原発風評被害 放射能の基準から考え直せ

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Feb. 26, 2013)
Time to overhaul radiation safety criteria
原発風評被害　放射能の基準から考え直せ（2月25日付・読売社説）

The government should make a sweeping review of safety standards for radioactivity. The recent change of administration offers a golden opportunity to do this.
　放射能の安全基準について政府は根底から考え直すべきだ。政権交代はその好機と言えよう。

The Consumer Affairs Agency will reinforce efforts to deal with damage caused by radiation rumors since the crisis began at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Masako Mori, state minister for consumer affairs, said, "The Democratic Party of Japan-led administration increased consumers' anxieties." She has issued an order to study concrete measures to alleviate these fears.
　消費者庁が、東京電力福島第一原子力発電所事故による風評被害の対策を強化する。森消費者相は、「民主党政権は消費者の不安を募らせた」と述べ、具体策の検討を指示した。

Agricultural products harvested in Fukushima Prefecture are shipped after they have been confirmed safe to eat, but they do not sell well unless their prices are set lower than other products. Their distribution volume is barely expanding.
　福島県産の農産物は、検査で安全を確認し出荷されているが、価格を安くしなければ売れない。流通量もなかなか増えない。

Mori hit the nail on the head when she said a reason for this is that consumers harbor "doubts and concerns about the safety standards."
　森氏が、「安全基準への疑問や不安があると思う」と指摘したのは、もっともである。

The administration of former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda adopted stricter standards for radiation contained in food than those in place overseas. The Radiation Council, a government advisory panel, had warned about possible adverse effects this might cause, but then Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoko Komiyama pushed through the new criteria.
　野田政権は、食品中の放射能基準を海外より厳格化した。政府の放射線審議会は、弊害が出ると警告したが、小宮山厚生労働相（当時）が政治的に押し切った。

This resulted in more food containing radiation that exceeded the restricted levels. Shipments of wild mushrooms were even halted when a check detected a radioactive substance that could only have been caused by past nuclear tests.
　その結果、基準超過が増え、食品の信頼回復は進まない。過去の核実験の影響としか考えられない放射性物質が検出され、出荷停止となった野生キノコもある。

===

Stricter threshold set

The problem is that the Noda government set the yearly radiation exposure of one millisievert as the threshold between safe and dangerous. The one millisievert a year level, which is nothing but a management standard legally set for facilities that handle radioactive substances, was adopted for food safety standards.
　問題なのは、野田政権が年１ミリ・シーベルトの被曝(ひばく)線量を安全と危険の境界線としたことだ。年１ミリ・シーベルトは法的に放射性物質を扱う施設の管理基準に過ぎないのに、この線引きを食品基準にも適用した。

The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) also considers it advisable to set the permissible annual radiation dose at no more than one millisievert. But the difference between the ICRP's position and that of the Noda administration is that the former does not consider it dangerous immediately even if radiation exposure exceeds the threshold.
　国際放射線防護委員会（ＩＣＲＰ）も、年１ミリ・シーベルト以下が望ましいとしている。ただ、野田政権との違いは、これを超えても直ちに危険とは見なさないことだ。

The international commission believes health effects cannot be detected clearly if the total radiation exposure is held to 100 millisieverts. Thus, the one millisievert a year considered by the ICRP is a ceiling deemed far lower than its safety standard, and comes with the condition that the exposure target can be achieved reasonably.
　ＩＣＲＰは総量で１００ミリ・シーベルトまでなら明確な健康影響は検出できないとの立場だ。ＩＣＲＰが考える１ミリ・シーベルトは、安全性に余裕を見込んだ数値で、合理的に達成できるなら、との条件も付く。

Some places in the world are exposed to radiation of 10 millisieverts a year that comes from the ground, among other sources. A radiological examination at a hospital exposes the patient to about seven millisieverts.
　世界には、大地などから年１０ミリ・シーベルトの放射線を浴びる地域がある。病院の放射線診断で１回に約７ミリ・シーベルト被曝することもある。

The one-millisievert threshold also has become a factor delaying the return of nearly 160,000 evacuees from the nuclear crisis to their hometowns.
　１ミリ・シーベルトでの線引きは、１６万人近くの避難者の帰還を遅らせる要因にもなっている。

===

Gap with international standards

The commission considers that a radiation dose of up to 20 millisieverts a year is permissible when affected areas are in the reconstruction stage, and efforts must be made as much as possible to reduce the annual exposure to less than one millisievert.
　ＩＣＲＰは、被災地の復旧過程では、年２０ミリ・シーベルトまで許容し、可能な範囲で年１ミリ・シーベルト以下にするとの考え方を示している。

Then Environment Minister Goshi Hosono, however, stressed the importance of achieving the decontamination target of one millisievert or less. Unlike the ICRP's thinking that equally emphasizes protecting affected residents' daily lives and decontamination, the DPJ-led government gave too much weight to decontamination efforts.
　だが、細野環境相（当時）は、１ミリ・シーベルト以下への除染を強調した。ＩＣＲＰの考え方は、住民の生活確保と除染の両立だが、除染が偏重される結果となった。

A mistaken political message also was given by Niigata Gov. Hirohiko Izumida. He condemned the disposal by the prefecture's Kashiwazaki and Sanjo cities of disaster debris from Iwate Prefecture as general waste as a "criminal act."
　政治の誤ったメッセージと言えば、泉田裕彦新潟県知事も同様だ。柏崎市、三条市が岩手県のがれきを一般ごみとして処理したことを「犯罪行為」と非難した。

But radiation levels of debris from Iwate Prefecture are the same as trash collected within Niigata Prefecture. We urge Izumida, the head of a local government, not to exacerbate damage caused by nasty radiation rumors.
　しかし、がれきの放射能は県内のごみと変わらない。首長が風評被害を増長させては困る。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Feb. 25, 2013)
（2013年2月25日01時19分 読売新聞）