Fukushima - Cannabis will clean up radiactive soil if allowed

LEDBud

Well-Known Member
The War on Drugs is costing us more then we know it turns out Cannabis not only improves our health but now our planets health !

How Hemp Can Clean Up Radiation From Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

MINNEAPOLIS — The cannabis plant has myriad uses, from paper, fabric and even fuel that can be created from industrial hemp, to the many health conditions which benefit from medical marijuana. Here’s one more benefit to add to the list: removing toxic metals and even radiation from soil.

The process of using plants to clean polluted soil is called phytoremediation. According to a 2014 report from Nation of Change’s Christina Sarich, two members of the mustard family are more frequently used in phytoremediation, but cannabis has shown some promise because of its hardiness to toxins and quick growth rates. Some have even considered using it near Fukushima.

A group of representatives of Consolidated Growers and Processors, PHYTOTECH, and Ukraine’s Institute of Bast Crops experimented in the late 1990s with using industrial hemp, a form of the plant that’s high in fiber but low in psychoactive or medical benefits, near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, where a great deal of agricultural land is still unusable because of the presence of radiation and heavy metals still lingering from the 1986 meltdown.

“Hemp is proving to be one of the best phyto-remediative plants we have been able to find,” said Slavik Dushenkov, a research scientist with PHYTOTECH.

In 2009, scientists from Belarus also experimented with hemp in areas polluted by Chernobyl. The disaster contaminated nearly 20 miles around the site.

The Belarusian scientists noted that one added benefit of industrial hemp over other phytoremediation plants is that it can also be used to produce biofuel, potentially adding a second use for the crop after it removes toxins from the soil.

“As with the Chernobyl incident, scientists are finding radioactive emissions and toxic metals–including iodine, cesium-137, strontium-90, and plutonium–concentrated in the soil, plants, and animals of Japan, but also now throughout the United States and all along the West Coast – from Canada to Mexico,” Sarich wrote for Nation of Change.

Seshata, a freelance writer from the Netherlands who specializes in reporting about cannabis, noted several studies which showed hemp to be extremely effective at absorbing toxins like cadmium and heavy metals. However, she noted that the war on drugs limits study on the plant’s potential in the U.S.:



side note: Throughout his lifetime, George Washington cultivated hemp at Mount Vernon for "quote" industrial uses.

He may well of been smoking it along with the laborers , we are a inquisitive species ...
 
As with the Chernobyl incident, scientists are finding radioactive emissions and toxic metals—including iodine, cesium-137, strontium-90, and plutonium—concentrated in the soil, plants, and animals of Japan, but also now throughout the United States and all along the West Coast — from Canada to Mexico," Sarich wrote for Nation of Change

Sorry but there are missing facts in what is being discussed here.
The amounts of Radioactive material from events in Japan in 2011/03/11 is negligible in the Western US and Canada. Radioactive material found in California and on Ca beaches quite often comes from naturally occurring Uranium deposits. Not from Japan. UBC, SFU, Western Washington University..just to name a few Universities went looking for RadioCaesium or Cs137 a few years ago and only managed to find a few pL worth in several 100L of seawater. This is far less than naturally occurring Uranium or Radium 226 present in normal seawater before 2011.
(RadioIodine I129 is not detectable after a few months as it decays so quickly / half life is about 60 days)....

Hemp may be good at absorbing toxins esp. heavy metals , I won't disagree but the article uses some flaky science terms when referring to Nuclear materials. This irritates me to no end.
One part I will agree with is that Cs137 is a long term hazard and is a bone seeker making it especially dangerous. It is a Radioactive bio-accumulative and is responsible for many bone cancer cases in fallout areas in Chernobyl. RadioCaesium mimics Calcium and can be easily absorbed by just about any plant not just hemp. Case in point, a few weeks after 2011, the famous tea fields of Shizuoka were shut down due to concerns that a moderately high level of Cs137 was absorbed by the northern half of the tea plantation there (Shizuoka is about ~423Km south of the affected area). Production was halted until Gamma spectroscopy could be done to determine the absorbed amount.

