Tree Damage From Crop Spraying

[TNTreeHugger]

After months of reviewing Illinois’ system for monitoring human exposure to pesticides, Investigate Midwest found:

• Despite tens of millions of pounds of pesticides sprayed in the state each year, Illinois does not require doctors — likely the first point of contact after a spraying — to report possible exposure cases. Other states with vast quantities of pesticides applied to vast fields of farmland, such as Iowa, do.
• The Illinois Department of Agriculture has consistently levied little to no fines for human exposure to pesticides in recent years because of the state’s point system for assessing penalties. Pesticide applicators are assigned points for different violations; the more points, the greater the fine.
• Regardless of how many people were harmed, state law limits how many points an applicator can be assessed. Spraying a human is worth the same number of points as spraying without a permit or falsifying records.
• Farmworkers are particularly at-risk of pesticide exposure, but the agriculture department has only investigated one other incident involving exposed farmworkers since 2019. The agency proved the applicator violated a federal law, the Worker Protection Standard, but, under the point system, it could only issue a warning.
• 
  
• " Theoretically, the agency could fine applicators up to $10,000. But, over the past decade, the largest penalties tallied $2,500, for dicamba drift incidents in 2019 and 2020, the agency said."
• 
  
• https://investigatemidwest.org/2022...et-poisoned-over-and-over-without-any-brakes/

 

[TNTreeHugger]

The crew worked for Pioneer Hi-Bred, a subsidiary of Corteva Agriscience, a seed company that hauled in $15 billion in revenue last year. Corteva denied in legal filings the workers were sprayed. It also said workers had access to equipment to wash themselves, which is a federal requirement.
Corteva “thoroughly” investigated the claims of chemical exposure, the company told Investigate Midwest, and "confirmed that neither Corteva nor Pioneer is responsible for any alleged pesticide misapplication and that neither company is legally responsible for the personal injuries allegedly resulting from the pesticide misapplications.”

When asked about the discharge paperwork showing doctors concluded the workers were exposed to chemicals and still had chemicals on their clothing at the hospitals, Corteva reiterated its statement, saying it was not “legally responsible” for any injuries related to pesticides.

 

[TNTreeHugger]

"Farmers have been using the weed killer glyphosate – a key ingredient of the product Roundup – at soaring levels even as glyphosate has become increasingly less effective and as health concerns and lawsuits mount.

Nationwide, the use of glyphosate on crops increased from 13.9 million pounds in 1992 to 287 million pounds in 2016, according to estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey."

"
“We’re way over-reliant on roundup,” Curran said. “Nobody thought we were going to be dealing with the problems we are dealing with today.”

Meanwhile, juries have recently awarded at least $2.2 billion in damages to plaintiffs in three separate cases who claimed that glyphosate caused the cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Glyphosate is at the center of thousands of more similar lawsuits against Bayer. As Bayer faces the fourth lawsuit over Roundup in August in St. Louis County Circuit Court, the company is also receiving backlash from investors and the public. The company’s stock price has dropped more than 40 percent since it bought Monsanto.

The EPA, during a routine review of its glyphosate registration, said earlier this year glyphosate does not cause cancer, but the International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2015 classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has reported trace amounts of glyphosate in food samples after testing for the first time in 2016, though levels remained below acceptable thresholds. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called for more research on the chemical’s effects on humans."

https://will.illinois.edu/news/stor...iller-glyphosate-skyrockets-on-midwest-fields

 

[TNTreeHugger]

 

[TNTreeHugger]

Resistance grows

Despite warning that overuse could lead to weed resistance, manufacturers of glyphosate have continued selling the product to farmers at increasing rates.

James Benham has been farming in southeast Indiana for nearly 50 years. Benham said, as resistance grew, Roundup went from a cure-all to a crutch.

"Sometimes if you timed it just right, you could get away with just one spraying. Now we’re spraying as often as three or four times a year," he said.

Benham said farmers continue to spend more on seed and chemicals but aren't seeing more profit.

"That puts the farmer in that much more of a crisis mode. Can’t do without it, can’t hardly live with it,” he said.

 

[TNTreeHugger]

 

[lone wolf]

View attachment 990087

Looks like people should stay away from Soy products for one thing.

 

[TNTreeHugger]

Pesticide concentrations in frog tissue and wetland habitats in a landscape dominated by agriculture

