UN: Fukushima Cancer Risk Very 'Low'

A preliminary report by the World Health Organization has said that there is a low risk that cancer rates will rise among residents near Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant. The report, released Sunday, said the possibility that cancer risks will significantly rise among adults and children, excluding newborns, is low based on the statistics of actual cancer incidence.

However, it is unclear how complete those statistics are, the Japan Times reports.

According to the paper, there are also data showing newborns in the town of Namie and the village of Iitate in Fukushima Prefecture could suffer from cancer, leukemia or other illnesses in the future.

The preliminary report is based on the assumption that the residents lived in the affected areas for four months after the nuclear crisis started and continued to eat local produce.

In reality, most of the residents were evacuated, the paper said.

Source-ANI