United Sludge-Free Alliance

What you need to know.

Expanded versions of each section are available for download below and are compiled for download in the Supporting Content section of the page.

Health Bullets

• Some of the largest impacts on your health are the personal choices you make about the food you eat, the water you drink and the community you live in. No federal, state or government agency has ever conducted conclusive scientific studies that prove pouring known toxic sewage sludge waste on our food, water and communities is safe.
• The EPA maintains that, of the thousands of known toxic contaminants, the minimal testing requirements of nine elements - arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, selenium, zinc and two pathogens are sufficient in "estimating" our health risk of land applied sewage sludge.
• The issue of land application of sewage sludge is two-fold: the infiltration of known toxic waste in America's food and water supply and community impact where sewage sludge is land applied.
• There is no state or national systematic tracking of health incidents related to sewage sludge. In some cases, laws are put into place to remove the community's right to restrict or even test for sewage sludge safety.
• World-wide, scientific studies are linking environmental contamination with; food poisoning infections of salmonella and E. coli, increase in autism, antibiotic resistance superbugs like MRSA, drug resistant pneumonia, groundwater manganese associations with cancer, multi-drug-resistant coliforms occur in rivers, bays, bathing beaches and coastal canals.

Food Bullets

• Although the EPA recognizes that foods absorb heavy metals and pathogens, no regulations monitor the safety of foods grown in sewage sludge farmlands.
• Sewage sludge commonly contains high levels of heavy metals that do not require testing or regulation, yet heavy metals accumulate in the soil where the sludge is spread and in the plants and animal that we ingest.
• With the exception of salmonella and E. coli, the EPA does not require testing for any pathogens, pharmaceuticals, steroids, viruses, hormones or endotoxins.
• Some toxins found in sewage sludge include plutonium, radiation, Teflon type chemicals like PFO's and PFOA's, antibacterial soap byproducts and flame retardants.
• Bureaucracies charged with protecting our health, food and water refuse to "connect the dots" of the application of hazardous sewage sludge to our food source.
• Over 8 million tons of Class B sewage sludge is land applied in America. Class A sewage sludge is land applied without registration requirements.
• Demand safe food - demand the halt of land application of sewage sludge.

Water Bullets

• Lower legal standards for "safe" water and sewage sludge avoid expense and responsibility for industries and municipalities. All expenses are passed on to the health and safety of citizens.
• 1982 EPA studies expressed concerns about sewage sludge creating widespread contamination of bacteria and drug-resistant coliforms into rivers, bays, bathing beaches and coastal canals.
• 2007 EPA national sewage sludge test samples for 145 compounds found toxic concentrations including 28 metals, 11 flame retardants, 72 pharmaceuticals, and 25 steroids and hormones.
• National watershed studies have found pharmaceuticals in the drinking water supply of 28 major metro areas for 41 million Americans - there are no standards, no mandates, no controls to test, treat or limit pharmaceuticals in water.
• Dilution does not work well for pollutants, like bacteria and viruses, which have the capacity for multiplication and adaptation to environmental niches.
• Studies funded by sludge industry recognize the limitations of their own products and the false marketing of "stabilized" sewage sludge from waste water treatment plants.
• Research data from 2004 links arsenic in US drinking water to increases in diabetes. Arsenic also affects lung, skin and kidney cancer, internal bleeding and heart damage, kidney and liver failure, and birth defects.

Supporting Content

To view a file, click on the (pdf) link. To download the file, click on the disk icon on the toolbar on the top left of your screen or click on File and select Save As.

