Herbs and vegetables grown in New York City community gardens are loaded with lead and other toxic metals, a startling state study shows.
Tainted vegetables — some sold in city markets — were found in five of seven plots tested, according to data obtained from the study by The Post through the Freedom of Information Law.
In the study, scientists used safety levels set by the European Union for lead and cadmium, since the United States doesn’t set a threshold for veggies.
Once in the body, lead can remain for 30 years, causing permanent learning disabilities, behavioral issues, hearing problems, heart disease, kidney disease, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s and death.
Children, pregnant women and sick people are most vulnerable to lead poisoning, experts said.
Shoppers at a farmers market outside East New York Farms in Brooklyn — where a carrot was tested with nearly three times the safe amount of lead — were stunned by the study.
The Parks Department said gardens involved with the study have all received clean soil and compost.
10 comments:
I make it a blanket policy to not trust any soil in the ground in the NYC vicinity for the growing of anything I will be consuming.I container garden exclusively for edibles and source my soil conscirntiously and with great care.I would duggest to all that you do likewise.btw, that pic, in the shadow of an el? YUKS!
take that vegans!
that picture looks like east new york,but attention has to be called on the so called fresh produce coming from markets like the one in rockaway and the one in L.I.C.
and the fresh produce places that are right next to each other on liberty ave. in richmond hill(Take your pick)
I would never eat anything grown in NYC. The air and soil are polluted and this stuff concentrates in the plant issues - roots, fruit, etc.
Yes another example of this loopy 'green program' that pushes bikes and boats, forms of travel both considered obsolete and impractical a century ago.
The 'green program' is not making headway as any questionable 'gains' are more than offset by an avalanche of development.
The only 'green program' we need is zero population growth.
Let's all grow marijuana!!! . . . er, ah, but that might be tainted too.
Hipsters eat this stuff. Sounds like a win-win for Queenscrappers.
For backyard gardeners, it's SOP to have your soil tested before you start a garden. Community garden organizers should know this.
Hipsters eat this stuff. Sounds like a win-win for Queenscrappers.
hahahahaha
hohohohoho
hehehehehe
New York City is not a farm. I would not knowingly eat anything grown in its soil. The dog shit and piss are there and beside the point-- the dirt is full of lead lead lead from 90 years of gasoline exhaust, and a dozen other heavy metals from soot and smoke from 200 years of industrial mess. Bon apatite!
Not only that but all those veggie gardens attract biting insects, even termites. Folks should not be allowed to plant anything edible at home.
Not a surprise. The lead from lead paint and Tetraethyl Lead (gasoline) is known to be common in built up areas. Its linked to diminished IQ, sub-optimal and impulsive behavior (including drug experimentation, sex leading to STD, and unplanned pregnancies), and crime and violence.
Of Dead Bodies and Dirty Streets
http://blogs.plos.org/speakeasyscience/2011/08/25/of-dead-bodies-and-dirty-streets/
Grow flowers, not food. You could probably sell them for more than that carrot.
P.S. If you garden with a containerized setup and bagged topsoil, have that topsoil tested. Sewage sludge and composed plant matter is sometimes in that soil too. It may have lead too.
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