Regarding the editorial "Revisiting Bikini Atoll nuclear tests" in the May 16 edition, I am an attorney who has been handling radiation cases in the United States for over 30 years. The law in this country is quite well-developed on the duty the government or any other defendant owes to the plaintiff: exposure to radiation should not be allowed to exceed the internationally accepted external and internal exposure limits.
The law on how to determine whether the plaintiff's illness, usually cancer, was caused by radiation is less well-developed, but I have recently discovered the way to do so. My technique relies heavily on the data of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Japan. Thus, I believe the answers these plaintiff's are seeking can be found by adopting principles from U.S. radiation case law and my new radiation causation technique which is not yet in the U.S. case law.
Answers to the fishermen's legitimate questions can rather easily be provided to them, contrary to the assumption made in this editorial. Finding these answers is not difficult for me due to my experience in the field.
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.