Government Tells Farmers to Use Poisonous Coal Waste on Food Crops

by Heidi Stevenson

22 January 2010

The misnamed Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) is telling farmers to fertilize with coal waste. It's full of mercury, lead, fluoride, arsenic, and other poisons. The current administration is carrying forward a policy first begun in 2001.

The Washington Post states that "some environmentalists say too little is known about how the material affects crops, and ultimately human health, for the government to suggest that farmers use it." This is, of course, utter nonsense. These are some of the most potent poisons known to humanity. They have absolutely no place in our bodies or the food chain.

And the EPA wants to put it in our food.

The EPA is claiming that the amount of toxic stuff is too small to affect crops. Yet, this is the waste that is poisoning whole towns in the Appalachians, causing cancer and other chronic conditions to skyrocket.

And the EPA wants to put it in our food.

These wastes are piling up around coal-fired plants, and no one knows what to do with it. Until dug out of the ground, where it was diluted to a harmless level, it's now concentrated.

And the EPA wants to put it in our food.

The Washington Post states:

Field studies have shown that mercury, the main heavy metal of concern because it can harm nervous-system development, does not accumulate in crops or run off fields in surface water at "significant" levels, the EPA said.

Who paid for those studies? And why only focus on mercury, which is no more toxic than arsenic and is a cumulative poison—as are lead and fluoride—and, by the way, mercury.

And the EPA wants to put it in our food.

The material they want farmers to use has been "scrubbed" to remove sulphur dioxide, which causes acid rain. And we're supposed to accept that this is enough.

This program has been in existence since 2001 as the result of a partnership between the EPA and the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). At the beginning, about 78,000 tons were spread in 2002. Now, it's 279,000 tons per year.

So our government has been poisoning our food supply for nearly ten years.

What a way to solve a problem! Simply redefine the terms. Instead of calling it toxic waste, call it fertilizer.