22/03 Health experts try to calm radiation fears.

2011/03/22

Hoping to avert mass panic over the crippled nuclear reactors in Fukushima Prefecture, health experts say the risks of radiation contamination at this point are minimal.

Their advice comes as hordes of citizens rush to special facilities to be checked for radiation exposure. Many others have been popping iodine tablets without realizing what side effects can accrue as workers struggle to avert catastrophe at the quake-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant some 240 kilometers north of Tokyo.

One health expert urged people to remain calm, saying, "Iodine tablets can be effective (in protecting against radiation), but they can also have side effects."

On Friday afternoon, a woman stormed into the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba shouting to a security guard outside, "I heard I can have my radiation level checked here."

The woman arrived in a car registered in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture. The three other occupants, apparently family members, jostled for space as the rear seat was crammed with baggage.

The woman was directed to drive her car to the main entrance.

Another car, also registered in Iwaki, turned up soon afterward. Again, the driver inquired of the guard about getting a radiation check.

The institute has been inundated with inquiries on radiation exposure.

More than 1,000 people had called by Saturday, tying up all six telephone lines. Callers included people living in the Kanto region.

The institute only provides radiation checks for residents living near the Fukushima nuclear power complex who had not yet been tested.

Makoto Akashi, director of the institute's Research Center for Radiation Emergency Medicine, said, "Even among residents living in a 30-kilometer radius of the plant, there were few cases that required decontamination. Those cases concerned people who had been close to the plant."

Akashi said residents living beyond a 30-km radius are safe and do not need to be tested.

The Japan Radiological Society issued a statement Friday urging people to remain calm.

It said the only people at risk right now are those "who are battling to restore functions of nuclear power plants."

Health experts said there is a lot of misunderstanding about taking iodine tablets.

The tablets are most effective if taken in a designated dose two to three hours before a person is exposed to radiation.

According to the health ministry, some people have taken iodine tablets previously distributed by municipalities.

Some members of a special squad in Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department, who were deployed to Fukushima to help cool down the problem reactors with water, took twice or three times the normal dosage to protect themselves from radiation, the ministry said.

The Japanese Society of Nuclear Medicine also called for caution.

"At this stage, taking iodine tablets for thyroid protection is not necessary," the society said. "Rather, it should be avoided since it could be harmful to health."

An official said that exceeding the proper dosage of iodine tablets could actually damage thyroid functions and "possibly increase the absorption of radioactive iodine, which could backfire later."

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare advised the Fukushima prefectural government and local municipalities to only allow residents to take iodine tables in the presence of doctors or other medical experts.


(This article was written by Yumi Miyajima and Yuri Oiwa.)