Crossover Earth '98

For several years now, the Environmental Protection Agency has encouraged the use of fertilizers made from recycled industrial wastes. This is the same governing body that supposedly placed Agri-Tech Industries under an extensive examination to only conclude that it fell under the appropriate regulatory guidelines for chemical emissions.

The agency's conclusions have launched continual protest rallies outside Northridge City Hall and continual petitioning letters and e-mail messages sent to the EPA, said James Sinclair, acting deputy assistant administrator for solid-waste management. The review began a few years ago with a meeting involving high-ranking officials from the agency's solid-waste and toxic-substances offices.

"We'd all feel better having looked at it," Sinclair said rpior to the alledged review. Several news essays have disclosed how some industries are disposing of hazardous wastes by turning them into ingredients for crop fertilizer. The practice, which is legal, spares landfill space and saves millions of dollars for steel and aluminum companies, and other producers of hazardous wastes. The EPA long encouraged the practice in the name of recycling, and it has never been proved dangerous to humans.

But there have been instances in which recycled-waste fertilizers have destroyed crops. Canada and other Western nations more strictly regulate it.

Besides being regulated by the EPA, most fertilizer plants in California are part of the CFA. The California Fertilizer Association represents fertilizer manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, and retail dealers that sell products with California. CFA members market commercial fertilizers, soil amendments, agricultural minerals, and other plant nutrients. Currently, more than 90 percent of all fertilizer manufacturers and retailers in California are members of the CFA, which was incorporated in 1923 and is headquartered in Sacramento.

Agri-Tech, however, is not a member of the CFA. And the reasons for them avoiding membership have not been speculated as of yet. But there should be a universal body that governs the chemical production of all fertilizer manufacturers. It would help with ridding of any inconsistencies.

The Association of American Plant Food Control Officials (AAPFCO) strives to gain uniformity by consensus among each of these entities without compromising the needs of the consumers, protection of the environment or fair competition among the industry. The AAPFCO is an organization of fertilizer control officials from each state in the United States, from Canada and from Puerto Rico who are actively engaged in the administration of fertilizer laws and regulations; and, research workers employed by these governments who are engaged in any investigation concerning mixed fertilizer materials and/or their component parts and also the effects of any these. Until the AAPFCO has governance over chemical regulations, or until there is a universal supervisory body, fertilizer plants such as Agri-Tech can pass through the legislative loopholes of the system.

The EPA review of Agri-Tech included other fertilizers besides those made with industrial wastes. Some non-recycled fertilizers also contain small amounts of heavy metals, such as lead and cadmium, which can build up in the soil. Soil experts say nobody knows how much risk exists in waste-recycling programs -- such as fertilizers -- that have boomed since Congress passed the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in 1976.

One question facing EPA officials is whether they should establish standards for the non-nutritious fertilizer ingredients, such as heavy metals.

Regulations currently apply only to plant-food ingredients, not to toxic materials that might be included in low levels in the fertilizer. Labels do not include dangerous chemicals unless they are more than 1 percent of the fertilizer. Carcinogenic chemicals are not listed on labels unless they are more than 0.1 percent of the fertilizer.

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