The Osaka District Court on Aug. 2 ruled in favor of eight atomic bombing survivors whose application for official recognition as sufferers of diseases caused by atomic bomb radiation had been turned down by the state. They called for overturning the state's decision not to recognize them as such sufferers. The court recognized them as suffering from atomic bomb diseases and nullified the state's decision.
In a reasonable move, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that the state will not appeal the ruling to a higher court after attending a ceremony on Aug. 9 to mark the Nagasaki atomic bombing 68 years before.
The government should widen the scope of medical assistance to atomic bomb survivors and hasten the work to ease the criteria to recognize such survivors as sufferers of atomic bomb diseases. The Aug. 2 ruling stopped short of calling for abolition of the criteria for revision.