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Sewage Sludge Fouls White House Vegetable Garden

motherjones.com — A brand of sewage-sludge-based fertilizer that has been known to contain high levels of lead was spread on the White House's South Lawn through the '90s. Now, the National Park Service has found higher-than-normal lead levels in the Obama's "organic" vegetable garden. Coincidence? Probably not.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 18, 2009

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  • zuiquan, on 06/18/2009, -0/+25Quick! You should still be able to hit the edit button and make your statement make sense. The sentiment probably still sucks but at least it might be intelligible to English speaking peoples.
  • monkeywithgun, on 06/18/2009, -0/+16I wonder how much of that sewage fertilizer was used on our crops throughout the US?
  • Anand999, on 06/18/2009, -0/+16I'm taking a wild leap here, but perhaps the sewage sludge got there by using a sewage sludge based brand of fertilizer?
  • berational, on 06/18/2009, -3/+18Wow, racist much? It is the First Lady's project you tool.

    By the way, what is it that you want "hussein" to talk to Iran about?
  • inactive, on 06/18/2009, -1/+15china strikes again!
  • divinediva, on 06/18/2009, -0/+13It can contain almost anything that gets poured down the drain.
  • diggstown, on 06/18/2009, -1/+14How long before the White House grounds are deemed to be a Super Fund site?
  • SkippyDoorknob, on 06/18/2009, -0/+10It says right in the article description, you don't even have to click through and read the whole article.
  • evilesttoast, on 06/18/2009, -2/+12The Republicans made it to poison the first black president!
    /sarcasm
  • Rain12913, on 06/18/2009, -0/+9FTA:

    "Starting in the late 1980s and continuing for at least a decade, the South Lawn was fertilized by ComPRO, a compost made from a nearby wastewater plant's solid effluent, a.ka. sewage sludge."
  • Lederhosed, on 06/18/2009, -1/+10I heard that some states have a lead standard of 100 ppm. By that measure, the White House vegetable garden is just barely safe (its lead level is 93 ppm). Not sure if I'd want to eat stuff grown there.
  • getoffmybridge, on 06/18/2009, -0/+9How in the world do people reply without even reading the ***** description?
  • greensky, on 06/18/2009, -0/+8Especially in stuff they call 'organic'... makes ya wonder
  • SkippyDoorknob, on 06/18/2009, -0/+8Clinton was the White House gardener?
  • zuiquan, on 06/18/2009, -0/+7That sucks. Although I guess this does show the importance of having your soil tested for contaminants if you care about what goes in your mouth.
  • smithfly114, on 06/18/2009, -0/+7you mean super FUN site!
  • venom8599, on 06/18/2009, -1/+8Hey, at least it's at the White House. Dubya had to go all the way back to Crawford to do yard work.
  • zuiquan, on 06/18/2009, -0/+6And where does the lead go?
  • zip000, on 06/18/2009, -0/+6Too late.
  • Raptor007, on 06/19/2009, -0/+6"Goes to show you the quality if President Obama is..."

