Promotion of measures to counter radiation health concerns by a small booklet

1777 Objectives Due to the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011, a nuclear accident occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company. Consequently, there has been widespread skepticism and anxiety about radiation, not only in Japan, but also in other countries that operate nuclear power plants. However, a major factor contributing to this spread of skepticism and anxiety is probably the lack of information available for people to understand the situation for themselves. Nuclear physicians created a simple booklet to promote measures to counter radiation health concerns, especially for pregnant woman and mothers. Methods More than sixty classes and dialogs were held in eight prefectures from October 2012 to January 2014. All the answers from the participants were collected. With consideration of the questionnaire results, the contents of this booklet were chosen. Results The questions could be broadly classified into health effects, food safety and radiation-related knowledge. To put out accurate information about these questions, we chose the following fourteen contents. 1. Radiation All Around Us 2. Radiation in Your Body 3. Devices for Measuring Radiation 4. Effects on Children 6. Effects on Pregnant Women and Unborn Children 7. Effects on Cells 8. Types of Radiation 9. Properties of Radioactive Substances 10. Estimating the Internal Exposure Level 11. Effects on Residents Due to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Accident 12. Radiation Standards for Food Products and Processing Disaster Debris 13. Using Radiation in Health Care 14. Radiation Levels in Japan The aim of this booklet is to provide simple explanations using simple words. There are only two pages for each point. One page is an explanation and the other is some figures. People can feel free to skip to topics of particular interest. This booklet will be presented in this meeting. Conclusions Nuclear physicians created a booklet to try to explain what we have learned about radiation in terms that can be easily understood by those learning about radiation for the first time. This booklet will be useful to help people think about the issue of radiation effects.