Wednesday, July 27, 2011

#Radioactive Compost Has Already Spread Wide

From the press release by Akita prefectural government on July 25:



The press release is somewhat misleading, as it says the air radiation 1 meter from one bag of the leaf compost is 0.06 microsievert/hr. If you measure in front of the pile of the same bags, the radiation is as high as 0.48 microsievert/hr. Akita's air radiation level (which the prefectural government measures only at 2 locations) is between 0.04 and 0.06 microsievert/hr.


Shimotsuke Shinbun (local Tochigi paper; 7/27/2011) reports that Tochigi Prefecture tested the leaves that went into the leaf compost bags, and they found 72,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium. The leaves were collected in the northern Tochigi in April, and was sold outside the prefecture from mid June to early July. The Tochigi prefectural government ordered the two sellers of leaf compost in Tochigi to recall what's been sold and refrain from shipping "voluntarily" (i.e. at the sellers' own cost, with no support from the government).

Leaf composts are mainly used by the home gardeners. There may be many who hoped to grow their own, radiation-free vegetables and bought these bags to amend the soil for better growth of the seedlings. Well, that hope is dashed. The home gardeners may have ended up contaminating their own soil which may not have been contaminated before they put in the compost.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries couldn't even figure out that cattle farmers feed their cows with rice hay. What the individual home gardeners use for their small gardens was probably none of their concern, as the Ministry is there for the producers.


Anonymous said...

By allowing contamination to spread to the entire island, if not the country, epidemiological studies of the impact on health in the medium and long-term will be made impossible, as there will be no "control" group with which to compare that has not been exposed. The risk, of course, is to the export economy as eventually export products will become contaminated also and international trade with Japan may suffer. Who is going to buy a Japanese car, if they think it is likely to glow in the dark (for example)? And radioactive electronics will show higher failure rates.

Caveat Emptor said...

inadvertent or a matter of practice ...

Disposal of toxic waste between 1990 and 1995, 600 companies from 44 different states sent 270 million pounds of toxic waste to farms and fertilizer companies across the country in the US.

The steel industry provided 30% of this waste. Used for its high levels of zinc, which is an essential nutrient for plant growth, steel industry wastes can include lead, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, nickel and dioxin, among other toxic substances. This waste included 69 different types of toxics, including 13.9 million pounds of known carcinogens.

There is no federal requirement that toxics be listed as ingredients on fertilizer labels. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) doesn't want to regulate fertilizer, so it's left to the states. Only four states - California, Washington, Oregon and Texas - have legislated minor regulations on identifying some toxics in fertilizers. California has limits on three chemicals - cadmium, lead and arsenic - under Proposition 65.

In case you want to buy from the States ...

Anonymous said...

Was it Arthur C. Clarke who once said something to the effect that - "the fate of mankind is to perish in his own waste." Seems to be proving true so far -

Where's a starship when you need one?

Anonymous said...

How long will it take for the Public to understand that, Governments don't give a rat's ass about their people!

People can die but, business is forever! Think they care about future generations are now being poisoned with radiation? Hell no! The more that die, the less people on the planet....that IS what they want.

People's lives mean nothing to any leadership. That is why the leadership is constantly lying...Duh!

Here's one thing that Politicians and Corporates feel about you....expendable!

Want to stop them in their tracks? Quit paying money to them for poisoned products and disrespect them publicly. Beat their egos into the dirt!

YOU have to stop supporting their enterprises.
STOP buying from them now, before death becomes the only thing that stops you!

Anonymous said...

Natural background radioactivity of different type of soils all around the planet is between 500 Bq/kg to 3 kBq per kg.

The reported 11 kBq per kg is therefore higher than the usual but not extremely high or extremely dangerous.

Anonymous said...


These values fell in the range of natural bacground radiation.

Anonymous said...

"These values fell in the range of natural bacground radiation."

No they don't. We have already established that "Natural background radioactivity of different type of soils all around the planet is between 500 Bq/kg to 3 kBq per kg." Natural background in Japan is ~0.1µSv/h. Anything double or more that value is usually considered "contaminated".

Of course in the New Japan, this is now the new natural background radiation.

doitujin said...

"new natural"... so bad, so true... i'm really wondering though, if there is still anything like a "natural" radiation anywhere in the world nowadays... europe, the uss, japan, other parts of asia, are all contaminated more or less, i think(?) and the rest... are often either nearly uninhabited or so poor that there are other poisons to the environment. what a dark picture.

and the "brainwashing" article, i don't even want to comment on it, but besides the fact that it's just giant lies and therefore a crime... in western countries, the people (the better-informed part) would already have lynched a person like that, i guess... i'm so worried.

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