Twelve children now have thyroid cancer in Fukushima, Japan, up from three in February.  And fifteen more cases are suspected.

Researchers at Fukushima Medical University are not directly blaming the triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power Plant following the massive 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in March of 2011.  This is because they’re comparing it to the Chernobyl Disaster:  Thyroid cancer cases were not found among children hit by that 1986 nuclear accident until four and five years later.

But the twelve new cases of thyroid cancer in Fukushima come from a sample of 178,000 children.  Among those aged 10 to 14 in Japan, thyroid cancer strikes about one or two kids in a million.

Last month, United Nations scientists claimed the radiation dose for Fukushima residents was much lower than Chernobyl and that they do not expect to see any increase in cancer in the future.