The EPA should ban daminozide sooner rather than later. Heavy Metals Lead is the major heavy-metal contaminant to find its way into our food supply in increasing amounts. US industry consumes 1.3 million metric tons of lead annually, releasing half of it into the environment each year. Soils contaminated by airborne lead accumulate the mineral, and plants absorb it from the soil. Increasing acidity of soils from fertilizers and acid rain increase the solubility of heavy metals like lead.
Animals grazing on leaded plants concentrate the mineral in their bones.
Lead may appear in the food supply in plants and in soups made with boiled bones or bone-based calcium supplements. Lead also appears in ground water supplies and dissolves from solder in water-pipe solder joints, especially when the water is acidic. The decline of the Roman empire has been attributed to lead poisoning from the popularity of pewter dishware, containing lead and lead-lined water conduits. Increased water acidity may have increased lead's toxicity to the Romans as it threatens our own populations exposed to acid rain. The Chisso Co., makers of polyvinyl chlorides, dumped organic mercury compounds into Minimata Bay over many years.