if so, the Japanese have a HUGE problem. Not to mention the seas and the fish will likely be radioactive, and sorry, that will not go away . This stuff has a half life of 250,000 years. The nuclear industry in Japan is NOT regulated, as it is in the US. God bless you and I pray for you all, and for us all.
It isn't crass at all. I was young-n-dumb ... didn't even question the docs about all these x-rays. Back then the public was thrilled with everything the nuclear age had to offer ... no harm, much benefit ... and we believed it. Hind sight is so grand. (smile). I hope surely today doctors shy away from any x-rays when women are pregnant.