Repudiate 20mSv! Call For Action at MEXT building, May 23, 2011
On April 19th, MEXT (The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) sent a memo to schools in Fukushima stating the maximum radiation level in the schoolyard was set to 20mSv per year or 3.8mSv per hour. To repudiate the decision, about 600 outraged people protested at the MEXT building in Tokyo, demanding a safe standard for their children. A senior staff member who came out to respond to the protesters repealed the decision verbally and promised to reduce the permitted radiation level to 1mSv, which is the permitted level under normal circumstances, and to take all measures to minimize radiation exposure.
In addition to parents who had trekked from Fukushima, there were locals who had come out in support too, totaling in all about 600 people. Also, more camera crews and journalists gathered to report it than they had any other previous protest.
Parents from Fukushima came all the way to Tokyo to demand just one thing; “save our kids’ lives and take all measures to minimize radiation exposure”. The Department refused to meet with the protesters and just one senior staff member was sent to listen.
According to MEXT, children are allowed to do any school activities under 20mSv without any restriction. Some schools had had their schoolyards scraped in an effort to reduce the radiation level at the expense out of local budgets under local government instruction.
Under international guidelines, 1mSv is the permitted amount that we can intake under normal circumstances for a year. 20mSv is, however, the amount that nuclear plant operators are allowed to intake. Japanese government attempted to apply this limit to small children. MEXT claimed that this amount would only be applied till this summer but that means that children would continue to be exposed to high radiation daily untill then. It is absolutely despicable.
MEXT has not taken any measures to reduce radiation for schools aside from radiation monitoring. The outcry among the angry parents made the senior staff member promise overturn the decision. He clarified with the protesters that they would:
- make all efforts to maintain 1mSv, a tolerant level under normal circumstances on school premises.
- repudiate the 20mSv announcement officially and issue a new memo.
- lay out detailed plans for radiation reduction efforts and the course of action.
Translation: Tomomi Sawaki, Christopher Nield, Akiko Hozumi
Editing: Jeremy Harley
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