Our Health Policy Matters

Here is a cautionary tale about the risk of downplaying the importance of environmental health. A year ago, Fukushima City was a bustling city with a population of 290,000.  Its people were going about their business the day the earthquake and tsunami hit northern Japan, triggering the biggest environmental disaster most will ever experience. At first, the trains stopped running because of damage to the railways, and most of the city’s water stopped running because of ruptures in water mains. Over the next several days, a silent toxin began to spread along with word of the natural disaster.  The Fukushima nuclear power plants, 39 miles southeast of the city, began melting down, releasing radioactive particles into the air and water.  Although Fukushima remained outside the quarantined evacuation zone stretching twelve miles out from the nuclear facility, waves of radioactive cesium dust escaped the zone, flying on the winds toward the city.  As it...

Here is a cautionary tale about the risk of downplaying the importance of environmental health. A year ago, Fukushima City was a bustling city with a population of 290,000.  Its people were going about their business the day the earthquake and tsunami hit northern Japan, triggering the biggest environmental disaster most will ever experience. At first, the trains stopped running because of damage to the railways, and most of the city’s water stopped running because of ruptures in water mains. Over the next several days, a silent toxin began to spread along with word of the natural disaster.  The Fukushima nuclear power plants, 39 miles southeast of the city, began melting down, releasing radioactive particles into the air and water.  Although Fukushima remained outside the quarantined evacuation zone stretching twelve miles out from the nuclear facility, waves of radioactive cesium dust escaped the zone, flying on the winds toward the city.  As it...