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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Trace elementsr

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  • From: Ginda Kaplan Fisher <list@ginda.us>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Trace elementsr
  • Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 20:41:14 -0400


On Oct 25, 2006, at 10:59 AM, Jim Fruth wrote:
. . .
As for spreading sludge, that is a definite no - no. Don't do it!(!)
Whether municipal or industrial, sludge has a concentrated amount of heavy
metals. Many (most?) plants absorb heavy metals and you could get an unsafe
amount in your diet, not unlike the many warnings to not eat fish because of
mercury build-up within the bodies of the fish. >The solution to pollution
is dilution< Around here, sludge, and septic tank waste, is spread on
agricultural lands, hay fields mostly. The cows eat the hay and we eat the
cows; European farmers have been doing this for 'eons' with no (apparent)
ill effect.
. . .

I read some figures on lead uptake in plants several years ago, when I was shopping for a house and testing soil for lead. Plants take up lead, but disperse it differentially though their tissues. As a rule of thumb, dark green leafy vegetables have the most lead, and fruit has the least lead. (My guess is it moves like calcium.) There's some kind of kale or something that's grown on purpose in lead-heavy soil to clean up the soil. (The crop is disposed of as hazardous waste.) Root veggies vary a lot, but can also have high lead loads, maybe just because they are so close to the source?

Ginda





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