The Rural Voice, 2003-12, Page 25Of more concern is the disruption
that can be made in wildlife from
farm chemicals that can mimic
hormones. Remember, Topp said,
hormones exist in our bodies in
relatively low concentrations yet
have huge effects on us, making the
difference between men and women,
for instance.
Concern began when someone
noticed that the salmon population on
the east coast collapsed shortly after
Bt was used to spray east coast
forests to fight the spruce bud worm
infestation. It wasn't the Bt that
caused the problem but the surfactant
used to make the worms absorb the
poison. Researchers found out that
surfactant acts like a female hormone
and exposure to it destroyed the
ability of the salmon to go from salt
water to fresh water where they
needed to spawn.
Astudy looked at chicken litter
and found variable but
significant levels of
endocrine disrupting chemicals but
the good news is that whether from
this source, or from biosolids,
generally the chemicals break down
well if land application is managed
well, Topp said.
The news wasn't quite so good
from Dr. Michael Goss of the
University of Guelph who pointed
out that a 1991-92 study of 1200
farm wells in Ontario showed half
were infected by fecal contamination.
Late investigation showed a third
likely contained pathogenic
microbes.
Meanwhile Dr. Bob Friendship
found 6.8 per cent of pigs he tested
had E. coli 0157:1-17, the same kind
of deadly bacteria that hit
Walkerton's water supply, 10 per
cent had salmonella and 5.3 per cent
had cryptosporidium parasites.
Evidence at Walkerton pointed to
contamination not from surface run-
off but through the groundwater,
through macropores in the soil. Goss
said they found microbes were
generally less likely to result in the
contamination of surface or ground
water if the source is solid manure
rather than liquid manure.
"We need to be even more
vigilant than ever applying animal
manure to fields, especially when
spreading liquid manure in the
spring," Goss said.°
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DECEMBER 2003 21