Sunflowers to clean radioactive soil in Japan
Japan is asking people to grow sunflowers, said to help decontaminate radioactive soil, in response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
SUNFLOWERS: The campaign, launched by young entrepreneurs and civil servants in Fukushima prefecture last month, aims to cover large areas in yellow blossoms as a symbol of hope and reconstruction and to lure back tourists. (Photo: ahisgett/Flickr)
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Aren't the seeds contaminated? How do they keep people from eating them?
The sunflowers absorb the toxins up through their stem and then the toxins go the the flower tips. Therefore the seeds are not contaminated and can be eaten.
The sunflowers absorb the radioactivity and then instead of it getting into the water it can be concentrated up into the sunflowers and then disposed of correctly.
Where do i send the seeds ? I have giant sunflowers in my garden.An will be more than happy to send many seeds but where to send????? Bill
I suspect, but don't know, that we can't send seeds to help them get started. (thus the Japanese people in other areas being encouraged to grow sunflowers to produce seeds) Quarantine laws often hold up such donations.
I think also it is meant as a civic pride and hope project, make a small donation to buy the seeds and be seen in Japan growing sunflowers and then donating the seeds to farmers the following year.
How and where do we send the sunflower seeds?
Pity there isn't more information on how Sunflowers do this. There was a report out several years ago how sunflowers can decontaminate soil. Never heard anything more about it. It also raises the question whether the sunflowers take the contaminants into their structure and if so when the plants die do they recontaminate the soil? Anyone know anymore about this?
Sunflowers seem particularly to selectively absorb heavy metals (so absorbing radionuclides) Once the sunflower does this, they are stabilized and ashed and disposed of in a radioactive waste material dump is my understanding.
