March 1st, sixty years after Lucky Dragon nuclear fallout incident
February 21, 2014
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2014 February 19 - 25 [ANTI-N-ARMS]
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On March 1, 1954, the United States conducted a hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands in the Southern Pacific, causing radiation fallout on a Japanese tuna fishing boat named Lucky Dragon No.5 as well as other fishing boats and local islanders. March 1 (Bikini Day) is a good chance for us to renew our determination to create a world free of nuclear weapons in addition to the more well known days associated with Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9).
The U.S. nuclear experiment sixty years ago caused major exposure to radioactive fallout to the crews of a total of 1,000 fishing boats then operating near the spot, including the Fifth Lucky Dragon. Those who used to live on the islands of the test site still cannot return to their home islands due to high levels of radiation. More than 20,000 residents in Rongelap Atoll were exposed to radiation and are still suffering from severe aftereffects. Along with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the tragedy caused by the U.S. hydrogen bomb test clearly showed that the human race cannot safely coexist with nuclear weapons.
There is a growing demand in the international political arena calling for a ban on and the abolition of nuclear weapons. An international conference on the inhumanity of nuclear weapons was held on February 13 and 14 in Mexico. Government delegates from 146 countries took part and discussed how atomic weapons could cause disastrous impacts on humans and the natural environment. Survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings in Japan also attended the meeting to call on the participants to work to achieve a world free from nuclear weapons. Last year, 125 countries issued a joint statement on the humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons.
Japan experienced three A-bombed tragedies: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Bikini. Japan has a special responsibility to call for a total ban on nuclear weapons.
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