WHO: Fukushima radiation caused more trauma

A report by the World Health Organization (WHO) released Thursday, February 28, said that the trauma caused by radioactive emissions of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant two years ago is worse than the actual threat of human diseases. The report on health effects of the “Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami” said the lifetime risk of contracting certain cancer types was small and is “likely to remain below detectable levels.” It is the psychological effects of the disaster – fear, anxiety and depression – that can be worse because radiation is invisible. Victims have a hard time understanding the magnitude of its effects, the report said. The young emergency workers at the plant who inhaled high doses of radioactive iodine are likely to be more vulnerable to developing thyroid cancer, the WHO said, but because the thyroid is relatively resistant to cancer, overall risk still remains low. The Fukushima disaster was prompted by an 8.9-magnitude earthquake that generated a tsunami of historic proportions on March 11, 2011.

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