{"id":6185,"date":"2024-03-22T09:05:30","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T14:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toxinfreeusa.org\/?page_id=6185"},"modified":"2024-06-14T09:20:55","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T14:20:55","slug":"biosolids-based-fertilizers-are-harming-farmers-and-eaters-across-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toxinfreeusa.org\/biosolids-based-fertilizers-are-harming-farmers-and-eaters-across-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Biosolids-Based Fertilizers are Harming Farmers and Eaters Across America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The EPA and USDA must ban the practice of using toxic sewage sludge as fertilizer and compost on farms and gardens<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wastewater treatment facility<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There is a call-to-action at the end of this article. Please don\u2019t leave without taking action! Thank you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Are Biosolids?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBiosolids\u201d is the word waste treatment industry marketers came up with to rebrand sewage sludge, the solid byproduct of wastewater treatment processes. The reason the industry needed to rebrand sewage sludge was because they planned on marketing and selling the nutrient-rich waste to farmers and home gardeners as cheap fertilizer and compost products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But biosolids aren\u2019t just rich in nutrients. Biosolids can contain high levels of toxic PFAS \u201cForever Chemicals\u201d<\/a> (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances) that aren\u2019t removed during the waste treatment process. And neither are the phthalates, pesticides, PCBs, antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals, microplastics, heavy metals, and innumerable other harmful substances that have been found in biosolids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Applications of biosolids contaminate the soil with toxic PFAS and other chemicals, which are then taken up by crops grown in that soil. PFAS also migrates to contaminate groundwater and surface waters. The meat, milk and eggs of livestock become contaminated when the animals consume adulterated crops and water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biosolids industry and the commercial fertilizer and compost companies that use biosolids continue to claim that the products are safe and non-toxic. Even municipalities have been giving out biosolids fertilizer and compost to farmers, community gardens, and home gardeners for free, without warning about the dangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), though aware of the problem, still allows<\/a> the commercialization of toxic biosolids. Just as alarming, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) actively promotes the use of biosolids as fertilizer to commercial farmers. We suspect this is due to the revolving door and corporate capture of our regulatory agencies and the resulting collusion, favoring corporate profits over human or environmental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, Sally Brown, Research Professor at the University of Washington and veteran biosolids industry lobbyist, was selected by USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to serve on USDA\u2019s inaugural Advisory Committee for Urban Agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Sally Brown, veteran advocate for the use of sewage sludge\/biosolids<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Sally Brown once called environmental activists “ecoterrorists” for a successful protest on March 4, 2010, that stopped the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission from giving away sewage sludge as \u201corganic biosolids compost\u201d for home and school gardens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you\u2019ll soon read, it\u2019s Sally Brown that is the ecoterrorist for promoting biosolids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biosolids Poisoning Farms and Farmers Across America<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The practice of using biosolids as fertilizer on conventional farms has been happening for decades but has, more recently, turned into a national catastrophe, creating a crisis for farmers and ranchers across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the use of biosolids as fertilizer is prohibited in organic agriculture, even organic farms have been hit hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

March 22, 2022, The Guardian reported<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Adam Nordell and Johanna Davis of Songbird Farm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Maine organic farmers Johanna Davis and Adam Nordell bought Songbird Farm in 2014. By 2021 the young family with their three-year-old son were hitting their stride, Nordell said. But disaster struck in December. The couple learned the farm\u2019s previous owner had decades earlier used PFAS-tainted sewage sludge, or \u201cbiosolids\u201d, as fertilizer on Songbird\u2019s fields. Testing revealed their soil, drinking water, irrigation water, crops, chickens and blood were contaminated with high levels of the toxic chemicals. The couple quickly recalled products, alerted customers, suspended their operation and have been left deeply fearful for their financial and physical wellbeing. \u201cThis has flipped everything about our lives on its head,\u201d Nordell said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t done a blood test on our kid yet and that\u2019s the most terrifying part. It\u2019s f#####g devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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Nell Finnigan and Justin Morace of Ironwood Organic Farm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Ironwood Organic Farm, about six miles from Songbird Farm, tested its water and found high levels suspected to have migrated from a neighbors\u2019 sludge-packed field. The small produce farm pulled its products, halted operations and is nervously awaiting more test results. \u201cI spent my entire adult life building this farm,\u201d said Nell Finnigan. \u201cEverything is at stake for us, and this is a tragedy for anyone who comes up with a high [groundwater] well test.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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Fred Stone of Stoneridge Farm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Stoneridge Farm, a small dairy operation more than 100 miles south of Songbird Farm, discovered in 2016 that sludge and paper mill waste used as fertilizer had probably contaminated its cows and milk. Stoneridge killed most of its livestock in 2019. Co-owner Fred Stone was denied federal assistance for his tainted milk because one of its milk tests came in just below the state\u2019s limit, but Stone didn\u2019t feel comfortable selling it. Now his family of four, which believes PFAS is behind their health ailments from thyroid disease to reproductive problems, survives on welfare and friends\u2019 and family\u2019s generosity. Stone said he could have continued to sell contaminated food: \u201cThis is the cost of having a moral compass and doing the right thing.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t know how we are going to get debts paid,\u201d he added. \u201cI don\u2019t know how the Christ we are going to live. I don\u2019t know how we\u2019re going to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

March 1, 2024, The Guardian reported<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Robert Pepperman, Director of Sales & Marketing at Synagro, a company that produces biosolids fertilizer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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A Texas county has launched a first-of-its-kind criminal investigation into the waste management giant Synagro over PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge it is selling to Texas farmers as a cheap alternative to fertilizer. Two small Texas ranches at the center of that case have also filed a federal lawsuit against Synagro, alleging the company knew its sludge was contaminated but still sold it. Sludge spread on a nearby field sickened the farmers, killed livestock, polluted drinking water, contaminated beef later sold to the public and left their properties worthless, the complaint alleges. The farms\u2019 drinking water was found to be contaminated at levels over 13,000 times higher than the federal health advisory for PFOS, one kind of PFAS compound, a Guardian calculation indicates, and affected meat was as much as 250,000 times above safe levels, the lawsuit alleges.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

March 11, 2024, KCUR reported<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThis is a hundred-year-old operation,\u201d Jason Grostic said. \u201cMy grandpa milked cows, my dad milked cows, I milked cows, (then) got into the beef industry. It\u2019s in my blood.\u201d But Grostic may be at the end of the line. Two years ago, he was blindsided when the state of Michigan ordered him to shut down his farm, citing high levels of PFAS in both his beef and soil. Grostic had been using biosolids, a treated byproduct from wastewater plants, to fertilize his crops, which he then fed his cattle. But what he thought was a cost-effective fertilizer, turned out to be laden with PFAS. It\u2019s a risk, Grostic said, no one warned him about \u2014 and now his 400-acre farm has been deemed unusable. \u201cI took a fertilizer source that was recommended and was EPA-approved, and the government dropped the ball by not testing it and assuring it was a clean product,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We encourage you to watch the VICE Special Report, \u201cThe Hidden Chemicals Destroying American Farms,\u201d a year long investigation featuring Jason Grostic and his experience with biosolids and PFAS. It will shock you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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