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Aminopyralid: there's muck in the muck

Sunday, 06 Jul 08

Over the past few months or so a whisper of discontent has become a scream of anger. You may have never heard of aminopyralid yet; if you value your garden, you might want to become acquainted with it now.

It all started slowly and disjointedly. People started commenting that their plants and crops, particularly their potatoes, salads and legumes, were becoming deformed. It wasn’t just home growers, some commercial growers reported the same problems. In many cases the leaves were distorted – almost resembling ferns – and in others the leaves rolled up on themselves before quickly going yellow and dying. Initially there was talk of viruses, but to experienced, established growers this didn’t quite ring true. The pattern of destruction ruled out the usual suspects.

In the past month, however, information has come fast and furious, as have the cases of infection. Allotment holders studied whose crops had been taken by the mystery condition and whose had been spared; at sites all over the country systematic elimination traced the problem back to manure that some allotment-holders had spread. The Health and Safety Executive, Defra, RHS, Garden Organic, and various environmental health departments were all asked by gardeners to inspect damaged crops. All came to the same conclusion; damage due to herbicide residue. After lab testing, the cause was more specific. The plants had all been poisoned by aminopyralid in manure.

Aminopyralid is an industrial herbicide. There’s no reason for most of us to have heard of it until now. It’s a strong chemical – if you used the recommended dose of 2 litres per hectare in an area the size of a typical garden or allotment you would need literally a few drops – and is therefore only used commercially. It is not sold under its chemical name, but rather as a myriad of brands: Forefront, Banish, Halcyon, Pharaoh, Pro-Banish, Doxstar and Runway. And it was only introduced in 2005. It’s pretty nasty stuff. It kills perennial weeds by altering their hormones, and it stays around for a loooong time. It takes two years, in fact, before treated land can be used for edible crops. But after four months it can be used for fodder.

And this is how it has entered the food chain. Put simply: animals eat the fodder, animals poop the fodder, the resultant manure is rotted, the rotted manure is sold to… us. We incorporate the manure, we put it in our gardens, our gardens die. Our crops, our shrubs, our flowers, even in some cases our trees. Anywhere affected manure is put down. And if some of your crops are affected, all of the others you manured are too, even if there are no visible signs. And although they don’t think they’ll harm you, experts are advising you not to become the next stage in the food chain. Personally I don’t like the idea of consuming a chemical that survives – and kills hefty-sized plants – at least two years after being sprayed, even after passing through ruminants, even after being rotted, but that might just be my chemical phobia. Nobody is sure how much of our manure is affected and how much is likely to be in the future.

The manufacturer does state in the product information leaflet that tainted manure should not be used on food crops, but how practical is that to ensure? Most of us are not conversant with what aminopyralid is and what it does. You only have to think back to playing chinese whispers as a child to know that word of mouth is not exactly reliable as a form of imparting information. Yet that is exactly what is being relied on; the crop farmer is supposed to tell the guy who buys the silage and the guy who buys the straw and hay, who in turn are supposed to tell the guy who buys the manure. This, in an industry that has lurched from crisis to crisis in recent years due to its inability to put common sense before profit.

What is the likely outcome of all of this? Well, if you are unfortunate enough to fall victim, don’t expect answers from anyone anytime soon. Ask any of the organisations that would traditionally advise on such matters whether food cropped on the manure is safe to eat and the result is ‘we don’t know’. The government departments ’don’t know’. The organisations – RHS and Garden Organic – ’don’t know’. The manufacturers, Dow Agro, (very handily for the company that invented, trialled and distributed it) ’don’t know’. For a supposedly safe product there are surprisingly few people willing to put their necks on the line here. Most are hedging their bets and recommending not only that you don’t eat this year’s crop if you if you believe you have purchased contaminated manure, but that you avoid planting anything next year as well. And you can forget compensation; Dow Agro are telling people to go back to the person who sold them the manure. Who then has to go back to the merchant, who has to go back to every person who supplied them, who has to go back to the farmer, who has to go back to that other farmer who sold them a bit of extra silage… In any case it isn’t just small local farmers who have been supplying this stuff, it is some of our best loved brands, too. Oh, what a joy it is to live in an era of corporate responsibility.

So why isn’t there more of a fuss? Well, if I may be cynical for a moment it could be argued that everybody except us – the growers – has a vested interested in keeping their mouths shut. Dow Agro obviously don’t want their name damaged any more than it already is (I’m not listing all of their crimes here, but they’re up there with Monsanto). The government won’t want to admit that a chemical they declared ‘safe’ is now causing problems, and in any case their way of dealing with pretty much anything is to ignore it as long as they possibly can. The gardening organisations won’t be keen to admit that their best organic practices can be more harmful than nipping out and arming yourself with a cocktail of gardening chemicals. Our only ‘hope’ is that the market gardening industry kicks up a financially-backed stink.

There are lessons to be learnt here:

1) ‘Organic’ gardening still suffers if every stage of the food chain is not carefully controlled – organic gardeners can source manure from any unregistered land, even if they know it to be awash with chemicals. The fact that those chemicals have been ‘processed’ by an animal does not necessarily make them safe.

