Asahi: Fukushima gov’t trying to stamp out ‘harmful rumors’ — Officials target group leader who discussed deformed babies
(Subscription Only) Title: Fukushima blasts environmentalist’s remark about marriage, deformed babies
Source: Asahi
Date: Aug 30, 2012
Fukushima city assembly members lashed out at the leader of an environmental group who said people who live in radiation-affected areas should avoid marriage to prevent births of deformed babies.Emphasis Added Below
The four assembly members, including Kazuyoshi Sato, told reporters on Aug. 29 that Hobun Ikeya’s remarks were “inappropriate and discriminatory” and should not be tolerated. They demanded Ikeya, president of the Ecosystem Conservation Society-Japan, retract his comments, which were made in a lecture in July on radiation contamination from the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
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The Fukushima assembly members sent a letter to Ikeya, asking him to explain his comments. But they said Ikeya countered that his words had been twisted in an act of defamation.
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The Fukushima prefectural government is struggling to stamp out what it calls “harmful rumors” concerning the nuclear accident while trying to prevent a population decline.
On Aug. 29, the prefecture estimated that its population would decline by up to 38 percent by 2040 if the current outflow of people continues.
If all people who evacuated to other prefectures remain outside of Fukushima Prefecture, its population in 2040 would be 1,225,000, compared with 1,989,000 in October 2011, the prefectural government said.
What Ikeya said according to the Fukushima officials:
“You’d better not marry anyone from Fukushima” and “Cancer rate may rise in Fukushima, and deformed babies may be born”.What Ikeya said according to Asahi:
“People in areas over which the radioactive plumes passed should not marry [...] If they give birth to their children after getting married, the incidence of deformities will become way higher,” the society quoted him as saying.What Ikeya said according to Fukushima Minpo:
An audio recording by the society that an Asahi Shimbun reporter listened to confirmed Ikeya’s remarks.
According to the transcript, he said, “It’s not just Fukushima, you know, people in Tochigi, Saitama, Tokyo, Kanagawa, people who were there should not marry at all costs”, and “If they get married and have children, the rate of deformity in babies will skyrocket.”
