Court rules government policy on A-bomb illness recognition as inappropriate

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Court rules government policy on A-bomb illness recognition as inappropriate

The Nagoya District Court on January 31 ordered the government to certify two of four Hibakusha (atomic-bomb survivors) as suffering from illnesses caused by A-bomb radiation.

The four plaintiffs called on the court to overturn the government decision to reject their application for official recognition as having A-bomb related diseases.

Following the decisions of the Osaka District Court in May and the Hiroshima District Court in August last year, this is the third ruling that condemned the government policy on recognizing A-bomb illnesses.

The ruling criticized the Health Ministry's mechanical way of certifying Hibakusha's diseases, stating that by mechanically applying the criteria the judgment about the cause-and-effect relationship may fail to reflect the realities and lead to a wrong decision.

The plaintiffs' lawyers at a press conference said the ruling is positive in that it severely criticized the government's mechanical form of judgment.

The court dismissed two of four plaintiffs' claim on the grounds that their illnesses are common to elderly people and there is no unanimous judgment among the experts about their cases. The two plaintiffs will appeal to a higher court.

Similar lawsuits have been filed by 229 plaintiffs and are pending at two high courts and 17 district courts, including Nagoya. Although Hibakusha won the suits in Osaka and Hiroshima, the government appealed the decision to higher courts.
- Akahata, February 1, 2007