Author: Lisa Frack
Website: http://www.enviroblog.org/2009/06/growing-veggies-in-my-lead…
I live in an old house (1911) and used to work in affordable housing, so the dangers of lead paint aren’t new to me. And with toddlers around for years now, I know to avoid paint chips in the mouth and lead dust in the air.
What I didn’t connect - until recently - was that there might be lead in our soil, which is where we grow food. And that for those who have backyard chickens (a hot urban trend - at least in my sustainability-obsessed corner of the world), those super fresh eggs can deliver a dose of lead if the chickens are eating it. Yowza.
Since we don’t have chickens (yet), I focused on our vegetable garden which just happens to be right behind an old, old garage that had chipped so much paint into the yard it was bare. Ugh.
Two recent articles tell you what you need to know
In May, the New York Times ran an article about a Brooklyn homeowner and avid backyard gardener whose yard is loaded with lead. And just two weeks ago my hometown paper, The Oregonian, ran…
(Read the rest of this article at the following article source link for the full story)
For more information click the following article source link for the full story:
http://www.enviroblog.org/2009/06/growing-veggies-in-my-lead…
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