Portal:Toxic Sludge

edit   Toxic Sludge Is Good for You! WARNING! Sewage sludge is toxic. Food should not be grown in "biosolids." Join the Food Rights Network. This article is part of the Food Rights Network, a project of the Center for Media and Democracy. Find out more here. Welcome to our clearinghouse for information about hazardous sewage sludge. This resource is part of CMD's Food Rights Network. Sewage sludge is the growing and continuous mountain of hazardous waste produced daily by wastewater treatment plants. The sewage sludge industry has created a PR euphemism it uses in place of the words "sewage sludge": "biosolids." In March 2013, a study led by the University of North Carolina's Dr. Steve Wing involving neighbors of land where sewage sludge had been dumped -- "living in rural and semi­rural areas within approximately one mile of sewage sludge land application sites in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia" -- found that "over half of respondents attributed physical symptoms to application events." More specifically, "Over half (18/34) of the interview respondents associated acute physical symptoms that lasted a short period of time with sludge application events near their home (Table 1). The most commonly reported symptoms were eye, nose, and throat irritations and gastrointestinal symptoms (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea). Other symptoms reported by more than one respondent include cough, difficulty breathing, sinus congestion or drainage, and skin infections or sores." The full epidemiological study can be found here. edit   Breaking News on Toxic Sludge "Don't Ask, Don't Tell": Concerned Citizen Uncovers Whole Foods' Policy on Selling Food Grown in Sewage Sludge Whole Foods' Sludge Policy Don't fancy the thought of your spinach and carrots being grown in sewage sludge? Neither does Mario Ciasulli, a semi-retired electrical engineer living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Mario likes to cook, and enjoys good food. When he found out last year about the practice of spreading dried and heated human and industrial waste as "fertilizer" on food crops, he was upset. Certified organic food cannot be grown in sewage sludge -- or "biosolids," the Orwellian PR euphemism used by the sewage sludge industry. But sometimes the vegetable Mario needs for a dish isn't certified organic, or he can't afford the higher price of the organically grown version. Until he found out about sludge, he thought that as long as a "conventionally" grown fruit or vegetable he used wasn't one of the "dirty dozen" for pesticide residues, he had nothing to worry about. Read more from CMD's PRWatch here. edit   Sludge in the News South Carolina Residents Raising a Stink over Charlotte’s Sewage Sludge: According to the Charlotte Observer, "Charlotte’s export of sewage sludge to rural South Carolina has made it a target of neighbors who say the stuff is making them sick. A University of North Carolina study published last week supported their claims. It found evidence that sludge used to fertilize farm fields can be unhealthy for people who live up to a mile away" (March 2013). Alfonso Wherry is one resident who wants sludge out of his neighborhood (video). Chicago’s Brilliant Plan: Sludge Soccer Fields: According to a local publication in Hinsdale, Illinois (12/17), the Chicago metropolitan area has opted to replace a soccer field’s soil with "biosolids" — dried sewage sludge — in several batches and re-sod. Apparently two other local soccer fields have also been sludged. Why? It’s cheaper than "good, new black dirt." Biosolids or Biohazards?: Beyond Pesticides discusses the known concentrations of toxicants and heavy metals in sewage sludge in the Fall 2012 issue of Pesticides and You. Chappell Hill, Texas "Residents Say No Thanks to Sludge Deposits": According to the Brenham Banner-Press (10/3), "Residents here had a message for a company that wants to spread sewage sludge on rural property: Take it elsewhere. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) held a public meeting Tuesday on an application by K-3 Resources of Alvin to deposit sewer sludge on approximately 411 acres on FM 2447." "Human Waste Fertilizer Raises Health Concerns": According to the Morris Daily Herald in Grundy County, Illinois (9/25, updated 10/2), "There’s quite a bit of national controversy about the practice of using biosolids as fertilizer on farmland, and some Channahon Township residents don’t want it applied in the fields near their homes. 