PDines@compuserve.com wrote:
>
> From: Patricia Dines <PDines@compuserve.com>
> Subject: Toxics, hazardous waste, unlabelled in fertilizers
>
> Hi all - Thought this might be of interest, re: possible unlabelled toxic
> metals, etc., in fertilizers, harming crops, etc. I got another version of
> this which is longer (2 parts, about 15k each) please just let me know if
> you want a copy and I'll send it to you. Happy reading!! P. Dines
>
> --- FORWARD ---
>
> From: INTERNET:sksnow@1stnet.com, INTERNET:sksnow@1stnet.com
> To: Multiple recipients of list <dioxin-l@essential.org>
> To: CONS-EQ-HORMONE-MIMICS@LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG
> To: Patricia Dines, 73652,1202
> Date: Tue, Jul 8, 1997, 9:02 AM
> Subject: dioxins and other hazardous wastes in fertilizers
>
> The following was posted to the Health and Environment Resource Center
> HEALTHE Digest - 5 Jul 1997 to 8 Jul 1997. The Seattle Times version
> was carried in the state newspaper, Saturday's edition of The Advocate,
> for Louisiana. --Susan Snow
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Report: Toxics Used in Fertilizers
> .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