Hiroshima atomic bombing survivors' children sue Japanese gov't

Children claiming their parents' exposure to radiation from the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima has affected their own health sued the central government on Friday, local media reported.

The 22 second-generation "hibakusha", or the surviving victims of the atomic bombings, are demanding the government pay them compensation for what local media described as it denying them their "constitutional right to pursue happiness..."

The survivors' children claim that the government has failed to provide financial support to them and so they are seeking recompense through a change to the Atomic Bomb Survivors' Assistance Law.

The current law provides financial aid and covers costs for medical expenses for the original survivors, but the law does not apply to their children.

Part of the plaintiffs' argument for compensation is that they have to live everyday under the constant fear that they might develop a hereditary disease connected to their parents being exposed to radiation.

The plaintiffs are demanding the central government pay them 100,000 yen (about 886 U.S. dollars) each in compensation and a similar petition will be submitted by the children of the survivors of the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki next week, sources familiar with the matter said. Enditem