Organic Fertilizers



With the mounting concern for health and environment, consumers are now getting more conscious as to the quality of the food they buy from the grocery store.  As chemicals from fertilizers become a global concern for their carcinogenic effects, more and more people are buying organic fruits, vegetables and meat.  These products are grown using organic fertilizers and undergo very  little or zero chemical processing.  But what is organic fertilizer in the first place?

Organic fertilizer is defined as naturally occurring fertilizers or naturally occurring mineral deposits like saltpeter.   Examples of organic fertilizer include manure, slurry, worm castings, peat, seaweed, humic, guano and humic.

(more…)

Tweet This Post 

French Caribbean poisoned by pesticides



The French Caribbean Islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe have been poisoned after years of pesticide use.  Experts say that more than half of its 800,000 residents are contaminated by a chlordecone or kepone which is used as pesticide in banana platations to kill weevils around the country.

Scientists say that the “health disaster” will contribute to residents developing cancer, infertility and birth defects.  Health specialists have warned that chlordecone has poisoned both the land and water.  Chordecone when sprayed can stay in the environment to up to a century, contaminating the entire food chain.

(more…)

Tweet This Post 

Atrazine-Killing weeds. Destroying bodies.



Atrazine is used to impede pre- and post-emergence broadleaf and grassy weeds in major crops through-out the world. Atrazine is also used in many industrial processes, such as some dyes and explosives. It was banned in the European Union in 2004 because of its persistent ground water pollution. However, Atrazine is one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States, with 76 million pounds applied each year. It has even been said by Tyrone Hayes, a scientist at UC Berkeley whom found evidence in which Atrazine is causing male frogs testosterone levels to reach below females.

Another recent study in February 2008 reported that young tadpoles undergoing organ morphogenesis were found to develop deformed hearts, impaired kidneys and digestive systems when exposed to Atrazine. During the summer of 2001, NRDC discovered that Syngenta had been tracking prostate cancer in the employees of its St. Gabriel, Louisiana Atrazine plant. When on there lunch break, workers would eat in areas covered with Atrazine dust. Some workers recall there supervisors telling them that Atrazine could be eaten without any adverse health effects.

(more…)

Tweet This Post