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Health Hazards of Chemical Fertilizers are
birth defects,
reproduction problems,
liver damage,
kidney damage,
Blue Baby Syndrome, and
reduced immune response.
Get the Facts about an Industrial Secret
Fact 1: Industries around the country are disposing of toxic waste by giving it to fertilizer manufacturers.
Fact 2: Some fertilizer has been found to contain dioxin, one of the most dangerous environmental chemicals ever identified, and heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury.
Fact 3: Some plants such as lettuce, corn and potatoes uptake metals.
Fact 4: Common fertilizers used by families on gardens or by farmers on fields of edible crops may contain toxic metals in amounts greater than what the law defines as
hazardous waste. Fact 5: The law does not require fertilizer manufacturers to label which fertilizers contain toxic metals or where the hazardous wastes were obtained.
Fact 6: Toxic metals known to have serious health effects are present in fertilizers, yet there is no assessment of the cumulative danger to children, animals and soils resulting from the persistent application of fertilizers containing hazardous waste.
Fact 7: Children are most susceptible to the toxic effects of most metals, especially lead, which has been the subject of intense government efforts to reduce lead exposure to children. Products like fertilizer are of great concern as children spend more time on or near the ground and are often exposed to ground level substances through hand-to-mouth behavior.
TOXIC FERTILIZERS THREATEN HUMAN HEALTH
The toxic substances found in the tested fertilizers have been linked to adverse human health impacts. The metals found in these fertilizers are known or suspected carcinogens, reproductive and developmental, liver, and blood toxicants. For example, beryllium is a suspected carcinogen, chromium and arsenic are known to cause cancer and barium can cause kidney and lung damage.
TESTED FERTILIZERS CONTAIN HARMFUL TOXIC METALS
California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) Charitable Trust and Washingtons Safe Food and Fertilizer tested 29 fertilizers from 12 states for 22 toxic metals in dangerous quantities (Aluminum (Al), Antimony (Sb), Arsenic (As), Barium (Ba), Beryllium (Be), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Cobalt (Co), Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Lead (Pb), Lead (Pb), Mercury (Hg), Nickel (Ni), Selenium (Se), Silver (Ag), Thallium (Tl), Thallium (Tl), Uranium (U), and Zinc (Zn). This report documents the results of these fertilizer samples, demonstrates that the problem of toxic fertilizers is widespread, and details concerns with proposed regulations for the practice. Add to this list the thousands of hazardous compounds and then think about yourself, your spouse, your children and your pets.
Labeling is inadequate. Because fertilizer labeling laws only require beneficial nutrients, like zinc or phosphate, to be listed, fertilizers are sold directly to the public and farmers without warnings or information that informs consumers about the presence and quantity of toxic metals. Also, there is no indication on fertilizer labels as to whether or not the fertilizers we tested have been further treated to meet federal land disposal standards.
Each of these metals is suspected or known to be toxic to humans and the environment by the U.S. EPA. Nine metals, like arsenic and lead, are known or suspected to cause cancer and ten metals, like mercury, are linked to developmental effects. Three of the tested metals, lead, cadmium and mercury are also persistent bioaccumulative toxins (PBTs). PBTs persist for long periods of time in the environment, some indefinitely and they can accumulate in the tissues of humans and wildlife, increasing the long-term health risks at even low levels of exposure. These three metals cause cancer, birth defects, or reproductive problems.
Existing standards for toxic metals in fertilizers are inadequate for protecting our soils, crops, plants, water, air and health. All commercial fertilizers made from recycled materials, such as hazardous wastes, and produced for the general publics use are subject to the federal Land Disposal Restrictions. The U.S. EPAs federal Land Disposal Restrictions, which are applied to zinc fertilizers that contain toxic waste, are intended to ensure that toxic substances are properly treated before the waste is disposed of in heavily regulated, lined landfills. Land Disposal Restriction standards are technology-based standards, which mean that they are designed to predict the ability of a hazardous waste to leach from these landfills.
Unfortunately, the recycling of hazardous wastes into fertilizer products does not always include the process of treatment or cleaning of hazardous waste, but rather dilution of the waste. Dilution involves adding substances to a waste to reduce the concentration of toxic substances that are present in the waste. Dilution does not reduce the toxicity of the hazardous constituents.
The National Institute of Health estimates that 1 in 7 Americans are negatively affected by chemical fertilizers.
Food for thought?
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