Herbicide in fertilizer killing crops

This happened in Britain, but the principles involved are scary.

"Gardeners have been warned not to eat home-grown vegetables contaminated by a powerful new herbicide that is destroying gardens and allotments across the UK.

The Royal Horticultural Society has been inundated with calls from concerned gardeners who have seen potatoes, beans, peas, carrots and salad vegetables wither or become grossly deformed... The affected gardens and allotments have been contaminated by manure originating from farms where the hormone-based herbicide aminopyralid has been sprayed on fields...

He said the company was unable to advise gardeners that it was 'safe' to consume vegetables that had come into contact with the manure because of pesticide regulations. 'All we can say is that the trace levels of aminopyralid that are likely to be in these crops are of such low levels that they are unlikely to cause a problem to human health.'"

Here's the scary part. It wasn't that the herbicide contaminated the fertilizer during manufacture or distribution. The herbicide, aminopyralid, was applied the previous year to grass (to kill thistles etc), the grass was used for silage during the winter, and after the manure of the cattle and horses matured it was mulched into vegetable gardens.

So this weedkiller passed through the animals and persisted for a year before eventually causing withered and deformed veggies. I agree with the gardeners - something this toxic should not be entering the food chain.

More details at the link.