WUNRN
March 21, 2011
JAPAN - UNBORN BABIES VERY
SENSITIVE TO RADIATION,
ESPECIALLY IN EARLY STAGES OF
PREGNANCY
Shunsei Sato sitting
on the lap of his mother Maki, from Soma in
YURIKO NAKAO/REUTERS
Kenyon
Wallace
While the effects of a full-scale nuclear meltdown would no
doubt be devastating to those nearest the calamity or in the path of any moving
cloud of radioactivity, among the most vulnerable in such a situation would be
the country’s unborn, doctors are warning.
“Fetuses are very sensitive to radiation, especially in the
early phases of pregnancy,” said Dr. Jeff Patterson, a professor at the University of Wisconsin School
of Medicine and Public Health.
The immediate effects of the humanitarian crisis enveloping
But it is the long-term consequences, those that aren’t yet
visible, that may prove to be the most debilitating: the deep emotional
scarring, the damage to
Unborn babies between weeks two and 15 of pregnancy are
particularly sensitive to radiation, even if the doses are too low to make the
mother sick, according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. Exposure to radiation in the womb has
been found to cause mental retardation, stunted growth, deformities, and
increased risk in developing cancer — particularly leukemia.
Radiation can reach the fetus if the mother’s abdomen is exposed
to the radioactive source, or if the mother swallows or breathes in radioactive
materials that get into her bloodstream.
Cesium-137, for example, a long-lived radionuclide with a
half-life of 30 years, is absorbed in muscle, including muscle in the uterus,
where it can remain, exposing the unborn baby to radiation, says Patterson.
Studies conducted after the atomic bombs were dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 found that unborn children between the eighth
and 15th weeks of pregnancy that were exposed to the bombs’ radiation had a
high rate of brain damage, resulting in lower IQs and severe mental
retardation, according the CDCP.
The primary risk of Iodine-131, the radionuclide reported to
have been released from the
Arjun Makhijani, president of the U.S. Institute for Energy and
Environmental Research, said while the decision by Japanese authorities to
evacuate everyone within a 30-kilometre radius of the reactors is wise,
pregnant women should remain indoors and continue to take potassium iodide
tablets.
The compound saturates the thyroid gland, thereby preventing the
dangerous iodine radionuclides from being absorbed.
“Because the iodine isotopes are short-lived, the risk will last
for about three months, but it depends on the fallout patterns and where the
food and water comes from,” Makhijani told the Star.
On Saturday, Japanese authorities reported that iodine exceeding
government safety limits had been found in spinach and milk from farms near the
stricken nuclear plant. The tainted spinach was found as far away as 120 kilometres
from the crippled complex; the milk was collected from a farm about 30
kilometres away. Iodine contamination has also been found on canola and
chrysanthemum greens.
Makhijani said people in the area should avoid not only milk and
spinach, but most fresh produce until authorities can ascertain any further
levels of contamination.
“But that will be difficult, given that there are few
alternative sources for food at the moment.”
Indeed, even potable water could become scarce in some areas.
Emergency workers have already warned residents in one village about 30
kilometres northwest of the plant not to drink tap water because of
higher-than-normal levels of iodine. Trace elements of cesium have also been
measured in
If any negative effects on fetuses or their mothers are found in
the coming months or years, Japanese culture experts say they are hoping the
social stigma similar to that suffered by victims of radiation poisoning after
After World War II, victims became known as hibakusha, a term that literally means
“suffering from the bomb,” said Yuki Miyamoto, a religious ethics professor at DePaul University in
“Many hibakusha
never revealed their identities because of the fear that it could affect their
children’s marriage or employment prospects,” Miyamoto said. “But in the last
two decades, these people who suffered radiation poisoning began coming out
because by this time their children had grown up and found stable lives.
“I’m hoping that there will be no stigma for the people who may be exposed to radiation.”
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