Japanese fishermen seek compensation for cancer caused by US nuclear tests

A handful of Japanese fishermen who developed cancer after being exposed to fallout from US nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands in the early 1950s are to apply for workers’ compensation from the Japanese government.

The men, along with the relatives of other sailors who subsequently died of radiation-related diseases, plan to file their requests for compensation with the Japan Health Insurance Association in February, according to the Mainichi newspaper.

There is concern, however, that the Japanese government may choose to contest the claims after the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare ruled in September 2014 that the crews of all but one ship were only exposed to small amounts of radiation.

READ MORE: Bikini Atoll nuclear bomb tests still cast a shadow, 60 years on

Under pressure from the Pacific Ocean Nuclear Disaster Support Centre, a pressure group set up by survivors and their relatives, the ministry finally released documents detailing the amount of radiation that fishing vessels operating in the central Pacific at the time of the tests had been exposed to.

The ministry concluded that the degree of exposure fell short of the amount that international standards would recognise as having an impact on human health.

Undeterred, the men intend to push ahead with their claims, supported by new evidence gathered by a professor who specialises in measuring radiation.

A professor at Okayama University of Science, Shin Toyoda examined enamel on the teeth of fishermen who were some 1,300km east of Bikini Atoll when the Castle Bravo thermonuclear tests were carried out between March 1 and May 14, 1954.