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<p class="TX Body">27 February 2014<br>
</p>
<p class="TX Body">SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — Congress has
instructed the Defense Department to launch an inquiry into
potential health impacts on Navy first-responders from Japan’s
March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.</p>
<p class="TX Body"> The request, made in the explanatory statement
from the House that accompanied the fiscal 2014 budget bill that
passed Congress this month, comes as a growing number of sailors
and Marines have joined a lawsuit against <a
href="http://www.stripes.com/search-7.269?q=Tokyo+Electric+Power+Co.&x=0&y=0"
target="_blank">Tokyo Electric Power Co</a>.<br>
</p>
<p class="TX Body"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.stripes.com/congress-wants-answers-on-health-impacts-of-japan-disaster-relief-1.263843">http://www.stripes.com/congress-wants-answers-on-health-impacts-of-japan-disaster-relief-1.263843</a><br>
</p>
<p class="TX Body"> <br>
</p>
<p class="TX Body">The above story is an update of another one filed
a couple of months ago:<br>
</p>
<p class="TX Body"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://ecowatch.com/2013/12/27/ronald-reagan-cancer-sue-tepco-fukushima-radiation/">http://ecowatch.com/2013/12/27/ronald-reagan-cancer-sue-tepco-fukushima-radiation/</a>
<br>
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<p class="TX Body"><br>
<br>
27 December 2013<br>
</p>
<p class="TX Body">70+ USS Ronald Reagan Crew Members, Half
Suffering From Cancer, to Sue TEPCO For Fukushima Radiation
Poisoning<br>
</p>
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<div id="post-header"> <span class="author"><a
href="http://ecowatch.com/author/brandon-baker/"
title="Posts by Brandon Baker" rel="author">Brandon Baker</a>
| December 27, 2013</span> </div>
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<p>After U.S. Navy sailors on the USS Ronald
Reagan responded to the <a
href="http://ecowatch.com/2013/10/29/robert-stone-must-now-film-fukushima/"
target="_blank">2011 Fukushima disaster</a> in Japan for
four days, many returned to the U.S. with thyroid cancer,
Leukemia, brain tumors and more.</p>
<p>At least 71 sailors—many in their 20s—reported radiation
sickness and will file a lawsuit against Tokyo Electric
Power Co. (TEPCO), which operates the Fukushima Daiichi
energy plant.</p>
<p>The men and women accuse TEPCO of downplaying the danger
of nuclear radiation on the site. The water contaminated
the ship’s supply, which led to crew members drinking,
washing their bodies and brushing their teeth with
contaminated water. Paul Garner, an attorney representing
51 sailors, said at least half of the 70-plus sailors have
some form of cancer.</p>
<p>“We’re seeing leukemia, testicular cancer and unremitting
gynecological bleeding requiring transfusions and other
intervention,” Garner told <em><a
href="http://nypost.com/2013/12/22/70-navy-sailors-left-sickened-by-radiation-after-japan-rescue/"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://nypost.com']);"
target="_blank">New York Post</a>.</em></p>
<p>Senior Chief Michael Sebourn, a radiation-decontamination
officer assigned to test the aircraft carrier, said that
radiation levels measured 300 times higher than what was
considered safe at one point. Meanwhile sailors
like Lindsay Cooper have contrasted their initial and
subsequent feelings upon seeing and tasting metallic
“radioactive snow” caused by freezing Pacific air that
mixed with radioactive debris.</p>
<p>“We joked about it: ‘Hey, it’s radioactive snow!” Cooper
said. “My thyroid is so out of whack that I can lose 60 to
70 pounds in one month and then gain it back the next. My
menstrual cycle lasts for six months at a time, and I
cannot get pregnant.</p>
<p>“It’s ruined me.”</p>
<p>Cooper said the Reagan has a multimillion-dollar
radiation-detection system, but the crew couldn’t get it
activated quickly enough.</p>
<p>“And then we couldn’t go anywhere,” she said. “Japan
didn’t want us in port, Korea didn’t want us, Guam turned
us away. We floated in the water for two and a half
months.”</p>
<p>San Diego Judge Janis L. Sammartino dismissed the initial
suit in late November, but Garner and a group of attorneys
plan to refile on Jan. 6, according to <a
href="http://fox5sandiego.com/2013/12/19/us-sailors-claim-radiation-sickness-from-fukushima-rescue/#axzz2oh9ipuxz"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://fox5sandiego.com']);"
target="_blank">Fox 5 San Diego</a>.</p>
<p>Though publications like <em><a
href="http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/freedom-press-not-free/2013/dec/24/did-nsa-conceal-fukushima-meltdown-military-sent-a/"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://communities.washingtontimes.com']);"
target="_blank">The Washington Times</a> </em>have
wondered if the Navy and/or National Security Agency might
have known about the conditions the sailors were heading
into two years ago, Garner and the attorneys say the
lawsuit is solely directed at TEPCO.</p>
<p>“We’re suing this foreign corporation because they are
doing business in America,” co-counsel Charles Bonner.
“Their second largest office outside of Tokyo is in
Washington, D.C."<br>
</p>
<p><br>
Ken<br>
</p>
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