Petition translation updated June 21
Concerned by high radiation levels in Fukushima prefecture, Japanese citizens’ groups are calling for more government action to protect residents from long-term health risks.
In the domestic petition, to be submitted in early July, the groups insist on more extensive evacuation from highly contaminated areas, measurement of residents’ internal radiation exposure, dismissal of a Fukushima health advisor and strict adherence to a 1mSv limit for public radiation exposure.
Aileen Mioko Smith of Green Action Japan summarizes the petition’s demands:
- In areas with particularly high levels of radiation, promote short-term or long-term evacuation and close schools early for summer recess. Give top priority to the relocation of infants, children, and expectant mothers.
- Monitor regularly the degree of internal exposure for all Fukushima residents, including children, using whole-body counters.
- Dismiss Shunichi Yamashita, professor at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, from his dual positions as advisor to Fukushima prefecture on health-risk management for nuclear radiation and member of the prefecture’s Health-Management Investigation Committee.
- Adhere strictly to the legal annual radiation limit of 1 milliSievert. Compute the radiation dose based on total cumulative radiation, internal and external. Revoke the current provisional annual limit of 20 milliSieverts.
Full text of the petition (English translation), PDF
Original Japanese petition, PDF
Organizations sponsoring the petition: The Fukushima Network to Protect Children from Radiation, Citizens Against Fukushima Aging Nuclear Power Plants (Fukuro-no-Kai), FoE Japan (International Environmental NGO) , Green Action Japan , Osaka Citizens Against the Mihama, Oi and Takahama Nuclear Power Plants, Greenpeace Japan