Playing Outside? You Need To Know This About Radiation Risk

The Fukushima children no longer have a "normal" way of life. Their lives have become focused on regulating their exposure to radiation since the radioactive materials that they are consuming through eating; breathing and every day life are continuously bombarding their little bodies. They have had to adapt to a strange, new world where learning about radiation has become part of growing up. Every child in Fukushima has been asked to wear a device that records their level of radiation exposure and this data is sent to Tokyo University; however, the results are not shown to the children or parents. The nuclear accident not only took away their homes but it also took away their youth.

I recently wrote an article titled "Dirt is not dirty": which has been read by thousands all over the world. I received a comment from a Japanese man who wished that he could take his daughter to play in dirt. This comment truly broke my heart. He literally cannot take his daughter outside without checking radiation levels. There is no playing in dirt and building her immune system; in fact, playing in dirt would harm her as the dirt and grass have higher levels of radiation than man-made surfaces. She cannot walk barefoot on the earth, as she has to wear thick-soled shoes and a face mask just to play on the asphalt. Her father has to constantly wash her hands, further reducing her immune system growth. This same story is repeated for all the children whose lives have been affected by the nuclear meltdown. In some instances, children cannot even go to the second floor of their houses because radiation levels are too high. Parents have severe restrictions about when their children can go out, what they wear and what they drink and eat. Children have basically become locked up in their houses with no end to this in the near future. As much as the children are forced to remain inside, they are still living with radiation wherever they go out and the effects may not be seen for many years.

A few weeks after the disaster, Fukushima children were tested for radiation levels in their bodies and nearly half of the children had radioactive iodine in their thyroid. Although the government plans to conduct medical checks for the duration of the lives of 360,000 people 18 and younger that were living near the nuclear plant, they also plan not to inform the public out of fear that this will create 'unnecessary' anxiety. The government has now passed an official order of censorship, making it a crime to report anything negative about Fukushima. The children of Fukushima are stuck living a life without the pure innocence of childhood and instead, the dark heaviness of a future unknown.