    If President Obama is what??
  • Bloodwine, on 06/19/2009, -1/+6What an inconvenient truth.
  • poidh, on 06/18/2009, -1/+6Did they get the fertilizer from China?
  • zuiquan, on 06/19/2009, -0/+5Sorry Wargala, you fail at analogy. And probably most other things as well.
  • Lederhosed, on 06/18/2009, -0/+5Just because the EPA says that sludge should be allowed to contain 300 ppm of lead doesn't mean that it is safe. The 93 ppm of lead in the Obamas' soil is very close to levels that have been deemed unsafe by soil scientists. See this link from the University of Minnesota:
    http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticul ...
    "Because of the possibility of bare soil exposure to children through hand to mouth activity, soils with lead levels exceeding 100 ppm should not be used for gardening. If soil exposure to children is not a concern, then plants can be safely eaten from soils with soil lead levels up to 300 ppm."
    The Obamas have kids, and they are pushing right against the 100 ppm limit.
    Add to this the fact that the majority of sludge the U.S. generates gets spread on farmland, and that's why you should care.
  • Atario, on 06/18/2009, -2/+7Michelle: "Dammit, Hillary..."
  • Raptor007, on 06/18/2009, -1/+6I think twiztidsinz was implying that W rarely left Crawford.
  • inigomntoya, on 06/18/2009, -1/+5And mend his fences.
  • venom8599, on 06/18/2009, -1/+5I mean that he had to go back to his ranch in Crawford, Texas. To, like, clear brush and stuff.
  • cambob76, on 06/18/2009, -0/+4meaningless drivel. mine too.
  • twiztidsinz, on 06/18/2009, -2/+6What do you mean "back to Crawford"?
  • Dhalsim007, on 06/18/2009, -3/+7What part of "Sludge can legally contain up to 300 parts per million of lead, which is well above the 93 parts per million found in the White House garden. That level probably isn't going to cause any health problems" don't you understand?!?! Dugg down as a waste of time. Lead is pretty much everywhere!
  • zuiquan, on 06/18/2009, -0/+4So you're saying that lead does not accumulate in animal tissues and will not be present in the bloodstream? Wow! That's good to know. So I'm embarking on a lead eating diet tomorrow. I want to make my poops really heavy.
  • Crossmenjeff, on 06/18/2009, -3/+7So, like, Superman can't really see through the lawn/garden then can he?
  • shortypeople, on 06/18/2009, -1/+5i think it's great they're facing a challenge like this, and look forward to the discussion about it.
  • ell0bo, on 06/18/2009, -0/+4considering people kept voting for Bush... I am guessing a lot. I figured there had to be something in the water, didn't think the food...
  • ripple123, on 06/19/2009, -1/+5you, sir, should become a man of few words.
  • l800LEMMINGS, on 06/18/2009, -1/+4Sewage sludge based fertilizer does not mean organic. Years ago companies tried to lobby that the definition of organic as to remove the current standards consistant to being organic such as sewage and concerned voters stopped that from happening. They probably uneducatedly used the brand milorganite(or similiar) brand that is made from Milwaukee sewer sludge. Companies especially monsanto have been trying to use all their media power to condemn organics especially obamas garden because of the effect it can have on our culture adopting this practice.
  • shutaro, on 06/18/2009, -6/+9I smell a conspiracy...
  • foofightrs777, on 06/18/2009, -1/+4Hey wow, one step closer to the Capital Wasteland. And this is Threee Doog signing off chil-dren.
  • raleel, on 06/18/2009, -1/+4Holy crap
  • Midtowner, on 06/19/2009, -0/+3The EPA lead standard for soil is 400ppm. States can go above and beyond that if they want to, but they can't go below.
  • fragMasterFlash, on 06/19/2009, -1/+3I think Cheney dropped a deuce in the garden as a parting gift for the new administration.
  • Dush, on 06/18/2009, -0/+2Maybe they went out and got new soil to put down in the garden spot.
  • qaz0101, on 06/19/2009, -0/+2I always knew Washington was full of *****!
  • roho76, on 06/19/2009, -0/+2This is Bush's fault.
  • Raptor007, on 06/19/2009, -0/+2I think you meant to reply to monkeywithgun, but I'll digg you up anyway.
  • EddiePotato, on 06/19/2009, -0/+2Bush kept saying he was mis-lead by bad intelligence. Now we understand!
  • kolobcreek, on 06/19/2009, -0/+2More likely than not it is not sewage that caused that. I'm sure they would have plenty of uses for large amount of lead at the white house. Xray labs are shielded with tons of steal and possible lead. I would imagine thy have an reactor or at least some type of nuclear batteries. Not to mention the hundreds of high tech uses lead.
  • qaz0101, on 06/19/2009, -0/+2@masterofshadows

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioaccumulation
  • XZanatos, on 06/19/2009, -1/+3On the one hand using treated sewage as fertilizer material is a good thing because the only other option is just throwing it into landfills where it will stay there forever being useless, its better that we reintegrate these wastes into the ecosystem than doing nothing. On the down side once these sewer sludges are rebranded as "fertilizers" these are almost no warnings or regulations about where they are used. They often contain high concentrations of salts, heavy metals, and other toxins which make it back to people's food because they are used to fertilize our food crops directly. Fortunately, organic regulations don't allow sewer sludge fertilizers. Unfortunately the Obamas didn't know about the fertilizers that were used on their lands previously, and they aren't a commercial enterprise so they didn't look into it either.
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