Anti-nuclear DO a go-to media source in aftermath of Japan disaster

One month after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck near Japan’s northeastern coast, spawning a tsunami that triggered explosions and a fire at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the Japanese nuclear regulatory agency raised the severity rating of this nuclear accident from a Level 5 to a Level 7, the highest on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s radiological event scale. The site of the second worst nuclear accident in history, behind only the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Fukushima Daiichi has released one-tenth of the total radiation emitted by Chernobyl, according to estimates from Japan’s nuclear safety agency.

Jeffrey J. Patterson, DO, who has lectured in Russia and other European countries on the medical effects of nuclear radiation, has been speaking out on the potential public health impact of the Fukushima accident since mid-March. As the immediate past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, an organization opposing both nuclear power and nuclear weapons, Dr. Patterson has fielded numerous media inquiries regarding Japan’s nuclear crisis.

While 28 Chernobyl workers died quickly from exposure to extremely high levels of radiation, no deaths have yet been attributed to the less intense but still very severe Fukushima accident. Although two Fukushima workers were treated for burns after stepping in a radiation-contaminated puddle, there have been no reports from Japan of anyone experiencing acute radiation illness, unlike in the aftermath of Chernobyl.

But as Dr. Patterson reiterates in his media interviews, “the effects of radiation are cumulative.” He is especially worried that children in Japan will develop thyroid cancer from the emission of iodine-131. The radioisotope has been detected at “very low levels” in drinking water in “a few” Japanese prefectures, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. More than 6,000 individuals in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia who were children or adolescents at the time of the Chernobyl accident went on to develop thyroid cancer, according to a United Nations report.

In his more than 40 interviews with radio, television, print and Web-based media outlets, Dr. Patterson generally explains in lay language how ionizing radiation can cause cancer. He does, however, emphasize that there is no need to panic over the trace amounts of radiation from Japan detected in the United States.

Speaking with Wisconsin Public Radio on March 24, Dr. Patterson described what happens when ionizing radiation enters the human body. “A highly charged particle goes through tissue and causes genetic damage by pulling electrons off of DNA,” said Dr. Patterson, who is a professor emeritus of family medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison. When those genetically damaged cells divide, they can turn into cancers, he explained.

One of the main radioactive substances emitted in the Fukushima accident, iodine-131 has a half-life of eight days but takes 10 times as long to dwindle to a negligible level, Dr. Patterson pointed out during an interview for WBAI Radio in New York City. Much more long-lasting in its effects, cesium-137, which was found in very high concentrations near the plant, has a half-life of 30 years but continues to emit beta and gamma rays for 300 years, Dr. Patterson noted during this interview.

“There is no safe dose of radiation,” Dr. Patterson told The DO. He cited the National Academy of Sciences’ conclusion that while the risk of radiation-induced cancers from low doses will be small, any exposure to radiation beyond that normally present in the atmosphere increases a person’s risk of developing cancer.

Become educated, involved

Beyond the potential physical effects of radiation contamination, “the psychological consequences of Japan’s current nuclear crisis will be profound,” especially for the survivors of World War II’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, Dr. Patterson predicted. “The atomic bombings emblazoned on the Japanese a great fear of nuclear radiation,” he said. What’s more, approximately 85,000 evacuees from the area around the Fukushima Daiichi plant are living in shelters, not knowing when they can return to their homes or if they even have homes to return to, and many more people around the country dwell in alarm and uncertainty.

Altogether, more than 25,000 people are believed to have died from Japan’s March 11 earthquake, its aftershocks and the tsunami, and hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless from the chain of disasters.

“Besides donating money and medical supplies to Japan relief efforts, physicians should educate themselves about the effects of nuclear radiation,” Dr. Patterson urged. He said he would like to see more physicians involved in advocating for non-nuclear energy sources, such as solar and wind power, and against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. As he once told The DO, “Physicians are in a unique position of influence because we take care of politicians and policymakers.”

While Dr. Patterson does not object to the medical applications of radiation, such as radiation therapies for cancer and diagnostic x-rays, he cautions DOs and MDs to be more careful about ordering computed tomography scans for patients.

AOA Trustee Mark A. Baker, DO, a diagnostic radiologist, agrees that physicians need to become more familiar with the effects of radiation and that the cumulative effects of radiation from CT scans can be problematic, especially when someone with headaches, for example, visits multiple emergency rooms. Electronic health records and better coordination of care through patient-centered medical homes will go far to lessen this risk, Dr. Baker anticipates.