'What they are doing is making a toxic dump of our area. It’s disgusting,' said Canal Road resident Pat Budd." For more, see Sludge In the News. edit   Videos and Testing of "Organic Compost" Independent testing commissioned by the Food Rights Network found toxic contaminants in San Francisco's sewage sludge "compost". In the sewage sludge product that San Francisco's Public Utlity Commission was giving away to school and urban gardens as "organic compost" are contaminants with endocrine-disruptive properties including polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), flame retardants, nonylphenol detergent breakdown products, and the antibacterial agent triclosan. The independent tests were conducted for the Food Rights Network by Dr. Robert C. Hale of the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences. Watch the two videos below--from outstanding investigative reporting by the local CBS affiliate--which document the startling story of how San Francisco is violating its own precautionary principle law by dumping hazardous sludge on city gardens (and elsewhere): Anna Werner Investigates: Organic Compost or Toxic Sludge? Simon Perez reports on San Francisco's sludge giveaway. edit   Sludge Science Sewage sludge is contaminated with toxins and it is hazardous. The thousands of viruses, bacteria, heavy metals, persistent chemicals, human and animal drugs, carcinogens, endocrine disruptors and everything else that goes down the drain and into sewage plants ends up in the mountain of sewage sludge that the industry renames Biosolids and us increasingly trying to pawn off as "organic" fertilizer and compost. Today half of all sewage sludge is dumped on agricultural land, contaminating it with whatever it might contain. A growing body of scientific surveys and studies document the hazards of sludge. Here are some of them: Dr. Steve Wing of the University of North Carolina released a study in March 2013 involving neighbors of land where sewage sludge had been dumped -- "living in rural and semi­rural areas within approximately one mile of sewage sludge land application sites in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia." The study found that "over half of respondents attributed physical symptoms to application events." The Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey was published by the EPA in 2009. EPA found that dozens of hazardous materials , not regulated and not required to be tested for, have been documented in each and every one--ALL--of the sludge samples EPA took around the USA. In 2008, Marie Kulick prepared an excellent overview titled Smart Guide on Sludge Use and Food Production for the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. The Environmental Working Group in 1998 issued two reports on sludge hazards: Dumping Sewage Sludge On Organic Farms? Why USDA Should Just Say No, and Routes of Exposure sewage sludge: EWG Research on Chemicals in sewage sludge. Go to our Scientific Studies of Sewage Sludge article to find links to dozens of peer reviewed scientific studies in their entirety that examine and confirm the many hazards of sewage sludge. edit   The "Biosolids" Scam John Stauber, adviser to the Food Rights Network and co-author of the 1995 book "Toxic Sludge Is Good for You!," talks about the EPA PR campaign spinning toxic sludge into "beneficial biosolids." Sewage sludge is the growing and continuous mountain of hazardous waste produced daily by wastewater treatment plants. The sewage sludge industry has created an Orwellian PR euphemism it uses in place of the words "sewage sludge"-- biosolids. The term Biosolids was chosen in a PR contest by the lobby association for U.S. sewage treatment plants, the Water Environment Federation (WEF). The WEF, with the support of the Environmental Protection Agency, has since the 1990s been promoting spreading this hazardous waste on farms and gardens, after it proved too hazardous to landfill, incinerate or dump into the oceans. The sewage sludge lobby also includes major corporations such as Synagro, front groups such as the US Composting Council, publications including BioCycle magazine, and even the Rodale Institute. edit   WARNING: Toxic Sludge Products WARNING: BOYCOTT THESE PRODUCTS MARKETED FOR YOUR GARDEN & MADE FROM HAZARDOUS SLUDGE! The following "organic" products are deceptively sold as fertilizers, soil amendments, and/or compost, but they are all made from sewage sludge: Agresoil, All-Gro, Amend, Bay State Fertilizer, Chesapeake Sunshine, CompostT, ComPro, Dillo Dirt, EKO Compost, EarthBlends, EarthMate, Glacier