Monday, July 6, 2009

Trouble at the White House Victory Garden



It turns out that there was dangerous amounts of lead found in the White House Organic Victory Garden. There are a couple of possible theories as to how this happened. Check out the Huffington Post article below:

The Obama Organic Family Garden: Swimming in Sludge?

When Michelle Obama created an organic vegetable garden on the White House lawn earlier this year, the move was greeted with positive headlines and excitement among the food advocacy community. Here, we thought, was a First Lady who understood the importance of locally grown, whole and organic foods in her family's diet.

Unfortunately, something happened on the way to the realization of the First Lady's good intentions. Recently the National Park Service discovered that the White House lawn, where the garden was planted, contains highly elevated levels of lead -- 93 parts per million. It's enough lead for anyone planning to have children pick vegetables in that garden or eat produce from it to reconsider their plans: lead is highly toxic to children's developing organs and brain functions -- however, it's below the 400 ppm the EPA suggests is a threat to human health.

What caused this alarming contamination of the White House lawn? Some news outlets speculated that residue from lead paint might have caused the toxicity. However an article running on Mother Jones online has a more probable explanation. During the 1990s, the Clintons agreed to have the South Lawn of the White House "fertilized" with ComPRO, a commercially available "compost made from a nearby wastewater plant's solid effluent, a.k.a. sewage sludge."

Read the rest of the article here.

If Clinton is responsible for this mess, then I think a fitting exchange would be for him to lick the garden clean.

Sláinte!

Laurel


6 comments:

The Om Intention said...

Oh, who are they kidding! The lead is from those nuclear warheads in a bunker under the White House lawn! Duh!

With all the bulls**t in that house over the past 8 years I'm surprised it isn't the most well fertilized garden ANYWHERE!

nefaeria said...

Lol, now there's a theory! ;)

perma_culture said...

That is so sad. When will people finally learn?

nefaeria said...

That is a fair question, Permie. But I think there are many folks who are. :)

Anonymous said...

i agree...if mr clinton is the one behind this he should lick every leaf clean.

Medusae said...

Very interesting posting! Thanks, Nefaria :)

Related to that, is something I heard earlier this year about the REST of Washington DC!

"Washington DC’s latest coverup: Lead in the water"
http://www.bloggernews.net/119577

The lead is EVERYWHERE, not just at the WhiteHouse! (Which explains how they're all batshit crazy politicians there and shouldn't be heeded or allowed to make important decisions.)

Oh, and I think 'The Om Intention's got a good point there, on both counts! ^.^