A study has found that kids in western US states born in the first four months of after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown were up to 28% more likely to have congenital hypothyroidism. The condition, which can be treated with early detection, and is almost universally screened for at birth, is sometimes associated with prenatal exposure to radioactive iodine isotopes like those released in extraordinary levels into the atmosphere after the earthquake/tsunami.
Which really makes me hope that those extra 47 American Fukushima babies got their thyroxine treatments. Which, since their data is in the study, they probably did.
Godspeed you, Black Rain Emperor!
Fukushima meltdown appears to have sickened American infants [grist.org]
Elevated airborne beta levels in Pacific/West Coast US States and trends in hypothyroidism among newborns after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown [scirp.org]
see analysis of numbers and description of spin around this story at http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2011/06/21/are-babies-dying-in-the-pacific-northwest-due-to-fukushima-a-look-at-the-numbers/