• Expanded Health, Food, and Water Compilation(pdf)
• Research findings from Yale indicating that heat applied to sludge does not kill all pathogens contained within �(pdf)
• Study Finds Fecal Coliforms Appear to Reactivate in Centrifuge Dewatered Solids at Four of Seven Facilities Tested; 2007 Sludge industry (WERF) study showing re-growth of fecal coliforms in treated sludge. (pdf)
• Summary of 2009 Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey (pdf)
• Overview of 2009 Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey; EPA study finding contaminants in sewage sludge nationally. (pdf)�
• New Report Finds High Concentrations of Toxic Contaminants in Sewage Sludge; EPA national sewage sludge survey identifies high concentrations of toxic contaminants with heavy metals, steroids and pharmaceuticals, including the antibacterials, triclocarban and triclosan. (pdf)
• Health Survey of Residents Living Near Farm Fields Permitted to Receive Biosolids: 2007 Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health (pdf)
• Bioaersols Generated From Biosolids Applied on Farm Fields in Wood County, Ohio; 2005 study presenting data show higher numbers of bacteria colonies collected downwind from biosolids land application. (pdf)
• 2002 Investigation by Cornell'sWaste Management Institute of alleged health incidents association with land application of sewage sludge. (pdf)
• Autism Epidemic Not Caused By Shift in Diagnoses: Environmental Factors Likely (pdf)
• Drug Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemases (KPCs), Rapid Spread in the United States and Elsewhere in the World: 2009 Medscape Infectious Disease Report (pdf)
• "PBDE Byproducts are Ubiquitous in U.S. Waters"; 2009 University of Minnesota and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) studies find compounds produced when PBDE flame retardants are exposed to wastewater treatment can generate dioxins. (pdf)
• Health Agency Covered Up Lead Harm ; 2009 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention withheld evidence that contaminated tap water caused lead poisoning in kids. (pdf)
• CDC to Explore Environmental Links to Disease (pdf)
• Environmental Manganese Good in Trace Amounts But Can Correlate to Cancer Rates; Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center researcher finding groundwater and airborne manganese in North Carolina correlates with cancer mortality at the county level.(pdf)
• 1981 EPA USDA Land Application of Sewage Sludge for the Production of Fruits and Vegetables Policy.(pdf)
• "Sewage-Based Fertilizer Safety Doubted"; 2008 McElmurray vs. USDA landmark case of farm poisoned with �safe� biosolids/sludge.(pdf)
• "He's Not Trusting Toxin Testing" (pdf)
• Sludge Recycling Sends Antiseptic Soap Ingredients to Agriculture; 2006 study shows 75 % of the soap ingredient washed down the drain persists during wastewater treatment and accumulates in municipal sludge, which later is used as fertilizer for crops.(Read Article)
• "The Trouble with Triclosan"; 2009 - Triclosan from consumer products persists in the environment, mixes with other chemicals to form more toxic substances, contributes to the growing problem of bacterial resistance to antibiotics and causes a range of human and ecological health problems.(pdf)
• Canadian Medical Association Calls for Ban on Triclosan 2009 (pdf)
• Food-Related Illness and Death in the United States; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study 1999(pdf)
• US Food Borne Illnesses Up Two to Ten Fold; From Institute of Science in Society (pdf)
• Antibiotic Resistance of E. coli in Sewage Sludge (Read Article)
• Could the E. coli outbreak be linked to irrigation practices? (pdf)
• Persistance of E. coli in Lettuce Fields Linked to Contaminated Water (Read Article)
• USDA Chief Cites Problems in Food Safety System (Read Article)
• How salmonella Contaminates Salad Leaves link (pdf)
• USDA Study confirms link between ethanol by-product and E. coli (pdf)
• Researchers Discover How Infectious Bacteria Can Switch Species; From Science News, 2008. (pdf)
• Additional Trace Contamination of Plutonium Found in Colorado (pdf)
• Firm Monitoring Build-up of Radioactive Materials in Schuylkill, 2009. "However, based on our analysis of sludge that settled out at the Royersford's wastewater treatment plant, we now know that low-level radioactive material in liquid effluents can become concentrated over time." (pdf)
• EPA Finds Record PFO'S, PFOA Levels in Alabama Grazing Fields; Environmental Science & Technology 2009 (pdf)
• "Where can an earthworm go to find good, clean dirt?"; From Scientific American, February 2008 study finding concentrations of toxins in earthworms. (pdf)
• "Widespread Occurrence of Intersex Bass Found in U.S. Rivers" (pdf)
• Study links C8 (PFO's) Exposure to Liver Damage (pdf)
• "Is Pollution Driving Antibiotic Resistance" (pdf)
• Antibiotic Resistant Genes Increase In Soil Microbes, 2009 study published in Journal of Environmental Science & Technology linking antibiotic resistance and soil health. (pdf)
• Salmonella/Tomato Outbreak - Frank Talk and Analysis (pdf)�
• Human Sewage Used for Cereals (Read Article)
• Irish Will Not Cover Grain Produced Using Human Sewage (pdf)�
• UK Sewage Sludge Remains Issue with Growers & Consumers (Read Article)
• Audubon of Florida position paper: "Disposal of Sewage Sludge in Lake Okeechobee Watershed Hurting Everglades Restoration" (pdf)
• Sierra Club Conservation Policies; "Zero Waste-Land Application of Sewage Sludge" (pdf)
• Council on Environmental Quality Revises Water Project Guidance (pdf)
• Proposed National Objectives, Principles and Standards for Water and Related Resources Implementation Studies: December 3, 2009 (pdf)
• EPA Antibiotic-Resistant Coliforms in Wastewater Effluents: 1981 Meckes study on anti-biotic resistance of coliform after treatment (pdf)
• No Standards, No Mandates to Test, Treat or Limit Pharmaceuticals in Water, 2008. Traces of 56 human and veterinary pharmaceuticals have been detected in Philadelphia's drinking water. (pdf)
• Poisoned Communities Tell EPA to Address Legacy of Unequal Protection (pdf)
• A Population-Level Decline in Serum Testosterone Levels in American Men (pdf)
• "Male, interrupted": As genital birth defects in infant boys doubles, attention turns to phthalates, chemicals found in a variety of consumer products (pdf)
• Sewage Altering Fish, Study Reports, 2005. Scientists around the world have found sexual abnormalities in frogs, fish, alligators and other wild animals exposed to sewage effluent and industrial contaminants that mimic estrogens and other hormones. (pdf)�
• Sex-Changing Fish: Caused By Contamination or Nature, 2008 follow-up study (pdf)
• A Rainy Night (or Day) in Georgia? Beware of Salmonella (Read Article)
• Merck Polluting Phila Water (Read Article)
• Yadkin River, NC Contamination From 15.9 Million Gallons of Sewage (pdf)
• Southeast Facilities Ordered to Comply with Clean Water Act; Penalties Total More Than $230,000 (pdf)
• Company and Four Senior Managers Sentenced for Environmental, Worker Safety Crimes After Longest Trial in Environmental Crimes History; 2009. "The managers had an obligation to run the facility safely and legally; instead, they committed environmental crimes that polluted the air and water and put people's health at risk."(pdf)�

