"We plant sunflowers, field mustard, amaranthus and cockscomb, which are all believed to absorb radiation," said the monk. "So far we have grown at least 200,000 flowers (at this temple) and distributed many more seeds. At least 8 million sunflowers blooming in Fukushima originated from here."
Scientists are currently testing the effectiveness of sunflowers used to battle radiation.
One local villager with a home near a radioactive hot spot found that sunflowers helped reduce radiation to exceed government safety levels, MSNBC reports.
Fukushima City's Water Bureau has launched its own sunflower-planting project, hoping to decontaminate the soil in a popular park once home to annual cherry blossom banquets.
In another experimental initiative, a space agriculture professor at Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has planted sunflower seeds in three plots of farmland in the region.
Sunflowers were grown near Chernobyl after the 1986 nuclear disaster. The Wall Street Journal says that researchers discovered that he flowers "absorbed radioactive cesium and strontium from their roots."
NOTE: Sunflowers and other plants do bind radiation and up take into the plant. Of course, it's not safe to eat the seeds or make oil from the plants.
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