Fukushima Children at Risk of Heart Disease

Extract

This article expands on Greene's thesis, providing more information on the dangers of exposure to low levels of radiation. Mark Selden introduces the transcript of a speech given by Chris Busby, a British chemical physicist known for his research on the negative health effects of low-dose ionizing radiation. While Busby is a controversial figure within scientific circles, his conclusions are deeply disturbing even if they turn out to be overstated. Most alarmingly, Selden explains that Busby's findings in Ukraine show that amounts of radiation that may be acceptable for adults are lethal to children and developing fetuses.

Radiation has long been known to cause cancers such as leukemia, but Busby shows that children exposed to low levels of radiation actually often develop heart disease before any cancers develop. Because one radioactive particle can damage twenty percent of a small heart (lethal because heart tissue repairs itself relatively slowly), Busby recommends that the Japanese immediately evacuate all children near the stricken nuclear complex. Needless to say, this has not happened.