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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Home-grown veg ruined by toxic fertiliser
  • Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:43:43 -0600


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Home-grown veg ruined by toxic fertiliser
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/29/food.agriculture?gusrc=rss&feed=environment
# The Observer,
# Sunday June 29, 2008
Gardeners across Britain are reaping a bitter harvest of rotten potatoes,
withered salads and deformed tomatoes after an industrial herbicide tainted
their soil. Caroline Davies reports on how the food chain became contaminated
and talks to the angry allotment owners whose plots have been destroyed

Gardeners have been warned not to eat home-grown vegetables contaminated by a
powerful new herbicide that is destroying gardens and allotments across the
UK.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has been inundated with calls from
concerned gardeners who have seen potatoes, beans, peas, carrots and salad
vegetables wither or become grossly deformed. The society admitted that it
had no idea of the extent of the problem, but said it appeared 'significant'.
The affected gardens and allotments have been contaminated by manure
originating from farms where the hormone-based herbicide aminopyralid has
been sprayed on fields.

Dow AgroSciences, which manufactures aminopyralid, has posted advice to
allotment holders and gardeners on its website. Colin Bowers, Dow's UK
grassland marketing manager, told The Observer that links to their products
had been proved in some of the cases, but it was not clear whether
aminopyralid was responsible for all of them and tests were continuing. 'It
is undoubtedly a problem,' he said, 'and I have got full sympathy for
everyone who is involved with this.'

He said the company was unable to advise gardeners that it was 'safe' to
consume vegetables that had come into contact with the manure because of
pesticide regulations. 'All we can say is that the trace levels of
aminopyralid that are likely to be in these crops are of such low levels that
they are unlikely to cause a problem to human health.'

The Dow website says: 'As a general rule, we suggest damaged produce (however
this is caused) should not be consumed.' Those who have already used
contaminated manure are advised not to replant on the affected soil for at
least a year.

Aminopyralid, which is found in several Dow products, the most popular being
Forefront, a herbicide, is not licensed to be used on food crops and carries
a label warning farmers using it not to sell manure that might contain
residue to gardeners. The Pesticides Safety Directorate, which has issued a
regulatory update on the weedkiller, is taking samples from affected plants
for testing.

Problems with the herbicide emerged late last year, when some commercial
potato growers reported damaged crops. In response, Dow launched a campaign
within the agriculture industry to ensure that farmers were aware of how the
products should be used. Nevertheless, the herbicide has now entered the food
chain. Those affected are demanding an investigation and a ban on the
product. They say they have been given no definitive answer as to whether
other produce on their gardens and allotments is safe to eat.

It appears that the contamination came from grass treated 12 months ago.
Experts say the grass was probably made into silage, then fed to cattle
during the winter months. The herbicide remained present in the silage,
passed through the animal and into manure that was later sold. Horses fed on
hay that had been treated could also be a channel.

Bryn Pugh, legal consultant at the National Society of Allotments and Leisure
Gardeners, said he was preparing claims for some members to seek financial
compensation from the manure suppliers. But it was extremely difficult to
trace the exact origins of each contaminated batch. 'It seems to be
everywhere. From what I know, it is endemic throughout England and Wales. We
will be pressing the government to ban this product,' he said.

Aminopyralid is popular with farmers, who spray it on grassland because it
controls weeds such as docks, thistles and nettles without affecting the
grass around them. It binds itself to the woody tissue in the grass and only
breaks down when exposed to bacteria in the soil.

Shirley Murray, 53, a retired management consultant with an allotment near
Bushy Park in Hampton, south-west London, said several of her allotment
neighbours had used the same manure bought from a stables and all were
affected. 'I am absolutely incensed at what has happened and find it
scandalous that a weedkiller sprayed more than one year ago, that has passed
through an animal's gut, was kicked around on a stable floor, stored in a
muck heap in a field, then on an allotment site and was finally dug into or
mulched on to beds last winter is still killing "sensitive" crops and will
continue to do so for the next year,' she said.