HEALTH: IF YOU DON'T POISON THE PEOPLE, YOU DON'T NEED TO FIND A CURE.

What is the value of a healthy life for yourself, your family, your parents and your friends? Your lifestyle, your hometown, your job, your genetic family tree all combine together to create a life balanced with health or illness, safety or danger. Some of the largest impacts on your health are the personal choices you make about the food you eat, the water you drink and the community you live in. What if the food that you consume is fertilized and watered with known heavy metals, infectious waste, bacteria, and other modern toxins? Does the water you drink contain pharmaceuticals and pathogens that will affect your health? Does the playground and park where your family enjoys time together spread sewage sludge to make the grass green? Is the wind that blows across the farm fields where sewage sludge spread near your child's school creating a constant health problem?

The issue of sewage sludge impacts our health whether we eat foods grown in sludge, drink water laced with the contaminants of sludge run-off or live in a community where sewage sludge is used as a "fertilizer" on open space, farm land or gardens. But what is sewage sludge?

Everything that goes down the drain of homes, businesses, industries, hospitals and mortuaries collects at the municipal waste water treatment plants (WWTP). At the WWTP, sewage is heated and chemically treated with the goal of lowering bacteria. Heavy metals and other hazardous chemicals do not go away from the heating or squeezing performed at the WWTP. WWTP were created and intended to separate the liquids from the solids to�clean the water in order to return it to the community. Water returned into the community is called effluence and is often poured directly into waterways, streams and rivers or used to water crops or lawns. The solid remains from the WWTP are called sewage sludge or "biosolids". The term "biosolids" was created by the sludge industry as a cozier way to promote the solid byproduct of sludge after they were forced to stop ocean dumping because it was poisoning the oceans. Unfortunately, the minimal testing requirements actually do not guarantee the health or safety of the water being returned to your community or the biosolids/sewage sludge used as a "fertilizer" for your food.

There are no federal guidelines for the testing of dioxin and a myriad of other highly toxic industrial byproducts currently found in most municipal sludge. No federal, state or government agency has ever conducted conclusive scientific studies that prove pouring known toxic waste on our food, water and communities is safe. The use of sewage sludge on any open land means that these antimicrobial compounds, as well as the host of other heavy metals, pharmaceuticals and hormones, may be absorbed by crops and find their way up the food chain and into human diets. Thousands of modern and discontinued chemicals used in U.S. industry eventually find their way into the sewer system and then into municipal sludge. These chemicals interact to form new and often more toxic chemicals.
Instead, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the bureaucracy responsible for sewage sludge safety, maintains that the minimal testing requirements of nine elements - arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, selenium, zinc - and two pathogens - salmonella OR E. coli - are sufficient in estimating our health risk. Biosolids/sludge is classified as Class A if they show no salmonella OR E. coli when testing at the waste water treatment plant. Class B sludge means levels of salmonella OR E. coli have been registered. This is the only difference between classes of sewage sludge. Class A can be spread anywhere without recording location or amount.
Newest studies from researchers at Yale University, Connecticut find that sludge/biosolids isn't heated high enough to kill pathogens. This is no surprise - in 2006, studies funded by the sludge industry Water Environmental Research Foundation (WERF) - formerly known as the Federation of Sewage Workers - noted that sludge/biosolids that were dewatered by centrifuge created a material that passed standard bacteria tests, yet just 20 minutes after dewatering, showed substantial increase in bacterial counts. WERF also released findings that confirm the re-growth of fecal coliform after treatment. Rocket science? Hardly - bacteria re-grow after treatment.
The U.S. EPA created regulations in 1993 that permits sewage sludge that is too contaminated with certain toxic pollutants to be disposed of safely in a landfill to be promoted as a fertilizer for farms, landscaping, playgrounds, golf courses and bagged compost.
Nearly half of all the municipal sewage sludge produced in the USA each year -- up to 8 million tons --�is land applied. Known toxins and antibiotics found by the EPA in sewage sludge have no regulations, remain untested for the impact on human health and are introduced into our food and water supply through land application as a fertilizer option. Dozens of chemicals introduced into the environment are neurodevelopmental toxins, altering brain growth. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), dioxin, brominated flame retardants and pesticides are examples, and all are found in sewage sludge.
The issue of land application of sewage sludge is two-fold: the infiltration of known toxic waste in America's food and water supply and community impact where sewage sludge is land applied. There is no state or national systematic tracking of health incidents related to sewage sludge. In some cases, laws are put into place to remove the community's right to restrict or even test for sewage sludge safety.

