space Press Releases, News Stories

by Duff Wilson, Seattle Times

The contamination was discovered by a Seattle company, triggering a nationwide stop-sale notice on four farm fertilizers, pending soil tests on Idaho farms where it was applied, and a complaint by a Washington worker who says he was poisoned.

State agriculture and worker-safety officials, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Customs Service are investigating.

Authorities say the material was nearly 12 percent cadmium, 12,000 times higher than the limit guaranteed by the Chinese exporter, along with 35 percent zinc. Zinc is a minor plant food. Cadmium is highly poisonous and may cause cancer.

Ag-Chem Commission of Cornelius, Ore., imported the material from China in February and distributed 132 tons to RSA MicroTech of Seattle, 66 tons to Mowes Scientific Nutritional Service in Upland, Calif., and 44 tons to Land View Fertilizer of Minidoka, Idaho, said Ag-Chem attorney Ted Troutman.

Small amounts were mixed with animal foods in California and with fertilizer applied to 1,960 acres of Idaho farmland, Troutman said, adding that they would cause no harm because they were so diluted in the final products.

In addition, 132 tons of a similar material are now quarantined by Ag-Chem at the Port of Seattle and 44 tons at the Port of San Francisco. That material is the latest shipment from China.

"We're just trying to contain the stuff and get it back to China," Troutman said.

RSA Microtech was the first to notice the high cadmium and raise the alarm. The fertilizer company's warehouse near Burlington, Skagit County, has been closed since March 24 for decontamination.

RSA spokeswoman Barbara Smith said eight employees may have been exposed and were tested but were not suffering adverse effects.

However, a temporary laborer for the company, Edward Mattell of Bellingham, said he and three others had worked in unsafe conditions with the material. Mattell said RSA and the temporary labor agency that hired did not return his calls or answer his questions when he became concerned about nausea, dizziness, peeling skin, body aches, headaches and other problems.

Mattell, 45, said he had been checked by three doctors, hired a lawyer and filed a workplace-injury claim. Mattell said at least one other worker was also sick. His lawyer did not return calls.

The workplace limit of cadmium is 5 micrograms per cubic meter of air, said Stefan Dobratz, industrial-hygiene supervisor for the state Department of Labor and Industries. He compared it to the amount of dust on the head of a pin. He said employers must provide respirators to workers in higher levels.

Mattell said the dust was flying all over while he was pouring bags of the tainted material into a hopper. He said he worked five weekend days between Feb. 19 and March 4 and was given no protective equipment.

The state Department of Agriculture yesterday announced a statewide stop-sale order on eight lots of Ruffin Tuff brand fertilizer produced by RSA for farm use.

The company sent letters March 24 to stop sale of four products sold in the U.S. and Canada since Nov. 29, Smith said. She said RSA expects to be able to show later that some of the fertilizer is safe to use.

Gov. Gary Locke was quoted in a news release yesterday commending RSA and saying this showed the state's fertilizer law - first in the nation to require tests of toxic chemicals - worked to prevent the sale of potentially hazardous materials.

Laurie Valeriano of the Washington Toxics Coalition called it a failure because the material, caught by chance, was used on fields and in animal feed.

In California, Mowes, an animal-food maker east of Los Angeles, said it had already sold a small amount when it received a warning from Ag-Chem and immediately withdrew the material.

"At this point, we do not know of any harm because we've gotten back almost all of it, and the amount that goes in is at such a low rate that it is really no problem," manager Jobe Mowe said yesterday.

Duff Wilson's phone message number is 206-464-2288.