Japanese health experts said on November 26, 2012, that the government must do more to address fears of radiation around the Fukushima area. The experts also said that those affected by nuclear pollution should be consulted as well.
UN Special Rapporteur Anand Grover spoke to reporters on the right to health and said that the government needed to depend less on experts and give more information directly to people living with fears of nuclear radiations. Grover spoke at the end of a 12-day tour of Japan, which includes Fukushima and Miyagi Prefectures and said, “Everything should be done with the participation of communities”.
Anand also argued that the Fukushima crisis in March, 2011, was a man-made disaster, where the nuclear reactors went into meltdown after their cooling systems failed. Grover also said that the failure of the Tokyo Electric Power Co., as well as the government's ability to disclose key information on radiation limits had added to the confusion.
In order to reduce some of the misunderstanding, Grover said that the government must not rely too much on specialists and that he personally feels that experts know only a part of the situation. During his visit, Grover also noticed that the affected residents did not have any say in the decisions which affected them.