You can't just get rid of Radiation or radioactive material. It isn't something you can just "get rid of". Plants that absorb the isotope responsible for the radiation readings will themselves become "radioactive" as they will have physically absorbed the material responsible for the reading through their roots. You can not and should not use hemp ( or any other plant) that has bio-accumulated any measurable amount Cs137 from a disaster site.

Hope this explanation makes more sense.
 
Sorry but there are missing facts in what is being discussed here.
The amounts of Radioactive material from events in Japan in 2011/03/11 is negligible in the Western US and Canada. Radioactive material found in California and on Ca beaches quite often comes from naturally occurring Uranium deposits. Not from Japan. UBC, SFU, Western Washington University..just to name a few Universities went looking for RadioCaesium or Cs137 a few years ago and only managed to find a few pL worth in several 100L of seawater. This is far less than naturally occurring Uranium or Radium 226 present in normal seawater before 2011.
(RadioIodine I129 is not detectable after a few months as it decays so quickly / half life is about 60 days)....

Hemp may be good at absorbing toxins esp. heavy metals , I won't disagree but the article uses some flaky science terms when referring to Nuclear materials. This irritates me to no end.
One part I will agree with is that Cs137 is a long term hazard and is a bone seeker making it especially dangerous. It is a Radioactive bio-accumulative and is responsible for many bone cancer cases in fallout areas in Chernobyl. RadioCaesium mimics Calcium and can be easily absorbed by just about any plant not just hemp. Case in point, a few weeks after 2011, the famous tea fields of Shizuoka were shut down due to concerns that a moderately high level of Cs137 was absorbed by the northern half of the tea plantation there (Shizuoka is about ~423Km south of the affected area). Production was halted until Gamma spectroscopy could be done to determine the absorbed amount.

You can't just get rid of Radiation or radioactive material. It isn't something you can just "get rid of". Plants that absorb the isotope responsible for the radiation readings will themselves become "radioactive" as they will have physically absorbed the material responsible for the reading through their roots. You can not and should not use hemp ( or any other plant) that has bio-accumulated any measurable amount Cs137 from a disaster site.

Hope this explanation makes more sense.
I'm not as familiar with the nuclear topic but find this quite interesting.. If the plants absorb this radiation and in turn become radioactive how would they then become disposable? Burn them (would this cause some sort of radioactive smoke?) Or seal them away which is what I'm presuming they do with other nuclear waste?

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I'm not as familiar with the nuclear topic but find this quite interesting.. If the plants absorb this radiation and in turn become radioactive how would they then become disposable? Burn them (would this cause some sort of radioactive smoke?) Or seal them away which is what I'm presuming they do with other nuclear waste?

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the latter is exactly what would have to be done, (bury) and encase in concrete. Burning the hemp would lead to Radioactive smoke that would contain Cs137, starting the contamination cycle all over again.

***It is Cs137 that is absorbed which is Radioactive, not Radiation. These terms are specific. Quite often these get thrown around (esp. the media) without much understanding. I can expose a plant to high levels of Radiation and the plant will not become Radioactive, BUT if I introduce an isotope like RadioCaesium into a soil medium, anything growing on that medium that absorbs calcium, ie hemp/tea, most trees..etc would start pulling up the isotope and start bioaccumulating it therefore becoming Radioactive as a result. Any animal, insect..etc that eats the plant would also start bi-accumulating the isotope. It would act like a dispersion method.
Many animals around Chernobyl are radioactive due to this exact issue.
 
I deduce the reasons hemp plants are useful is they collect and concentrate heavy metals and radioactive isoptopes quickly for disposal , probably by composting and burial

Try that without using plants that's how important this is , uber important imo especially if you value land as Japan does.

