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<H1 class=posttitle><SPAN id=ppt19114069><FONT size=2><EM>From
AOL</EM></FONT></SPAN></H1>
<H1 class=posttitle><SPAN>Michelle Obama's toxic veggie nightmare: White House
organic garden polluted with sludge</SPAN></H1>
<DIV class=byline><STRONG><A
href="http://www.dailyfinance.com/bloggers/alex-salkever/">Alex
Salkever</A></STRONG><A
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src="http://o.aolcdn.com/art/info_feed/feed_icon"></A><BR>Jul 30th 2009 at
10:00AM</DIV>
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<P class=filed-under>Filed under: <A
href="http://www.dailyfinance.com/category/healthcare/">Healthcare</A></P>
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<P><IMG alt="" hspace=4
src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.dailyfinance.com/media/2009/04/lettuces.jpg"
align=right vspace=4 border=1>When First Lady Michelle Obama planted an <A
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/dining/20garden.html">organic vegetable
garden on the White House lawn in March 2009</A>, she hoped to both set an
example of healthy eating and to grow tasty edibles for her daughters and
husband. But Michelle's organic dream has been dashed by a nasty toxic legacy
lurking in the soils of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It turns out that a previous
Presidential gardening team had used sewage sludge for fertilizer. <BR><BR>This
is a fairly common practice with one huge problem. Sewage sludge tends to be
laced with anything that people pour down the drain and often contains heavy
metals. Not surprisingly, the National Park Service tested the dirt beneath
Michelle's garden and found the plot has <A
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-kimbrell/the-obama-organic-family_b_224398.html">highly
elevated levels of lead averaging 93 parts per million</A>. That's below the 400
ppm that the Environmental Protection Agency says is a threat to human health.
But I'd wager that Sasha, Malia and Barack won't be getting arugula or tomatoes
from this garden any time soon.</P>
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<FORM id=qas_frm name=qas_frm action="" method=get target=""><INPUT type=hidden
name=ie52_mac_only></FORM></DIV>The likely source of the toxic sludge that has
ruined Michelle's garden? The Clinton White House apparently <A
href="http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2009/06/did-sludge-lace-obamas-veggie-garden-lead">used
a sludge-based product to fertilize the lawn during the 1990s</A>! Aside from
casting a shadow on the first White House vegetable garden since Eleanor
Roosevelt resided there, the sludge ensures that Michelle's garden will never
attain organic status. Organic certification processes strictly prohibit the use
of sludge as a fertilizer substitute. <BR><BR>The White House has sought to
downplay the issue, and a number of experts have pointed out that 93 ppm of
sludge in soil is somewhat normal for older urban locales. However, the EPA
recommends not growing food in soil that has 100 ppm. Several major food
producers, including <A
href="http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2009/07/more-thoughts-sludge-and-white-house-garden">H.J.
Heinz and Del Monte</A>, won't accept produce grown in sludge. That's despite
decades of <A href="http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/tfer.html">U.S. government
efforts to encourage farmers to use solid sewage wastes </A>in lieu of
traditional fertilizer products.<BR></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 face="Gill Sans MT" size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>Laurie Davies Adams<BR>Executive
Director<BR><B>Pollinator Partnership </B><BR>423 Washington Street, 5th
floor<BR>San Francisco, CA
94111<BR>415-362-1137<BR>LDA@pollinator.org</FONT><FONT lang=0 face=Arial
color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#0000ff size=4 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="14"><B><A
href="http://www.pollinator.org/">www.pollinator.org</A></B></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"></B><BR><A
href="http://www.nappc.org/">www.nappc.org</A><BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#000000 size=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="12"><B><I>National Pollinator Week is June 22-28, 2009. <BR>Beecome
involved at <A
href="http://www.pollinator.org/">www.pollinator.org</A></I></FONT></B></DIV></FONT><DIV CLASS="aol_ad_footer" ID="674b60469fa2f24bc51cbbd4690266d0"><br/><font style="color:black;font:normal 10pt arial,san-serif;"> <hr style="margin-top:10px"/><B>An Excellent Credit Score is 750. <A HREF=http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222846709x1201493018/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072&hmpgID=62&bcd=JulyExcfooterNO62>See Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps!</A></B></font></DIV></BODY></HTML>