Planting Rice In Contaminated Soil

I cannot believe what I just read on NHK.
They are going to plant rice once they have DECIDED what level of contamination shall be deemed as safe. This is what they say:-
The agriculture ministry is preparing to check soil of 150 paddies located more than 30 kilometers from the plant.
Inspectors are to examine samples of soil 15 centimeters underground for radioactive cesium.

The ministry plans to study how much cesium rice plants would take in from contaminated soil, draw up guidelines on the level of contamination allowed for rice growing, and release the results by mid-April.

So I guess by that they don't know already what level is safe so they are going to make one
Another ridiculous decision in the making I fear.

reply to post by squizzy


Well man... I can understand the why.. They are certainly ambitious to get in on this year's growing season and frankly I don't blame them.

hmm glow in the dark rice...

Not to worry, if the levels found aren't safe they will just increase the level. It's perfectly safe to eat no harm will come to you, honest.

I think the real damage done is going to take in the decades to understand.

I can't blame them for trying to set limits on safe amounts to consume, if the choice is eat contaminated food and take your chances or starve there is no choice really.

On a side note : I would love to see the poeple who chose too ..relocate to an inland location away from the radiation and have it funded by thier government....temporarily of course elsewise there would needs be immigration ect..

reply to post by squizzy


Wait, this sounds like a rational and safe move, to me.

If they had said "nothing outside 30 km is contaminated, go ahead and plant, it's fine" then yeah, that would be ridiculous.

But are you really suggesting they simply write off the entire growing season and leave their people without one of the most basic staples of their diets based on zero data? They don't have a whole lot of alternatives. If it's determined later that the rice is contaminated beyond their expectations, they can destroy the crops and plan to import it all. I don't get what you would have them do instead?

reply to post by ressiv


It was not so long ago we had a post on here about plastic man made rice, I sure hope people can find something more safe to eat, they usually eat lots of fish so maybe they too will glow at night now, poor folks have nothing to eat or drink that will be safe.

reply to post by 00nunya00


IMO the world should get together and send them safe food. Lets be honest we spend enough on weapons to kill people how about the governments spend money on keeping people alive for a change.

reply to post by squizzy


We have the capacity to easily do this for the millions of starving children around the world every day----don't hold your breath that we'll do it for one of the richest and most advanced countries in the world. I can't argue that they shouldn't have access to safe clean food just like anyone else, but I do think that the decision the Japanese government made to tell farmers to hold off planting in the first place until further testing could be done is absolutely the best possible decision they could have made for the moment. If they can feed themselves safely, they should, and not waste a growing season because of possibly unfounded fears of high-level contamination. Get data first, freak out later.

reply to post by 00nunya00


I agree with what you are saying but my point in the OP was about the remark that they would DECIDE on a safe level. That is what I found disturbing, if they don't know what a safe level is then this could be a complete disaster for them. I do agree with plant now panic later if necessary to some degree but I really wish someone actually KNEW what a safe level would be. If at all.

Originally posted by squizzy
The agriculture ministry is preparing to check soil of 150 paddies located more than 30 kilometers from the plant.
Inspectors are to examine samples of soil 15 centimeters underground for radioactive cesium.

notice the key phrase here... "15 centimeters underground "
that's about 6 inches beneath the surface.

naturally, the levels of radioactivity will be far less 1/2 foot down.
what a complete joke! talk about fudging the numbers!

try taking samples at the surface, you'll get completely different readings.

what a bunch of jackasses

reply to post by arufon


What if it is the water table that is the problem? Then the readings even further down could be way higher and just rising towards the surface, just a thought.

Originally posted by squizzy
reply to post by arufon

 

What if it is the water table that is the problem? Then the readings even further down could be way higher and just rising towards the surface, just a thought.

good point.
but i should think they should be testing at multiple levels, not just 15 cm down.
and they only test for cesium levels? not strontium/iodine/uranium/plutonium levels??...

seems they are determined to declare planting rice is "SAFE"