They also have strict laws against Cannabis hence the title of the thread


Remember its Much easier to bury concentrated plants then dig up and bury thousands of acres of soil

As it is much of the land around Fukushima will not be safe for 170 more years

One thing I am curious about is how long it would take cannabis to clean up the land around Fukushima

Seeing those numbers would put the whole premise in perspective

Link to further reading

edit I removed the link and added the article to the following post
 
Thankyou canresearcher for the correction and clearing a few things up for me also L.B your thread intrigues me it would be a great use of the plant to be able to stabilise radioactive ground however I was wondering what made you pick hemp plants for this job and not something else? What makes it better suited to the job then another type of plant? Or is it just another use for this plant we all have in common

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Its not my idea

The researchers mentioned that the vigoris Cannabis plant has a high ability to extract heavy metals and radioactive isotopes.


I was wondering what made you pick hemp plants for this job and not something else? What makes it better suited to the job then another type of plant? Or is it just another use for this plant we all have in common

Here is some info on the process

Concerns about radioactive materials accumulating in soil and water since the nuclear accident in Japan this year have led individuals to look at natural ways to clean their property of possible radiation. One method worthy of examination is phytoremediation. Phytoremediation uses plants to detoxify areas contaminated by the accumulation of hazardous substances, heavy metals and pollutants such as radioactive material.

Remediation using various plants relies on the plants ability to draw material out of the soil through their roots and up into their stalks, leaves and flowers. Some plants are particularly adept at leeching heavy metals and radiation from soil and water. The prospect of using plants to clean up radioactive messes is attractive because plants are a natural, economical means to restore areas contaminated by radiation. In the face of nuclear accidents like the ongoing ecological disaster at Fukushima, this is especially important.

Other methods of removing radioactive materials from soils involve excavating the soil, disposing of it, or washing it with chemicals and returning it to the site. Both alternatives are damaging to the environment for numerous reasons that include the loss of topsoil and pollution caused by chemical treatments. Furthermore disposing large quantities of contaminated soil is costly and impractical for small communities or individuals.

In many cases, using plants to reduce levels of radiation and heavy metals is an effective and cost efficient means to do so. Many entities including governments, industries, and local communities have used phytoremediation successfully. For example, plant life at the site of the Chernobyl disaster demonstrated the ability to absorb massive amounts of radioactive material including radioactive iodine, strontium, cesium-137 and plutonium.

Clean up efforts at Chernobyl after the April of 1986, nuclear explosion included the use of sunflowers that absorbed radionuclides up through their roots from contaminated bodies of water. Phytoremediation in bodies of water is referred to as rhizofiltration. The success of using plants to cleanup radioactive material at Chernobyl gives promise to the use of phytoremediation at Fukushima and at other sites where radioactive materials are present.

Phytostabilization is another means in which plants can be used to reduce the impact of radiation on local environments. Plants are used to reduce erosion due to wind and rain and thereby keep radioactive materials from migrating to a wider area. The plants also absorb radioactive materials in the process. If a radioactive spill happens in an isolated area this is especially useful.

While phytoremediation is promising, it is not without problems. For example, saturated biomass still has to be disposed of properly. Plants chosen for phytoremediation should be chosen to be unappealing to foragers who may put radionuclides back into the food chain. Biomass must be treated as dangerous waste and cannot be composted back into the garden. Burning the harvested material alone is not a solution either, as the ash itself will be saturated with potentially toxic levels of radiation.

Is using phytoremediation a practical way for individuals to clean up their property?

Phytoremediation could be used to clean up individual, privately owned property that has been exposed to radiation providing that the problems associated with disposal of materials could be minimized, overcome or resolved. For the home owner trying to clean soil or water that has only modest levels of radiation some of the following plants may be beneficial; sunflowers, barley, alfalfa, fennel, sugar beets, spinach, lettuce and mustard. The plants that are harvested should not be consumed nor should they be composted back into the garden because radiation is concentrated as it progresses from soil or water into the food chain. Furthermore, the area being treated for radiation should be isolated from foraging animals such as deer.

I have read that 1/3 of the pacific ocean has been effected by Fukushima , seems likely we are seeing radioactivity from it on our shores and just as likely our governments are down playing it.

For more information on phytoremediation google will have many links

 
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