Monkeys show effects of fallout from Fukushima nuclear meltdown, study says

Wild monkeys in the Fukushima region of Japan have blood abnormalities linked to the radioactive fallout from the 2011 nuclear power plant disaster, says a scientific study.

The Japanese macaques were found to have low white and red blood cell levels and low haemoglobin, which the researchers say could make them more prone to infectious diseases.

But critics of the study say the link between the abnormal blood tests and the radiation exposure of the monkeys remains unproven and that the radiation doses may have been too small to cause the effect.

The scientists compared 61 monkeys living 70km from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant with 31 monkeys from the Shimokita Peninsula, over 400km from Fukushima.

The Fukushima monkeys had low blood counts and radioactive caesium in their bodies, related to caesium levels in the soils where they lived.

No caesium was detected in the Shimokita troop.

Professor Shin-ichi Hayama, at the Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University in Tokyo, said during Japan's snowy winters the monkeys feed on tree buds and bark, where caesium has been shown to accumulate at high concentrations.