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"MARTINEZ, Calif. (KRON) — A Northern California community is still dealing with the aftermath of a November incident in which the Martinez Refining Company failed to notify the public of the release of toxic dust."

Original Article: https://kdvr.com/news/nationalworld-news/residents-of-california-city-warned-not-to-eat-food-grown-in-gardens-after-toxic-dust-release/

I do not recall seeing this in the news but here it is.

“Just this morning, a friend of mine was asking me about gardening advice, and she wants to plant a garden with her young children,” said Heidi Taylor, whose garden full of produce was blanketed by some of the 20 tons of dust. “Oh my god, don’t put it in the soil. The first thing I said to her was, you better have a container. This is container gardening time now because of what they did.”

"MARTINEZ, Calif. (KRON) — A Northern California community is still dealing with the aftermath of a November incident in which the Martinez Refining Company failed to notify the public of the release of toxic dust." Original Article: https://kdvr.com/news/nationalworld-news/residents-of-california-city-warned-not-to-eat-food-grown-in-gardens-after-toxic-dust-release/ I do not recall seeing this in the news but here it is. “Just this morning, a friend of mine was asking me about gardening advice, and she wants to plant a garden with her young children,” said Heidi Taylor, whose garden full of produce was blanketed by some of the 20 tons of dust. “Oh my god, don’t put it in the soil. The first thing I said to her was, you better have a container. This is container gardening time now because of what they did.”

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Not sure really. This is the first I have heard of it. Another article here: https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/health-officials-demand-consequences-after-toxic-dust-falls-on-martinez/

Some details: "On Wednesday, Contra Costa Health requested that the District Attorney consider taking legal action against the Martinez Refining Company for allegedly failing to alert the county after it released more than 20 tons of metal-laden dust into the community."

"Samples of the dust showed it contained elevated levels of aluminum and other metals, which could have potentially caused respiratory symptoms in people who breathed it. “Prolonged exposure to these metals can lead to health concerns,” CCH officials wrote."

"The refinery did not report the release via the county’s Community Warning System, nor directly to CCH, as required by the county’s notification policy. CCH learned about the release from local news media reports two full days after the accident.

Health officials were never able to alert residents about the hazard at the time of the accident because MRC failed to follow the policy, according to CCH."

From what little research I did it looks like it is mostly a combination of metal compounds and may also contain heavy metals. It would probably contaminate anything in the area including things like honey. Since they are worried about people eating things from their garden it would be something that would be taken up by those plants and concentrated.

Some cities already want to make growing your own food illegal. What better way than making it toxic for you to eat even if you can grow it yourself.