If you live in communities that spread sewage sludge, odors are often a cause of complaints surrounding land application and, until recently, odors have been dismissed as a purely esthetic or quality-of-life issue. But evidence that exposure to odor-causing chemicals can cause illness is mounting. Some airborne contaminants can cause a variety of symptoms including eye, nose, and throat irritation, headache, nausea, diarrhea, hoarseness, sore throat, cough, chest tightness, nasal congestion, palpitations, shortness of breath, stress, drowsiness, and alterations in mood. When residents living near land where sewage sludge is applied report symptoms, they are often dismissed by the bureaucracies and elected officials charged to protect their health and safety.

The following health concern examples, lifted from years of scientific studies and media reports, are just a small sample of the true concern of the poisoning of the very elements that sustain life -- our food, water and homes. Full articles follow, as well as an overview and support articles concerning food and water issues. Really, our health cannot be separated from the food we eat and the water we drink --�it's just common sense.

Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health, in 2007, reported in their, Health Survey of Residents Living Near Farm Fields Permitted to Receive Biosolids . The findings suggest an increased risk for certain respiratory, gastrointestinal, and other diseases among residents living near farm fields on which the use of biosolids was permitted:

"Many of the risks to individuals living near farm fields where biosolids were applied are chronic and may be evident only after long-term exposure. Such effects are difficult to measure and relate to exposure from these fields. In conclusion, our findings suggest an increased risk for certain respiratory, gastrointestinal, and other diseases among residents living near farm fields where the application of biosolids was permitted. Moreover, the reported occurrence of certain chronic diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, were elevated in the exposed group."

In 2009, University of California reported that California's sevenfold increase in autism cannot be explained by changes in doctors' diagnoses and most likely is due to environmental exposures.
"It's time to start looking for the environmental culprits responsible for the remarkable increase in the rate of autism in California,"�said Irva Hertz-Picciotto, an epidemiology professor at University of California, Davis who led the study.
Throughout the nation, the numbers of autistic children have increased dramatically over the past 15 years. Autistic children have problems communicating and interacting socially; the symptoms usually are evident by the time the child is a toddler. Researchers theorize that pregnant woman's exposure to chemical pollutants, particularly metals and pesticides, could be altering a developing baby's brain structure, triggering autism. Some California farms that grow America's fruits and vegetables, use the water exiting waste water treatment plants to irrigate crops. Is it safe to use sewage sludge and the waste water effluent as crop fertilizer and irrigation? Never tested for human safety.

Pollution from sewage sludge, animal slurry and disinfectants add to the rise in bacteria resistant to the most powerful antibiotics. Media headlines describing hospital infections caused by superbugs - such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus known as MRSA - often blame over-prescription of antibiotics and poor hygiene standards, but these are just two of the reasons why bacteria now resist many antibiotics.

Research by Dr. Will Gaze, Professor Liz Wellington and Professor Peter Hawkey of the University of Warwick and Birmingham University, United Kingdom, studied antibiotic resistance genes in bacteria living in soils, and how pollution may influence the way resistance evolves. Antibiotics and other chemicals drive antibiotic resistance into rivers and soils in many ways. Industry uses larges volumes of detergents and disinfectants - including quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) - know together as biocides. Nearly all domestic cleaning products and shampoos also contain QACs. They wash out in large volumes with the waste water from factories and homes. QAC resistance genes are significant because they are often located with antibiotic resistance genes on the same piece of DNA, so exposure to one will co-select for the other.

