Market Farming

[Allan Balliett <igg AT igg.com>]

> Yes I have read in numerous garden sites that the
> tires were bad but nothing scientific to back up the claims.

Below  is the link I posted earlier. Not a study, but a 'statement 
from authority.'

It seems to me that this 'argument' is taking the form of the one 
around pressure treated wood. The problems with pressure treated wood 
were carefully suppressed by commercial interests and were not 
targeted for years by the EPA. As a result, it is not uncommon to see 
school swing sets build of pressure treated wood. During this same 
period, upon request, you could receive a 3 page pamphlet that listed 
the dangers of pressure treated wood, which included hand should  be 
washed immediately upon touching it, cannot be used near the 
preparation of food, cannot be burned, and so on. And yet, at the 
same time, extension supported community garden groups were 
supporting the use of pressure treated wood in public gardens. Even 
in its recall, the ambivalence of acknowledging the dangers of 
pressure treated wood is apparent as the old dangerous stuff is still 
on sale at Lowes and the new 'safe' stuff has yet to become available.

One issue we never make clear on this list: if you are not an organic 
farmer, your concerns about a remote possibility of contamination 
will be different from those of an organic farmer. And, if you are a 
'beyond organic' grower, your sensibilities will possibly be 
different than those of the 'USDA commercial organic' grower.

 One of many references to cadmium and tires and food on the web 
(This one from the University of California) 
http://celosangeles.ucdavis.edu/envhort/trace_elements.html

Cadmium

 Cadmium is a contaminant of many manufactured products containing 
zinc. Any zinc plating or galvanizing operations and galvanized metal 
containers sometimes used in horticulture and gardening operations 
are potential sources of cadmium. Zinc is also used in the 
vulcanization process in tire manufacturing. As tires wear, they give 
off minute, dust-like rubber particles containing cadmium that easily 
disperse and accumulate in soils and on plants.