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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fateful Harvest | 3/3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fateful_Harvest | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T08:39:18.176447+00:00 | kb-cron |
==== Publication ==== Wilson was forced to publish the story when he heard that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer was working on it. He said that the New York Times ignored it, and most of the other newspapers relegated it to the last pages, but the story resonated with many people, including experts like an immunologist, several EPA officials, Congress members, and assorted other people. It also drew the attention of industry largely opposed to labeling. Some fertilizer companies, such as IMC Global, became aware of the problem of using the waste products and stopped the practice. Governor Gary Locke of Washington initially seemed willing to tackle the problem, but the state ended up with an industry-written bill that required no labeling requirements (toxicity information would be put on websites) and looser standards than Canada. Washington state's new regulations led to 56 stop-sale orders, 45 denied license applications, and 10 companies with cleaned up materials; one of these stop-sale orders went against Siemens AG, which previously sold nuclear fuel processing waste as fertilizer. No other state passed a law as strong as Washington. Chaney remarked that keeping the regulations at the state level was the most effective way to block effective regulation. DeYoung, whose court judgment was overruled, got a retrial; the jury could only decide damages, but local jurors were sympathetic to Cenex and considered DeYoung an incompetent farmer, so they awarded him nothing. Other farmers faced similar defeats, and they were denied the right to a class-action lawsuit.
== Current status == Patty Martin co-founded Safe Food and Fertilizer to raise awareness of unsafe practices. As of 2004, there was a "trend toward regulation of non-nutritive trace elements in fertilizers". As of 2019, Monsanto product glyphosate had been banned in many nations and the company was facing massive financial and legal repercussions.
== See also == U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
== References ==
== External links == Three heavy metals in Washington Fertilizers Articles from Seattle Times on the issue