Several problems of risk communication and uncertainty are pointed out from experience of Great East Japan Earthquake. Some suggestions are discussed as below to improve issues. Risk communication must be placed under risk governance. Preliminary education is required to improve people's information gathering behaviors just after the earthquake strike because of making people's “disaster awareness” faster and conquering psychological normalizing bias. Attitudes for purchasing food in affected area are different between residences in Tohoku and Tokyo. Distinguishing the nature of probability is needed to discuss uncertainty problems in risk assessment, i. e. probabilistic safety assessment.

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Large area around Fukushima has been contaminated by radioactive materials due to the nuclear accident after the Great East-Japan earthquake and tsunami. Release from the damaged reactors has almost ceased, and the cleanup of the contaminated land and return of the evacuees are becoming the issues of greatest concern. While the annual dose of 1 mSv is regarded as a goal of cleanup or criterion for return publicly, it is not realistic to lower the doses to that level in the whole area. The goal is also unreasonable considering a true picture of radiation risks. The current situation is more or less attributed to a failure in risk communication. Establishing risk governance, particularly involving people as a stakeholder will be a key for the better solution.

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After the crisis of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors, the media started to broadcast comments of radiation doctors and researchers saying “there is no harm up to 100mSv”, “it would be worse for your health if you do not take proper amount of exercises or green vegetables by avoiding radiation”, “smoking is much worse than the current levels of radiation”, some of them were totally against the decades-long efforts of the toxicologist who have been campaigning the harmful effects of smoking, poor exercise, low vegetable intake, etc. These comments can be given as a “Mund Therapie” given by a doctor to a patient in a hospital, only to the people who were, unfortunately, exposed to radiation. The source of confusion of the public was such a sudden change in radiation risk information which is very different from ICRP-based radiation protection guidance. Here, differences and similarities of radiation and chemical in biology, risk assessment, risk management and risk communication are briefly discussed as a starter for a closer interaction between radiation and chemical biologists/scientists/regulators.

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For complete revival of the East Japan great earthquake, withdrawal of waste and sludge, disassemble of collapse buildings, etc. are performed over a long period of time. In these cases, many particulate matters included asbestos are generated, and will induce lung cancer or mesothelioma in tens of years. Since the health risk following exposure to the present environmental concentration of asbestos is about 10^-5, we should control the scattering of asbestos into environment and prevent the inhalation by wearing an anti-dust mask (national assay disposable mask DS2, N95) .

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The author critically reviewed existing researches on soil-plant transfer coefficients or soil-plant relation equations for environmental fate model that estimating transferring metals and metalloids. Although soil-plant relation equations were available for some crops, the equations on staple foods for Japanese were not existed. Soil factors affecting phytoavailability were critically reviewed. Metal concentration in soil, pH in soil, organic carbon contents in soil, and cation exchange capacities (CECs) in soil were often used for dependant variables of soil-plant relation equations, however, another factors should play an important role for explaining variance. Finally, as for a case study, the factors that affect soil-rice transfer of cadmium (Cd) were analyzed. Results showed that a difference of water management condition in a paddy field was a critical factor. The soil-plant relation equation including water management condition successfully estimated Cd concentration in rice from Cd concentration in soil, pH in soil and CECs in soil.

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The H1N1 influenza pandemic and the foot-and-mouth epidemics, which both caused worldwide panic and economic disruption, are examples of infectious diseases that do not only directly harm human health, but also bring about social and economic turmoil. Given the possibility of such biological agents being used in acts of bio-terrorism, providing counter-measures against such threats in order to minimize social and economic damage is a major challenge for the modern world in creating an environment in which one can live without fear. Dealing with this challenge requires a full-scale global approach comprising all relevant actors not only in the public health sector, but also the public and private sectors of animal and plant epidemiology, security, law enforcement, as well as academia and industry. The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) is also envisaged to play a role in countering biological threats. This article is to consider the ways to strengthen the effectiveness of the BWC with a view towards the coming 7th Review Conference of the BWC in December this year.

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A large scale nuclear power plant accident happened after the great earthquake with a huge tsunami in the Eastern part of Japan in March 2011. Data of radionuclide contamination in foods after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident supplied by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, were analyzed for changes of level of radionuclide detection by period, for each food species. Potential intake of radionuclides by children and adults were estimated using average food intake data, and was compared with existing contamination levels in foods by natural radioactive potassium. Appropriate explanation of potential risks by intake of radionuclides is urgently required and the usefulness of such trials by authors are reported.

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