Tips to limit intake of radiation into foods u grow
Ok so brawn testing team believes there is no harm in growing and eating your food while I don't disagree,there tests indicate minute quantities of cesium in some produce they have tested .based on my research of past fallout events I firmly believe levels of cesium in soils could vary in dramatic fashion as they have in the past .If u are concerned there are some tips to limit plant uptake of cesium and strotonium .your plants will love extra nutrients and u can feel better about eating less cesium. we all can agree we want to eat and drink as little as possible:-).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission_product
[edit]Caesium
The Chernobyl accident released a large amount of caesium isotopes, these were dispersed over a wide area. 137Cs is an isotope which is of long term concern as it remains in the top layers of soil. Plants with shallow root systems tend to absorb it for many years. Hence grass and mushrooms can carry a considerable amount of 137Cs which can be transferred to humans through the food chain.
One of the best countermeasures in dairy farming against 137Cs is to mix up the soil by deeply ploughing the soil. This has the effect of putting the 137Cs out of reach of the shallow roots of the grass, hence the level of radioactivity in the grass will be lowered. Also the removal of top few cm of soil and its burial in a shallow trench will reduce the dose to humans and animals as the gamma photons from 137Cs will be attenuated by their passage through the soil. The deeper and more remote the trench is, the better the degree of protection.
Fertilizers containing potassium can be used to dilute caesium and limit its uptake by plants.
[edit]Strontium
The addition of lime to soils which are poor in calcium can reduce the uptake of strontium by plants. Likewise in areas where the soil is low in potassium, the addition of a potassium fertiliser can discourage the uptake of caesium into plants. However such treatments with either lime or potash should not be undertaken lightly as they can alter the soil chemistry greatly so resulting in a change in the plant ecology of the land.
I posted this info in
I posted this info in another board message but I thought I would copy it again here.
I read that sunflowers aid in the removal of cesium and others isotopes from the soil.
http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/pae/botany/botany_map/articles/article_10.html
http://www.ecaa.ntu.edu.tw/weifang/cea/sunflowers.htm
http://thingsinspire.blogspot.com/2011/04/fukushima-radiation-sunflowers...
http://www.oasisadvancedwellness.com/health-articles/2011/03/fighting-ra...
Natural Geiger Counter: There is a plant that is a natural Geiger counter. The spiderwort plant is so sensitive to changes in radiation levels (its petals change color upon exposure) that it’s often used as a natural radiation detector (dosimeter), just as they use canaries in mines as detectors of poisonous gas. Some people like knowing that they have an ongoing monitoring system for radiation in the environment, and this is just another tip available in “How to Neutralize the Harmful Effects of Radiation or Radioactive Exposure.”
Zeolite - Zeolites have been used to decontaminate animals, particularly sheep and reindeer, which have ingested radiation following nuclear disasters such as Chernobyl. Addition of zeolites to contaminated soils has shown to reduce up-take of radionuclides by plants, and hence, reduce the spreading of contamination through the food chain. (Introduction to Zeolite Science and Practice by Herman van Bekkum). Do not take any product containing zeolite if you are taking any prescription medication containing heavy metals, such as lithium, or containing platinum, which can be found in some cancer medications or Radiotherapy with chemotherapy check with your practitioner.
Also here is information about adding compost and cover crops to aid in removal of radioisotopes.
http://weblife.org/humanure/chapter3_12.html
"An Austrian farmer claims that the microorganisms he introduces into his fields have prevented his crops from being contaminated by the radiation from Chernobyl, the ill-fated Russian nuclear power plant, which contaminated his neighbor's fields. Sigfried Lubke sprays his green manure crops with compost-type microorganisms just before plowing them under. This practice has produced a soil rich in humus and teeming with microscopic life. After the Chernobyl disaster, crops from fields in Lubke's farming area were banned from sale due to high amounts of radioactive cesium contamination. However, when officials tested Lubke's crops, no trace of cesium could be found. The officials made repeated tests because they couldn't believe that one farm showed no radioactive contamination while the surrounding farms did. Lubke surmises that the humus just "ate up" the cesium.70"
Luebke Compost
Here is a website that details minutely the making of Luebke Compost. It isn't for beginners. And the microbes can not be exposed to clorinated water as it kills them! The microbes are essential for making the compost "hot" enough to eat the radioactive materials. It involves "mineralization" of the soil. Very complex.
http://www.ibiblio.org/steved/Luebke/Luebke-compost2.html
Here is a good article about
Here is a good article about Sigfried Luebke's farming practices that lowered the cesium in his soil as per the message above. Scroll down to the second page in the article.
