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Something's Poisoning America's Farms. Scientists Fear 'Forever' Chemicals

nytimes.com

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Re: Something's Poisoning America's Farms. Scientists Fear 'Forever' Chemicals

#31

Post by toomuchtodo »

rapjr9 wrote: post #26

So this has been going on for more than half a century now. Wisconsin started using Milorganite in 1926: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milorganite "Since its inception, over four million metric tons of Milorganite have been sold" Teflon was trademarked in 1945: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytetrafluoroethylene Everything alive has likely been poisoned, including children and pets. Certain diseases have been on th…

> estimates from the Environmental Working Group suggest these harmful chemicals could be polluting nearly 20 million acres of cropland, more than 20% of all U.S. farmland.

At least in Maine, they are siting solar on contaminated farmland in order to eek some use out of contaminated land that cannot be used for agriculture within the next 30 years.

https://www.ecos.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/PFAS-in-Bios... ("PFAS in Biosolids: A Review of State Efforts & Opportunities for Action")

Re: Something's Poisoning America's Farms. Scientists Fear 'Forever' Chemicals

#32

Post by Teknomancer »

486sx33 wrote: post #19
jkic47 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The manufacturers would not disclose it to us beyond it was "not-PFOA", but they did agree to disclose it to the FDA upon request. The application requires a small, inert molecule, which PFOA was, in spades. They simply made a slightly different small molecule that was almost as inert. Small is a problem because it becomes mobile. Inert is a problem because it doesn't easily break down. Now, instead of having one "fo…

This is very common, one chemical gets banned so they make a more convoluted version

Welcome to capitalism fellas.

Re: Something's Poisoning America's Farms. Scientists Fear 'Forever' Chemicals

#33

Post by Teknomancer »

gessha wrote: post #5
razodactyl wrote: post #3

I remember being the "general public" unaware of PFAS. Anything "non-stick" contains it, you realise that it's everywhere in modern society. Blissful ignorance was nice while it lasted.

Significant other was studying removal methods for those chemicals and as soon as I learned enough about them, I threw all of my non-stick pans away. Learning to coat steel pans in oil to make them non-stick-ish has been a great help.

Two helping words: Cast Iron.

Re: Something's Poisoning America's Farms. Scientists Fear 'Forever' Chemicals

#34

Post by [deleted] »

jkic47 wrote: post #18
isoprophlex wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What chemicals are these replacements, if you can divulge that?

The manufacturers would not disclose it to us beyond it was "not-PFOA", but they did agree to disclose it to the FDA upon request. The application requires a small, inert molecule, which PFOA was, in spades. They simply made a slightly different small molecule that was almost as inert. Small is a problem because it becomes mobile. Inert is a problem because it doesn't easily break down. Now, instead of having one "fo…

[deleted]

Re: Something's Poisoning America's Farms. Scientists Fear 'Forever' Chemicals

#35

Post by OutOfHere »

jkic47 wrote: post #6

I spent 7 years getting rid of the PFOA-derived chemical across all our product lines. they are super useful, but they cross the placental barrier and have a half-life of 6.5 years or so. They were replaced by not-PFOA chemicals that had similar chemical properties so not sure that it did a whole lot of good in the long run.

You wasted seven years getting rid of PFOA when you should have been getting rid of all PFAS, not just one. You are right - it did no good at all.

Re: Something's Poisoning America's Farms. Scientists Fear 'Forever' Chemicals

#36

Post by OutOfHere »

rapjr9 wrote: post #29
NFVLCP wrote: post #23

For the record, we're already dumping hundreds of millions of kilos of poison on our food in the form of glyphosate and other pesticides, albeit not PFAS. Whereas the shock here is that we're already so full of poisons that our own sewage is untenable for use as fertilizer.

PFAS is added to many pesticides: https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/2023/06/maine... and to some herbicides: https://pfasproject.com/2021/03/05/pfas-in-pesticides-a-prob...

Given the absence of effective biosolids/pesticides regulation by the FDA/EPA/USDA, with PFAS levels increasing in soil, the US will become unable to grow food that isn't poison.

Re: Something's Poisoning America's Farms. Scientists Fear 'Forever' Chemicals

#37

Post by _heimdall »

Joel Salatin's Beyond Labels podcast had a good episode talking about this a few months ago. I can't find a good URL, their site is focused on paid subscriptions, but it was episode #145 from June 13th.

Its pretty amazing what regulators meant to protect the public allow in and on our food, even with labels like "organic."

Re: Something's Poisoning America's Farms. Scientists Fear 'Forever' Chemicals

#38

Post by deepfriedchokes »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #9
gessha wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Significant other was studying removal methods for those chemicals and as soon as I learned enough about them, I threw all of my non-stick pans away. Learning to coat steel pans in oil to make them non-stick-ish has been a great help.

Eggs over-easy on steel all-clad are the bane of my existence on some mornings.

Well seasoned cast iron is no problem for eggs. Keep your steel for acidic foods.

Re: Something's Poisoning America's Farms. Scientists Fear 'Forever' Chemicals

#39

Post by whatindaheck »

NFVLCP wrote: post #23

For the record, we're already dumping hundreds of millions of kilos of poison on our food in the form of glyphosate and other pesticides, albeit not PFAS. Whereas the shock here is that we're already so full of poisons that our own sewage is untenable for use as fertilizer.

> … we're already so full of poisons that our own sewage is untenable…

Do you have a reference? This sounds terribly fascinating.

Re: Something's Poisoning America's Farms. Scientists Fear 'Forever' Chemicals

#40

Post by OutOfHere »

Biosolids should be completely banned for agricultural use. They will never be safe to use. It is literally just dried sewage. Use it once and the land is contaminated for ten thousand years.

There is a right way to do it though, which is to compost what's compostable, grow good soil using it, then test it thoroughly for PFAS, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, etc., and only then consider using it if all tests pass. Each batch has to be tested.

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