Green Warriors: Soil Threat

Over the last 50 years, our use of phosphate based fertilizers has quadrupled. These are essential to modern agriculture, used especially for growing potatoes. Most fertilizers come from Morocco, where the pollution from phosphate mines is poisoning local drinking supplies, causing birth defects in animals and health problems in children. But also present in most phosphate-based fertilizer is cadmium, a toxic heavy metal linked to kidney and bone disease. A team of journalists, in
collaboration with European scientists, set out to search for evidence of the extent of pollution in Morocco. They also want to see if the cadmium in these fertilizers is contaminating potatoes and entering the food chain. Their revelations will make the news and change the law. In this investigation, the Green Warriors team reveal the implications of our addiction to cheap fertilizer.