Lead may lurk in backyard gardens

[phantom power]

As backyard vegetable gardens undergo a renaissance, environmental officials and scientists are warning homeowners to be careful before planting the carrots and chard: There might be lead in the soil.

Flakes of lead paint from old homes often create a halo of contamination around houses that vegetables can take up. Remnants of leaded gasoline might also be in the soil, especially near busy roads. While the problem is pervasive in urban areas, suburban homes that were built on or near apple orchards are also at risk because lead arsenate was once used regularly as a pesticide. The heavy metal can remain in soil for hundreds of years.

http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2008/08/11/lead_may_lurk_in_backyard_gardens/

[izquierdista]

1. Quit planting sinkers

And quit havesting your okra with a shotgun!

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. I used to pull all kinds of neat, shiney rocks out of my vegetable

gardern.

That's when I lived on Lead Mine Road.

[catgirl]

3. Thanks for posting this article

I think I'll have my soil tested.

[kestrel91316]

4. Has anyone ever demonstrated that lead in the soil gets taken up

by plants and then becomes lead in food? Because if they haven't (and I think it has been proven to the contrary, IIRC), then this is just all a SCARE TACTIC to discourage people from growing their own food.

[phantom power]

6. The short answer seems to be yes...

The slightly longer answer is "how much varies from species to species, and also where it goes: does it go to roots, or other plant tissue?"

http://www.msstate.edu/org/MAS/ejour3.html


I think of it this way: we already know it gets into the food chain. Anything that gets into the food chain generally has to pass through plants first.

[pansypoo53219]

5. brick house on

a former celery farm. and i did plant 2 celery plants this year.