Chemicals in sewage sludge fertilizer pose cancer risk, EPA says
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Harmful chemicals in sewage sludge spread on pasture as fertilizer pose a risk to people who regularly consume milk, beef and other products from those farms, in some cases raising cancer risk “several orders of magnitude” above what the Environmental Protection Agency considers acceptable, federal officials announced Tuesday.
When cities and towns treat sewage, they clean the liquids and separate out the solids, which then need disposal. They make a nutrient-rich sludge that is often spread on farm fields. The agency now says those solids often contain toxic, lasting PFAS and treatment plants can't effectively remove them. When people eat or drink foods with these “forever” chemicals, the compounds accumulate in the body and can cause kidney, prostate and testicular cancer, and harm the immune system as well as childhood development.
Most at risk are people who drink one quart of milk per day from dairy cows raised on pasture with the biosolids, eat one or two servings of fish a week from a lake contaminated by runoff, or drink PFAS-laden water, the draft risk assessment said. The EPA looked only at farmers and those living nearby who regularly consumed these products over years — not the broader general public. Organic farms aren't allowed to use the sludge, so the findings should not apply to consumers who purchase organic grass-fed beef.
