The assessments were conducted by the CDFA, the EPA and The Fertilizer Institute, the industry group says. All three assessments considered the impact of metals on farm families, both children and adults, who might be exposed through skin contact, breathing dust, unintentional ingestion of fertilized soil, or ingestion of crops grown in fertilized soil. The Fertilizer Institute said it has established safe screening levels for 12 metals in fertilizer products, and has compiled a database of actual measured levels of metals in fertilizer products. This database comes from a survey of fertilizer companies, a literature survey and data provided by state regulatory officials. This means there are large margins of safety.
Technology can reduce the amount of fertilizer used.
But the new report by U.S. PIRG and the state PIRGs argues that stricter criteria and safety standards are required to keep toxic wastes in fertilizers from harming the public. The steel industry provided 30 percent of this waste, which is used because of its high levels of growth promoting zinc. Because fertilizer labeling laws only require beneficial nutrients, like zinc or phosphate, to be listed, fertilizers are sold directly to the public and farmers without warnings or information that informs consumers about the presence and quantity of toxic metals. Also, there is no indication on fertilizer labels as to whether the fertilizers have been further treated to meet federal land disposal standards. Land disposal restriction standards, which are limits set to keep hazardous wastes from leaching from a lined landfill, exist for 13 of the 22 metals found in the fertilizers tested.