lves, there was a stigma associated with having been exposed to bomb radiation. In Japanese society where marriages were commonly arranged, some families concealed exposure in efforts to secure desirable matches for their children. (see chart 1 for death rates by dose and age exposure)All the major wars of the 20th century, have had a hidden casualty, the environment. From the bombing of Japan to the defoliation of the forest in Vietnam, and the oil fires in Kuwait. Unexploded weapons, polluted rivers contaminated soil and damaged landscapes have all harmed human health, local economies and ecosystems. The long-term effects of such environmental damage have not yet been fully determined. With this in mind the effects of radioactive contaminated soil and the probably of transfer to man and animals is very likely. The problem of environmental contamination with radioactive materials was ignored for so long until the halt of large scale testing of nuclear weapons. It was theoretically assumed that weapons fallout would be the predominantly means of contamination, and would enter the main food chain mainly in milk. There are two sources of radioactive material, the naturally occurring low-level radioactive material from rocks and the atmosphere, and man-made radioactive material.Now of course the major part of additional exposure is from man-made sources received by the worlds population and has come from contaminated food. Mainly agricultural corps and animal products. The waste disposal methods of the pass have really hurt the eveloped nations in their quest to clean up the environment. Confronted with the task of decontaminating soil several methods have been deployed, but phytoremediation is attracting increasing attention. Phytoremediation is the use of plants for environmental remediation. This involves removing organics and metals from soil and water; thisprocess was used in Japan in both cities. In Hiroshima were scientist believe...
