Toxins In The Yard And Garden
What are the sources of toxins in my yard and garden?
A lot of us have heard about the concept of Nimbys which are people who don't want development in their back yard. Nimby means 'not in my back yard'. Well I think a concept a lot of people should be aware of is Wimby. They should be thinking 'what's in my back yard?". Because contamination may be more important to your yard from things that are very local to your house, and to the history of your house, than maybe the power plant down the street or some new project that they want to put into the neighbourhood.
How do persistent pesticides collect around my home?
Even though chloridane was banned in the 1980's it's still so persistent that in the immediate couple of feet right next to the home's foundation you can still have high levels of chlordane in the soil. And that's a pesticide that is an organo-chlorine that it can act like an environmental hormone and can build up in your body and can also get into plants that you're growing and so you don't want to eat crops that are grown in chloridane containing soil. So chloridane is something that could be in my back yard if your home was built, say before 1988.
How can my outdoor deck contain arsenic?
We need to preserve our outdoor wood structures because they tend to rot and fall apart from natural weathering, the elements, and also from biological growth. Mold tends to grow on these things. So, putting some pesticide into outdoor wood has been a good thing. It has kept these structures intact so they don't fall apart over time.
How are pressure-treated woods toxic to my yard?
Arsenical-based pesticide was always believed to stay in the wood. The reason it is called "pressure-treated" wood is because it was injected into the wood at the factory, under high pressure. The dogma was that it stayed in the wood, and it is true that most of it does stay in the wood. Otherwise, it wouldn't work to preserve the wood. However, enough leaches out during every rain event to create a hazard.
How does arsenic found in outdoor decks spread?
The arsenic is not only hitting the soil but it can also set up as a dirt or dust level right on surface of the wood. So your hand rails, your floor boards, the wooden boards that your little toddler may be crawling around on and playing on, that can have this residue, we call it a dislodgable residue of dust, arsenic dust, right on the surface of the wood and it is a child putting a moistened hand, because the hand goes in the mouth and there is a little bit of saliva on the hand, it is a perfect medium to pick up that dust, bring it, deliver it into the mouth and give your child an arsenic dose.
