Fwd: Urgent Petition Against 20mSv Radiation Exposure onto Children in Fukushima

* Petition fwd from Makiko Sato on April 24, 2011
Friends,
Let me forward to you the below email.
If you can help with endorsing and spreading this, they'd very much appreciate it.
In two days, 16,000 endorsements have been collected.
As our government may make little of such domestic petitions,
we need some endorsements from the outside of Japan as pressure to our government.
Thank you in advance.
Makiko Sato
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Dear all,
This is urgent request from Japanese civil societies for children in
Fukushima. Japanese Government decided the level of 20mSv per year (mSv/y)
as a Radiation Safety Standard for schools in Fukushima Prefecture. It
is also comparable to the maximum dose allowed for nuclear power plant
workers in Germany.

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Urgent Petition Against 20mSv Radiation Exposure onto Children in Fukushima
http://blog.canpan.info/foejapan/daily/201104/24
==================================

[Date will be date of submission: April or May 2011]
[Emergency Statement and Demands]

We urgently demand the withdrawal of the Japanese Government's inhumane
decision to force 20mSv per year radiation exposure onto children

Sign the petition http://blog.canpan.info/foejapan/daily/201104/24

Preliminary deadline: Tue. April 26, 2011 at 23:00 in Japanese time
(UTC/GMT +9 hours)
Final deadline:Sat. April 30, 2011 at 23:00 in Japanese time

On April 19th, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology (MEXT) notified the Board of Education and related
institutions in Fukushima Prefecture the level of 20mSv per year (mSv/y)
as a Radiation Safety Standard for schools in Fukushima Prefecture. This
is the standard to be used for school grounds and buildings. The
Government has indicated that 20mSv/y is equivalent to 3.8mSv per hour
(mSv/h) measured outdoors.

3.8 mSv/h is roughly 6 times [the 0.6mSv/h] of “Radiation Controlled
Areas” (0.6 mSv/h or more). The Labour Standards Act prohibits those
under the age of 18 from working under these conditions. Forcing
children to be exposed to such radiation doses is an exceedingly
inhumane decision. Therefore, we condemn this in the strongest terms.

20 mSv/y is comparable to the [legally] recognized dose for inducing
leukemia in nuclear power plant workers. It is also comparable to the
maximum dose allowed for nuclear power plant workers in Germany.

In addition, this 20mSv standard [for Japanese children] does not take
into account the fact children have higher sensitivity to radiation than
adults, nor does it take into account any internal radiation exposure.

Currently, according to the radiation monitoring conducted at elementary
and middle schools within Fukushima Prefecture, more than 75% of these
schools have contamination levels comparable to "Radiation Controlled
Areas" (0.6 mSv/h or more). Further, roughly 20% of the schools fall
within "Individual Exposure Controlled Areas" (2.3 mSv/h or more) and
are in an extremely dangerous situation.

The level set by the Japanese Government at this time amounts to
coercion of this dangerous situation upon children, and, can interfere
with voluntary measures by schools to minimize exposure.

MEXT states that 20mSv/y is based on the recommendation Pub.109 by the
International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) as well as on
the reference levels in the band of 1 to 20 mSv/y as "Post Emergency
Situation" Standards from the ICRP statement released on March 21st. The
latter means MEXT has adopted the maximum level.

As of March 21st, there has been no substantive information disclosure
by the Japanese Government on the decision-making process for
establishing these standards. Moreover, no explanation has been given
concerning why the Government has neither taken the sensitivity of
children into consideration nor internal radiation exposure into account.
The contents of the consultation held between MEXT and the Nuclear
Safety Commission (NSC) are not disclosed, and the situation remains
extremely opaque.

We demand the following of the Japanese Government:
-Retraction of the "20mSv/y" standard for children.
-Disclosure of the names of experts, who deemed "20mSv/y" for children
to be safe.

Note:
At the governmental negotiation held on April 21st, it became evident
that the Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC) concluded the 20mSv/y standard
for children as "Permissible" without undertaking any formal
consultation. Moreover, on April 22nd, the Commission reported to the
office of Mizuho FUKUSHIMA, member of the Japanese Diet, House of
Councillors that no minutes (records) exist of the 5 Nuclear Safety
Commission members' deliberation leading to the 20mSv/year standard.

References:
Expert comments cited from the articles on the establishment of the
20mSv/y standard ("Fukushima-Katastrophe - Japan legt hohe
Strahlengrenzwerte fur Kinder fest" or "Japan's MEXT sets High Exposure
Limits for Children"), Der Spiegel, April 21st, 2011.
(See comparison to German workers.)
http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/0,1518,758410,00.html

Edmund Lengfelder (Otto Hug Radiation Institute),
"The cancer risk will visibly rise in the future. By setting these
standards, the government will steer clear of any liability legally,
however not morally."
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This petition is being organized by:
Green Action, Greenpeace Japan, Citizens' Nuclear Information Center,
Citizens Against Fukushima Aging Nuclear Power Plants (Fukuro-no-Kai),
Osaka Citizens Against the Mihama, Oi, and Takahama Nuclear Power Plants
(Mihama-no-Kai), Friends of the Earth Japan

For further inquiries, please contact:

Green Action
Suite 103, 22-75 Tanaka Sekiden-cho
Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8203 Japan
Tel: +81-75-701-7223
info@greenaction-japan.org

Friends of the Earth Japan
3-30-8-1F Ikebukuro Toshima-ku Tokyo 171-0014, Japan
TEL: +81-3-6907-7217
finance@foejapan.org

[English translation of Japanese original: FoE Japan / Green Action]

http://fukushima.greenaction-japan.org/2011/04/23/save-the-fukushima-children-japanese-citizens-meet-with-government/
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