A new drug resistant pneumonia, known as Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemases (KPCs), has a mortality rate between 22% and 59%. Outbreaks throughout the country, including Virginia, North Carolina and Florida, are persistent and of great concern to the medical community.

"The emergence of KPC resistance is a major threat to global health. Recent results show that KPC genes are diverse, stable genetic elements that can be difficult to detect. Furthermore, KPC-producing organisms can spread inside hospitals as well as in the community setting." Luke F. Chen, MBBS, of Duke University, North Carolina, published these findings in 2009. What is the role of sewage sludge land application in spreading these antibiotic resistant diseases into the community? Never tested for human safety.

One study out of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 2007, predicted up to 25% annual increases in the cryptosporidiosis rate in a community consuming products from agricultural lands where sewage sludge end products were legally applied.
Cryptosporidiosis, a parasitic disease that is often spread through fecal-oral contaminated water route, affects the intestines of mammals. The main symptom is diarrhea in people with intact immune systems but in immuno-compromised individuals, such as AIDS patients, the symptoms are particularly severe and often fatal. Do the known pathogens in sewage sludge contaminate our food, water and communities? Never tested for human safety.

Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), at their 2009 conference, discussed the newly completed studies of ocean beach users increasing risk of staph and MRSA infections, and that current treatments for seafood poisoning may be less effective due to higher than expected antibiotic resistance. Antibiotics and other toxicants discharged into the waste stream by humans may increase the frequency of antibiotic-resistant Vibrio strains in contaminated coastal environments.

Carolyn Sotka, with the NOAA Oceans and Human Health Initiative states, "Without doubt, this research will develop new understandings of ocean health risks and perhaps more importantly crucial discoveries that will lead to new solutions to looming public health problems."

From 2001 to 2004, Washington, D.C., experienced what may have been the worst lead contamination of city water on record. Tens of thousands of homes had sky-high levels of lead at the tap, and in the worst cases, tap water contained enough lead to be classified as hazardous waste. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention did not release reports until investigations in 2009.

In July of 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched an environmental public-health tracking network to help scientists and the public explore potential links between environmental contaminants and chronic diseases. "While the health effects of lead and certain other contaminants are generally known, other suspected links between diseases and pollutants remain unproven, partly because environmental and health data are collected and kept separately," said CDC's Michael McGeehin.

A 2009 Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center researcher has uncovered the unique finding that groundwater and airborne manganese in North Carolina correlates with cancer mortality at the county level. Lead researcher John Spangler, M.D., professor of family and community medicine at Wake Forest Baptist, found that groundwater manganese appears to be positively associated with total cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer death rates, while airborne manganese concentrations appear to be inversely associated with total cancer, breast cancer, and lung cancer death rates.

By EPA's own studies, there is widespread contamination. The EPA 1982 paper discusses sewage sludge noting, "Several researchers have pointed out that waste water, treated or untreated, is a primary contributor of bacteria to the aquatic ecosystem. Other studies have been conducted which demonstrate that significant numbers of mutli-drug-resistant coliforms occur in rivers, bays, bathing beaches and coastal canals. Waters contaminated by bacteria capable of transferring drug resistance are of great concern since there is the potential for transfer of antibiotic resistance to a pathogenic species."
The point here is that the cleaner the released effluent, the dirtier the residual solids, the biosolids. Then, this far-reaching statement: "These organisms may subsequently transfer this resistance to pathogenic organisms, resulting in reduced efficacy of antimicrobial chemotherapy in the event of an infection. In vivo studies have shown that when individuals carrying R+bacteria are subjected to antibiotic therapy, these organisms flourish and transfer their resistance to other bacteria."

FOOD & SEWAGE SLUDGE: LEGALIZING THE POISONING OF OUR FOOD SUPPLY

The lack of guidance about the use of sewage sludge where our food is grown is stunning. Our knowledge about the issue has dramatically increased since the late 1970's and early 1980's, when the practice of using farmland as an inexpensive waste dump for municipal sewage became a national policy. Often proponents of sewage sludge fertilizer site the historical use of human manure as proof of safety, conveniently disregarding the increased use and disposal of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, viruses, pathogens, hormones and other toxic waste from our modern lifestyle. The danger of sewage sludge is not a curious scientific or medical mystery, but is a known and foreseeable health and safety issue.

