http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view/20110409japan_bans_rice_planting_in_contaminated_soil/srvc=business&position=recent_bulletFears of radiation spread to rice as the planting season began in Japan, prompting the government to ban its cultivation in contaminated soil as fallout leaking from a tsunami-damaged nuclear plant dealt another blow to the national diet.
Vegetables and milk were the first foods that sparked concerns about the safety of Japanese agriculture after the March 11 tsunami flooded the nuclear plant and its reactors began to overheat and spew radiation. But those worries intensified when highly radioactive water was spotted gushing from the complex into the Pacific and contaminated fish showed up in catches.
Those concerns have abated somewhat after the leak was plugged and bans on produce from some areas were lifted.
But rice has now come under the microscope as the planting season begins in April and May.
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