WSU To Study Soil Metals Research Will Help Show Whether Crops Absorb Toxic Metals In Fertilizer
Washington state soil experts will spend $400,000 and the next two years studying the effects of heavy metals on some of Washington’s major crops.
Scientists at Washington State University want to see if industrial waste blended with fertilizer becomes part of the plants that grow in it. If so, the plants could carry health risks to consumers.
The study, probably the first such study in the state, is one that responds to public concerns about toxins in food.
The State Department of Agriculture and Department of Health asked WSU to do the study because they did not have the rigorous scientific information to make rules about toxins in fertilizers, said James Zuiches, dean of WSU’s College of Agriculture.
Funding for the study came from the state Legislature, which this spring passed the nation’s first law to limit toxic metals in fertilizers. According to the Environmental Working Group, a national research organization, the blending of industrial waste and fertilizer is a common practice.
In March, Gov. Gary Locke signed into law an act to limit toxins in fertilizer using standards similar to Canada’s.
“With this study, we want to make sure the Canadian standards that we’ve adopted here in Washington will do the job,” said Ted Maxwell, program manager for fertilizer registration for the Washington State Department of Agriculture. “We think they will.”
The study will take place at WSU’s Prosser research station, where scientists will focus on how much heavy metal in fertilizer can be transferred to winter wheat and potatoes. Some fertilizers for these crops are known to contain high concentrations of lead and cadmium.
Another set of trials will focus on how mine tailings known to contain high levels of arsenic affect lettuce and cucumbers grown on plots in Puyallup.
“I would say that this is an initial step in understanding the impact of heavy metals on soils and plants,” Zuiches said. “This is not going to be a once and for all answer.”
The scientists say the trials will offer limited results.
“In the laboratory, we cannot know exactly what things are going to look like 40 years from now, especially if people keep adding more metals every year,” said Jim Harsh, a WSU soil chemist. “We can compress things a bit, add things in different increments at different times and age the soil in between to get some idea how the soil and metal will respond.”
State agriculture, ecology and health officials are eager to see the results.
“It’s a pretty comprehensive study,” said Denise LaFlamme, a toxicologist with the Department of Health. “I’m hoping it’s going to give us a lot of answers. But then again, it might lead us to other studies.”
The first crop to be tested, winter wheat, will be planted this fall. The other crops will go into the ground next spring. The completed study will be presented to the Legislature by Dec. 31, 2000.