The 1981 US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) documen, Land Application of Municipal Sewage Sludge for the Production of Fruits and Vegetables: A Statement of Federal Policy, fully recognizes the potential dangers. The guidelines are filled with wording, if the guidelines are followed, and although the cumulative cadmium in land application may be reached, yet the application of sewage to farmland is based on the nitrogen and phosphorous rates. In fact, the 1981 EPA guidelines find no danger in polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) levels; only encourage incorporation in the soil. Studies included noting that human food crops like carrots have levels of PCBs but, "assumes that carrots will receive the normal processing of scrubbing and peeling, since carrots tend to accumulate PCB's in the skin" (pg 9). No mystery - we know that PCB's are carcinogenic and are linked to dysfunction in organs including the liver and brain yet the EPA refuses to control the distribution of this toxin on our food supply.

Even this document, signed by the US EPA, US Department of Agriculture and the US Food and Drug Administration, recognizes that heavy metals translocate into edible tissue of plants and animals. "However, many sludges also contain substances which could contaminate such crops and make them unfit for human consumption. The contaminants of greatest concern are the heavy metals, toxic organic compounds, and pathogenic microorganisms." (pg 2). "The EPA federal policy recognizes the following edible plants by gauging their metal uptake: high uptake: ettuce, spinach, chard, escarole, endive, cress, turnip greens, carrots; moderate uptake: kale, collards, beets, turnips, radish, mustard, potatoes, and onion."

No food crop, aside from USDA organic, is regulated from growing on land treated with sewage sludge fertilizer. Some industry food companies who are not necessarily organic, like Del Monte and Heinz, have taken a cautious route to consumer health and safety and choose not to purchase food grown in sludge. The EPA - responsible for setting the national standard for the safe use of toxic substances like sewage sludge - requires testing by the sludge hauler or municipal waste treatment plant for only 9 substances and one bacteria. There are no standard requirements for testing of heavy metal or toxin build-up in the soil that receive sewage sludge. In fact, the standards for the testing and deposit of products delivered to landfills are stricter and more regulated than for products delivered to the location of our food and water supply. One example is that both radiation and cadmium are required to be tested for landfill deposit, but neither are required testing if they are deposited on farmland, parks, playground and fertilizer.

In 1978, Cornell Waste Management Institute applied Syracuse, New York sludge, to on-site test orchards with the goal of tracking the high levels of toxic pollutants, such as PCB's and dioxin. Retesting the soils as recently as 2001, no noticeable change in the toxicity level of the soil of these known cancer causing pollutants was discovered. Sewage sludge commonly contains high levels of heavy metals that do not require testing or regulation, yet scientific studies prove that heavy metals accumulate not only in the soil where the sludge is spread but also in the plants and animal that we ingest. Because heavy metals and other know toxins accumulate in our bodies from the foods we eat, the water we drink, the products we use and the air we breathe, eliminating know sources from our food source and environmental system is not only sensible, but necessary.

Concentrations of cadmium, mercury, lead, silver, and tin are higher in sludge than human and animal manure. Tin and silver, found in most sludge, does not dilute in soil and is highly toxic. Other metals like sulfur, molybdenum, iron and cadmium interfere with the health of grazing animals, resulting in weight loss, lower productivity and reproductive failures. Certainly, healthier animals produce a healthier food supply, reducing the need for medications, antibiotics and hormones. Buildup of some metals, like cadmium, mercury and lead, are known to be cumulative and toxic to animals and humans. Metals such as copper, nickel and zinc are known to be damaging to crops and are relatively immobilein soils, they do not wash away, disappear in sunlight and persist for decades. By constantly adding sewage sludge to farmlands, we are inviting the destruction of the very source of our nourishment. In fact, farms throughout America have already begun failing due to toxic levels of metals and chemicals.

Nothing highlights the sewage sludge poisoning of our food source like the situation of two Georgia farms, Andy McElmurray and Bill Boyce. In 1979, Andy McElmurray accepted "safe" sludge from the city of Augusta as a free fertilizer option. McElmurray noticed multiple Salmonella outbreaks in his dairy cows after grazing on sludged fields. Then in 1989, a marked decrease in milk production developed in the herd and McElmurray�s cows died slowly, withering with painful AIDS-like symptoms.

Boyceland Dairy Farms boasted a state prize-winning herd. Beautiful animals, excellent milk. In 1984, Bill Boyce accepted sewage sludge as a free fertilizer option. About ten years later, milk production suddenly collapsed and cows began sickening and dying at an alarming rate. 300 of Boyce's prize-winning animals died. So did the family farm he had planned to pass on to his children.

Concerned about the unsettling pattern that both farms were experiencing, McElmurray and Boyce tested their soil, silage animal food and milk. The results were stunning - the sludged land contained toxic levels of compounds like heavy metals, arsenic and PCB's two to 2,500 times federal health standards. The milk contained levels of thallium, an element formerly used in rat poison, in concentrations 120 times higher than allowed in drinking water. Many of the toxic compounds that collectively killed their land and livestock did not require testing to pass sludge safety standards. Ultimately, lawsuits were filed, but across America farmers continue to be offered this free fertilizer option. Litigation on this issue is ongoing, yet sewage sludge safety concerns from farmers and communities are dismissed by policy makers and elected representatives.

