In article ,
---Pete--- wrote:
On 9 Jul 2003 17:05:01 GMT, (Frank Miles) wrote:
I'd be cautious about using Ironite on vegies. It has been discovered that
at least one of their products contains high levels of arsenic and lead.
The state of Washington has now passed a few weak laws on proper labeling
on fertilizers, but most don't have to say what those "inert ingredients"
are, nor where they come from (Ironite was using mining wastes IIRC).

Some farmers have lost use of their lands because the heavy metal toxicities
have become too great.

You can look up some articles on it from the Seattle Times, or perhaps:
http://www.envirolaw.org/poison.html

Sorry for the bad news.
-------
Frank, thanks for the heads up.

I went to the Ironite site and found their answer to these
allegations.... http://www.ironite.com/toxicological.htm
What's not clear to me is if the Ironite company has done
anything different to reduce the levels of lead & arsenic .

The article you sited above is dated July 2002 so I'm wondering
what was the final outcome of that case. Needs more research.

Question.. If the Ironite company continues to distribute their
product with high levels of lead and arsenic, then I'd want to
find another product that contains micro nutrients we can
feel safe adding to our vegi gardens. Any other products
available?

Yes, it did seem old.

The Seattle Times (which is clearly not a radical paper -- far from it)
commissioned an independent laboratory to evaluate the heavy metal content
of a variety of commercial fertilizers. The lab found numerous cases
(including some major brand-name products) where heavy metal content was
substantial. IIRC Duff Wilson, the reporter who uncovered this, wrote a book
about it.

What happened when this became more widely known was, in retrospect at least,
fairly predictable. Bills were introduced into the Wa state legislature,
where they drew intense lobbying by the affected industries. Here in the west,
at least, mining industries are big business. They were _legally_ dumping
toxic waste into the open arms of the fertilizer companies, who were selling
it as part of their fertilizer products. At the national (US) level, this
regulatory loophole in EPA regulations has been closed, but only after a
6-month delay after regulations are published in the Federal Register.
Don't know if they've been published yet, though the law was passed/amended
in mid-2002.

Ironite claims that the arsenic and lead are in forms that are not
"biologically available". Maybe that is true -- now. But with unknown
chemical reactions over decades, personally I'm not willing to gamble my
family's health that these won't be converted by some microorganism to some
form that would be absorbed by some vegetable. In most states, there is
no requirement to publish heavy metal content on fertilizers. Their assertion
is not necessarily true, given that at least some farmers who have used
some of these products over a period of years have suffered substantial losses
as their fields -- now far less productive -- now test very high for heavy
metals.

Until/unless fertilizer companies list source materials, or provide chemical
content assays, my personal choice is to avoid them, even on my lawn. I
encourage others to do the same, hoping that some day more fertilizer
companies will see the wisdom in behaving in an honorable fashion.

-frank
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