Local environment activist Terry Windler, and Dennis Welter, a river rehabilitation expert from Washington, have raised a warning on what Terry labels as “dumpsite soil as organic fertilizer”.
Welter was on his third trip to Negros Oriental upon the behest of Foundation University to help local governments craft a plan for the rehabilitation of rivers in the Province.
“In our recent meeting with the Friends of the Environment in Negros Oriental, we discussed the matter of the dumpsite soil which is given to farmers to grow ‘organic’ vegetables in. We believe this is questionable and even a dangerous practice that needs to be brought out,” Terry shared in an email.
She attached a report submitted by the Silliman University Chemistry department on “the soil and pechay analysis” including a list containing the names of farmers getting the ‘organic’ fertilizer.
The list had the names of 28 farmers from eight barangays (Bajumpandan, Batinguel, Camanjac, Daro, Motong, Pulangtubig, and Talay), and 12 employees of the City Agriculture Office.
Dennis Welter emailed me: “Upon minimal research, I have come up with multiple studies of the toxicity of soils associated with dump or landfill sites. Just google landfill or garbage dump remediation, and a plethora of scientific studies are available. I will use the environmental review from an investigation in my home state of Washington, that can be googled at Cornwall Avenue Landfill.
“Environmental investigations show municipal waste and wood waste at the site, and hazardous substances are present in groundwater, surface water, soil, and sediments. Site contaminants include arsenic, copper, lead, mercury, silver, zinc, cyanide, polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs), bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, polycyclic aromatic hydro carbon compounds and fecal coliform. These contaminates exceed standards of the state’s cleanup law, the model toxic act, and must be addressed.”
Welter adds: “The current studies and soil sample analysis at the dump are seriously lacking in toxic compounds (referring to the SU Chemistry Department soil analysis). It is not just an opinion of mine, but scientific fact that soils from landfill and dump sites are toxic, and that these toxins will be present in any food bearing plants grown in these soils!”
