in 2008 around a Dubois County, Indiana corn field led to the convictions of four men
for illegal use of a pesticide that federal officials describe as acutely toxic, the
Evansville Courier & Press reported October 28. Three of the men pleaded guilty and
were sentenced October 27 on federal charges of illegally using the highly toxic
pesticide Furadan. A fourth man charged in the investigation pleaded guilty and was
sentenced earlier in 2011. Commonly sold as a concentrate, Furadan is an insecticide
used for corn and other crops. It is regulated by federal law because of its extreme
toxicity. According to federal officials, as little as one drop of concentrated Furadan
can kill large mammals, making it is extremely hazardous to wildlife and people. The
three men appeared in federal court in Indianapolis where a magistrate judge sentenced
each to pay a $5,000 fine.
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researchers recently completed a nationwide survey on radium, which they expect to
release by the end of 2011. The study found that while radium is found throughout
drinking water nationwide, it is in higher concentrations in specific circumstances such
as in southern New Jersey, where it is often made even more acidic from heavy
agricultural fertilizer use. Hammonton is the latest municipality to deal with the issue
and is in the process of retrofitting one of its treatment plants to filter the contaminated
water. But public-water supplies in Buena, Buena Vista Township, Bridgeton, Egg
Harbor Township, Upper Deerfield Township, Stow Creek Township, and Vineland all
have had problems in the past. The federal limit in drinking water is 5 picocuries per
liter. Quarterly tests required by the state of public water suppliers found that two wells
in Hammonton had levels of radium just above the limit in recent years. Wells in
Vineland have had radium concentrations six times the limit. Local governments have
been forced to spend millions of dollars to address the issue, building new treatment
plants, digging new wells, or installing filters into current facilities, which is what
Hammonton is doing. The human body excretes the majority of radium it absorbs, the
U.S. Environment Protection Agency states, but about 20 percent of it is absorbed into
bones and remains to damage tissues.
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Health Administration (TOSHA) found the walls of a basin at the Gatlinburg