nuclear-news

Radiation danger in mushrooms in Japan

Radiation fears, shipment bans, weigh heavily on mushroom pickers, growers, Mainichi Daily News, 17 Sept 11, The ban on wild mushroom shipments from 43 Fukushima Prefecture municipalities announced on Sept. 15, paired with widespread radiation fears, is discouraging pickers from their usual mushroom-hunting trips into the woods.

The ban came after wild mushrooms containing cesium beyond the legal limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram were found in the prefecture. Tawny milkcap mushrooms containing cesium over the legal limit, meanwhile, have also been found in Takahagi, Ibaraki Prefecture, endangering  mushroom-picking in that region as well.

In the town of Tanagura in Fukushima, tawny milkcap mushrooms picked this month were found to contain 28,000 becquerels of cesium, or 56 times the legal limit. The town is famous for matsutake mushroom hunting between the end of September and late October each year….. http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110916p2a00m0na012000c.html

September 17, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, Japan