Re: Re: CULT: Newspaper as weed preventer
- To: i*@egroups.com
- Subject: Re: [iris-talk] Re: CULT: Newspaper as weed preventer
- From: B* S*
- Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2000 09:36:31 -0400
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
GET A NEXTCARD VISA, in 30 seconds! Get rates
of 2.9% Intro or 9.9% Ongoing APR* and no annual fee!
Apply NOW!
http://click.egroups.com/1/7872/0/_/486170/_/968160527/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
I had also heard/read of this caution, but seems it only applied to color
sections. The colored inks used there supposedly contain some heavy
metals, like chromium, that could pose a hazard if they built up in the
soil and were absorbed by vegetables. Many newspapers now use harmless
soy-base inks. In any case, given the amount of ink that comes off on your
fingers while reading the Richmond Times Disgrace or any other paper and
then gets ingested would suggest that our trusty federal regulators would
quickly hop on any hazard from black ink on newsprint.
In my own opinion (until I see some data), this is way down on the list of
things to worry about. The amount of heavy metal in the ink must be very
low to begin with, and the amount of ink applied to the paper likewise
small. The metals may be further reduced by leaching away, and a good
proportion probably would be in chemical combinations unavailable to
plants. Plants are mostly carbon dioxide and water and take up only small
amounts of other elements (except for some "bioaccumulators" like loco
weed, that for some uknown reason concentrate rare soil elements like
selenium). I suspect that to get a symptom-producing dose of chromium, you
would have to eat a bushel of lettuce or 100 lbs of tomatoes every day for
a year. Since we don't eat irises at all, the danger is even further
reduced.
The rule is that ((small number X small number) X small number) X small
number))
equals a VERY small number!
Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<wshear@email.hsc.edu>
Moderating e-lists:
Coleus at http://www.egroups.com/community/coleus
Opiliones at http://www.egroups.com/community/opiliones
Myriapod at http://www.egroups.com/community/myriapod
