Radioactive Leak in Japan : Leukemia, Lymphoma and Other Health Risk

Earthquakes coupled with tsunamis that terrorized Japan raises the potential for new possibility of long term danger concerning health. The possible nuclear meltdown can produce serious health threat that can follow as nuclear power plants (NPP) in Japan exploded due to the instability brought by the disaster. The threat of radioactive contamination can be something that can be possible, to inevitable.

Nuclear radiation is a kind of substance – per se, as these are blasts of atomic particles – that when dangerously high levels of it is leaked in the environment, can cause serious harm to the human body. Nuclear radiations comes from radionuclide (radioisotopes), an unstable nucleus that continually blast out atomic particles due to excessive energy.

As mentioned in www.atomicarchive.com site, there are at least seven harmful effects human body when exposed to radioactive leaks from nuclear power plants.

1) Reproductive system ~ the reproductive tract will damage the reproductive tract with enough power under 200 Rems. In the long term, radiation victims will experience infertility.

2) Thyroid glands ~ the thyroid gland is very susceptible to radioactive iodine. In certain amount, radioactive iodine can destroy part or all of the thyroid.

3) Heart ~ when exposed to radiation measuring Rems 1000 to 5000 will result in direct damage to blood vessels and can lead to heart failure and sudden death.

4) Hair ~ Hair will disappear quickly when exposed to radiation at 200 Rems or more. Rems is a unit of radioactive strength.

5) Gastrointestinal ~ radiation with a strength of 200 Rems will cause damage to the lining of the intestinal tract and can cause nausea, vomiting and bloody diarrhea.

6) Brain ~ brain cells will not be damaged directly unless exposed to radiation measuring Rems 5000 or more. Like the heart, radiation kills nerve cells and blood vessels and can cause seizures and sudden death.

7) Hematologic system ~ when a person is exposed to radiation of about 100 Rems, blood lymphocyte count would be reduced, so that victims are more susceptible to infection. The initial symptoms are flu-like illness. According to the data when Nagasaki and Hiroshima explosions (World War II), showed symptoms can last for 10 years and may have long-term risks such as leukemia and lymphoma. This is so because the build-up or constant exposure of and to harmful radioactive wastes can alter the DNA integrity of our bone marrow. Since DNA dictates how and what kind of cells are produced, DNA alterations can cause production of abnormal blood cell lines – leukemic cells.

Realizing the health hazard of radioactive radiation impact on the recent events, the Japanese government immediately set a high alert following a potential radioactive leaks at five nuclear reactors at two separate nuclear power plants. 3,000 residents who live around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor with a radius of 10 km were relocated right away.

Up to 14,000 Japanese living in the northeastern part of Japan are still on site and Daiichi. But thankfully, they were able to receive the warning from the Tokyo Electric Power Co. so they were able to evacuate away from the nuclear hazard before things can get worse.

Japan has 54 reactors and 10 of them have been shut down due to the earthquake and tsunami disaster that struck the country.