'It's very toxic, it shouldn't get into the food chain. You try to be as
organic as you can and we have poisoned ourfood. I've been everywhere,
emailed all the right people, but nobody will speak on the record to
guarantee what is safe to eat. We all think it is a scandal. Not to mention
what it has cost in time and money.'

Pesticide expert Professor Vyvyan Howard, a toxico-pathologist at Ulster
University, said it was 'a very powerful herbicide' but in his opinion was
'unlikely to pose any human health risks'. However, advice about its use
should be strengthened, he said. 'I think the thing that is going to drive
this is the commercial damage that could be done to market gardeners,' he
said.

Guy Barter, the RHS head of horticultural advisory services, said they were
receiving more than 20 calls a week. 'Our advice is not to eat the vegetables
because no one seems to have any idea whether it is safe to eat them and we
can't give any assurances,' he said. 'It is happening all over the country. A
lot of cases we are seeing is where people have got manure from stables and
the stable have bought their hay from a merchant, and the merchant might have
bought hay from many farmers, possibly from different parts of the country.
So they have no idea where the hay came from. So finding someone to blame is
quite difficult.' Weedkiller in the soil should dissipate by next year, but
in stacks of contaminated manure it might take two or more years to decay, he
added.

Dow is planning a major publicity campaign to reiterate warnings to farmers
over usage, and to encourage allotment holders to check the provenance of
manure that they put down in an effort to prevent the problem escalating. On
compensation, it was less forthcoming. 'There is no easy answer to that,'
said Bowers. 'The first port of call is always where the manure comes from.
From that point on, I can't really comment.

'The chain is horrendously complicated. In the cases we have managed to trace
back, we might find that the farmer who supplied the manure didn't spray
anything himself, but he might have bought in a couple of bales of silage
from one of his neighbours, and that farm might have sprayed.'

Robin and Christina Jones spread a large amount of manure over their flower
garden and vegetable patch at their home in Banstead, Surrey. When the
potatoes failed, Robin took a sample to the RHS, which identified
aminopyralid. His neighbour, who bought from the same source, suffered the
same problems. 'We have lost 80 per cent of our vegetable patch,' said Jones,
65, a retired sound engineer. Raspberries, French beans, onions, leeks, even
a newly planted robina tree were all affected. 'We are distraught. But what
worries me is that the courgettes look very healthy. Had we not had the
problem with the potatoes, we might never have realised. Now we are advised
not to eat them.

'This is a very serious issue, and people must be made aware of the advice
not to eat vegetables grown in contaminated manure.'

Sue Ainsworth, 58, an education consultant, said around 20 allotments at her
site in Hale, Cheshire, had been affected. 'We first noticed with the
potatoes. As they came through, they were deformed, all curled over and
rotten underneath. But the worry is that the courgettes also planted on the
manure are fine - but are they safe to eat? This must have affected thousands
of people. I am really worried about this product and really think it should
be withdrawn.'

She said the farmer who supplied the manure said he had used nothing unusual.
'But he may have bought in the straw and genuinely knew nothing about the
herbicide used.'

Susan Garrett, 57, an IT consultant, said 20 plots were affected at her
allotment in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. 'And that is just the plants we can
see are damaged. We are angry it has been allowed to happen - not with the
chemical company, but because there doesn't seem to be any protection for us
or anything to stop it happening again.'

What's the solution? Join the debate and find out more on our food blog
How to deal with the problem

Do you have contaminated manure?
Tell-tale symptoms of crop damage include distorted foliage, with cupping of
leaves and fern-like growth. There are no remedies once damage has occurred.
Susceptible crops include potatoes, tomatoes, beans, peas, carrots and
lettuce.

How should you deal with the affected area?
Experts say rotavation is the best practice, or forking over several times as
soon as possible. This incorporates the plant tissue into the soil, where it
will decompose and the chemicals will eventually be degraded by soil
microbes. Repeat the rotavation in late summer/early autumn.

Should you replant this season?
No. The plant residues need to be given time to break down. The advice is not
to replant for a year.

Why has the chemical lasted so long?
Aminopyralid, like other herbicides, works by binding strongly to plant
tissues. Once the plant's tissues decay, the chemical breaks down in the
soil. If manure is stacked it takes far longer.





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