"Habitat loss and exposure to pesticides are likely primary factors contributing to amphibian decline in agricultural landscapes. Conservation efforts have attempted to restore wetlands lost through landscape modifications to reduce contaminant loads in surface waters and providing quality habitat to wildlife. The benefits of this increased wetland area, perhaps especially for amphibians, may be negated if habitat quality is insufficient to support persistent populations. We examined the presence of pesticides and nutrients in water and sediment as indicators of habitat quality and assessed the bioaccumulation of pesticides in the tissue of two native amphibian species Pseudacris maculata (chorus frogs) and Lithobates pipiens (leopard frogs) at six wetlands (3 restored and 3 reference) in Iowa, USA. Restored wetlands are positioned on the landscape to receive subsurface tile drainage water while reference wetlands receive water from overland run-off and shallow groundwater sources. Concentrations of the pesticides frequently detected in water and sediment samples were not different between wetland types. The median concentration of atrazine in surface water was 0.2 μg/L. Reproductive abnormalities in leopard frogs have been observed in other studies at these concentrations. Nutrient concentrations were higher in the restored wetlands but lower than concentrations thought lethal to frogs. Complex mixtures of pesticides including up to 8 fungicides, some previously unreported in tissue, were detected with concentrations ranging from 0.08 to 1500 μg/kg wet weight. No significant differences in pesticide concentrations were observed between species, although concentrations tended to be higher in leopard frogs compared to chorus frogs, possibly because of differences in life histories. Our results provide information on habitat quality in restored wetlands that will assist state and federal agencies, landowners, and resource managers in identifying and implementing conservation and management actions for these and similar wetlands in agriculturally dominated landscapes. Published by Elsevier B.V. "

https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Assets/USDA-FSA-Public/usdafiles/EPAS/PDF/amphibian_pesticide_smalling.pdf

 

[Bill G]

What "government official" works on Sundays?
What's the "environmental issue" - neighbor not mowing his yard to your satisfaction?

The same ones folks call when the need help. The ones that protect you. The ones some folks depend on but some folks protest about. The last i checked a police officer, fireman, EMT, and others all work Sundays..

As for my neighbors yard why would I care? That is non of my business

Your negativity and insults do not build any credibility but do give folks some insight into other things..

 

[Bill G]

Looks like people should stay away from Soy products for one thing.

I would agree with that on some products. Apparently there is some shortages of some baby formulas in some areas. I know all three of our sons were fed a soy-based formula so if there would have been a shortage back then it would have been best to use an alternative.

As for soy fuels they have a lot of issues

 

[lone wolf]

The same ones folks call when the need help. The ones that protect you. The ones some folks depend on but some folks protest about. The last i checked a police officer, fireman, EMT, and others all work Sundays..

As for my neighbors yard why would I care? That is non of my business

Your negativity and insults do not build any credibility but do give folks some insight into other things..

Sidestep! She wanted to know which official that you were dealing in particular today with your issue not a general question.

 

[TNTreeHugger]

Abstract:
"Incorporated in 1926 by a handful of higher-ups from Monsanto Chemical Company, the Village of Sauget was founded out of corporate interests, which have politically and economically dominated the Village ever since. As an industrial suburb, Sauget and its few residents are secondary to the interests of industry. Governed by the Sauget familial dynasty, the only family to hold the office of mayor in Sauget, the town has maintained a business-friendly governance structure, openly inviting companies to smelt, refine, and manufacture at their leisure. Permeated by heavy industry and safeguarded by few environmental standards, Sauget served as an industrial hotspot throughout the 20th century. As highly publicized environmental and public health crises forced widespread legislation regulating industrial activity, the environmental and human impacts of unobstructed industry and legalized lawlessness were revealed, making the general population privy to previously undisclosed knowledge. This research uncovers how sanctioned violence and its effects were contained within privileged spheres, and how said containment worked to perpetuate environmental and anthropological harms. In considering how Sauget’s status as an industrial suburb enabled the government and corporate actors to perpetuate accumulated harms, my project seeks to analyze the disproportionate effects of industrial air and water pollution throughout Sauget, Illinois."

https://humanities.wustl.edu/news/“...analysis-industrial-pollution-sauget-illinois

 

[TNTreeHugger]

"Monsanto remained the name of the Village until 1968, when it was rebranded to honor its first mayor, Leo Sauget, who served from the town’s incorporation until 1969. [6] Sauget, an equally fitting name for the Village, was, and is, dominated by dynasty: Leo’s son, Paul, served as mayor until 2009, followed by Rich Jr., Paul’s nephew, who serves today. [7] Through this unchallenged dynasty structure, the Sauget family has remained friendly to the interests of business. Acting in accordance with the business-first mindset of Leo Sauget, who aided in the organization and incorporation of the Village under the name “Monsanto,” subsequent Sauget mayors have continuously sought to appease the desires of industrial development. Granting lax regulations and removed involvement, the Sauget family has courted dozens of industrial companies, including Cerro Copper, Amax Zinc, ExxonMobil, Clayton Chemical, Veolia Trash Waste, Gavilon Fertilizer, Eastman Chemical, and so on. As can likely be discerned from the names, many of the companies which operate/operated in Sauget use or produce heavy chemicals and/or toxic substances in their operations, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These corporately manufactured toxins are accompanied by a host of health dangers, such as cancer, infertility, organ failure, and so on. Keeping with the favorability first envisioned by Monsanto Chemical Works and advertised by Leo Sauget, the Village has remained open to undesirable industry and blind to the hazardous consequences."

 

[TNTreeHugger]

Depue/New Jersey Zinc/Mobil Chemical​

"The South Ditch, OU 1, is a drainage canal that feeds into Lake DePue and received discharges of contaminated groundwater and surface water from the site. The northern 120 to 150 feet of the ditch is incised into fill consisting of placed soil and slag material. The remainder of the ditch traverses marshy lowlands adjacent to Lake DePue. These discharges resulted in unnatural sediment containing total metals in concentrations up to 200,000 mg/kg each of copper and zinc. Pursuant to a 2003 Record of Decision, removal of contaminated sediment from the South Ditch was accomplished in 2005. The ditch and its immediate vicinity are included in the Lake DePue investigation.

