Toxic Waste Being Put Into Fertilizer Winding Up in Your Food

[Guest guest]

Toxic Waste Being Put Into Fertilizer Winding Up in Your Food

 

http://www.mercola.com/2002/jun/8/toxic_waste.htm

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Dr. Mercola's Comment:

 

One of my nutrition friends in Seattle, David Vaughan, describes this story

as one of the most devastating health problems of the century. The health

implications of this story are astounding.

 

I agree. The potential health implications of this story are indeed

astounding.

 

This is one amazing story.

 

I have included an Amazon review that describe the problem.

 

 

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From Publishers Weekly

 

Patty Martin, a housewife, mother of four and mayor of the small farming

town of Quincy, Wash., began to notice a pattern of failing crops, infertile

topsoil and rare diseases in her community in the early 1990s.

 

When she asked tough questions about the pattern, she received evasions and

resistance from some local businesses and farmers, which only made her dig

deeper. Martin found that a product manufactured with sludge from a waste

pond in town, sold as fertilizer and spread on local farms, stunted crops,

destroyed quality topsoil and left high concentrations of such heavy metals

as cadmium, chromium and beryllium not usually present in fertilizers.

 

As Martin pursued links between fertilizers, hazardous waste and public

health risks, she became increasingly unpopular in the town she was trying

to protect.

 

Growing beyond the conflict in Quincy, Wilson's investigation (which led to

a 1997 series of articles that were nominated for Pulitzer Prize

consideration) revealed that under prevailing state and federal laws,

polluting industries throughout the U.S. saved millions of dollars by

sending hazardous waste to fertilizer makers who in turn recycled the toxic

chemicals into a product sold to farmers and consumers without disclosing

what was in it.

 

In the resulting outcry, Washington State became the first to insist that

fertilizer companies provide detailed chemical analyses of their products.

Wilson's copious reporting and Patty Wilson's example make a convincing case

for a national policy on hazardous materials recycling.

 

Agent, Elizabeth Wales. (Sept. 13) Forecast: This lucid presentation of the

facts will stir the passions of readers already concerned about

environmental issues, but those accustomed to more gut-wrenching accounts of

similar transgressions, like A Civil Action and the film Erin Brockovich,

won't be drawn in as easily.

 

 

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About the Author

 

Duff Wilson has worked as an investigative reporter for the Seattle Times

since 1989. He has been nominated five times for a Pulitzer Prize and has

won more than thirty other journalism awards. Wilson lives near Seattle with

his wife and two children.

 

Fateful Harvest

 

 

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Return to Table of Contents #331

 

 

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