Fukushima Research Needs World's Support SERIOUS CONFUSION SURROUNDS THE ACCIDENT AT FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI NUCLEAR POWER Plant with regard to the amount of permissible radiation exposure, particularly in children ("Fukushima revives the low-dose debate," D. Normile, News Focus, 20 May, p. 908; "Citizens fi nd radiation far from Fukushima," D. Normile, News & Analysis, 17 June, p. 1368). The primary reason for this confusion is the lack of scientifi c evidence (1). On 29 April, Osako Toshiso, Cabinet Advisor and a professor at University of Tokyo who specializes in radiation safety, offered a tearful resignation. He claimed that the 20-mSv limit on annual radiation exposure for elementary school playground use set by the government was too high, and recommended that it should be lowered to 1 mSv/year. The government says that these standards are based on those of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (2). These may be suitable for adults, but there is insuffi cient evidence to argue that the same standards apply to children. It is now necessary to initiate a large-scale cohort study of childhood thyroid cancer in the Fukushima region. This study would register all children in the affected region; periodically and accurately measure their internal and external radiation exposure; and follow the children for more than 10 years. This would mark the most important scientifi c study that Fukushima can now offer to the people of the world. This study would augment the lessons learned from Chernobyl. Although some middle-term (~10 years) and middle-scale studies have been published on Chernobyl (3-6), most recovery projects lacked economic support (7), and the subtle health effects of low-level radiation exposure have yet to be determined. A long-term and large-scale follow-up study of the Fukushima accident can provide fi rm and reliable evidence for low-dose effects of radiation exposure on thyroid cancer in children. Given the current confusion and disorder, it would be diffi cult for Japanese researchers and the Japanese government to execute such a study singlehandedly (8). However, they should not have to organize the effort alone. The risk of childhood exposure to radiation is a real one for people living in any region of the world. It is time to organize an international joint research team supported by countries worldwide to uncover lessons to be learned from Fukushima for the sake of future humanity.

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Based on an original dataset of 651 households in the informal settlement of Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, this article examines household electricity use, drivers of uptake and willingness to pay (WTP) for efficient compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) lighting technology. Informal and illegal electricity consumption, euphemistically referred to by residents as “electricity borrowing”, is common. This removes the metered electricity price lever upon which to influence consumer behaviour and demand for energy-efficient technologies. However, as this study demonstrates, the comparative durability of efficient lighting technologies presents economic benefits for uptake even in a context of fixed-rate electricity payments. While bulb uptake and stated WTP are independent of demographic characteristics such as income activity, gender, education and other factors, they are significantly correlated with informal electricity consumption, beliefs related to bulb durability, knowledge of past energy efficiency outreach, and other contextual factors, underlining a need for tailored approaches to energy efficiency in informal settlements.