2015年11月2日月曜日

Letter to MAPW (Medical Association for Prevention of War) and Fukushima




戦争防止豪州医師協会への手紙と福島問題



一昨日の土曜日(1031日)、メルボルン市内で開催された戦争防止豪州医師協会の会議を傍聴してきました。朝から夕方まで1日かけて10ほどの報告が行われ、たいへんよい勉強になりました。核兵器問題関連でも3つほどの報告があり、ICANや国際赤十字社が核兵器廃絶に向けて努力している状況についての詳しい説明がありました。確かに、この数年のICANや国際赤十字社の活躍はめざましく、私も感心していると同時に彼らの運動を強く支持します。



しかし、私が不思議に思ったのは、報告者の誰も、自国オーストラリアのウラン採掘・輸出問題には一切触れなかったということです。こうしたオーストラリア反核運動の状況については、私は機会があるごとに述べてきましたが、相変わらずという感がしました。「緑の党」の党首であるDi Nataleも講演者の一人でしたが、現在議論になっているオーストラリア国内における原発設置計画の是非については触れても、ウラン採掘・輸出問題には全く言及しませんでした。私の質問に対しても、「労働党がウラン採掘限定政策を廃棄して、採掘・輸出反対運動が極端に弱まったということが大きな理由」だと述べましたが、では「緑の党」もなぜこの問題には積極的にかかわらないのかについては、なんら説明はありませんでした。こうしたオーストラリアの反核運動の状況は、ウランを含む様々な鉱物資源輸出(とりわけ中国への輸出)に自国経済が大きく依存する現在の状況と、間接的にではあれ、深く関連していることは間違いないでしょう。



そこで今日、私は下記のようなメールを戦争防止豪州医師協会の会長と会員全員宛てに送りました。要点は以下の通りです。

1) 会議では核兵器問題が取り上げられたにもかかわらず、ウラン採掘・輸出問題に触れた報告者が一人もいなかったこと。

2) 福島第1原発の核燃料はオーストラリアから輸入されたウランが原料であっただけではなく、日本の核燃料の原料ウランの多くがオーストラリア産であること。

3) 現状は、「福島原発の放射能問題は完全にコントロールされている」という日本政府の主張と全く反対で、「放射能垂れ流し状況」であり、メルトダウンした原子炉をどのように処置すべきかについては、実際には何も具体的な対策がないこと。

4) 福島の人たちの健康、とりわけ心的問題が原因である病気や自殺の問題は悪化する一方であり、その上、子供たちの甲状腺癌のケースは、最近、岡山大学医学部の調査チームが発表した英語論文で詳しく説明しているように、急速に増加していること。

5) こうした状況を考えてみるならば、原発を推進してきた日本市民の責任はもちろんであるが、大量のウランを日本に輸出している国、オーストラリアの市民にも倫理的責任が明確にあること。したがって、戦争防止豪州医師協会のような医師組織は、とりわけ、ウラン採掘・輸出で海外の市民の健康がどれほどひどくおかされているかという事実について、オーストラリア市民の認識を高める責任があることを自覚すべきであること。



(ちなみに、オーストラリアのウラン採掘問題については、ピース・フィロソフィー・センターのブログに掲載されている拙論をご参照ください。




以下が手紙の全文です。



Dear MAPW President Dr. Margie Beavis and all members of MAPW



This is to express my gratitude for allowing me to attend MAPW’s conference “War - a global health problem” on last Saturday. I truly appreciate the great efforts that your organization is making in order to promote civil movements against war, nuclear weapons, and violation of human rights. I was particularly impressed with compelling talks by Mr. Vince Emanuel and Mr. Julian Burnside.



However, I was concerned that none of the speakers discussed the issue of uranium mining and export although issue of nuclear weapons was one of the major topics at the conference. In fact I was surprised that, although in his presentation Dr. Di Natale referred to the current controversy regarding Australia’s plan to build a nuclear power station, he failed to discuss uranium mining in this country, which is why I could not help asking him a question on this particular issue.



As I mentioned in my question to Dr. Di Natale, the nuclear fuel used at the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power station was supplied by Australia. In fact the majority of nuclear fuel that Japan uses is supplied by Australia and Canada, two of the largest uranium export nations in the world. Needless to say, the nuclear disaster that occurred at the Fukushima nuclear power plant more than four years ago has caused and is still causing serious health problems to many people in Fukushima as well as neighboring prefectures. More than 170,000 residents in Fukushima Prefecture are still unable to return home, and many places in Fukushima, in particular within 30 to 40 kilometers from the power plant are heavily contaminated with high levels of radiation. In addition, the Tokyo Electric Power Company has been discharging a large amount of radioactive water into the sea every day. Contrary to the government claim that the power plant is under control and decontamination work is progressing well, in reality no one knows what to do about the three melted down nuclear reactors as well as the tons of underground water constantly flowing into those melted reactors every day.

(For more detailed information on the current situation of Fukushima, please see, for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8af-4QSbfWw )



It is not surprising, therefore, people in Fukushima are confronted with many serious health problems. Already by the end of March 2014, i.e., three years following the accident occurred, about 1,700 people in Fukushima had died either due to illness directly caused by stress or committing suicide. Suicide cases in particular have been increasing in the last couple of years. Many people, in particular senior citizens, are currently suffering from various types of illness and psychological problems mainly due to stress caused by living in confined situations in small evacuation housing without any hope for returning home. Yet, their psychological strain and anxiety are virtually ignored by the TEPCO as well as the government.



Another serious problem is the rapidly increasing incidence of thyroid cancer cases among children in Fukushima. Recently an Okayama University medical research team published a report, warning that we need to urgently deal with this problem or we will face a much graver situation in near future. With regard this problem too, TEPCO and the Japanese government claim that there is no evidence to prove the direct link between the Fukushima nuclear accident and the rise of thyroid cancer cases. Below is a youtube video showing a press conference that one of the members of this medical research group gave in Tokyo.


For your reference I attach the report to this email as well.




Undoubtedly we Japanese are clearly responsible for these health problems caused by nuclear power accident. I strongly believe, however, that Australians, as citizens of a nation exporting massive amounts of uranium to Japan also share moral responsibility. In particular, I believe, that an organization like yours, which is dedicated to the solution of “global health problems,” should be responsible for making Australian people aware of what is happening to the Japanese people as a result of Australian uranium mining and export. I sincerely hope that MAPW will earnestly tackle this issue, closely collaborating with Japanese medical and anti-nuclear organizations working in this field.



I look forward to attending your future conferences and learning more from your expertise and activities.



Yours sincerely,



Yuki Tanaka   



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