By Kat Stansell
May 2, 2025
Lining Pockets And Ignoring Facts Is A Deadly Combination
In addition to disenfranchising citizens and taking away their constitutional right to manage their own communities, Tallahassee is making some of its citizens sick, and worse — NOT just with their sleazy politics, but by standing on the side of dangerous and deadly business.
The mining of phosphate is one of Florida’s largest industries. The phosphate in the state is from sediment formed by the remnants of sea creatures, laid down over millions of years forming rock from which the mineral is excavated and brought to the surface. Today, the phosphate is used as fertilizer. Florida supplies 80% of the nation’s phosphate, and 25% of the world’s supply.
Twelve active phosphate mines are currently authorized in Florida, according to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Most are controlled by two main companies, Mosaic and Nutrien.
This is the FIRST EDITION of a story about Mosaic, the largest.
Phosphate is BIG, but deadly, business in the Sunshine State; not only the mining but the reclamation processes which attempt to re-use the land after it is stripped of phosphate. The land remains toxic, for generations to come. Tallahassee loves business, and seems not to care about the lives lost to radiation poisoning, which is the residual of phosphate mining.
The mining of phosphate releases high levels of radioactive material, which stays in the soil and water for thousands of years. Ironically, phosphate is used as fertilizer to grow food to feed people, while the production of it sickens them. Some radiation remains, even in the fertilizer produced from this.
By 2011, cancer was the leading cause of death in Florida.
One of Florida’s largest industries is killing people. The mining of phosphate releases deadly levels of radiation into the air, soil and water. Mosaic knows this. I suspect that Tallahassee does as well. How could they not?
Employees of the company are told that their lives will be shortened by exposure to this mining, but that they are “feeding the children of the world”. What psychobabble…who will feed their own children after their lives are “shortened”? This is asking for lives in exchange for paychecks.
This message is juxtaposed with Mosaic advertising propaganda, delivered with silky sweetness, that includes information that the company is teaching the children to have jobs with Mosaic in the future.
Don’t you wonder if Mosaic prepares those students for shortened lives and miserable deaths??
The documentary, PhosFate, tells it all. It is 90 minutes of information that will leave you shaken. I BEG you to watch it. Click the link. Your life and the lives of those you love may depend on what you learn. The documentary was begun in 2019, and published in 2021; PhosFate represents hundreds of hours of work by those suffering from related illness. It contains careful, in-depth research. Of course, Mosaic and Tallahassee hate it.
Of the five citizens listed at the beginning of the documentary as “starring”, two are have succumbed to their cancers.
If you live in or visit Florida, you owe it to yourself and your family’s safety, to watch PhosFate.
This environmental catastrophe has been going on for a long time. The current administration is following the lead of others who populated Tallahassee before it.
In 1975 When Ruben Askew was the Governor of Florida, the federal EPA informed the nation that dangerously elevated levels of radon were found on former phosphate mining land, in structures built on ‘reclaimed’ land. At that time, THE EPA RECOMMENDED THAT BUILDING OF STRUCTURES ON THIS (reclaimed) LAND BE DISCOURAGED. I have no idea how many homes, parks and towns have been built on land like this since then.
This was 1975. Fifty years ago. Tallahassee has a real learning problem. Or, they don’t give a damn. Rick Scott worked closely with phosphate mining companies when he was governor, as does DeSantis’s crew, today. But of course, DeGov would never admit to that.
With the super-majority that the current governor enjoys, his administration could certainly have turned the tide, but has not. An occasional “dog and phoney show” (Mrs. Gov’s 2023 “cancer initiative” to collect data- another “Florida is first” show) on the subject, but nothing of substance. The data is there in abundance, Casey. USE IT.
Also, supportive legislation – to the mining companies – is being put on the books.
Sort of reminds you of election integrity, but we won’t go there for now.