Many chemicals that are contained in wastewater become concentrated in sludges. This is particularly true for fat-soluble persistent organic chemicals, include PCB's, dioxins and flame retardants (polybrominated biphenyles or PBB). National EPA required pollutant scans does not include persistent organic chemicals. Because these are fat-soluble bio-accumulative chemicals, they gather in fat tissue, meat and milk of livestock during grazing, becoming part of the food chain. Children are at special risk, since dioxin gathers in both animal milk and the breast milk for nursing mother. Many of these chemicals pose known cancer risks as well as developmental risks.

Triclocarban, a substance used in anti-bacterial soap, passes through the waste water treatment system and gathers in sewage sludge. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reported in a 2006 study that 75% of triclocarban, a known toxic substance when ingested, passes through the waste water treatment plant and is now traced to contaminating rivers and streams.

"Triclocarban does not break down easily even under the intense measures applied during wastewater treatment," states senior author Rolf U. Halden, PhD. "The irony is twofold. First, to protect our health, we mass-produce and use a toxic chemical which the Food and Drug Administration has determined has no scientifically proven benefit. Second, when trying to do the right thing by recycling nutrients contained in biosolids, we end up spreading a known reproductive toxicant on the soil where we grow our food."

Sludge contains pathogens and endotoxins (illness causing cell wall material that remain after bacteria die). Pathogens are reduced before sludge application, endotoxins are not studied. Also, bacteria, viruses and parasites are found in sludge but not regulated. Federal rules assume that pathogens will be killed through environmental exposure, yet no studies by any federal, state or independent scientific community confirm this casual approach to spreading know infectious contaminations on our communities, food and water supply.

At one time food poisoning from salmonella and E. coli was associated with consuming contaminated animal products. But recent outbreaks of food poisoning in vegetables such as spinach, tomatoes, pistachios, peanut butter, alfalfa sprouts and bagged salad gives cause for re-evaluations. According to the Center for Disease Control, more than 200 known diseases are transmitted through foods, causing 6 million to 81 million illnesses and 9,000 deaths in the United States annually. And studies published by the Institute of Science in Society noted a two to tenfold increase in food borne illness from 1994 to 1999. Feigning ignorance or innocence about the source of these bacterial and pathogen outbreaks, the bureaucracies charged with protecting our health, food and water refuse to connect the dots of the legal application of hazardous sewage sludge to our food source. Common sense dispels the mystery that educated minds seem to miss -- if you pour your waste on your food, you will get sick.

Scientists know that both salmonella and E. coli can spread to vegetables if fertilized with contaminated manure or water during growing and harvesting. Yet the practice of using the water released back into the community from the waste water treatment plants, called� effluence, is popular especially in dry landscapes and under drought conditions. The EPA only requires limiting indicator bacteria�of salmonella or E. coli. Sewage sludge is considered safe by EPA standards if either salmonella or E. coli is reduced at the source of testing� the wastewater treatment plant. Also, the indicator bacteria can pass EPA standards only to re-grow and increase once the sludge/biosolids becomes wet from water or rain. No further bacteria or pathogen testing is required.

Studies from the University of Hygiene, University of Graz, Austria evaluated the resistance patterns of E. coli in wastewater treatment plans. They found the highest resistance rates were found in E. coli strains that received not only municipal waste, but also hospital waste. Although there was a reduction in the value of the E. coli exiting the WWTP as effluence, resistant bacteria were found to be released into the environment.

Research by the Professor Gadi Frankel and Dr. Rob Shaw, from Imperial College and University of Birmingham, London in 2008 give a definitive link of how the bacteria and plants interact. The findings confirm how bacteria like salmonella and other pathogens cause contamination in the food chain, risking human health and safety. Among other findings, "scientists know that salmonella and E. coli 0157, a strain of E. coli that causes sickness in humans, can spread in salads and vegetables if they are fertilized with contaminated manure, irrigated with contaminated water, or if they come into contact with contaminated products during cutting, washing, packing and preparation process."
Dr. Frankel notes that the number of cases of food poisoning from salads and vegetables are likely to increase as people add more fruits and vegetables to their diets in an effort to eat healthy. "All of these factors, together with the globalization of the food market, mean that cases of salmonella and E. coli poisoning caused by salads are likely to rise in the future."