The Phosphogypsum Stack, OU 2, is a large waste pile of phosphogypsum (resulting from conversion of phosphate rock into diammonium phosphate fertilizer), and its associated water control structures including drainage swales, clearwater dam, and constructed treatment wetland. The stack has been partly covered with native prairie vegetation and partly covered with fescue grass. A final closure plan is under development.

The Former Plant Site Area (FPSA), OU 3, includes the plant site property where the smelter operations and fertilizer production occurred, and adjacent bluffs. The Interim Water Treatment Plant, which treats and discharges collected surface and groundwater, is located in one of the former plant buildings. Soil and groundwater investigations, including an assessment of human health risk have been completed. The ecological risk assessment is underway."
https://www2.illinois.gov/epa/topics/community-relations/sites/new-jersey-zinc/Pages/default.aspx

 

[TNTreeHugger]

Oh. "Phosphogypsum Stacks?"

You want to talk about fertilizer? I'd love to talk about the fertilizer industry.
I may not know much about farming, but I can run circles around you when it comes to the phosphate fertilizer industry.

THE PHOSPHATE FERTILIZER INDUSTRY: AN ENVIRONMENTAL OVERVIEW​

"They call them “wet scrubbers” – the pollution control devices used by the phosphate industry to capture fluoride gases produced in the production of commercial fertilizer.

In the past, when the industry let these gases escape, vegetation became scorched, crops destroyed, and cattle crippled."
However, the impacts of the industry’s fluoride emissions are still being felt, although more subtly, by millions of people – people who, for the most part, do not live anywhere near a phosphate plant.

That’s because, after being captured in the scrubbers, the fluoride acid (hydrofluorosilicic acid), a classified hazardous waste, is barreled up and sold, unrefined, to communities across the country. Communities add hydrofluorosilicic acid to their water supplies as the primary fluoride chemical for water fluoridation."



https://fluoridealert.org/articles/phosphate01/

 

[TNTreeHugger]

Some Progress, But DePue Residents Still Waiting For Cleanup​

Nancy Loeb is the director of the Environmental Law Center at Northwestern University. But as far as progress — she didn’t sound happy when she was called about DePue this summer.

“There has been a total failure on the part of both the State of Illinois and the parties responsible for this contamination, to move this forward and protect the people of DePue,” she said.

​

"Loeb helped the village as it battled ExxonMobil and CBS. They’re the owners of a fertilizer plant and an old zinc smelting operation responsible for overlapping waves of contamination in both the town and lake. She and others have also helped DePue as it prodded the state to act in the decades since the site’s Superfund designation in 1996.
Neither ExxonMobil or CBS would make anyone available or offer a comment for this story. But, it was pointed out, some progress has been made. Several years ago, the fertilizer plant site – called a phospho-gypsum stack – was found to be leaking toxins into the water table, despite being capped years before. ExxonMobil has just completed re-capping the site, and it’s hoped that will stop further contamination.

Toxins are also flowing into the lake from the old smelter plant. The source is easy to see. As you come around a curve on the road into town, there’s a series of bluffs – imagine a small version of the Indiana Dunes, except for the color – that residents refer to as “The Black Pile of Death.” That cleanup – and that of the lake – are both years away."

https://www.northernpublicradio.org...but-depue-residents-still-waiting-for-cleanup

 

[TNTreeHugger]

75% farmland
25% toxic waste dump
Correction: Counting the farmland, it's 100% toxic

 

[Bill G]

Sidestep! She wanted to know which official that you were dealing in particular today with your issue not a general question.

Sheriff Deputy Steven Rusk
State of Illinois
County of Rock Island
Non-Emergency phone 309-794-9111
What else would you like to know?
He coached my son in wrestling
He was a Illinois State wrestling champ in 1989 and 1990 at least

Environmental issue was Iowa residents illegally dumping trash on the Illinois side of the river. Proof is in the pictures. Would you like a picture of the trash owners daughter as I have one (CLEAN)

 

[lone wolf]

Sheriff Deputy Steven Rusk
State of Illinois
County of Rock Island
Non-Emergency phone 309-794-9111
What else would you like to know?
He coached my son in wrestling
He was a Illinois State wrestling champ in 1989 and 1990 at least

View attachment 990118Environmental issue was Iowa residents illegally dumping trash on the Illinois side of the river. Proof is in the pictures. Would you like a picture of the trash owners daughter as I have one (CLEAN)

Fair enough an honest answer.

 

[Bill G]

Fair enough an honest answer.

What else is there...........

The OP tried to make a poorly veiled reference to my environmental issue be complaining about my "neighbors yard" so I thought I would post a pic of what is the closest to a "neighbors yard". This is taken sitting in the field entrance of a place I farm looking out to the northwest at the next place to the west. I believe he/she mowed the yard section last night but if I need to ask him/her I can. The hay on the north side of the fence will get mowed in about 5 days.