All Things Considered in the Wake
of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident
http://www.acresusa.com/toolbox/reprints/December1989_Luebke.pdf
Other things that may help
Other things that may help the soil.
http://remineralize.org/site/pt/blog/magazine/from-chernobyl-to-japan-tr...
thanks for the information
I had asked about soil removal in another thread. Is the top few inches enough? Can the removed soil be placed some where else in the yard that is not used for growing food? With the tests now showing less in the air, is a garden this summer going to be "safe"? The strawberries are out for this summer. What about the blueberries, the fruit has yet to set and I would think they have a much deeper root system. I'd love to know what others are doing in this area. I don't know how long or really how healthy it is to be eating only frozen vegetables. At some point, which is really better for us?
thx for this
it helps!
Keep active
Keep active
I've heard mixing Zeolite in
I've heard mixing Zeolite in your soil helps, too.
Zeolite in the Garden
Using Zeolite in the garden may help absorb some of the radioactive substances, but if the Zeolite remains in the garden, so does the radiation. Much better to use phytoremediation (photosynthesis)to draw out the radioactive materials. As has been mentioned in other threads, some plants actually "remove" cesium, etc. from the soil! After Chernobyl, the Russians & Europeans used SUNFLOWERS (yes, the common sunflower native to North America)to remove the radioactive materials from their soil. They also used other plants - i.e. mustard, hemp (the type for making rope). Of course, the sunflower seeds cannot be eaten!
I am concerned with disposal of the plants afterward. It turns out that the plants "might" be composted, if the compost heap is "hot" enough (not radiation hot, but compost pile "biologically" hot). Still researching this one...
It is going to be up to each one of us to "clean up our own backyards"...and frontyards.
Thanks for this thread. Re:
Thanks for this thread.
Re: Composting radioactive plants, no way!!
The heat in a compost pile will NOT remediate radioactive materials. There's 2 ways to deal with this-
1) Removal of soil or the bio-removal idea already referenced.
2) Wait for isotopes to decay to a "safe" level (not recommended unless you plan to live a century or two)
Composting
What do you suppose most people are doing with their grass clippings and other prunings? They are recycling them in their green cans...or their gardeners are! From green cans...they go to city recycling...at least in the SF Bay Area they do!
I hate to be redundant, but there are some studies out there that have used composting as a method of removing radioactive substances (see below). Apparently, these microorganisms "eat up" the radioactive substances. We need to find out more about this...
http://weblife.org/humanure/chapter3_12.html
"An Austrian farmer claims that the microorganisms he introduces into his fields have prevented his crops from being contaminated by the radiation from Chernobyl, the ill-fated Russian nuclear power plant, which contaminated his neighbor's fields. Sigfried Lubke sprays his green manure crops with compost-type microorganisms just before plowing them under. This practice has produced a soil rich in humus and teeming with microscopic life. After the Chernobyl disaster, crops from fields in Lubke's farming area were banned from sale due to high amounts of radioactive cesium contamination. However, when officials tested Lubke's crops, no trace of cesium could be found. The officials made repeated tests because they couldn't believe that one farm showed no radioactive contamination while the surrounding farms did. Lubke surmises that the humus just "ate up" the cesium.70"
Here is a good article about Sigfried Luebke's farming practices that lowered the cesium in his soil as per the message above. Scroll down to the second page in the article.
All Things Considered in the Wake
of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident
http://www.acresusa.com/toolbox/reprints/December1989_Luebke.pdf
bump
bump
I have also read that
I have also read that Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana )is a good indicator of gamma radiation. I plan to plant some of these in my yard. If you google "spiderwort and radiation" a lot of information can be found.
http://www.sierrapotomac.org/W_Needham/Spiderwort_050626.htm
"Since 1974, experimentation has demonstrated that the spiderwort plant is an accurate instrument for measuring cumulative doses of radiation. Studies conducted at Kyoto University in Japan and at Brookhaven National Laboratory found that the normally blue stamen hairs indicated mutation by turning pink when exposed to radiation. The same effect has since been observed when the spiderwort plant is subjected to chemical pollution. The use of a biological means to monitor radiation offers distinct advantages over electronic or chemical devices in that it gives a more meaningful measure of the effect on living things. The Roentgen Equivalent Man (REM) is used in radiation detection technology to take the biological aspect of radiation damage of a Roentgen of radiation into account. The Stamen-hair-mutation test (Trad-SHM) has been formalized as a means to detect gene mutation due to radiation and the Micronucleus test (Trad-MCN) has been established to detect DNA damage due to chemical pollutants. "