Kochi's efforts to prove illness caused by hydrogen bomb test

The U.S. hydrogen bomb test explosion on March 1, 1954 in the South Pacific caused exposure to radioactivity in more than 1,000 ships in total, of which 270 ships were Kochi-based. At an international symposium for the Bikini Day events, Yamashita Masatoshi, vice chair of the Kochi prefectural investigative team of the Bikini incident, gave a report on the team's survey for about 20 years and the meager relief for the victims. Following is the summary of Yamashita's interview with Akahata of March 2.

The investigative team has begun a new survey since November 2003. It is because I felt the danger that the memories of the incident are fading away, and the 50th anniversary is the last opportunity for us to probe into this serious historical question.

The average age of victims is over 70. Many of them die in their 50s and 60s, and cancer and heart attack are the major causes of deaths.

The survey has two aims: One is to overcome the argument of the Japanese and U.S. governments about the difficulty to prove a cause-and-effect relationship between radiation exposure and the outbreak of illness. The other is to find ways to relieve the victims.

Tracing of symptoms

To prove a cause-and-effect relationship, we have narrowed down the survey to certain selected ships. When the ship was exposed to radiation, people aboard should also have been exposed. The key is to trace symptoms of medical disorders all the crew members have in the latter half of their life.

Shinsei-maru, a fishing boat from Aki City had a crew of 19, of which 13 died, two are alive and the whereabouts of four are unknown. Eight deaths were caused by cancer and heart attack.

With the Daini Kosei-maru from Muroto City, 11 of its 20-member crew have died, with eight alive and one not located. Seven deaths were caused by cancer and heart attack. More than half of the crew of the two ships died when in their 40s, 50s, and 60s.

This survey result supports previous examination results that a disorder in blood-forming functions is conspicuous among victims of the hydrogen bomb test.

Blood abnormality

In 1986, with the cooperation of the prefectural Federation of Democratic Medical Institutions, the investigative team carried out medical examinations on 18 victims in Tosashimizu City and Muroto City. Ten had neutropena, and 11 people showed low phosphoric acid in their blood. Such abnormality in blood causes failures in immunity and cardiomyopathy. Two symptoms overlapped in seven people. Four people underwent cancer operations.

The fishermen had no idea that the seawater baths they took, the fish they ate, and the rainwater that fell on them contaminated them with radiation. They continued fishing. It is highly possible that they absorbed radioactive substances into their bodies.

A number of government's unclassified documents, however, are preventing such a possibility from being confirmed.

Yamashita said, "We don't even know the names of 98 vessels that were showered with the radioactive fallout. This is a crime committed by the Japanese government to meet U.S. demands."

In January 1955, the Japanese government received 2 million dollars from the United States in compensation for injures and damages caused by the U.S. H-bomb test. It was a "political settlement".

The investigative team went to Okinawa, which was then under U.S. occupation, because they thought that Okinawa would be the most appropriate place to learn what attitudes the United States took towards the Bikini tragedy.

While a massive amount of tuna fish was dumped in mainland Japan on the grounds that Okinawa-shore fish were contaminated, Okinawans kept eating the fish because a U.S. chemical team was telling them that tuna fish are safe. Further, while rumors of contaminated rainfall was prevailing in Japan, 80 percent of Okinawans were using rainwater in their daily life needs.

The fishermen, being kept unknown about the fact that they were exposed to radiation, were not eligible for the A-bomb medical treatment law. A crewmember complained, "I cannot work due to infirmity. It's hard to pay expensive medical bills without any income. Even the Lucky Dragon crew don't have Hibakusha certificates."

On February 19 this year, the investigative team together with the JCP Kochi prefectural assembly members group made representations to the Kochi prefectural government calling for medical checkups to be provided for Hibakusha in the prefecture. The prefecture promised to carry out the medical examination and to get cooperation from the fishermen's co-op as well as to run a workshop for prefectural government employees on the Bikini tragedy.

"The prefecture is responsible for assisting the affected fishermen. They are getting old so there isn't much time left. It's necessary to establish a network without delay, consisting of researchers, students, and all the people calling for peace." (end)