Energy / Climate Change

April 9, 2014

 

Joint Study to Address Relationship between Radiation Exposure and DNA Damage of Cows Following Fukushima Nuclear Power Accident

Keywords: Nuclear Power University / Research institute 

Photo: Taking a sample of cow.
Copyright Society for the Study of Livestock and Farmland Relating to the Fukushima Nuclear Power Accident All Rights Reserved.

The Society for the Study of Livestock and Farmland Relating to the Fukushima Nuclear Power Accident and a research team led by Professor Mousseau at the University of South Carolina, USA, announced on February 20, 2014, that they started a joint study to shed light on the relationship between radiation exposure and DNA damage of cows within 20 kilometers of the Fukushima No.1 Nuclear Power Plant.

Affected livestock farmers, researchers from various fields and local veterinarians are working together on the front lines of radiation contamination on this project, which is the first of its kind in the world and is possible only in Fukushima.

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster also drew attention around the world and extensive research was conducted. But for all the debate about the impacts of low-level radiation exposure, there is no existing scientific data on the subject. Fukushima has also been drawing attention as an important place of study for the sake of future generations. This study has been particularly successful in collecting data on the distribution and movement of radioactive substances inside the bodies of large animals for the first time in the world.

The Society for the Study of Livestock and Farmland has continued collecting valuable scientific findings on the cows left in the post-disaster Fukushima warning areas and still being raised there, such as behavioral analyses, exposure dose measurements, and analyses of DNA changes in collected blood. The Society plans to report the study results in the future.

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