Blog #3: Radiation from Fukushima meltdown still affecting food

In short, the article I found for this week's blog talks about one particular mushroom farm in Tochigi prefecture, Japan Although farmer Yuji Hoshino's log-grown mushroom farm is roughly 180 kilometers away from the fallout of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and log-grown mushrooms were once a symbol or reliable, safe, organic food, Hoshino stopped selling both fresh and dried shiitakes after discovering that samples of his produce gave readings higher than the legal amount of 500 becquerels (radiation contamination) per kilogram of mushrooms. To make matters worse, the current laws state that no dried mushrooms from this region can be sold, and no higher than 100 bq/kg can be foudn in mushrooms and no higher than 50 bq/kg in the logs that are used to grow the mushrooms.

From a sociological perspective, this problem might first seem to be a natural one. It might seem that the dwindling supply of wood/logs to grow mushrooms isn't serious, but the issue remains that it is the radioactive waste and radioactive rain from the fallout of a man-made reactor that continues to pose a legitimate threat to both the land and the food sources of Japan. Additionally, the article touched on Mr. Hoshino's anger towards the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), seeing as he was forced to document the entire ordeal to receive benefits from them. He was successful in getting payouts from TEPCO, but he has lost his livelihood and way of life because of the contamination. Finally, there seems to be evidence of the social inequality at play. TEPCO was responsible for what many are calling unsafe nuclear reactors, yet Mr. Hoshino was made to go through a lengthy ordeal just to make a living.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2013/02/17/environment/fukushima-radiation-threatens-to-wreak-woodland-havoc/#.USjrhOvwIvE

Anthony Allegrezza
2/17/13
11:06 pm