Risk of radiation exposure from genbaku and genpatsu: the 1945 atomic bombings and the 2007 Kashiwazaki nuclear power plant leak.

The Japanese word for atomic bomb is “genbaku” while that for nuclear power plant is “genpatsu”. The two words only differ by one character, but both refer to the same radioactive substances uranium and plutonium and both have the potential to bring about catastrophe for innocent people (1). Terrorists could make atomic bombs, or genbaku, by stealing uranium and plutonium from nuclear plants, or genpatsu. This year, Hiroshima and Nagasaki marked the 62nd anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombings; the attack by the American B-29 bomber Enola Gay on August 6 of 1945 killed 140,000 in Hiroshima instantly or within a few months (2), and another B-29-dropped plutonium bomb on August 9 killed approximately 74,000 people in Nagasaki (3). As in past decades, the approach of the anniversaries of the bombings has been marked by media sources throughout Japan reporting hidden stories behind the bombings. One such report drew my interest as a Japanese pediatrician. Mainichi newspaper reported on August 4 that at Omura Naval Hospital, located 19 kilometers away from the hypocenter in Nagasaki, medical personnel who treated patients suffering from the August 9 atomic bomb were found to develop higher rates of radiation diseases such as cancer, liver ailments, or cataracts (4). Thousands of atomic bomb survivors were transferred to the hospital by relief train or truck, and some 860 medical staff members worked to save the victims. A questionnaire survey was conducted from November 2005 to November 2006 by lawyers representing some 267 atomic bomb survivors who have not yet been recognized as radiation disease sufferers. Under the current law, those who did not live within 2 kilometers of the hypocenter on the date of the bombing are not classified as radiation disease sufferers. The lawyers pressed the government to recognize the victims as radiation disease sufferers, making them eligible for special medical allowances. Of the 73 medical personnel working at Omura Naval Hospital on the day the bomb was dropped in 1945, 25 (34.2%) developed cancer, a figure significantly higher than the