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Official back from Fukushima: Invisible blanket of death covers everything… it’s a nightmare — LA Times: Parents suspect heart defects related to Fukushima — Former WHO expert blasts U.N. Fukushima report, warns of cancer spike (VIDEO)

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L.A. Times, Nov 19, 2014 (emphasis added): With radiation from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant still a concern, [the Segawa family] decided that keeping their children in Fukushima was too risky… In October, the couple had a fourth child, who was born prematurely [with] heart problems that… will require two surgeries. The couple can’t help but wonder whether being in Fukushima may have some connection. “It doesn’t feel good,” said Segawa… Radiation concerns in Fukushima… There is good reason for mothers to be worried about the local water supply, [Eihito Tsuboi of the nonprofit Fukushima Inochinomizu] said, because it is not screened for such radioactive particles as strontium… Many experts believe there is… cause for worry. A 2013 World Health Organization report predicted there would be an uptick of thyroid cancer, breast cancer and leukemia… Masamichi Nishio, honorary director of the Hokkaido Cancer Center, agreed, saying the government has not sufficiently warned the public… Toshihide Tsuda, a professor of epidemiology at Okayama University, said… he strongly agrees with Nishio. “I find it problematic the Japanese public hasn’t been properly informed by the government to this date because (low levels of radioactive particles) can trigger cancer,” he said.

Stephane Dion, member of Canada’s Parliament who served as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of the Environment, Dec 1, 2014: The Fukushima shock — Seeing Fukushima’s evacuated area is quite a shock. It is one thing to imagine it, another to see the consequences of the nuclear disaster with your own eyes… an invisible blanket of death covers everything… it is there and will be for decades, perhaps longer… The specter of cancer haunts… constantly. What does the future hold… Leukemia? Thyroid cancer? A deformed baby?… [A] nightmare being lived by the [people] of Fukushima Prefecture… Three reactors suffered a catastrophic meltdown and a fourth was damaged… contaminating a 30,000-square-kilometre area… [I visited] Japan from September 30 to October 8, 2014… On a supposedly decontaminated street in the small town of Tomioka, we were told tos get back on the bus after 10 minutes because the radiation level was too high…[P]roven falsifications perpetrated by [TEPCO] have been pointed out… the government kept making reassuring statements… perceived as a form of manipulation, generating a feeling of resentment and bitterness that is still very strong today… Some Japanese will tell you the story of the TEPCO scientist who… went as far as to declare: “Smiling people are not affected by radiation. Only worried people are. That has been proved in animal testing.”… Fukushima is here to testify to the damage an overly reckless humankind can inflict on itself.

Asahi Shimbun, Dec 1, 2014: British researcher blasts U.N. report on Fukushima cancer risk as unscientific — [A former World Health Organization (UN agency) radiation expert] panned a United Nations report that virtually dismissed the possibility of higher cancer rates… Keith Baverstock, 73, made the comments during a visit to Tokyo… Baverstock said a report released in April by the U.N… was “not qualified to be called ‘scientific’” [and] the committee should be disbanded… [Baverstock] said radiation levels shown in the report were enough to cause a spike in cancer… He also questioned UNSCEAR’s neutrality… members are nominated by nations that have a vested interest in nuclear power… [which] provide funds to the committee. Baverstock also suggested a conflict of interest, as committee members are not required to disclose their history working in the nuclear industry or sign pledges stating that no conflict of interest exists… Baverstock said that when he was working for the WHO, he felt constant pressure from the [IAEA] a major promoter of nuclear power…

Watch Baverstock’s presentation in Tokyo here