Lettuce Fields' Irrigation Water Contaminated?

RE Washington Post article "Calif. Lettuce Recalled Over E. Coli Concerns" (link below under green or salmon print):

One thing the FDA and CA farmers don't want you to realize is that all leaf crops in CA are grown with ground water pumped up and then supplied to the roots for irrigation according to reports on the spinach crisis. (It was reported once and then disappeared which is what happens to most information that would harm big business in this nation at its best).

Because Central Californian soil is reported to be heavy clay in the leaf crop region and the water table low (at least it was in the years and places I lived there), bacteria cannot make it's way down to 'ground water' (the italicized assessment also came from a news report on the spinach crisis).

Cattle do not enter vegetable crop fields for some various obvious reasons available at a moment's thought. Like in many other places they have their own fields. Also, we do not in general see flooding rains in summer in low land California. Though I have not followed the weather up where the fields are this summer.

Therefore, it seems that the bacteria must have come into the system after coming up again for irrigation.

Restrooms for fieldworkers can be up to 1/4 mile away from the fields and the workers are often pushed to get more picked than ever before for their poor pay. (From report about worker conditions in CA fields).

Make your own inferences from that. Are we finding that allowing American business to abuse their employees is now killing us?

US Allows Sale of Products and Materials Other Nations Deemed to be Hazadous to you Health

Fair Use Excerpt Los Angeles Times article "U.S. Rules Allow the Sale of Products Others Ban":

Destined for American kitchens, planks of birch and poplar plywood are stacked to the ceiling of a cavernous port warehouse. The wood, which arrived in California via a cargo ship, carries two labels: One proclaims "Made in China," while the other warns that it contains formaldehyde, a cancer-causing chemical.

Because formaldehyde wafts off the glues in this plywood, it is illegal to sell in many countries — even the one where it originated, China. But in the United States this wood is legal, and it is routinely crafted into cabinets and furniture.

As the European Union and other nations have tightened their environmental standards, mostly in the last two years, manufacturers — here and around the world — are selling goods to American consumers that fail to meet other nations' stringent laws for toxic chemicals.

Wood, toys, electronics, pesticides and cosmetics are among U.S. products that contain substances that are banned or restricted elsewhere, particularly in Europe and Japan, because they may raise the risk of cancer, alter hormones or cause reproductive or neurological damage.

Michael Wilson, a professor at UC Berkeley's Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, said the United States is becoming a "dumping ground" for consumer goods that are unwanted and illegal in much of the world. Wilson warned earlier this year in a report commissioned by the California Legislature that "the United States has fallen behind globally in the move toward cleaner technologies."

The European Union, driven by consumers' concerns, has banned or heavily restricted hundreds of toxic substances in recent years, invoking its "precautionary principle," which is codified into law and prescribes that protective steps should be taken when there is scientific evidence of risks to public health or the environment.

Thank you Republicans. Now America is the dumping ground for other nations' hazardous products.