permaculture

[Rick Valley <bamboogrove@cmug.com>]

> From: Toby Hemenway <hemenway@jeffnet.org>
> Reply-To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 06:32:40 -0700
> To: <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] How long before ag land is safe?
John sez:
>> And, I find it hard to imagine that apples, strawberries, grapes, etc.
>> (to name a few major examples) directly sprayed with toxic stuff aren't
>> a potential health hazard to eat.
And Toby sez:
> I'm suspicious, too. But the data are very shaky there; too many variables.
> But I'm talking about what's been conclusively shown, not  "everybody knows
> it's got to be true."

and one interesting case is with Cucurbits, which will pick up certain
chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides from soil residues (not fresh spray) at a
1 to 1 rate, which will put a squash eating fanatic over the FDA limit per
person per year for the pesticide. Conclusive?


Mollison told a story about cadmium contamination in truck plots around
Canberra, and that would be another nasty; but in that case it was supposed
to be a side effect of fertidlizer applications, not pesticide. Like most of
Bill's stories, I don't know any details

And remember that orchards used to get copper and arsenate of lead applied.
That would be a counter-indication for some sorts of agricultural production
on that land.

-Rick

"generalizations are bullshit"