... found that vegetables grown in soil enriched with sargassum had higher levels of arsenic and cadmium, heavy metals that can be toxic to humans and animals. Researchers warn that sargassum should not be used to compliment animal fodder, nor used as a fertilizer for consumables until further investigated.
... we're finding [sargassum] can contain heavy metals, including arsenic. It has fairly high concentrations of the toxin," he said. "There's a concern that, through leaching, that could impact groundwater."
Another interesting thing we discovered is a set of genes called 'zot' genes, which causes leaky gut syndrome," says Mincer. The toxins produced by bacteria carrying these zot genes increase the permeability of the intestinal tract, leading to a range of symptoms including chronic diarrhoea.
In fairness, they are using the decomposed soil to line streets (I'd guess medians which have grass) and people's lawns.
Distributing to farmers would be terrible, but it seems like distributing near roadways is exactly the right move given that land is already unsafe to eat from due to car pollutants.
The metals are already there in the moss. Is it better to decompose on the beach, throw into a landfill, or recycle into ornamental land use?
The article says the soil mixture is available to residents and being used by the city to restore damaged boulevards. None of this is being communicated as being sold to farms for growing produce.
It seems like they probably are doing due diligence and they’re not poisoning the people they serve.
They talk about the city using it for fill soil on their site. They do have a picture suggesting it might be usable in a garden but that’s it.
Because cities are run by people and out whole civilization’s incentives structure has been turned upside down and inside out for at least 100 years now. When there are Not only no consequences, but also immense rewards and any few consequences are simply calculated into the operating budget, it leas to all these types of things we see today all across the western world where corruption, fraud, public plunder, and degeneracy are rampant and well being the house of cards down in some period.
"The Osborne Reef is an artificial reef project situated off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was one of many attempts in the 1970s and 80s to mimic the environmental benefits of coral reefs using old tires, but it has become an environmental disaster.
...It was approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the dumping operation was supervised by a U.S. Navy minesweeper.
In the years to follow, many of the tires — which were held together only with nylon rope and steel clips — came loose, making the “reef” useless as a habitat and, in some cases, damaging real coral reefs nearby.
Over the past two decades, groups both public and private have launched programs to remove the remaining Osborne Reef tires from the ocean.
...The state estimated that there were 650,000 tires remaining in 2016, and 4ocean estimates that there are still over 500,000 in 2022."
Interesting! Do they do some kind of washing or processing to remove the salt? I assume without that step it would be impossible to use as soil, but I don't know.
... found that vegetables grown in soil enriched with sargassum had higher levels of arsenic and cadmium, heavy metals that can be toxic to humans and animals. Researchers warn that sargassum should not be used to compliment animal fodder, nor used as a fertilizer for consumables until further investigated.
https://www.npr.org/2023/03/15/1163385168/sargassum-seaweed-...
... we're finding [sargassum] can contain heavy metals, including arsenic. It has fairly high concentrations of the toxin," he said. "There's a concern that, through leaching, that could impact groundwater."
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230622-what-is-causing-...
Another interesting thing we discovered is a set of genes called 'zot' genes, which causes leaky gut syndrome," says Mincer. The toxins produced by bacteria carrying these zot genes increase the permeability of the intestinal tract, leading to a range of symptoms including chronic diarrhoea.