Fukushima parents confront Japanese Ministry of Education: “Protect the Children, Retract the 20 Millisievert Standard!"

Children have been attending school in radioactively contaminated areas for several weeks already in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.As reported in a press advisory by Green Action Japan, as well as in a media release, busloads of concerned parents from downwind of the leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant descended on the Japanese Ministry of Education, demanding the 20 millisievert per year "permissible" radiation dose standard for children be rescinded, and schools decontaminated. 20 mSv/yr, or 2 Rem/yr, is the "allowable" dose for German nuclear power plant workers. Besides children being significantly more vulnerable to radioactivity's hazards than are adults, the Japanese federal standard accounts for only external exposures, but not for even more hazardous internal contamination.  Asahi T.V. and NHK public broadcasting covered the protest. The Yomiuri Shimbun has editorialized in favor of protecting children from radiation. Green Action has posted photos from the protest.