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The Inhumanity of Nuclear Weapons － From Medical Evidence
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by Nanao Kamada
Director, Hiroshima A-Bomb Survivors' Relief Foundation
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Introduction
The Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons was held for the first time in Norway in March 2013, and for the second time in Mexico in February 2014.
In 2011, the International Federation of the Red Cross in Geneva raised the issue and initiated discussion on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons.
I am sure that the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki feel that this is all coming too late, but from the viewpoint of people in other places in the world, although they might have heard of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they do not really know what happened there, and in particular, do not know much about the inhumanity of nuclear weapons.
In this article, I would like to discuss the fact that nuclear weapons are inhuman from the perspective of the medical evidence, and then look at the inhumanity of nuclear weapons that is demonstrated through the lives of each individual atomic bomb survivor.
1. Types of disease differ according to the atomic bomb energy source
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Fig.1 shows atomic bomb energy sources and their effect on human beings.
Fifty percent of the energy from the atomic bomb was emitted by the bomb's blast, and immediately after the bomb was dropped, causing direct damage such as blows and lacerations.
Thirty-five percent of the bomb's energy is emitted as heat rays, which produce Keloids as an aftereffect.
The remaining 15% of the energy is emitted as radiation.
Radiation caused genetic damage, with aftereffects such as cancer, microcephaly, growth retardation, cataracts and blood vessel disease.
On March 10, 1945, Tokyo was the subject of a massive air raid,
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and in the same way as Hiroshima, over 100,000 people lost their lives.
However, because the atomic bomb carried radiation, survivors continued to suffer and struggle both physically and emotionally 10, 50 and even 60 years later.
This is the source of the inhumanity of nuclear weapons.
2. Differing physical impact and suffering depending on age at time of bombing
The physical suffering and state of one's life after the bombing differ depending on the life stage of that person at the time of the bombing (Fig.2).
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Unborn babies at time of bombing: Impact of the bombing appears as microcephaly accompanied by intellectual impairment.
In Hiroshima there were 48 people and in Nagasaki there were 17 people, for a total of 65 people, with microcephaly and intellectual impairment.
As of February 2014, there are 10 people with this condition still living in Hiroshima City.
Their guardians have all passed away.
There are approximately 7,000 people who were unborn babies at the time of the bombing and are not showing any symptoms, 2,600 of whom live in Hiroshima.
Young children at time of
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bombing: People who were exposed to a significant amount of radiation had stunted growth of their height and weight for a period after the bombing, resulting in low height and weight.
There were also many cases of leukemia soon after the bombing.
Further, it is thought that the occurrence of cancer (including multiple cancers) increases as people age.
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Adults at the time of the bombing: Many cases of cancer and blood vessel disease.
Fig.3 shows the period where there were many cases of cancer occurring, following on from leukemia.
The dotted line indicates where there is likely to be (suggestive) statistical significance, while the solid line shows the period where statistical significance has been recognized.
Following on from thyroid cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer and colon cancer, there was also an increase in skin cancer and meningioma (a type of brain tumor).
From around 1995, the number of survivors suffering from their second cancer started to increase.
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As Fig.4 shows, 59 years after the bombing there were many survivors who had been exposed to high levels of radiation who were suffering from multiple cancers:
first colon cancer and then lung cancer in the following year.
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All ages: Chromosomal abnormalities and Keloids appeared as a mark of exposure to the bomb.
Survivors' lymphocytes are cultivated for two days, and mitosis of at least 100 cells is analyzed to calculate the chromosomal abnormality ratio.
From the chromosomal abnormality ratio, we can estimate the radiation dosage at the time of the bombing.
Chromosomal abnormalities are more apparent the closer the subject was to the hypocenter at the time of the bombing.
Fig.5 shows the chromosomal abnormalities seen in a person who was at the Bank of Japan, Hiroshima Branch at the time of the bombing.
In this example, the radiation dosage is estimated at 3,000mSv.
As chromosomal abnormalities continue over a long period of time, the abnormalities can still be confirmed 30 or even 50 years after the bombing.
It was possible to prove that there were chromosomal abnormalities from the lymphocytes (T cells, B cells), bone marrow cells, and skin cells where there were Keloids.
The important thing is that there was damage from radiation in the stem cells of all tissues, and that these were passed on to the daughter cells after cell division.
The issue when Keloids appear as an aftereffect is that they lead to contracture in the arm and leg joints, causing impairment of normal motor functions.
Moreover, when Keloids occur on the exposed sections of arms or legs there is a great emotional burden on the person affected.
The surgeons at the time worked very hard to help survivors recover their motor functions and appearance.
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3. Emotional suffering
The following four points may be made concerning the emotional suffering of atomic bomb survivors:
1. Feelings of regret and guilt: Feelings of guilt arising from an awareness that they survived leaving behind students and relatives who needed help.
Regret that they were not able to help people at the time－even though, naturally, they themselves were also suffering from the effects of the bomb and were not in a position to help people.
