4 ms·

Flaxseeds as well. ConsumerLabs carefully documents the cadmium concentration of common brands[0], and many are unsafe. Flax is such an efficient bio-concentra

Flaxseeds as well. ConsumerLabs carefully documents the cadmium concentration of common brands[0], and many are unsafe. Flax is such an efficient bio-concentrator of cadmium in fact, that a municipality in PA considered sowing a field of it to remediate a polluted former industrial site. (No clue how they would have harvested and disposed of the tainted flax.) [0] https://www.consumerlab.com/reviews/flaxseed-whole-ground-and-milled/flaxseed-food/?search=flaxseed%20cadmium https://www.consumerlab.com/reviews/flaxseed-whole-ground-an... (may require membership to read).

lazide 2y ago
Probably burned it - hence releasing it all into the air. But hey, out of sight, out of mind?
magicalhippo 2y ago
> No clue how they would have harvested and disposed of the tainted flax. Sounds like a good basis for a NileRed[1] episode, say making paint[2] from flax seeds. [1]: https://nile.red/ https://nile.red/ [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_pigments#Cadmium_red https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_pigments#Cadmium_red
stephen_g 2y ago
They could potentially do pyrolysis of the biomass (after harvest) and then extract the heavy metals from the resulting char. e.g. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0961953402000740 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09619... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921344917303178 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09213...
bregma 2y ago
> No clue how they would have harvested and disposed of the tainted flax. It's flax. Harvest it before it goes to seed, ret it, break it, scutch it, spin it, weave it, make it into expensive garments. Unless you eat your shirt it's going to be perfectly safe.
- lr4444lr 2y ago
  And when said shirts are washed, the cadmium rich fibers in the effluent water go where?

lazide 2y ago

Probably burned it - hence releasing it all into the air. But hey, out of sight, out of mind?

magicalhippo 2y ago

> No clue how they would have harvested and disposed of the tainted flax. Sounds like a good basis for a NileRed[1] episode, say making paint[2] from flax seeds. [1]: https://nile.red/ https://nile.red/ [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_pigments#Cadmium_red https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_pigments#Cadmium_red

stephen_g 2y ago

They could potentially do pyrolysis of the biomass (after harvest) and then extract the heavy metals from the resulting char. e.g. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0961953402000740 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09619... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921344917303178 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09213...

bregma 2y ago

> No clue how they would have harvested and disposed of the tainted flax. It's flax. Harvest it before it goes to seed, ret it, break it, scutch it, spin it, weave it, make it into expensive garments. Unless you eat your shirt it's going to be perfectly safe.

lr4444lr 2y ago
And when said shirts are washed, the cadmium rich fibers in the effluent water go where?