SB 832, and HB 585 passed in the 2025 session., They “gut” protections for the environment and the people. SB 832 makes it difficult/impossible to sue the mining companies; HB 585 provides “conditions” necessary to bring suit against certain former mining sites. Conditions purposely difficult to meet.
In 2023, the same year as the Casey initiative was launched, DeSantis signed a bill authorizing research into using the radioactive rock, a mining byproduct, to pave highways. This rock is already piled at a mining museum encouraging children to play in it. A geiger counter there reads more than 4X the EPA safety limits – Fukishima levels. The same tainted gravel is in campsites and parks. But DeGov somehow needs more “research”. How many deaths will it take to convince him? Or is it part of another phony show of concern?
Cancer has been the leading cause of death in Florida since 2011. Not skin cancers from too much sun, but hybrid cancers, which doctors admit they are not sure how to treat.
Whole communities are stricken, small children to older adults, in clusters. Even pets. This cannot be a coincidence of genetics, that all cancer-prone people are living together in certain communities. These cancers are coming from the environmental factors in the soil, water and air. Phosphate mining is a major contributor to this. This is a proven fact.
One citizens group has crowd-sourced data from families in communities built on reclaimed land and/or nearby the toxic soil and water, finding up to 800 diagnoses in some areas, of the same type of cancer. The Department of Health basically ignored it. Of course Florida DOH in one county occupies a building built for them by Mosaic. Just sayiin’.
Those who ask their state for help with this killer condition, are tracked and accused of lying or working for foreign governments! Dear Lord. Wouldn’t you think that Casey would want them to work together on her initiative??
Whereas you hear mind-numbing repetitions of infomercials about the poison water at Camp LeJeune, you hear nothing about radiation poisoning from the phosphate mining process, even in the state which is being polluted by it.
Florida radiation levels are 3X higher than that at LeJeune. Crickets from officials.
Even Florida’s Fountain of Youth is closed due to the pollution. DeGov hasn’t said a word about it. At least there is a sign to “drink at your own risk”. What a shard of conscience from someone!
Other than that, there are NO WARNING SIGNS, anywhere.
In The Free State Of Florida, road signs abound, telling the observer how wonderful is the state. How “free”! Nowhere will you find signs warning of radioactive pollution in the land, water, food and air.
There are no warning signs on or around the 300,000+ acres (the size of the City of Los Angeles) which is owned by Mosaic Mining, in Manatee, Hillsborough, Polk, Hardee counties. There are no warning signs at the piles of radioactive gravel in which children are encouraged to play. That “Fukishima-level” gravel.
The millions of gallons of water used in the mining process is extracted from the rivers, then returned – RADIOACTIVE RUNOFF – to the waterways to find its way to the Gulf of America. Those waterways are radioactive as well. Of course, no warning signs to spoil the scenery. Millions of sea creatures have been killed in the poisonous waters, while millions of wildlife habitats have been wiped out as forests and open lands are bulldozed and burned to clear for more mining operations.
There has been huge business losses in the tourist communities around the Gulf due to the die-off of seafood, and poisoning of the beaches.
Why is NONE of this of concern to Tallahassee?? They apparently see no problem with any of this, and this is only a small part of the story. There is SO much more.
I decided to put out this introduction to the issue so you could see the documentary, PhosFate, if you haven’t already, and I could finish talking with all of the people who have volunteered to speak to me on the subject. There is medical, scientific, business and political information to come. Brace yourself.
The word, “mosaic” refers to a picture assembled of many small pieces, as is the picture of death and destruction in Florida — its natural resources and its citizens — courtesy of big business and big government.
Join the cause We are still bigger than our enemy and stronger, if we stand up. If we don’t, we sacrifice our seat at the table, and bear the full weight of their game.
I will leave you with the words of Margaret Meade: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful concerned citizens can change the world.” Be the change that is so desperately needed.
© 2025 Kat Stansell – All Rights Reserved
E-Mail Kat Stansell: katvanatt@protonmail.com
