Toxic-WasteFertilizer Alert

The following call to action was published in 2000. It is included here for archival purposes. For more current information on fertilizers and toxic waste, please see the CalPIRG report, As You Sow.

Shared with permission of the California Public Interest Research Group.

Toxic waste is contaminating our farms, lawns and gardens as a result of fertilizers manufactured with hazardous waste. Unregulated, this practice introduces toxic metals and chemicals, such as lead, cadmium, arsenic, and dioxin, to the soils our food crops are grown in. The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), responsible for regulating fertilizer manufacturing and sales for California, has proposed regulations for recycling hazardous waste into fertilizers that sanction this dangerous practice and would allow fertilizer products to exceed state hazardous waste standards. Also the regulations would allow fertilizers to be purchased by farmers and home-use consumers without knowledge of the presence of toxic metals and chemicals.

In legalizing this dangerous practice, CDFA will undermine their own mission and continue to allow California farms, lawns and gardens to be dumping grounds for toxic waste.

If established, these regulations will not just affect California, but the entire world. California exports fertilizer, food and fiber products (over $6.7 billion in 1998). Regulations established here are being looked at as a model for regulations across the country. It is essential that your voice be heard to oppose toxic fertilizer regulations and protect our food supply, farm soils, and gardens. For more information, go to www.pirg.org/calpirg.

This column originally appeared in November 2000 in the Chico Examiner.