Japan court rules in favour of A-bomb victim

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Japan court rules in favour of A-bomb victim
  
TOKYO, Nov 7 (Reuters) - A Japanese court on Tuesday upheld a 74-year-
old man's claim that the Hiroshima atomic bomb had affected his 
health, adding to pressure on the government to widen its 
compensation payments to other victims. 

The High Court in Osaka, western Japan, rejected a government appeal 
against a previous ruling in favour of the man's claim that the 
atomic bomb dropped in August 1945 had caused his health problems. 

It said the government's criteria for judging whether A-bomb victims 
qualified for full compensation were inadequate. 

An official at the Health and Welfare Ministry said the government 
was studying the ruling and had not decided whether to launch an 
appeal. 

The man, who was in Hiroshima when the United States dropped the bomb 
in the last days of World War Two, later developed liver malfunctions 
and a fall in his white blood cell count. 

He asked the government in 1985 to recognise him as an atomic bomb 
disease patient, which would entitle him to financial assistance, but 
was rejected and took the case to the courts. 

The government had argued that the amount of radiation the man 
received was not enough to have caused his disorders, but the lower 
court ruled that the government's criteria were inadequate. 

Of the 297,600 people who were exposed to radiation from the two 
atomic bombs dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and 
still living as of March, only 2,166 are entitled to full financial 
compensation. 

The government offers limited financial assistance, including free 
basic medical treatment, for all those exposed to radiation. 

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Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    
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Personal Website: http://sandyfl.nukeworker.net
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