Question:
Ill-health legacy of atomic bomb
People who survived the atomic bombs dropped by the US on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 are still suffering health problems, a study reports.
The younger they were at the time, and the more radiation they were exposed to, the higher their risk of illness.
The Radiation Effects Research Foundation looked at thyroid conditions, known to be linked to radiation exposure.
The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
People who have been exposed to radiation are known to be at an increased risk of malignant and benign thyroid nodules, but few studies have followed them for long periods.
Studies of children, including those exposed to radiation after the Chernobyl disaster, have shown the younger a person is the higher the risk of thyroid conditions.
Between 2000 and 2003, the Japanese researchers looked at the incidence of thyroid diseases among 3,185 people, with an average age of 70, who had been in the cities when the bombs hit.
The team also looked at people's level of exposure to radiation - which was possible because all those studied had been followed throughout their lives.
Young 'at greater risk'
Just under 45% - 1,833 - of those studied had malignant tumours, nodules [lumps on the thyroid] and cysts.
Those who were aged under 20 when the atomic bombs dropped had a higher risk of disease than those who had been older.
The researchers, led by Dr Misa Imaizumi, wrote in JAMA: The present study revealed that, 55 to 58 years after radiation exposure, a significant relationship existed in the prevalence of not only malignant thyroid tumours but also benign thyroid nodules and that the relationship was significantly higher in those exposed at younger ages.
Thus, the effect of radiation on the thyroid nodules may exist long after radiation exposure in atomic bomb survivors.
Sarah Darby, professor of medical statistics at Cancer Research UK, said: This is a unique survey that provides an important insight into the relationship between ionizing radiation and the risk of thyroid cysts and nodules, including cancer.
These conditions are rarely fatal, and some people with a thyroid cyst or nodule do not experience any symptoms.
Therefore, it is difficult to collect information on the relationship between radiation exposure and the subsequent risk of thyroid disease that is free from any bias.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/4758232.stm
Answer:
A-bomb survivors face greater risk of thyroid cancers
Alok Jha, science correspondent
Wednesday March 1, 2006
The Guardian
Survivors of the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of the second world war are now at greater risk of developing certain thyroid diseases, including tumours and cysts, according to a study. The risk increases the younger the survivor was at the time of exposure to the bombs' radiation.
The thyroid gland sits under the voice box and produces hormones to regulate growth and metabolism. Diseases there are a useful way for scientists to study the effects of radiation on the body. Thyroid cancers were the first solid tumours to increase in frequency among atomic bomb survivors, for example.
Misa Imaizumi, of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation, studied more than 4,000 survivors of the 1945 atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki between 2000 and 2003 to look for thyroid problems. The Japanese researchers found thyroid diseases in almost 45% of the participants, with the risk of developing problems related directly to the level of exposure.
The present study revealed that 55 to 58 years after radiation exposure, a significant linear dose-response relationship existed in the prevalence of not only malignant thyroid tumours but also benign thyroid nodules, and that the relationship was significantly higher in those exposed at younger ages, the researchers write in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
On the other hand, autoimmune thyroid diseases were not found to be significantly associated with radiation exposure in this study. Careful examination of the thyroid is still important long after radiation exposure, especially for people exposed at younger ages.
John Boice, of Vanderbilt University school of medicine, writes in an accompanying article: The study of atomic bomb survivors remains the single most important study of radiation effects in humans, but the exposure was brief, lasting less than a second.
He added it was remarkable that a biological effect from a single brief environmental exposure nearly 60 years in the past is still present and can be detected.
Survivors aged under 10 at the time of the bombs were most at risk of developing thyroid problems, but there was no significant increase in risk (beyond the radiation exposure itself) for those exposed after the age of 20.
For those who were children in 1945, the increased risk seemingly lasts for life. The radiosensitivity of the young thyroid gland is high and most likely relates to subsequent proliferative activity of the gland during puberty and growth, but the reasons for the absence of risk following adult exposures are not entirely clear, said Dr Boice.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1720459,00.html
Answer:
that bomb shouldn't have been invented. so many people have to suffer because of it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sleep.gif)
Answer:
that bomb shouldn't have been invented. so many people have to suffer because of it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sleep.gif)
wouldnt more people have had to suffer if japan never surrendered? thats the question at hand when talking about it
I also heard that Japan had surrended shortly before the bombs were dropped and the US were just testing them out on Japan. It's probably a rumor though.
Answer:
with so much money, and they waste it on inventing things that can kill people..
disgusting.. totally disgusting.
and im real sorry that those survivors have to go through such pain
the united states wont ever understand the misery they suffered.. until it happens to them.
which i hope it doesnt!
Answer:
with so much money, and they waste it on inventing things that can kill people..
disgusting.. totally disgusting.
and im real sorry that those survivors have to go through such pain
the united states wont ever understand the misery they suffered.. until it happens to them.
which i hope it doesnt!
Well it wasn't as if the attack was unprovoked or that Japan didn't harm innocent civilizans during the war either. Look at what they were doing to Korea and China.
Answer:
Well it wasn't as if the attack was unprovoked or that Japan didn't harm innocent civilizans during the war either. Look at what they were doing to Korea and China.
yeah well it doesnt mean you throw a bomb on them thats still effecting them more then like.. 48 years later...
people are STILL suffering
Answer:
Truman was not a headstrong president who foolishly threw himself into needless wars. He said he never regreted the decision, and I believe that.
But I really wish it wasn't necessary. I was always a little confused as to why they needed to drop the second bomb. One was more than enough to send a message, and it seems a shame that it had to be in such a heavily civilian populated area. I think they could have handled it differently, but ...I suppose, if no one saw the devastation at least once, then there was always the chance of someone using it again.
Answer:
The nuclear bomb not only saved Japanese and American lives, but saved people from future World Wars through the threat of MAD. The nuclear bomb SAVED LIVES, and lets face it, Japan only has itself to blame for its actions.
