Regarding the Sept. 14 article "Fukushima man opts to be guinea pig": What in the world is (former-engineer-turned-farmer) Nobuyoshi Ito thinking? Why would the authorities allow any sane person to live inside the evacuation zone near the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant?

Ito is not doing himself, his family or anyone else any favors by risking his health and possibly his life for the sake of exploring the effects of long-term exposure to radioactive dust.

There is a good reason why no one in the Ukraine lives anywhere near Chernobyl — it would be an act of slow suicide. Doesn't Ito realize that his rash behavior will only encourage others to assume the same sort of casual, fatalistic "what, me worry?" attitude toward Japan's catastrophic nuclear disaster, which has resulted in radioactive contamination across Fukushima?

No doubt the bean counters in the nuclear village are grateful to Ito for downplaying the very real dangers of exposure to such radioactive fallout. It plays right into their PR campaign to restore faith in nuclear energy, regardless of future risks.

I wonder if Ito is on Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s payroll as a shill for the managers who failed to protect the nuclear power plant from the earthquake/tsunami danger. He's certainly acting like it.

The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.

robert mckinney