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May 3, 2011

Japan Parents Deliver Radioactive Playground Dirt To Protest High Radiation Levels 
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In news from Japan, parents of young school children have staged an
unusual protest to oppose the Japanese government's decision to allow
children to be exposed to 20 times more radiation than was previously
permissible. Furious parents responded to the rule change by delivering
a bag of radioactive playground dirt to school officials. Before the
nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility, the
acceptable radiation level for children was set at 1 millisievert per
year. After the disaster, the government raised the acceptable limit to
20 millisieverts per year. Officials said the move was needed because
most of the schools near the plant were above the radiation original
level.



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