Wash. products safe, final study concludes
Cookson Beecher, The Capital Press , 5/14/99
OLYMPIA - The recently released final report on metals and dioxins in fertilizer products and soils in Washington had no surprises when compared to the Department of Ecology's preliminary report released earlier this year.
But while it held to the same conclusion that fertilizer use in the state poses no immediate risk to human health, it again pointed out the need to continue monitoring fertilizers containing waste products as well as metal and dioxin accumulations in crop lands.
Monitoring would allow the state's fertilizer standards to be adjusted to make sure concentrations of metals in agricultural soils do not reach a level of concern.
The fertilizer industry's response to the report was that by and large the results show that fertilizer products used in Washington are safe.
"There were no surprises," said Scott McKinney of FarWest Fertilizer and AgriChemical Association. "People can be assured that all products sold in this state must meet the requirements of state law. And that law ensures that fertilizer products used in this state are safe."
But Laurie Valeriano of the Washington 'Toxics Coalition said the report shows that recycled waste products are indeed the source of heavy metals and dioxins in fertilizers. Like many other environmental groups, the coalition is against the use of waste products in fertilizers.
The report is the result of a study on dioxins in fertilizers, soil amendments and soils and was mandated by the state's 1998 Fertilizer Regulation Act.
Washington leads the nation in fertilizer reform, and an important part of that effort focuses on the gathering of information about which fertilizers contain waste by-products.
Under fertilizer reform, all fertilizer products registered in Washington :state fall under the Department of Ecology's jurisdiction and are required to meet the Canadian standards for heavy metals. The adoption of the Fertilizer Regulation 'Act has already made an impact on the fertilizer products being registered for sale and ,.distribution in this state.
According to the report, the state departments of Agriculture and Ecology know of 139 fertilizer products from 45 manufacturers that .have been voluntarily withdrawn from consideration for the 1999 registration cycle. But whether these companies decided not to reregister their products due to the state's new standards, labeling requirements or regulatory requirements is not known.
Ali Kashani, seed and fertilizer program administrator for the state's Agriculture Department, said another result of the legislation is that application rates for fertilizers are changing.
'Since our metal standards are related to concentration and application rates, fertilizer companies can adjust application rates," he said.
Fifty fertilizer products - including bulk agricultural fertilizers, home-use fertilizers, agricultural micronutrient products and a soil amendment - were sampled for eight heavy metals and 17 types of dioxins in the recent studies.
The report revealed that two of the five fertilizer products with the highest cadmium concentrations are phosphate fertilizers - agrium ammonium phosphate sulfate and UAP 0-45-0.
Phosphate fertilizers are used in relatively high amounts when applied per acre to the soil. And more phosphate fertilizer is applied in this state than micronutrient fertilizer.
This was of particular interest since the study found a small but significant increase in cadmium and zinc concentrations in agricultural soils compared to non-agricultural soils.
But Kashani pointed out that even with' those slight increases, there was no harm to the soil since the concentrations found in the, ag lands are at the lower end of the range of concentrations found in non-agricultural soils.
"Those results were @om 50 or more years of farming," he said. "So when we talk about the need for monitoring, we're talking about very long-term monitoring."
The department is just completing a study of dioxin levels in agricultural soils.
According to dioxin studies it has already completed, most of the fertilizers sampled had lower dioxin toxic equivalents than the soils surveyed.
And all soil samples studied so far, including samples taken from remote wilderness areas, had detectable levels of dioxins. Concentrations of dioxins detected in Washington state soils are comparable to the results of studies in Spain, Germany and Austria.
Ecology is also calling for further review and information gathering on dioxins in biosolids from municipalities. Another recommendation calls for the monitoring of EPA's progress on its evaluation of dioxins in biosolids.
The full report about metals and dioxins in fertilizers and soils in Washington can be accessed at http://www.wa.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/99309.html
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