Interview with Doctor Hida, who has treated A-bomb victims, Oct 6th, 2011
On October 6th, 2011, Yasumi Iwakami interviewed Shuntaro Hida. Dr. Hida is a physician who, exposed to radiation in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6th, 1945, then proceeded to take care of other radiation victims. In the succeeding 60 years, he has taken care of over 6,000 radiated patients, studying through clinical experience the symptoms of so-called “radiation fatigue syndrome” in those who experience even low doses. He asserts that the occupation forces and the Japanese government have been hiding the truth for all this time.
Iwakami：Doctor Hida (94 years old) is himself an atomic bomb surviver and he also treats A-bomb victims.
Hida：I was born in Hiroshima but not brought up there. I was first assigned to the military hospital in Hiroshima in August 1944, one year before the bombing of A-bomb, soon after my graduation from medical school. The night before I went to a small town outside of Hiroshima, Hesaka, for medical service and got irradiated there. I tried to go back to Hiroshima from the town. But it was so difficult because the streets were filled up with the people trying to escape from Hiroshima. So I walked in the river instead.
On my way I witnessed so many scary scenes like victims burning themselves and then falling in the river or trying to escape walking in the river with their bodies still burning. I happened to see someone from the military and he instructed me to go back to Hesaka and start taking care of people. When I arrived at the town, almost all the houses were burnt down except a school building. So we converted the school building into a temporary hospital.
Our hospital in Hesaka gradually became a field hospital where you could find doctors, nurses, and pharmaceuticals. But all we, the doctors, could do was to see the people die and confirm their death. The people who were directly hit by a blast of heat waves of 6,000 degrees centigrade were burnt on their skin and could not speak because their throat was also burnt. Everyday we confirmed the death of so many people and dealt with the dead bodies. At the maximum there were 27,000 patients in the hospital for no more than 40 doctors and nurses.
For the first three days the people who were directly hit by the radioactive heat waves were dying while bleeding all over their grimed bodies. After that the people who were not so burned but strongly irradiated started to die. They suffered from a high body temperature of over 40 degrees centigrade and smelled so badly of a putrid odor. They also had purple spots under their arms and they would lose their hair only with a soft touch of their hands. They would pass away after all these four symptoms lined up.
The people who were strongly hit by the radioactive rays started to show the symptoms three days after the atomic bombing at the earliest and all of them passed away within the year. The number of casualties which was first announced by the Japanese government was 60,000 or 70,000, which was later increased to 220,000 or 230,000 formally acknowledged by an international conference in 1977. But the casualties from internal radiation were not included in these statistics.
I was assigned by the GHQ to work in Yamaguchi for a national hospital there. I found so many people suffering from sluggishness, who came to Hiroshima after the bombing. When examined at the hospital they were diagnosed as neurosis patients. They had similar symptoms to the people in Fukushima.
The GHQ ordered the A-Bomb victims and the medical personnel never to talk or write about what they had seen experienced or heard related to their damage because it belonged to the U.S. Army’s military secrets. It was prohibited for doctors to write research papers based on the diagnosis results or publish them. This way everything was kept secret. I told these facts to plenty of magazines and newspapers and none of them published it. General McArthur made all his orders verbally, without printing anything, to avoid any kind of documentation.
Seven years later Japan became an independent nation. But his orders were still in effect. I asked the U.N. to hold the international conference in 1977 and demanded America to disclose the radiation damage-related information to Japan. But it was turned down by the U.N. because 7 years prior the U.S. and Japanese governments had jointly published a document saying that all the A-bomb victims had already died and there were no more patients of atomic bomb radiation.
The U.S. released the same kind of message to foreign journalists only one month after the bombing. This fact is explained in detail in the book “Genbaku Hanzai (A-bomb Crime)”. The ABCC (Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission) was found after WWII only for the purpose of gathering data through examinations of the victims and not for medical activities in any sense of the word. They were absolutely indifferent to the issue of internal radiation exposure because it was meaningless in terms of military purposes. At that time America was tying to develop stronger and more effective nuclear weapons than the Soviet Union. This commission suppressed academic studies on internal exposure due to the fear of losing public support for nuclear weapons development.
Even in Japan the research institutes which were the hub of radiation protection medicine have been neglecting the internal exposure problem and saying that there is no risk. Soon after the bombing many people died because of direct radiation. Later there appeared plenty of people who could not work properly because of chronic health problems, so-called “burabura-byo (chronic sluggishness)”. The cause of this unusual sluggishness could not be identified by means of any medical test, and it usually ended up not being diagnosed as a sickness.
I told my patients of this sickness, that he/she was internally exposed to radiation as a result of taking in the radiactively contaminated water, air and food and getting wet in the black rain. Even in America the soldiers who were irradiated in battles or military exercises or the residents who live close to nuclear power plants suffer from internal exposure and take it to court, but always in vain. Because the U.S. government does not accept the existence of the internal exposure problem.
The American radiation researcher Sternglass clearly proved the decrease statistically in the number of newly born babies and the increase of cancer patients after each atomic bomb testing. Based on the results of his research, he requested governments to evacuate pregnant women from areas near nuclear power plants. In America an increasing number of researchers support and follow him in their research. The effect of radiation should be researched at the molecular level. The studies in this area lag behind a great deal compared to other areas.