These feelings gradually changed to a wish to apologize to and atone for those who lost their lives.
2. Endless anxiety: Watching people die of radiation sickness, a sense of anxiety that they too will eventually meet the same fate.
3. Escape from "that scene": People who witnessed scenes from hell feel that they never want to experience the same thing again.
This feeling leads them to build a wall around their emotions.
Trying to protect this wall, they refuse strong light such as lightning and loud noises.
4. Feelings of respect and reverence for the dead: Feeling that it could have been themselves that died, survivors see those who lost their lives as people who died on their behalf, and hold respect and reverence for the victims of the bomb.
They strongly feel that mourning the dead fervently is the least they can do to atone.
Hiroshima City and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) asked for survivors to send in their "memorable scenes" from the bombing.
The first time the call went out, which was 30 years after the bombing, 2,225 pictures were sent in.
The second time was 57 years after the bombing, and 1,338 pictures were collected (Fig.6).
For example, the picture on the left shows many people getting into water pool as fires approached, and there are dead people outside the water.
This image must have remained in the memory of the person who drew it.
The picture on the right depicts a scene where soldiers in a boat are pulling up people who have died.
All the corpses floating in the water are facing upward because of putrefaction gas.
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Fig.7 shows the results of a survey conducted for approximately 900 people in a region in the Hiroshima Prefecture in November 2012.
In the survey, 77% of the survivors responded that they had spoken to their children about their experience of the bombing at least once.
On the other hand, the number of survivors who said that they had never spoken of their experience was as high as 23%.
The reasons given included - they had continued to keep their experience a secret, they did not want to talk about it, or they did not want to remember it.
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4. Social suffering
Many atomic bomb survivors lost all their property in the bombing, and became poor.
Suddenly, they lost their families, became orphans, and then became solitary elderly people.
Because the survivors are frail, it was difficult for them to obtain work.
For a certain period in the past, companies stopped hiring survivors.
The reason was that survivors need to take numerous days off, and this affects their work.
It was then that municipalities started hiring survivors who could perform a certain level of work.
The daily wage at the time was 240 yen, so these workers were called "Nikoyon" (means two 100 yen coins and four 10 yen coins).
Municipalities continued unemployment relief projects such as building riverbanks, preparing soil, and tidying up parks.
In the 2012 survey of the living situation of the survivors, it was found that one-quarter live alone, and combined with those living only with their spouse accounted for 75%.
Recently the number of elderly couples living alone as a couple who are not atomic bomb survivors is also increasing.
However, even combined with those living alone it only accounts for 50%, which is not as high as the ratio seen amongst atomic bomb survivors.
5. Inhumanity of the atomic bomb as seen in people's lives
Thus far I have reported systematically on the damage suffered by atomic bomb survivors.
From here, I will discuss the inhumanity of nuclear weapons as seen throughout the lives of the survivors.
1. The life of Mr. H.O. after the bombing (Fig.8)
H.O. was 8 years old and in the basement of his elementary school 460m from the hypocenter when the bomb was dropped.
He miraculously survived.
A chromosomal analysis estimated the amount of radiation he was exposed to at 1,960mSv.
Six of his nine family members died in the bombing.
He was handed around among his relatives, and then enrolled at Hiroshima Prefectural War Orphans Foster Home Ninoshima Gakuen as an atomic bombing orphan.
After graduation, he made his living as a cleaner, and finally got married.
However, in 1991 he received operations twice for stomach cancer, and had his whole stomach removed.
As the esophagus and bowel are directly connected, he continued to suffer from reflux esophagitis and anemia.
His eldest son died in a traffic accident in 1998.
In 2001, his first grandchild (his second son's eldest daughter) contracted leukemia.
However, his second son did not tell his father (H.O.) about his eldest daughter's (H.O.'s grandchild) illness.
The reason he did not tell him is that he thought that his father might think that the reason his grandchild was sick was because he was an atomic bomb survivor, and he did not want him to suffer.
H.O. wanted to know about his granddaughter's illness, but decided not to ask his son about it.
Father and son were both trying to protect one another, and both experienced emotional conflict over the situation.
The granddaughter received a bone marrow transplant but passed away.
After that, in 2005 H.O. contracted interstitial pneumonia.
It is not clear whether or not the large amount of radiation he had been exposed to was the cause, but his condition did not improve despite regular doses of antitussive drugs and steroids, and he suffered.
In 2007, at home, he took his own life.
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2. The life of Mr. A.I. after the bombing (Fig.9)
A.I. was 17 years old and in a streetcar 730m from the hypocenter together with his older brother when the bomb was dropped.
His brother died one week after the bombing.
The radiation dosage estimated by a chromosomal analysis was 2,650mSv.
Of six family members, two died from causes related to the bomb.
A.I. contracted atomic bomb cataracts in 1971.
In 1997, he contracted cancer of the larynx, and recovered a year and half later through radiation therapy.
In 2002, skin cancer appeared on his right shoulder.
The following year, he contracted really bad dermatomyositis.
