Is Radiation A Concern For Space Crops (Study of plants at Chernobyl)

[Anonymous]

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Is_ ... s_999.html

Click on the link to read the full story, I will just paste important excerpts here.

Radioactivity lingering in the soil near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident has not prevented life from creeping back at the Ukrainian site. Now researchers have discovered that oil-rich flax plants grown in the highly radioactive soil can apparently adapt and thrive with few problems.

The first generation survived with changes in barely 5 percent of the plant proteins, and researchers have also collected results from a second generation of flax grown in a radioactive plot of land near Chernobyl.

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Hajduch and his colleagues grew the flax plants in both a radioactive Chernobyl plot and a non-contaminated plot in the local town, before harvesting the flax seeds for analysis. They found just 4.9 percent of proteins changed out of the 720 protein spots which they studied.

I did not think radiation effected plants, I think the article is downplaying the effects of radiation,  I mean when they say just 4.9% change in protein structure, I am alarmed and this is from a plant that is hardy to radiation.

If you are worried about radiation, I have heard that beet kvass can make you somewhat immune to radiation, I read somewhere on the internet about speculation about it's powers, they said those households in chernobyl who drank beet kvass were healthy and children were free from defects unlike those in homes who did not drink beet kvass. Kinda interesting.