Fukushima radiation damages rice genome
by Gregory
McGann
The Ecologist,
18 September, 2014
Research on the biological effects of radiation near the Fukushima nuclear disaster site finds a powerful response in rice seedlings, writes Gregory McCann. The discovery will do nothing to boost consumer confidence in resumed rice exports from the Fukushima region.
2011's
Fukushima disaster continues to taint the Japanese environment. And
now it is rice itself - the dietary staple of Japan and other
countries across south and east Asia - that's taking the hit.
A
study in the American Genetic Association's Journal
of Heredity examines
the detailed genetic alterations of
the all-important young rice plant when exposed to low-level
radiation - that emitted by the Fukushima nuclear plant a year after
the disaster.
Previous
experiments had provided evidence of"ultralow-level
gamma radiation triggering changes at the molecular level in the
multi-layered defence / stress-related biological processes in rice
leaves".
The
Fukushima disaster presented an opportunity to confirm these findings
outside the laboratory. This was especially important since the
ultralow dose of radiation the researchers desired to study could not
feasibly be replicated in a lab setting.
The
result? Multiple modes of cellular response were observed, ranging
from the triggering of DNA repair mechanisms, to oxidative stress,
often culminating in cell death.
Alteration
to the East's dietary staple
Working
in collaboration with the Society for Radioecology, the researchers
took two week old plants and exposed them to the environment with
more than 100 times the natural background level. This was on a farm
31 kilometres from the reactor explosions in 2011.
Crucially,
there was no direct contact between the studied seedlings and the
contaminated soil so as to witness only the effect of radiation still
present in the atmosphere. The exposed plants received a dose of
radiation eighty to one hundred times greater than background.
The
tips of plant leaves, unlike those of the control plants, dried and
withered and this damage continued even after the plants were removed
from the studied farm.
Over
the test period, genetic alteration affected many aspects of gene
function including"DNA
repair, antioxidant defence, photosynthesis, secondary metabolism and
cell death".
The
study demonstrated that many different types of genetic material are
altered or induced by gamma radiation. Some such alterations are
unique to radiation but others are shared with responses made to
other stresses, such as weather conditions.
The
scientists noted both early and late alteration, for example one
protein that was induced strongly at six hours is implicated in cell
death. The collected data suggest a multi-faceted effect on the
rice's 'self-defence mechanisms'.
The
study did not attempt to answer the question of dose-dependency,
which is to say the relationship between alteration and radiation
dosage, rendering the study more qualitative than quantative.
The
repercussions of a lost confidence
The
findings possess a special significance, as the report keenly
presses, because rice is the essential Asian foodstuff. As the report
pithily puts it, "rice
is life".
That
is not to say that Fukushima, or nuclear crises in general, pose an
existential threat to Asia's paddy fields - but that rice
contamination is an issue of concern to the entire country.
It
is this emotive quality to the contamination that has damaged
consumers' confidence in the region's rice, and driven farmers to
distraction in their efforts to reassure them.
Farmers,
desperate to restore their product's image, have looked to strategies
as varied and bizarre as applying to their fields powdered scallop
shell, liquid potassium and the mineral Zeolite, which can
absorb radioactive caesium with
mixed results.
The
report emerges as Japan resumes
the export of rice from
the Fukushima area, which began last month (August 2014) having been
banned in 2011. Officials have sought to assuage fears of continued
contamination through rigorous testing before
shipments are sent to market.
Much
of the newly exported rice derives from Sukagawa, some 60 kilometres
from Fukushima power plant. The study, however, took place at a farm
only 31 kilometres away from the crippled nuclear facility.
A
strong economic incentive exists to resume a semblance of normality
since, prior to the 2011 disaster, Fukushima sent over 100 tonnes of
agricultural products abroad. While the export of rice is only now
restarting, 2012 saw the resumption of trade in peaches and apples
from Fukushima.
Fukushima worker fell ill, sent to hospital by air ambulance / Tepco rejects announcing the name of disease
Fukushima Diary,
18 September, 2014
On 9/6/2014, another Fukushima worker fell ill and sent to Iwaki Kyouritsu Hospital by air ambulance.
The person is a male subcontract worker. Doctor comments he needs 1 ~ 2 additional inpatient hospital care.
Regarding the incident, Tepco had stated it had nothing to do with his work in Fukushima plant in the beginning, however negated their own word in the press conference of 9/16 and stated “They don’t know the connection between his work and the sudden illness”.
They still comment they are not going to announce the name of disease and his age “for privacy”.
Additionally, Tepco stated that even if more workers have serious disease or die, they will not announce the details of the disease or the cause of death.
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