19 plaintiffs recognized as A-bomb radiation disease sufferers

KUMAMOTO, Japan - The plaintiffs and their supporters celebrate outside the Kumamoto District Court on July 30 after the court repealed most of the state decision not to recognize 21 people in Kumamoto Prefecture who suffered in the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as radiation casualties. The court recognized 19 of 21 plaintiffs as radiation disease sufferers. Of 250,000 people certified under Japanese law as atomic bomb victims as of March 31, only 2,242 have been recognized as suffering from illnesses caused by radiation from the atomic bombings, according to Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry data.