2) No matter how many times lessons should be learnt by large-scale man-made disasters, they never are. And no matter how organic and sustainable, even self-sufficient you try to be, you are still at the mercy of the big corporations.

3) That you are a powerful person and the screen you are looking at is a powerful medium. In the absence of large-scale media publicity, we, the people, are sharing knowledge. If this had happened twenty years ago we would probably still be at the head-scratching stage.

Obviously, this is all written from a British perspective. I would be really interested to know if this is affecting people further afield. This could, of course, all turn out to be a storm in a teacup. I really hope so. I felt like some mad conspiricy theorist as I wrote this.

Just be safe x

Comments

VeraMarie wrote:
Thanks for sharing this information. It’s never bad to spread a word of caution, we all have to look out for each other.

Posted on 07 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
bigshod wrote:
Hi Silver Charming
Thanks for publicising this crisis that has arisen since the spring. Its a very nice piece of writing and deserves to be read by every allotment and leisure gardener. The threat of this herbicide to the natural order of small scale cultivation is huge. You write about it so knowledgeably and sensibly, I assume you have done a lot of web searches and read most of the blog material that is already out there. Its a relief to see that the momentum of our protests is maintained – my own contribution has been to establish contacts wherever they might seem useful. DEFRA have passed the buck, my Euro MP has likewise, my own MP has not yet replied, the local Environtmental Health dept, who have a statutory obligation to investigate reports of land pollution, are not making any positive moves over it. DOW Agrosciences express deep concern and want to know details of any damage as it will help them and I could go on. I would be interested in keeping contact to exchange info. I see you are in Coventry. our organisation is in Sandwell, West Mids and we have links into Birmingham and adjacent Black Country boroughs. Our website is http://www.sandwellallotments.ik.com/home.ikml
and I am Chair of the organisation.

Posted on 07 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
Happibun wrote:
Silver, you are a natural journalist. Thank you for highlighting this, I didn’t know about it. I’m thumbing this up and commenting in the hope that this goes on the Folia front page ASAP, and that more people see it.

We should be creating a stink, though it is hard to imagine one bigger than what you have highlighted. Utterly shameful.

Posted on 07 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
melaco wrote:
Wow! It’s amazing what companies will put out there as herbicides and pesticides. It’s as if there is no oversight on this industry. Between fodder and water run-off, how can anyone consider themselves safe from what sounds like one nasty chemical?

This is brilliant, front page stuff. I’m thumbs-uping, too!

Posted on 08 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
silver_charming wrote:
Happibun, can you tell that I’m a frustrated writer?! ;-p

This is pretty unreal, in that this is a widespread and potentially major problem but there is very little publicity. The Guardian is, I think, the only media to have picked the story up, even though hundreds and hundreds of people have been so far affected. And something really does need to be done. I only heard about this after I put manure into my raised beds – I am hoping that I will be safe – and I suspected that if I was unaware, so was a large part of the gardening community.

I read today that there are cases of aminopyralid contamination in the USA now as well, goodness only knows how many people might be affected and where else this product may have been sold. I wonder how many people out there have been affected without knowing what the cause is? Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any way of safeguarding yourself, other than to avoid manure products (including mushroom manure, but I’m not sure about chicken manure products). The problem is that supply chains for manure are far more complicated than they might seem. There is no ‘safe’ source.

The only thing we can do is to make a big old fuss about it, raise awareness amongst the gardening community and badger the big organisations. Like Bigshod, I have written to my MP, to RHS and Garden Organic, and also to various media outlets to see if they will run the story. I am considering making a post on how to become an ‘activist’ on this issue, certainly within the UK but maybe elsewhere too, because even if you have not been directly affected yet, it is still an important issue. What do you think?!

Bigshod, I would certainly be interested in staying in touch, the more of a fuss we make the more difficult it is to ignore us!

Posted on 08 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
mondomuse wrote:
Just when you think it’s safe to play and romp freely in the garden, one now has to be concerned with tainted manure. Thank you Silver for documenting this environmental issue. It is often early adpoters like yourself reporting on a problem who help to affect change in attitude or policy.

Rachel Carson publicized the dangers of widespread DDT use in her landmark book A Silent Spring in 1962. This book raised awareness about how DDT residue in the environment was adversely affecting marine life. The public outcry that ensued led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency here in the states. Ten years later in 1972, the EPA banned the use of DDT in this country.

I hope your post here at Folia helps to raise awareness about his environmental issue.

Posted on 08 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
nic wrote:
I read about this in the newspaper just the other day, and was absolutely shocked that this sort of thing has been allowed to happen here – the lack of information that is out there about it, and the fact that no one seems to be taking responsiblity for this mess is absolutely disgraceful. It’s great though that there are people like yourself starting to make a noise about it +1 thumbs up :)

Posted on 08 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
auntiemabel wrote:
Thanks for that Silver – just when you think things are changing for the better, there’s a big cloud looming. Thumbs up from me too – and I’ll be spreading the word among gardening chums. Have you put anything on MSE?

