Posted-Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 01:58:48 -0700
Comments: Authenticated sender is <deva777@mail.dedot.com>
From: "Charmaine Ferreira - Apcalypse Project" <deva777@dedot.com>
To: descriptive.text@dedot.com
Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 01:59:57 -800
Subject: Toxic fertilizer--Latest outrage in the food chain
Reply-to: deva777@dedot.com
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------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Sat, 05 Jul 1997 14:52:45
To:            (Recipient list suppressed)
From:          Angie Carlson <angie@pop3.connectnet.com>
Subject:       Toxic fertilizer--Latest outrage in the food chain

>.c The Associated Press  
>
>SEATTLE (AP) - Toxic heavy metals, chemicals and radioactive wastes are being
>recycled as fertilizer and spread over farmers' fields nationwide - and there
>is no federal law requiring that they be listed as ingredients, The Seattle
>Times reported. 
>
>The issue came to light in the central Washington town of Quincy, population
>4,000, when Mayor Patty Martin led an investigation by local farmers
>concerned about poor yields and sickly cattle. 
>
>``It's really unbelievable what's happening, but it's true,'' Martin told the
>newspaper, which published a series about the practice on Thursday and
>Friday. 
>
>Until now, the state Department of Agriculture sampled fertilizers only to
>see if they contained advertised levels of beneficial substances. 
>
>But the state is currently testing a cross-section of fertilizer products to
>see if they threaten crops, livestock or people, the Seattle
>Post-Intelligencer reported Friday. 
>
>``The key question is what toxics are, as it were, along for the ride in
>fertilizers,'' said Tom Fitzsimmons, director of the state Department of
>Ecology. 
>
>Use of industrial waste as a fertilizer ingredient is a growing national
>phenomenon, The Times reported. 
>
>In Gore, Okla., a uranium-processing plant gets rid of low-level radioactive
>waste by licensing it as a liquid fertilizer and spraying it over 9,000 acres
>of grazing land. 
>
>At Camas, Wash., lead-laced waste from a pulp mill is hauled to farms and
>spread over crops destined for livestock feed. 
>
>In Moxee City, Wash., dark powder from two Oregon steel mills is poured from
>rail cars into silos at Bay Zinc Co. under a federal hazardous waste storage
>permit. Then it is emptied from the silos for use as fertilizer. The
>newspaper called the powder a toxic byproduct of steel-making but did not
>identify it. 
>
>``When it goes into our silo, it's a hazardous waste,'' said Bay Zinc's
>president, Dick Camp. ``When it comes out of the silo, it's no longer
>regulated. The exact same material.'' 
>
>Federal and state governments encourage the recycling, which saves money for
>industry and conserves space in hazardous-waste landfills. 
>
>The substances found in recycled fertilizers include cadmium, lead, arsenic,
>radioactive materials and dioxins, the Times reported. The wastes come from
>incineration of medical and municipal wastes, and from heavy industries
>including mining, smelting, cement kilns and wood products. 
>
>Mixed and handled correctly, some industrial wastes can help crops grow, but
>beneficial materials such as nitrogen and magnesium often are accompanied by
>dangerous heavy metals such as cadmium and lead, the Times said. 
>
>``Nowhere in the country has a law that says if certain levels of heavy
>metals are exceeded, it can't be a fertilizer,'' said Ali Kashani, who
>directs fertilizer regulation in Washington state. 
>
>Unlike many other industrialized nations, the United States does not regulate
>fertilizers. That makes it virtually impossible to figure out how much
>fertilizer contains recycled hazardous wastes. And laws in most states,
>including Washington, are far from stringent. 
>
>Canada's limit for heavy metals such as lead and cadmium in fertilizer is 10
>to 90 times lower than the U.S. limit for metals in sewage sludge, while the
>United States has no limit for metals in fertilizer, the newspaper said. 
>
>``This is a definite problem,'' said Richard Loeppert, a soil scientist at
>Texas A&M University and author of several published papers on toxic elements
>in fertilizers. ``The public needs to know.'' 
>
>AP-NY-07-06-97 1815EDT
>
>
>