In England, citizens’ demonstrations against the Sellafield MOX plant got active as a result of increasing cancer patients in the surrounding areas of the plant. Whenever nuclear submarines came to the port, female activists went to to bop the submarine with a hammer to get arrested by the police in order to fight the dreadful damage of radiation.
The other day in Urawa I strongly stressed the damage of internal exposure in a court of law, but the government refused to accept it. The Ministry of Health & Welfare send young doctors to the U.S. to study radiation medicine in order to have them say that the internal exposure does not exist, in exchange for the benefits given by the Ministry.
I was fired by General McArthur because I was too kind to the A-bomb victims. I could continue to practice medicine thanks to the democratic medical system which was established after the WWII. General McArthur was afraid that organizations of A-bomb victims would be menacing to the U.S. In 1982 a German peace organization which has been involved in the anti-nuclear power movement sent a request to Japan for sending a doctor experienced in medical services for A-bomb victims. I was invited by them and went to Germany. I realized through my experiences in Germany that in Japan, the concept of human rights has never existed.
Soon after the terrible Fukushima nuclear power plant accident the Japanese government repeatedly released comments that there will not be an immediate impact on health. Their intention of neglecting the possible internal exposure was evident. As long as they want to put all the nuclear power plants back online, the human rights of the public will remain neglected. During the Meiji era, characterized by the Emperor system and militarism, Japan fell down to the level of a country where a citizen’s life can be neglected for the sake of the nation.
Iwakami：America dropped the A-bomb on Japan and we were ordered to keep our mouths shut about the damage. The victims were forced to live a disgraceful life as hibakusha while the rest of the national public knew nothing about the truth.
Hida：It is essential for the A-bomb victims to take good care of themselves. It is not necessary to hide that they are victims. I have been trying to invite them into the movement of total elimination of nuclear weapons.
The kind of radiation which was leaked this time by the Fukushima accident is the same as that of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Therefore it is supposed that similar symptoms will take place as a result of internal exposure. First of all there come diarrhea, oral ulcer, nasal hemorrhage, and then some kinds of dermatological diseases. Then comes burabura-byou. In the last stage there come cancers, leukemia, cardiac infarct, cerebral infarct, and diabetes.
In Chernobyl the residents are now witnessing an increased rate of cancer now that 25 years have passed since the terrible accident. They have been conducting a survey on the health condition of the victims and their children since 15 years ago. According to a research paper recently re-recovered, cesium 137 which is now leaking in large quantity in Japan is likely to cause cardiac infarct in the early stages.
What was recently made clear was that radiation injures the genes in the nucleus of each cell. It does not lead to a specific disease but is likely to lead to all kinds of diseases. In the usual environment of natural radiation only 2 out of 100,000 babies are born with birth defects. But the rate of malformed babies in case of the victims is much higher.
Burabura-byo is also called Chernobyl AIDS. Even over there, there are a plenty of people who were diagnosed with radiation fatigue. It is the same in Japan.
The national government should pay all expenses to evacuate all children under 15 years old from Fukushima. They are so vulnerable to radiation. They can be impacted more strongly than we can imagine. If they can afford to live a life even for one month away from Fukushima, their health status will largely improve. The Ministry of Health & Welfare does not want to make it possible, even though there are ways and means to realize it.
In Japan there are a quite a few people in every class and in every area who would always like to assist the U.S. militarily. They would insist on the possession of plutonium and thus make a variety of problems in Japan. Mitsubishi Industries, boasts a high level of technology able to produce nuclear weapons at any moment.
Doctor Tsuzuki of Tokyo University wrote a paper and published it before the arrival of the GHQ about the mechanism of chronic symptoms caused by destruction of blood platelets due to strontium deposited on the bone. If the blood platelets decrease too much, people might have purple spots in the skin and die from bleeding in their mucous membrane. If they lose too many white blood cells, the immune system does not function properly, leading to internal putrescence. He was prohibited to continue to do any kind of research by the GHQ.
However, a magazine called “Hiroshima Shinshi (New History of Hiroshima)” printed his papers. He continued to suffer from a cold reception from the Ministry of Health & Welfare even after the GHQ was gone. ABCC was replaced by a new Japanese research institute called Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima. Now they can conduct whatever research or studies they want regardless of the intention of the Ministry.
I take part in the movement for total elimination of nuclear weapons on 6 and 9th of August. We collected people’s signatures against nuclear weapons. Sometimes I encounter people who say that probably nukes could act as a deterrent. I explain to those people that a lot of radioactive contamination has been caused by the development of nukes.
A vast area has been contaminated in all the steps of the process for developing nukes such as mining uranium, refining it, transporting it, etc. Not only nukes but also nuclear power plants have been contaminating our environment while we know nothing. An increase in the number of breast cancer patients is being noticed now that 50 years have passed since the end of the war. Very few people can explain the internal exposure problem. The readers of my book “Threatening Internal Exposure” co-authored by Ms. Kamanaka must have understood this theme well.
I would advise residents in the Tokyo area to take better care of themselves rather than trying to evacuate and lose everything. I am myself a victim but I have lived long thanks to a strong body given by my parents and my sound life style.
(Translation: Michiyo Suzuki, Jeremy Harley)
<Speech by Ruiko Muto at Tokyo Anti-Nuclear Rally, Sep 19, 2011To the previous articleTo the following articles“No more Nuclear Power” 100 Women from Fukushima. A Sit-in Action in Tokyo, Oct. 27-29, 2011>