A.I. contracted aspiration pneumonia in 2003 and passed away at the age of 75.
A.I. said "The people of the world might know the name "Hiroshima", but they don't know what happened there".
He strongly felt that he should tell the world about the reality of the damage from the atomic bombing.
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3. The life of Ms. K.I. after the bombing (Fig.10)
K.I. was 11 years old and in the first floor of the elementary school building 410m from the hypocenter at the time of the bombing.
She miraculously survived.
A chromosomal analysis estimated her radiation dosage at 4,830mSv.
Of the four members of her family, she was the only one to survive.
After the bombing she became an atomic bomb orphan, and for a period after that worked as a live-in employee.
She married in 1953 at the age of 19, and fell pregnant a number of times but had repeated premature deliveries and miscarriages.
She was divorced in 1965, and remarried in 1966.
She went through bankruptcy in 1997.
Her husband had become the guarantor of a friend's debt, was under pressure to repay the debt, became unable to live even in public housing, and ended up living in their car.
The couple was later able to rebuild their lives with support from the Christian church.
In terms of medical history, we know that when she underwent a detailed examination in 1973, K.I.
had impaired hearing and atomic bomb cataracts.
She had an operation for thyroid cancer in 1985, and also contracted restrictive lung disorder.
In 1996 she had an operation for colon cancer, in 2001 an operation for meningioma, and in 2008 contracted two small tumors of neuron sheath (Schwannoma).
Because of the neurilemma, K.I. suffered continued stinging pain similar to shingles, requiring medication.
This situation remains unchanged current at April 2014.
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The atomic bombing caused great chaos to the survivors' daily living as well as their health.
It is clear that the bombing continues to inflict constant suffering.
I would like to emphasize there that the cases described above are only three of the many cases of the atomic bomb survivors who are suffering.
6. Encouraging words from survivors
After graduating from medical school in 1962, I was employed at the newly-established "Department of Internal Medicine for Survivors" of Research Institute for Nuclear Medicine and Biology, and have spent the 52 years since then together with atomic bomb survivors.
In conversations with the survivors, there were hints for scientific research and leads for the further development of the research.
Here I would like to present some of the elements that can be found in casual remarks made by the survivors, reflecting a crystallization of that person's suffering, the emotional strength that helped them to overcome their hardships, and the way they lived their lives (Fig.11).
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The person who made the comment "Life without a husband is hard" was a woman who continued to live alone after losing her husband in the atomic bombing.
These are extremely serious words, reflecting just one part of the suffering that this woman had experienced up to that point, and incorporating various emotions.
The person who said "People can achieve happiness by thinking positively" was a woman who had experienced poverty and overcome two cancers.
She did not say anything about what kind of life she had led in the ten years after the bombing.
She had remarried.
Six years ago, she came to visit me
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at Kurakake Nozomi-en Atomic Bombing Nursing Home with her two daughters.
It was then that I immediately knew the reason why she had not spoken about a part of her life.
The face of her eldest daughter was not a Japanese face.
Currently she also has a grandchild, and is living very well.
Recently, she sent me a letter with a haiku, saying "I guess I'm an eighty-year-old who's crawled through a quagmire to get this far".
This person has a very positive outlook.
The person who said "I live on through the hardships" is a woman who had Keloids all over her face.
She was over forty when she got married, and has one child.
She has lived through three cancers, and states firmly "I will survive".
The person who said "It is important to have a kind heart" was a man who experienced both the atomic bombing and the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake (Kobe Earthquake).
At the time of that earthquake, he was the head of the Chamber of Commerce.
After the earthquake he worked hard to achieve recovery, looking after people at the same time.
Two years later he collapsed from overwork, and now requires kidney dialysis.
Atomic bombing survivors clearly state that happiness can be achieved through positive thinking.
Non-Japanese people probably think that the survivors must talk about resentment and bitterness, or that they must be demanding that the United States that dropped the bomb apologize for its actions, but that is not the case.
Thinking about the hardships that one has experienced in a positive way leads to feelings of kindness toward the people around one.
It is we, who did not experience the bombing, who are encouraged to be stronger by their words.
The survivors truly teach us so much.
In conclusion
This article is a written summary of a speech that I gave at an event held by an NPO the day before the 8th NPDI (Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative) Ministerial Meeting on April 12, 2014.
We must not forget that the record of no use of nuclear weapons for 69 years has been achieved with huge sacrifices and constructive efforts made by the survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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Profile [Nanao KAMADA, M.D]
Born 1937.
Doctor of medicine.
Professor emeritus at Hiroshima University.
Honorary member of Japan Radiation Research Association, member of Hiroshima Prefecture Cancer Prevention Promotion Council, director of the Japan chapter of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW).
Winner of the Chugoku Cultural Award, Takashi Nagai Peace Award, and the Japan Cancer Society Award.
Assumed current post in April 2001.
Works include: Hiroshima no obaachan ("One Day in Hiroshima: An Oral History").
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