Salinas Valley, California has long been called the "Salad Bowl of America." Much of our fresh, leafy greens come from this valley. Because of groundwater salinity problem, some farms in the Salinas Valley use the Monterey Wastewater Treatment Plant waste water to water crops. The effluence from the plant is piped up to 20 miles to the irrigation sites. Although there are no published reports on the microbial quality of the effluent use for irrigation at the point of use, bacteria from the WWTP shows an antibiotic resistance.� Fresh produce is increasingly implicated in food-related illness. E. coli can survive in soil and water, and can be transferred onto plant surfaces through farm practices such as irrigation.

With the exception of salmonella and E. coli, the EPA does not require testing for any pathogens, pharmaceuticals, steroids, viruses, hormones or endotoxins. Deadly pathogens that are found to infect our hospitals, such as MRSA are discovered in our waterways and on our beaches, yet the EPA refrains from re-evaluating the national testing standards. The chemicals, heating and squeezing at waste water treatment plants do not cure or eliminate our modern hazardous waste.

The development of antibiotic resistance within sewer plants is well known. Dr. Amy Pruden of Colorado State University for which she received the highest US civilian national award in 2006, demonstrated that the genetic fragments, antibiotic resistant genes which are developed within sewer plants, pass to the environment and, in spite of chlorination, are picked up in fresh water intakes, pass through drinking water treatment chlorination and filtration and end in the potable water supply.

Dr.� Pruden, along with Dr. Edo McGowan, medical geo-hydrologist, and Dr. Joan B. Rose of Michigan State University, all served on a WERF/US EPA expert team looking at the subject of pathogens in sewage sludge/biosolids. Dr. McGowan states, "We tested some of the recycled water produced in California (waste water treatment plants) under state criteria. This is recycled water that is tertiary treated and chlorinated prior to release. What we found when we ran tests on this finished water was multi-drug resistance, in one case resistance to 11 of the 12 test materials. We noted bacteria that were obviously also resistant to chlorine. We tested water from two separate sewer districts. We attempted to test a third district source that uses the water to spray irrigate strawberries and broccoli. When we stated why we wanted to test this water we were promptly refused and immediately handed off to the district�s legal counsel."

How safe is the sewage sludge legally spread on our food and water supply? With the EPA regulation requiring testing for only nine elements -- mercury, arsenic, molybdenum, nickel, selenium, cadmium, copper, lead and zinc -- and reduction of only salmonella or E. coli, the list of know toxins in sludge that do not require testing and are found on a regular basis are vast. These include plutonium found in Boulder, Colorado; radiation found in sludge from Royersford, Pennsylvania: Teflon type chemicals, including perfluorooctanoic acids, or PFOs and PFOAs in agricultural soils where cattle graze in Decatur, Alabama: salmonella in groundwater from run-off in Athens, Georgia; hermaphrodite frogs and fish found downstream from wastewater treatment plants; flame retardants and the disinfectant triclosan found in every sewage sludge sample tested by the EPA in their 2007 national survey. Although the affects of these toxins on soil organisms, plants and grazing livestock, animals, water and humans is known, the EPA and US government bureaucracies refuse to re-evaluate the practice of land applying sewage sludge.

WHO SAYS NO

Terms like "natural" and "healthy" don't protect your food supply -- they prohibit hormones. USDA organic products are restricted from using sewage sludge as a fertilizer, but sludge industry pressures are a constant threat to this bastion of safe sustenance. Some industry food companies who are not necessarily organic, like Del Monte and Heinz, have taken a cautious route to consumer health and safety and choose not to purchase food grown in sludge.

Noting possible environmental hazards, European laws enacted in 2003, lists PBBs as one of 6 controlled substances under, "Restriction of Hazardous Substance Directive." Other countries have followed suit, including China and South Korea in 2007. Concerns regarding organic chemicals include ecological impacts to soil health and wildlife and entry into the human food chain, particularly through accumulation in dairy products.

In March 2009, the Irish Grain Assurance Scheme voted that they will not support grains grown in sewage sludge. Concern over serious lack of legislative control over the spreading of sewage sludge on agricultural crops prompted the move and officials from the Food Safety Authority, Irish Grain and Feed Association and Department of Agriculture voted to follow suit.

And from environmental organizations, like the Sierra Club and Audubon of Florida, comes a view of the sewage sludge issue that recognizes our role and participation in the food and water cycle

Who says "No" to sewage sludge? Communities and individuals just like you. Contact food companies and tell them you want a sludge-free guarantee -- and forward their reply to us! Tell your grocery store manager you are concerned about sewage sludge in our food supply (yes, their business associations know this issue!). Buy organic when possible. If you buy from local farmers, ask if they use sludge or biosolids on their farm. Call your elected officials. Throughout America and the world, people are taking a stand and demanding that our policy makers protect the people, not the policy. Demand safe food --�demand the halt of land application of sewage sludge.