Monday, July 23, 2012

Being In The Wrong Place At The Wrong Time. Twice

Robert Krulwich:
Japanese researchers later learned that roughly 150 people were unlucky enough to be in both in Nagasaki and Hiroshima when the bombs hit, but very few, only a handful, were in both blast zones, within 1.5 mile zone of intense radiation. Across Japan, the assumption was that these people shouldn't have children, that the gamma ray damage would be too heavy, too long-lasting to make child bearing safe.
But by the early 1950's, Yamaguchi and his wife Hisako felt strong enough to try, and the early 50s, they had two girls, Naoko and Toshiko. Both were born without birth defects, though when they reached their teenage years, they said they got sick more often than some of their friends. Both are still alive. The Yamaguchis' young son, Kasutoshi, lived to be 58 and died of cancer. Mrs. Yamaguchi died in 2008 of liver and kidney cancer when she was 88. While the Yamaguchi children may have had a slightly rougher time (their parents being triple blasted, he twice, she once), the big surprise is that after almost 70 years, there is no evidence of lasting DNA damage into the children of atomic bomb victims.
Wow, that is interesting.  I still would like to avoid nuclear explosions.

No comments:

Post a Comment