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The National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba, Japan, has begun testing the amount of radiation received by 43 people, suspected or confirmed to have been affected after the September 30 nuclear accident in Tokaimura. Eight out of 150 people who underwent tests are believed to have suffered severe dna damage.

In one of the worst nuclear accidents in Japan's history, high levels of radiation leaked from a uranium reconversion plant of Tokyo-based JCO Company, some 140 km from Tokyo, exposing around 50 people to radiation. Prior to this accident, there have been five other instances of radiation leaks since 1995 ( Down To Earth , Vol 8 No 11).

Experts and officials at the institute said levels of radiation can be estimated by checking the ratio of abnormally shaped blood chromosomes as compared to the normal ones. This is because partial chromosome aberration occurs when anyone is exposed to more than 250 millisieverts of radiation, said specialists at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences. Medical specialists made this assessment after it was discovered that urine samples of eight people contained abnormally high levels of a substance that indicates DNA damage.

The DNA damage tests on 27 workers of the company and 123 residents of the surrounding area were conducted by the St Marianna University School of Medicine at the request of the Ibaraki prefectural government.

It was revealed that eight of the 150 people, had delivered up to twice the normal concentration of the substance in their urine. However, a prefectural official said that the correlation between the results of the test and the radiation was not confirmed because such results could also be obtained from tests on regular cigarette smokers.

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