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From: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">erin jordahl IA

To: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]

Sent: Tuesday, January 07, 2003 12:41 PM

Subject: fwd: Sierra Club and Meat Producer Reach Cleanup Agreement

           Sierra Club and Meat Producer Reach Cleanup Agreement
          Seaboard Farms Settlement Resolves Water Pollution Problems with
   Technology, Conservation

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Today's settlement represents one of the largest solutions-oriented agreements ever reached between an environmental group and an animal production company. In addition to its recent facility overhaul, Seaboard
has agreed to:
· Revise its Pollution Prevention Plan to ensure that waste management systems will not pollute local surface or ground waters;
· Monitor Nitrogen levels in nearby soil;
· Conduct regular inspections after hog waste is applied to land; and
· Allow annual inspections by Sierra Club representatives.

The settlement also requires Seaboard to address potential water pollution issues at four additional facilities in Oklahoma. Under the agreement,
Seaboard will implement a step-by-step process to evaluate levels of nitrates in groundwater and wells at those facilities, and take concrete
steps to reduce high levels of nitrates when they pose a threat to human health or the environment. Nitrate pollution is a serious threat to drinking water in many areas of the country, and is associated with so-called "blue baby" syndrome.

Below is letter I sent to the Cedar Rapids Gazette to be published on thetr opion page. The editor called to discuss some of the details with me and told me that it would be printed soon. You should check the web sites. Problems with nitrogen in drinking water is much more serious than blue baby syndrome.

It has been known for years that nitrate in drinking water can be dangerous to human health. Required studies determine the limits of nitrate contamination and its effect. But these investigations have always been done with nitrate as the only pollutant in the water. Our drinking water contains many other chemicals and compounds.

In 1999, Dr. Warren Porter, Zoology professor at the University of Wisconsin, reported the results of a complex five-year study of the effects of farm chemicals in drinking water. Laboratory animals were given water that contained low levels of insecticides, herbicides, and inorganic fertilizer in qualities that are often in tap water. The most common contaminants are carbamate insecticides (aldicarb and others), the triazine herbicides (atrazine and others) and nitrate nitrogen.

"Herbicides can have neurological, hormonal and immune impacts," he said. "They are not the harmless chemicals they are sometimes portrayed to be. They can be every bit as biologically active as insecticides or fungicides."

The experiments performed by Dr. Porter's group suggest that children and the developing fetus are most at risk from pesticide-fertilizer mixtures. People who live in the corn-belt and all those that are downstream are subjected daily to varying concentrations of the chemicals.

At greatest risk are early stage fetuses in women who may not even know they are pregnant. The affected children often do not display symptoms of toxicity damage until they reach school age.

We all know or know of youngsters with learning difficulties and behavioral problems. That number grows each year. An explanation for the problem and its increase has not been documented. The answer may be in the water we drink.

And now the Bush administration is changing the proposed rules implementing the Clean Water Act as it applies to farm field runoff. Do we dare take the chance?

Web sites:

http://www.news.wisc.edu/thisweek/Research/Bio/Y99/pesticide.html

http://www.organichealthandbeauty.com/health%20articles/pesticides.htm

http://www.cedar-rapids.org/reports_presentations/2001waterquality.pdf