Cannabis can save Fukushima from its contaminated soil with nuclear radiation
Formerly used to clean Chernobyl like sunflowers; hemp (cannabis) is a plant capable of cleaning soil contaminated by nuclear radiation. Thus, during the disaster in Fukushima, Japan, the cultivation of hemp became necessary. Cannabis absorbs nuclear radiation, and could become the first-class alternative cleanser. But…
Phytoremediation at Chernobyl
Plants are unique life forms, with remarkable metabolic and absorption capacities. Thus plants have transport systems capable of taking up nutrients, and metals ... In addition, they also absorb contaminants selectively from soil or water. It's the phytoremediation process (literally "restorative action of a plant"). Phytoremediation is the general term for using phyto (plants) on polluted sites.
At the end of the 1990 years, a group of representatives from Consolidated Growers and Processors used industrial hemp to help clean up a site near the Chernobyl disaster. As a reminder, and in many ways, Chernobyl was the worst nuclear disaster in history of humanity.
The group got help from a Ukrainian institute. This one is specialized in the development of seeds, cultivation, harvesting, processing of hemp. The institute has a genetic bank which includes 400 varieties of hemp. In tests, it turned out that hemp is the best phytoremediation plant in the case of contamination by nuclear radiation. And that's not all, hemp has many advantages compared to so-called “traditional repair” technologies:
- Cheaper
- Applicable to a wide range of metals
- Potential to recycle metal-rich biomass
- Minimal environmental disturbance
- Minimization of air and waterborne waste
In addition, the earthquake in Japan and the ensuing disaster at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant, shifted the world into threat of contamination by nuclear waste. When is it for hemp in Fukushima?
And Fukushima-Daiichi?
Six years after the tsunami of March 11, 2011, the power plant is no longer really the time bomb that gave Japanese engineers a cold sweat. But some experts continue to say that the accident is not over since it is still necessary to cool the three reactors which have melted ... The area remains seriously contaminated and we are talking about a cleaning up in terms of decades...
As in the case of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, scientists find radioactive emissions and toxic metals. Whose iodine, cesium 137, strontium 90 and plutonium, concentrated in the soil, plants and animals of Japan. In addition these broadcasts are found throughout the United States, and along the west coast, from Canada to Mexico.
However, growing hemp in a field is an excellent technique for maintaining soil. See in the long term to prepare them for future cultures… He arrives at maturity quickly, in 100 days. This leaves the possibility for farmers to reuse the field. So industrial hemp puts nitrogen back into the soil, destroys weeds, eliminates diseases and cleans contaminants, including nuclear ... This plant can literally "eat" nuclear waste. But…
Strict ban on marijuana in Japan
TEPCO has not yet used phytoremediation plants in Fukushima Prefecture. Nonetheless, Buddhist monk Koyu Abe has started a project called “Make a Wish on Flowers”. This project calls on Japanese citizens to plant seeds of… sunflower. Like hemp, sunflowers were used after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster to decontaminate the soil. But, unlike hemp, sunflowers are actually legal in Japan ...
"Hemp turns out to be one of the best phytoremediation plants we could find," said Slavik Dushenkov, Phytotech researcher.
The Japanese public view cannabis use as an admission of deep evil… Under the Cannabis Control Act, an individual can be sentenced to a five-year prison term if caught with just one joint!
Japan hasn't always looked down on hemp. Thus, cannabis-based drugs were used in Japan to help treat insomnia and relieve pain in the early part of the 20th century. But, the country's attitude towards the medicinal herb changed at the end of World War II. US authorities occupying Japan have dismayed the plant and the threat it poses to various US industries. And especially for the petroleum, pharmaceutical and chemical industries and government bureaucrats ...
Therefore, Washington banned cannabis in 1937 and sought to ban it in Japan at the same time. In July 1948, with American officials still occupying the country, Japan has passed the Cannabis Control Act...
