http:\/\/www.ontheissuesmagazine.com\/2011spring\/2011spring_Charman.php<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Among those most at risk in Japan in the aftermath of the nuclear reactor failures are pregnant women. Radiation exposure means that harmful rays can pass directly to a fetus through a mother’s body, dramatically increasing the risks of birth defects, cognitive disorders, and cancers. Radioactive particles carried by the wind and inhaled or ingested […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-program"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19696\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"women](\"http:\/\/www.tdbimg.com\/files\/2011\/03\/15\/img-article---salario-japan-radiation-babies_173131554975.jpg\")
Among those most at risk in Japan in the aftermath of the nuclear reactor failures are pregnant women. Radiation exposure means that harmful rays can pass directly to a fetus through a mother’s body, dramatically increasing the risks of birth defects, cognitive disorders, and cancers. Radioactive particles carried by the wind and inhaled or ingested by a pregnant mother can reach a developing fetus through the mother’s circulatory system. In those areas where radiation levels have been recorded to be higher than the equivalent of more than 500 chest X-rays, the risks of cancer become significant. There is already speculation of the potential long-term effects of the radiation exposure to a new generation of Japanese. So far about 140,000 people have been evacuated from about a 20 mile radius of the reactors, and evacuated pregnant women are being advised to remain indoors to avoid inhaling or ingesting radioactive wind-borne particles. Much depends on how Japan responds to the crisis during these days in the immediate aftermath. There is still a social stigma in Japan against disabilities afflicting people as a result of the US bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. Authorities fear that as in the past, parents of so-called “hibakusha” may not take advantage of any special health benefits. <\/p>\n