Posted on 08 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
silver_charming wrote:
Thanks peeps – make a noise! Auntiemabel, yes, it has been mentioned on MSE a few of times. My thread on it two weeks ago which the mods removed without explanation. I love MSE but they are so terrified about anyone saying anything the least bit controversial. I steered clear this time – love Nic & Nath and don’t want to cause them any trouble – so didn’t mention all of the horrible messes a certain company has caused in the past ;-)

Posted on 08 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
missywombat wrote:
I just googled the stuff and it is available in Australia. I think Ill be contacting a few politicians and bureaucrats. A big thank you for the heads up.

Posted on 08 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
Gaidig wrote:
This is really scary! Thanks for posting. We must spread the word.

Posted on 08 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
cmadler wrote:
After a quick look around online, the only mentions (at least in English) of this problem are from the UK. Not to say it’s not happening elsewhere, just that it doesn’t seem to have been reported. In the US, it’s sold under the brand name “Milestone”. It is not restricted federally, but may be restricted in some states or localities, and appears to be outright banned in the State of New York.

Posted on 08 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
mondomuse wrote:
Cmadler, kudos to you for citing a governmental entity taking action: The influential state of New York has banned the use of this herbicide. This action creates a precedent. New York is showing more leadership recently regarding environmental protection, and that is impressive. This reaction in the states may hopefully influence other governments to conduct their own review and take a similar course.

Posted on 10 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
silver_charming wrote:
Yes, thanks Cmadler, I’d found that document but couldn’t work out exactly what it was saying.

Right, so I need to ask a huge and cheeky favour of somebody here. I have created a very rough and ready website about aminopyralid asking people to lobby about it. I’ve created template letters and have got someone else I met online helping me to start a 10 Downing Street petition. I am fine with who we should be writing to in the UK but I’m not sure about other countries. Can all you USA/Australia people give me some ideas? I’d be so grateful. Hopefully the site should be online by this evening or tomorrow morning, I’ll post it here first!

Posted on 10 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
cmadler wrote:
In the US, state regulation would usually be through a state agriculture office; the exact agency name varies from state to state. At the federal level, this is regulated by the EPA, specifically, the Office of Pesticide Programs. It could also be dealt with at a state or federal level through legislation; this can be promoted by contacting a person’s representative in their state legistlature or US Congress, or in some states, by ballot initiative.

Posted on 11 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
Annet wrote:
Thanks so much for that article Silver! I googled around to see if I could find anything on the situation in Europe, but could only really find UK-related articles. I think this blog is interesting as well, because it shows exactly what aminopyralid contamination in plants looks like:
http://daughterofthesoil.blogspot.com/2008/06/contaminated-manure-alert.html

Posted on 11 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
Annet wrote:
Another interesting link is this EPA document (from the US), which is a 2005 assessment of ‘aminopyralid chronic dietary exposure’. The conclusion is that ‘…dietary (food + drinking water) risk estimates are well below HED’s level of concern for all population subgroups, including those of infants and children’ (HED=Health effects division)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/1733510/Environmental-Protection-Agency-aminopyraliddietRA

Posted on 11 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
silver_charming wrote:
Thanks Cmadler and Annet, you wouldn’t believe how much information I am sifting through at the moment! Anyone with anything interesting to add, keep it coming, either by adding a comment or sending me a private mail. I’m amazed at the response I have had, the website should be up soon-ish (muckinthemuck.com if anyone is interested).

Posted on 11 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
silver_charming wrote:
Long shot I know, but does anyone here have / know anyone who has a science background at all? Doesn’t have to be agrochem, it’s the methodology I need to check about.

Posted on 11 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
Armorel wrote:
There are times when living on an island can be a nuisance but this is not one of them. I’m aghast that this hormone weedkiller has been so inadequately tested and trialled that the very people who seek to grow their own food organically are suffering such tribulations. These big AgroChemical companies get away with far too much and should be accountable for this kind of fiasco.
Sorry, Silver, I’m not a scientific type so I wouldn’t be able to help with methodology.

Posted on 12 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
beachrockerheidi wrote:
Wow, I haven’t heard anything about this until now. Thanks for writing this so people can be aware!

Posted on 12 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
rainymountain wrote:
I am concerned not only about what affect this hormone weedkiller is having on gardens and veggies after they have been manured with contaminated manure, but also about what it is doing to the animal that eats contaminated silage or hay, and is then eaten by those amonge us that eat meat – omnivore or herbevore we are both at risk. Thanks Silver Charming for raising the alarm. With luck it will get a good airing around the garden blogs.

Posted on 13 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
Karmacat wrote:
I am really, really shocked, silvercharming, thank you so much for writing this. As you say, two years down the food chain and its still not safe. Thats really frightening. I’ll keep my eyes well open.

Posted on 14 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)
freddyuk wrote:
everyone who is ‘shocked’ should try

www.mindfully.org/pesticide/clopyralid-composting-Dow.>
There is nothing new or suprising about it

Posted on 21 Jul 08 (about 12 months ago)

LindaMae wrote:
There’s an article in this morning’s London Metro about this – ‘Killer dung menace to gardeners’ – am trying to find it on-line but no luck so far. Will let you know.

Posted on 20 Aug 08 (about 11 months ago)