----------forwarded message---------- From: Donna Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Your Fertilizer (and what else?) Ends Up in Your Plants ---------- http://pirg.org/toxics/reports/wastelands/index.html Your Fertilizer Ends Up in Your Plants... But What's Ending Up in Commercial Fertilizers? With summer in full gear, the spades and hoes are out in full force as Americans get growing. From vegetables to flowers, the plants are in, the soil is watered, the fertilizer applied, and all is well in the garden. Except for one largely overlooked detail: that fertilizer you're using may have been made with toxic waste, and it could be poisoning your soil, your crops, and your family. A new study by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (USPIRG) has found that commercial fertilizers contain toxic metals and are turning the nation's yards and gardens into a de facto dumping ground for hazardous waste. The report, Waste Lands: The Threat of Toxic Fertilizer, analyzed 29 separate fertilizers and found that each of them contained an astonishing array of 22 different heavy metals. In 20 of the tested products, levels of these poisons were so high that they exceeded the limits set on wastes sent to public landfills. The fertilizers were purchased in 12 states and then tested by Frontier Geosciences, an EPA-accredited independent laboratory in Seattle. The analysis revealed disturbing quantities of arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, and dioxin, among other dangerous contaminants. How has this come to be? That answer is simple: Industrial facilities are "recycling" their wastes as low-cost "nutrients" and are selling these materials to fertilizer companies seeking inexpensive sources for zinc and iron. These industrial wastes, while providing such beneficial minerals, are also loaded with persistent toxic chemicals and metals. In addition to any hazards of direct exposure that can come when children play on recently fertilized lawns or gardeners weed in freshly fed flower beds, these toxic contaminants can remain in the soil for years and can be absorbed by anything growing there, a particular concern when it comes to food crops. In fact, a California Department of Food and Agriculture assessment of the health risk posed by toxic fertilizers called the eating of food grown with contaminated fertilizers the greatest single source of exposure to these toxins among all commercial products. For information on the USPIRG report, visit: http://pirg.org/toxics/reports/wastelands/index.html To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [log in to unmask] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For SC email list T-and-C, send: GET TERMS-AND-CONDITIONS.CURRENT to [log in to unmask]