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第4章患者救済に奔走した活動記録〈論文・研究発表〉FUKUSHIMA いのちの最前線503N. TAKAMURA et al.cancers, benign diseases, genetic effects, or effects on unborn babies among residents living around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant has not been scientifically demonstrated. However, social unrest and mental damage caused by the accident is thought to be more serious than the physical damage due to direct radiation exposure. Especially those who were forced to evacuate immediately after the accident and those who were forced to move have issues related to social and economic unstableness. In addition, problems of current health fears and strong anxiety over health impacts on future generations have come up. A paucity of scientific research is available on psychological effects and many psychological effects are not determined as health disorder. The WHO report mentioned above states that what the residents are suffering from is at a potential subclinical level which is not clinically identified as abnormal. The report also requires future resolution. When we look at the current situation in Fukushima, we should see the radiophobia brought by mass media. Rumors have widely spread among the residents due to lack of accurate information. The same fear has been found in other areas including Tokyo metropolitan area even though they are far from Fukushima. This panic like phenomena can be attributed to the internet societies which magnified irresponsible groundless information or rumors. To provide accurate information and thorough mental care is critically required in order not to let people in Fukushima, especially mothers and their children, have the similar fear of potential health problems that people had in Chernobyl. Farmers and workers engaged in the primary industries are under another threat. Primary industries have been thriving in Fukushima, however, their products are vulnerable to harmful rumors or misinformation. The people are anticipating financial damages and some have even committed suicide because of the fear of the future. Immediate action must be taken to prevent such tragedy. A correct information source and the proper passing of information by the media are required in health risk communication with regards to radiation. However, preceding those, the health risk communication requires individual awareness of risk to understand and judge risk. To develop such risk awareness, mutual trust must be built between the information source, media, and recipients of information. Radioactive fallout caused internal exposure among residents in Chernobyl. However, workers who were in the nuclear plant when the accident happened and those who did the recovery operation after the accident had a potential risk of high-level external exposure. The same is true in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. In Chernobyl, 134 people were diagnosed with acute radiation syndrom (ARS). ARS killed 28 of them immediately and 19 of them died due to various reasons between 1987 and 2004. According to the follow-up survey for the workers who registered in the emergency work in the Russian Federation, 116 people died because of solid cancers and 110 people died due to cardiovascular diseases. However, causality with radiation exposure is unknown. The survey also identified that 24 death cases were attributed to acute leukemia, however, the cause was difficult to prove since the average radiation was 115 mSv5). Another follow-up survey conducted for the decontamination workers in the Ukraine reported that 18 workers died due to acute leukemia and their radiation exposure was between 120 and 500 mSv6). The impacts on cardiovascular and immune systems of the decontamination workers have been argued in Chernobyl, however, until today, nothing explicit has suggested the relation between radiation exposure and the impacts. Analysis of other confounders and long-term accurate investigation and examination are essential. Currently, the uppermost radiation exposure is specified as 250 mSv for the workers IMPACT ON WORKERS' HEALTH IN CHERNOBYL

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