Fertilizer

Governor Signs Into Law Restrictions on Arsenic in Fertilizer

The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) applauded the Minnesota Legislature and Governor Tim Pawlenty for signing into law last week a bill which would restrict the sale of fertilizer products in Minnesota to those with less than 500 parts per million of arsenic.

Farmers & Consumers Kept in the Dark As Toxic Metals Found in Minnesota Fertilizers

As "spring fever" takes hold and farmers and gardeners are preparing their soil for planting, many Minnesotans are unwittingly purchasing fertilizers made from industrial toxic waste.

Getting the Dirt on What's in Your Fertilizer

Because hazardous waste is legally “recycled” as fertilizer and spread on farmland and sold in garden centers to unsuspecting home gardeners, IATP published this factsheet explaining what soil testing is, what the labels reveal and the issue with dioxins and heavy metals in fertilizer.

A Fertilizer That Contaminates

Ironite is one fertilizer that bills itself as a "natural soil supplement . . . popular choice for home, lawn and garden for 43 years. Nothing greens like Ironite. Will not burn." Ironite is made from a 60 acre pile of mine tailings located at a Superfund-nominate site. Testing by state agencies in Washington and Minnesota in 1998 and 1999 found dangerously high levels of arsenic and lead.