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new middletown ohio

Acording to our weekley farm market paper (Farm and Dairy) Ironite and other companies have been using waste material from Iron King mine from Humbolt Arz. It had operated as silver and zinc mine from the 1800s until 1969. According to the F&D they have been ordered to cease marketing its products in Penn. unless it submits whithin 60 days a co-ptoduct determination covering the co. use of mine waste in the manufacture of fertlizers. Thought the article might be interesting ? Raggu

8/7/2003 10:07:53 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

More often than not the companies who market fertilizers that contain undesirable metals (usually sludge or mine trailing based) are able to sneak by either because they are considered "grandfathered" or at least still somewhat below the levels deemed "safe" by certain regulatory agencies.
We like to brag that we sell only iron that is produced for fertilizer use & not a mine trailing based material & on all our fertilizer labels provide the URL to this website by the state of Washington.

http://www-app2.wa.gov/agr/product1.asp

This site provide 2 alphabetical menus. One by manufacturer. The other by Registrant.

Here is the direct link to the Ironite 1-0-0 analysis page.

http://www-app2.wa.gov/agr/prodinfo.asp?pname=1395529

While Arsenic, Lead, Merciry, & Cadmium all do show up on this report, all seem to be below the "safe levels" as determined by big brother.

Steve

8/8/2003 6:38:33 AM

Puyallup, WA

Unfortunately, this unfavorable news has hit the Ironite Corp. in the pocketbook. As a result, they have had to drop their sponsorship of the GPC. This means that there will be substantially less money to hand out to winning growers. :>(

8/8/2003 4:27:30 PM

Oz

perhaps another iron company would kick in some bucks......
thanks for the info!!...my hometown has a toxic south end where they built houses.good friend has pituitary problems..DO IT NATURAL IF YA CAN.

8/8/2003 5:27:58 PM

Ga.

YIKES!! Half bag ironite for sale..Cheappppppppppp!!

8/8/2003 6:08:43 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Go ahead & use the Ironite you have. We can't avoid heavy metals no matter how hard we try. And the levels set by the Fed's is WAY lower than it needs to be. Plus I doubt many of us plan to eat our AG's anyway. And the fact that metals hit the soil (some are already there) doesn't guarantee the plant will absorb it all. Though obviously some do or there would be no point in using it. The dynamics of the soil will dictate how much.

I'm not going to go on in defense of Ironite's product. I sell one that's 4.44 times stronger (20% Iron versus 4.5%). Less than twice the price (Ironite's low price per bag does not insure low cost per acre - LOL). And contains fewer than one third the suspect elements ( alot less but who's counting?). Life's good.

But since no one from Ironite is jumping into the fray, I'll post their canned response for them. It troubles me that every Tom, Dick, & Harry liberal is jumping on the bandwagon to smear Ironite when they don't even understand what they're talking about. Look how quickly we all jumped to inaccurate conclusions about the product's safety record.

http://www.ironite.com/mineralogical.htm

It's our decision. We can do better if that's what we want. But "big brother" has already set safe levels & we really don't need them to go any further unless Ironite has broken that trust. Tough I could be wrong, I have yet to see where that has happened.

Steve

8/8/2003 8:28:02 PM

Montoursville, PA

Nine times out of ten one companies misery like this is another companies doings to kick competition in the butt.

Green Sand has many of the same qualities and inclusions in their bag.

Lava products are similar.

A fella should change every now and again anyway.

8/11/2003 4:12:20 PM

New Jersey

Your local farm paper/Pennsylvania government is rehashing a 5 year old case:

Information About Ironite

The Environmental Law Foundation lawsuit alleges that the lead and arsenic contents in Ironite exceed the maximum concentration limits (i.e., “non-nutritive standards”) set by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), 3 C.C.R. § 2302(a).
Ironite’s Contents of Heavy Metals Compared to CDFA Limits
Heavy Metals Company Data1 (in parts per million) CDFA Limit2 (in parts per million) Exceeds the Limit
Arsenic 4380 ppm 189.65 ppm Yes, 23 times
Lead 2910 ppm 1927 ppm Yes, 1.5 times
1 Currently posted data that Ironite Products Company submitted to the Washington State Department of Agriculture, available at http://www-app2.wa.gov/agr/product1.asp
2 These limits assume that Ironite is a specialty fertilizer, as defined by Cal. Food & Agric. Code § 14563. Ironite exceeds limits if alternatively defined as an agricultural mineral

8/13/2003 3:02:37 AM

New Jersey

The Environmental Law Foundation lawsuit claims that Ironite Products Company makes deceiving representations of fact on its website (www.ironite.com) that Ironite is safe for people to use and safe for the environment. For example, the website states that Ironite "Does Not Pollute" and is "Environmentally Safe." The website also states: "Ironite: Good for Your Lawn & Garden. Safe to Use;" "Laboratory and field tests prove Ironite is safe to humans, pets and the environment;" "Ironite is not manufactured by chemical processing, but rather from naturally occurring rock containing essential minerals," and more. The Company’s website neglects to point out the high levels of lead and arsenic - and also fails to mention the maximum levels of cadmium, cobalt, copper, mercury, molybdenum, nickel and selenium - in Ironite, which are known, or should be known, to the Company.
In May 1998, Washington state health officials issued a public warning on Ironite, saying it contains undisclosed arsenic and lead that could be dangerous to children who accidentally eat some from the bag or the ground. (Duff, Wilson, Seattle Times, “State issues warning on lawn fertilizer,” May 9, 1998

8/13/2003 3:03:06 AM

New Jersey

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/ display?slug=fert&date=19980509)
The founder of Ironite Products Company fought press accusations that his company's best-selling product breaks down to produce lead and arsenic in potentially lethal doses. (The Business Journal,“Ironite Founder Blasts Bad Press on Product,” April 24, 1998 www.phoenix.bcentral.com/phoenix/stories/1998/04/27/story4.html)
Ironite Products Company manufactures Ironite fertilizer from mine tailings taken from a proposed Superfund site that used to be called Iron King Mine. (Source: U.S. EPA, http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/cursites/c3az/l0905049.htm)

So basically pennsylvania is doing what others have done quite a while ago... bandwagon jumpers...

Also they do not mention pumpkins as vulnerable to lead or arsenic, only dioxin. Just don't eat it from the bag. LOL.

8/13/2003 3:03:12 AM

New Jersey

Well they are supposedly 23 times over the limit according to California standards... however that limit is currently facing a recall I think.

8/13/2003 3:04:22 AM

Oz

any trace materials in the human body,,yes. but lead mercury,and cadmium are not,,,if you are lucky.
i saw the pollution in factories as a young man.
many of my "factory" friends are sick or in poor health.
look at it this way.
you may not eat from that soil.
but your grandkid might.
the great lakes are littered with superfund sites.
they call them superfund cause they are soooooo toxic that they will cost alot and take a huge amount of work to "clean".
please dont add to the madness.
there are no safe levels.
ever wonder how these levels are determined?
"subject dropped dead at x parts per mil"
just cause you dont get a tumor dont make these poisons safe. those "hippies" from the 60s and 70s are right.
i long for full disclosure laws.

8/26/2003 2:43:58 PM