APPENDIX III 



Research Underway in Agriculture and Forestry Towards Ameliorating Waste 

 Production and Waste Management Problems 



The current terse review will not permit a listing 

 of all the research projects active in the U.S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture and the land-grant uni- 

 versities pertaining to wastes in relation to agricul- 

 ture and forestry. Rather, only a few research 

 activities will be mentioned to illustrate the kinds 

 of studies that are underway, or have been recently 

 completed, that are providing needed and useful 

 information on the subject. 



As in the foregoing appendices, the discussion 

 will be delineated among nine major groups of 

 entities with one important addition — a section on 

 socioeconomic studies that pertain to wastes re- 

 lated to agriculture and forestry. 



The subjects touched upon are — 



1. Radioactive substances 



2. Chemical air pollutants 



3. Airborne dusts 



4. Sediment 



5. Plant nutrients 



6. Inorganic salts and minerals 



7. Organic wastes 



8. Infectious agents and allergens 



9. Agricultural chemicals 



10. Socioeconomic evaluation 



Radioactive Substances 



Concern over radioactive wastes received its 

 major impetus when (he aftermath of Hiroshima 

 became known. Subsequent emphasis on nuclear 

 arms as possible instruments in international pol- 

 icy aroused shock at the possibilities of nuclear at- 

 tack. The public became anxious to know what 

 effect radioactivity would have on people, food, 

 crops, livestock, soils, and water supplies. 



Research on the problems of radioactive wastes 

 in agriculture was initiated in the U.S. Department 

 of Agriculture and at many State agricultural ex- 

 periment stat ions under the auspices of the Atomic 

 Energy Commission in the late forties. The Atomic 

 Energy Commission is still the main supporter of 



this research, but some financial assistance is de- 

 rived from the U.S. Public Health Service and 

 the Office of Civil Defense. The current areas of 

 research may be divided into reducing the levels 

 of radioactive contamination in soils or in plant or 

 animal products and defining more closely the ef- 

 fects of radiation on plants or animals. 



The direct removal of surface contamination 

 from agricultural land is under study in the U.S. 

 Department of Agricidture. If radioactive fallout 

 occurs on crops, part of it may be removed by re- 

 moving the crop from the land. The larger part, 

 however, falls to the soil surface and can be re- 

 moved only by scraping or otherwise cleaning the 

 soil surface. Cost-effectiveness studies of various 

 methods are continuing. Any method requires dis- 

 posal of large volumes of surface soil and, there- 

 fore, much attention is given to reducing the 

 thickness of soil removal required for effective 

 decontamination. 



Methods for reducing plant uptake of hazardous 

 radioactive elements, particularly radioactive 

 strontium, from soils are being studied by many 

 groups. Presently, the most active areas of research 

 are on deep plowing and fixation of strontium in 

 less soluble forms. Deep plowing, with additions 

 of various chemicals to inhibit root growth in the 

 contaminated soil, is under study in the U.S. I 

 partment of Agricidture. Various conditions lead- 

 ing to the fixation of strontium are under study at 

 different locations: (1) In calcareous soils at the 

 University of Arizona: (2) with silicone treat- 

 ments at the University of California at Berkeley : 

 and (3) with aluminum phosphates and silicon- 

 phosphates in the Department of Agriculture at 

 Beltsville. Md. Soil scientists from Ohio State Uni- 

 versity are studying the long-term behavior and 

 movement o( strontium-90 in held plots at 

 Wooster. 



Methods for removing radioactive contamina- 

 tion from plant or animal products have recently 



