I received this info from the Pa Eastern Mushroom Association..I thought I would share the content with you since it has valuable info for shroomers who pick mushrooms in apple orchards...
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I just received the message below from Britt Bunyard. With our morel collecting season upcoming, I think it behooves our members to be aware of the results of this study. Though it will appear in the next issue of Fungi magazine, it is available now on line at
http://www.fungimag.com/winter-2010-articles/shavit-morels.pdf . If there is time to include that link in the next issue of our newsletter, I think it should be put there. If not, it might be worth Bill's sending out a special alert to all our members for whom he has email addresses. (The paper itself is somewhat technical, but the introduction and conclusions are readily understandable, and the latter are worrisome.)
Dear Eastern Penn club:
In time for the 2010 morel season, we are excited to announce the publication of “Lead and Arsenic in Morchella esculenta fruitbodies Collected in Lead arsenate Contaminated Apple Orchards in the Northeastern United States – a Preliminary Study” by Elinoar Shavit and Efrat Shavit.
See the article at
www.fungimag.com This study seeks to answer the questions raised in last winter’s edition of Fungi, in the article "Arsenic in Morels: Morels Collected in New Jersey Apple Orchards Blamed for Arsenic Poisoning" (
http://www.fungimag.com/winter-08-articles/Rev_Medicinal.pdf): Do morels collected in Northeastern apple orchards concentrate arsenic and lead from their habitats, and if so, do they concentrate these heavy metals at levels that may pose health risks to consumers? This study investigates the relationship between the levels of lead and arsenic found in the morels and in the soil from which they grow, and discusses the toxicological implications of these findings.
We invite you to preview this article on the Fungi Magazine website (and to get a sneak peek at the cover of the upcoming special issue devoted to Morels). And it's not too late to get deep discounts on bulk orders of the Morel issue for your club. Orders with payments must be received by March 30. Contact the Editor for details or for questions.
Britt A. Bunyard
Publisher & Editor in Chief
F U N G I
POBox 8, 1925 Hwy 175
Richfield, Wisconsin 53076-0008
U S A
www.fungimag.com 