The Bikini H-Bomb Tests and Studies on Radiation Damage

The Bikini H-Bomb Tests and Studies on Radiation Damage

A hydrogen bomb test Bravo Shot at Bikini atoll of Marshall Islands on 1 March 1954
made a very big impact on the Japanese people. A nationwide movement against nuclear
weapons arose and the first World Conference against A & H Bombs was held in August
1955 at Hiroshima. On the basis of this movement many scientists and experts in
various fields, such as radiation physics and chemistry, radiobiology and fisheries
science, took an active part in investigation of health effects from the Bikini nuclear
tests and clarified that the effects from fallout of hydrogen bomb tests had been spread
over a wide region of the Pacific Ocean. These investigations and researches by
Japanese scientists pointed out that the radiation effects of fallout from these nuclear
tests were very severe. Reflecting these findings the Russell-Einstein Manifesto in 1955
pointed out the dangerous situation of radioactive fallout:
"... Such a bomb, if exploded near the ground or under water, sends radioactive
particles into the upper air. They sink gradually and reach the surface of the earth in the
form of a deadly dust or rain. It was this dust which infected the Japanese fishermen and
their catch of fish.
No one knows how widely such lethal radioactive particles might be diffused, but
the best authorities are unanimous in saying that a war with H-bombs might quite
possibly put an end to the human race. It is feared that if many H-bombs are used there
will be universal death--sudden only for a minority, but for the majority a slow torture
of disease and disintegration."