OSAKA, Aug. 1 Kyodo - Over 80 percent of the plaintiffs who have sued the government for recognition as atomic bomb illness sufferers experienced symptoms of acute radiation, regardless of their distance from the hypocenters in the 1945 U.S. attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, according to a Kyodo News survey.

Kyodo contacted 146 survivors of the atomic bombings who have filed lawsuits, and 92 of them responded. The survey also found three-quarters of the respondents, regardless of where they were during the attacks, entered areas near the hypocenters soon afterward and likely experienced multiple exposures to radiation such as from radioactive fallout.

The findings show the health ministry's standards for approving the recognition -- calculating estimated radiation based on the distance from the hypocenters in the initial period after the bombings -- may have failed to include those who fall ill from internal exposure such as inhaling radioactive substances.

The survey found that over 80 percent suffered from acute radiation illness symptoms such as loss of hair and vomiting soon after the U.S. attacks on the cities.

''External radiation exposure cannot explain the high rates of acute radiation illness suffered by those who entered areas close to the hypocenters from outside,'' said Shoji Sawada, professor emeritus at Nagoya University and an atomic bomb survivor himself.

''It is necessary (for the government) to consider the effects of inhaling radioactive dust in the areas,'' he said.

The symptoms are believed to result from being exposed to at least 1 gray, the unit equivalent to 1 joule of radiation energy absorbed per kilogram of organ or tissue weight.

Among the respondents, 64 were in Hiroshima and 28 in Nagasaki, on which the U.S. dropped atomic bombs in August 1945. Their average age now is 72.4.

Forty-four of 54 respondents who were within 2 kilometers of the hypocenters and 28 of 33 who were farther away said they suffered the symptoms.

All five other respondents, who entered the two cities after the bombings, said they experienced the symptoms. The majority of the respondents, or 77 percent, entered areas near the hypocenters to search for relatives or help in aid operations. As much as 43 percent said they were exposed to radioactive ''black rain.'' Sixty-four percent said their ''health changed completely'' after being exposed to the atomic bomb blasts, and 70 percent said they have been suffering from symptoms for over 40 years.

On why they sued, 84 percent said they ''wanted the state to recognize that their illnesses were caused by the atomic bombings,'' much more than the 17 percent who said they did so to obtain the government's special medical allowance.

''The trials are prolonged and I feel that my life won't last long enough,'' a female respondent in her 80s said. A man in his 70s wrote, ''If I had died at that time, I wouldn't have had to worry about my health and could have lived peacefully in heaven.''

Ninety percent of the respondents called the government's recognition criteria too strict. About 60 percent said they decided to sue because they were angry at the government and that they hope the suits will lead to the abolition of nuclear arms.

''Even now as I am about to die, I am still fighting in the lawsuit,'' said a male respondent in his 60s. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare defines atomic bomb survivors as those who were directly exposed to the atomic bombings in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and surrounding areas, as well as those who entered areas near the hypocenters within two weeks of the bombings.

Among such survivors, those recognized as suffering from illnesses resulting from atomic bomb radiation are eligible for a special medical allowance of 137,840 yen per month.

However, the ministry has only granted 2,270 of the 270,000 survivors, or 0.82 percent, the allowances. The survey was mailed to the 146 plaintiffs through the cooperation of various support groups for atomic bomb survivors and received valid responses from 92 people.

August 01, 2004 18:04:11