Dr. Brian Patterson to give presentation at CBC meeting Sept. 26

Spraying dry lead on apple trees(Washington State Historical Society, A.G. Simmer, 1925) An effective means of controlling pests in orchards was to spray the trees with a mix of lead and/or arsenic. This practice continued into the 1950s. As lead and arsenic are elements, they do not go away. As such old orchards are often locations of residual contamination. Other pesticides may be present as well from past agricultural activities, but the long term use of lead and arsenic simply do not go away. “Conversion of agricultural land to residential or other uses has created a potential risk to human health due to the residual soil contamination. Washington State Department of Ecology has been attempting to address this issue and has conducted numerous soil cleanups where schools have been located on former orchards with elevated lead and arsenic levels in the soil,’’ Dan McShane/July 28, 2016