03.01.10
A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness
While we were in the Philippines we had the opportunity to visit some bookstores. One bookstore I particularly liked is called Fully Booked on Fort Bonafacio High Street. One thing I noticed there is that they seem to have a better selection of history books dealing with Asia than the bookstores I normally visit here in Los Angeles (which is understandable). There are several that I hope to be able to read, and so in the meantime, I copied the names of some titles that I want to look for later. One book, in particular, caught my attention which was called NHK-TV “Takaimura Criticality Accident” Crew, A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness.
Prior to my AA diagnosis, I was relatively oblivious to the toxins and other health hazards we are exposed to daily or as a matter of routine. As part of my quest to recover from AA, I tried to read up on various health and healing modalities. As a result, I learned about many hazards to the human body among them is radiation.
I have come to be staunchly against nuclear power because of the sheer dangers it poses to human health. What I’ve learned about radiation exposures is frightening. The power of radiation to literally destroy our bodies from the very cell structure is unbelievable. It wasn’t until I was diagnosed with AA and learned and experienced the “weird” and frightening things that can go wrong with the body did I appreciate the dangers of radiation. Unlike other toxins, our bodies don’t detox radiation. The damages radiation cause remain once it has inflicted its damage and continues to damage as it reduces the ability of healthy cells to replicate and changes healthy cells into free radicals that in turn damage more healthy cells. This is not to mention the nuclear wastes created that do not go away for centuries. Among the things I didn’t agree with Senator McCain during his Presidential run was his assertion that we should build “40″ more nuclear power plants! No way would I ever vote for someone like that. And I wasn’t too happy that Obama also didn’t want to rule out using nuclear energy and now recently even proposed a couple new plants in Georgia. Grrrrr.
Anyway, back to the purpose of my post. . . when I saw the title regarding “radiation sickness,” I wanted to read A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness. I got a copy of it last Saturday and finished reading it yesterday, Sunday. It was a quick read, but very informative. Basically, it’s the detailed story of the worst nuclear radiation accident in Japan’s history at a uranium processing facility in Takaimura. It was not a nuclear power plant like Three Mile Island or Chernobyl, which is dangerous enough, but a “processing” plant. I had wondered why I had never heard of it before, but it could have been because it happened around the same year and time I got diagnosed with AA and I was likely no longer keeping up with current events. Even so, it’s a wonder that I’ve only learned about it about 10 years after the fact. Makes me wonder about the quality of our news outlets when something so horrific is ignored or blacked out. Anyway, what happened was on September 30, 1999 two employees were filtering and pouring uranium solution into a tank when they inadvertently caused criticality. They heard a loud “smack” accompanied by a blue light known as the Cherenkov light. At that instant, neutron beams, the most powerful form of radioactive energy, pierced through their bodies. They didn’t know it at the time, but at that moment, in a matter of seconds, their days were numbered. They were dead men although they looked fine.
One might ask who in their right minds would work with such lethal substances? Well, sadly there are some, but even more disparaging is that others work with them because they do not fully understand or appreciate the dangers. Such was the case with Hisashi Ouchi, the employee who received the highest dosage of radiation that day. In the book it states that while in the hospital and still able to speak (during the first week), he was said to be very cheerful and calm. If that wasn’t enough of a tip that he didn’t quite understandwhat was in store for him he actually asked the nurse if it was possible for him to develop leukemia later. . . oye. . . In short, this guy didn’t have a clue and didn’t have time to develop leukemia. His body basically deteriorated from the inside out with each passing hour and day. The medical community did their best to deal with all the damage occurring in Ouchi’s body, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing in the medical arsenal could save Ouchi from the grueling fate he was dealt from that moment of radiation exposure. Organ after organ failed as the radiation damage ripped through his cells. When Ouchi finally died and the coroner first beheld his body, the coroner could not contain his astonishment. Here’s an excerpt from page 119:
“At first glance, Ouchi’s body was bright red, as if he had been scalded. But it differred from burnt corpses whose entire bodies were pitch black. The front side of his body, where he had apparently been irradiated, looked severely burnt. No skin remained on this side and it was smeared in blood. The back side was entirely uncolored and the skin appeared normal. There was a distinct border between the irradiated and untouched areas. Misawa had never seen such a body. . .
“. . . Organ alterations which he had never seen appeared before Misawa’s eyes.
“The intestines were swollen and looked like a writhing serpent. There was 2,040 g of blood in his stomach and 2,680 g in his intestines. It was obvious that the gastrointestines had not been functioning.
“Every mucus membrane in his body had disappeared. In addition to the mucus membranes in the intestines and other parts of the gastrointestinal tract, mucus membranes in the trachea had also disappeared.
“Hematopoietic stem cells that ought to be in the bone marrow could not be found either. [Neither Ouchi's or his sister's transplanted cells] Areas with active cell division are known to be sensitive to radiation and susceptible to damage. Tissue such as mucus membranes and bone marrow had been severely damaged.
“What most astonished Misawa was the muscle cells, normally thought to be the least susceptible to radiation damage. Ouchi’s muscle cells had lost most of their fiber and only the cell membrane remained.
“There was only one organ with vivid red muscle cells which had remained intact.
“It was the heart.
“Only the muscle cells of the heart had not been destroyed.”
Death by radiation exposure is no cake walk. There is much pain and suffering involved.
Shogo Misawa, Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Tsukuba was the lead coroner who dissected Ouchi’s body. His philosophy regarding dissection is that no one wants to be dissected, but his job is to carry out forensic autopsies. So it’s up to him to listen to what each body is trying to tell them. As a coroner, his task is to observe and record what they see and lend their ears to that person’s voice. Misawa thought that from the pitiful condition of Ouchi’s body it appeared that Ouchi had lived with all his might. And from Ouchi’s heart, the only internal organ that remained vividly intact, Misawa said he received Ouchi’s message that he wanted to continue living. Another message the Misawa believes he received from dissecting Ouchi’s body is about radiation. Misawa is quoted on page 121:
“I think there was one other thing that Mr. Ouchi wanted to tell us. It was about radiation, something invisible and without smell that most people don’t consider a risk. But look at what it did to me. Why did I have to change so much? I was so young, why did I have to die? I want everyone to think about this. Looking at his heart I couldn’t help but think: That’s Mr. Ouchi’s message.
“As an expert witness, Misawa is usually not permitted to give the details of an autopsy. However, he felt compelled to transmit the message he heard from Ouchi’s body.
“Radiation damage destroys the human body from the inside out.
“The effect of radiation had extended to every corner of the body.”
I highly recommend reading A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness. Especially in light of the current push to revive nuclear energy we all must educate ourselves so that at least if we choose for or against nuclear power, it will be an educated choice. The consequences are too severe to remain willfully ignorant.
Marlakins
