CounterSpill

In an online video, Japanese government officials are shown dismissing the health and safety concerns of Fukushima residents at a townhall meeting that took place on July 19. 

According to a source quoted by popular blog BoingBoing.net, the subtitled translation is verified and was filmed by anonymous members of Japanese children's advocacy group, SaveChild.net.

Akira Satoh, identified in the film as the director of the local Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters, told the crowd that any further evacuation efforts were not needed. One audience member mentioned a report of radiation found near his home and directly asked if the people in that area have a right to a radiation-free life.

Audience Member: So, are you saying that they don't? They have that right, don't they?

Satoh: I don't know if they have that right.

The video ends with one parent in the crowd pleading with an official to take a specimen of his child's urine, fearing untreated health effects. 

WATCH: 

The residents' health concerns may be valid, as the Japanese government announced 360,000 of Fukushima's youth will need to undergo thyroid checks for the rest of their lives.

Arnold Gundersen, a former nuclear industry senior vice president, told Al-Jazeera that contaminated areas are being found 60 to 70 kilometers away from the site of the nuclear plant. That's three times larger than Fukushima's current evacuation zone, which is set at 20 kilometers.

"The data I'm seeing shows that we are finding hot spots further away than we had from Chernobyl, and the amount of radiation in many of them was the amount that caused areas to be declared no-man's-land for Chernobyl," said Gundersen.