Gold, Granulite, GroCo, Gromulch, Growers' Blend, Earthlife, Hou-Actinite, Landscapers' Advantage, MetroGro, Milorganite, Mine Mix, N-Viro BioBlend, N-Viro Soil, Nitrohumus, Nutri-Green, ORGRO, Oceangro, SilviGrow, SoilPro™ Products Premium Compost, SoundGro, TAGRO, TOPGRO, Topper, Unity Fertilizer, WeCare Compost. For more information on these and other products, visit our Toxic Sludge Products article. edit   Introducing the Food Rights Network The Food Rights Network (FRN) is a project of the Center for Media and Democracy. FRN opposes dumping toxic sewage sludge on farms and gardens and advocates that no food should be grown in toxic sludge. You can contact the FRN by email to FoodRightsNetwork AT gmail.com. You can also sign up to receive helpful news: Sign up for news and updates from the Food Rights Network! Optional Member Code Sign up edit   Featured Article Sewage Sludge Why is Toxic Sewage Sludge Dumped on Farm and Gardens? "The policy of disposing of sludge by spreading it on agricultural land - a policy given the benign term 'land application' - has its inception in the Ocean Dumping ban of 1987. Before 1992, when the law went into effect, the practice had been, after extracting the sludge from the wastewater, to load it on barges and dump it 12, and later 106 miles off shore into the ocean. But many people who cared about life in the ocean knew that, wherever it was dumped, the sludge was causing vast dead moon-scapes on the ocean floor. New EPA regulations for 'land application' were promulgated in 1993. With the aid of heating and pelletizing and some slippery name morphs along the way, EPA claimed sludge could be transmogrified into 'compost' ... . But the land “application” of sewage sludge ... will pollute the whole chain of life for which soil is the base." In 2002, the National Research Council found that the "U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's standards that govern using treated sewage sludge on soil are based on outdated science." This was again confirmed in 2011 when scientists found that noroviruses survive treatment that kills pathogens such as Salmonella. In March 2013, a study involving neighbors of land where sewage sludge had been dumped -- "living in rural and semi­rural areas within approximately one mile of sewage sludge land application sites in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia" -- found that "over half of respondents attributed physical symptoms to application events." More specifically, "Over half (18/34) of the interview respondents associated acute physical symptoms that lasted a short period of time with sludge application events near their home (Table 1). The most commonly reported symptoms were eye, nose, and throat irritations and gastrointestinal symptoms (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea). Other symptoms reported by more than one respondent include cough, difficulty breathing, sinus congestion or drainage, and skin infections or sores." References Read more here. edit   San Francisco's "Organic Compost" Chez Sludge: How The Sewage Sludge Industry Bedded Alice Waters. As reported by author John Stauber, "The celebrity chef Alice Waters is probably the world's most famous advocate of growing and eating local, Organic food. In February 2010 her Chez Panisse Foundation chose as its new Executive Director the wealthy "green socialite" and liberal political activist Francesca Vietor. Vietor's hiring created a serious conflict of interest that has married Waters and her Foundation to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) and its scam of disposing of toxic sewage sludge waste as free "organic Biosolids compost" for gardens." (Later in 2010, the Chez Panisse Foundation quietly changed Executive Directors; Vietor has since taken the lead of the SFPUC.) BACKGROUND: San Francisco Bay celebrity chef Alice Waters would probably never dump sewage sludge onto her own garden, nor serve food grown in biosolids sludge in her world famous natural foods restaurant Chez Panisse. The stated mission of her Chez Panisse Foundation is to create "edible schoolyards" where kids grow, prepare, and eat food from their own organic gardens. But when Francesca Vietor was hired in February 2010 as the new executive director of the Chez Panisse Foundation she was also the Vice-President of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. The (SFPUC) was running a scam of disposing of sewage sludge waste as free "organic Biosolids compost" for school and home gardens. Thanks to an "open records" investigation by the Food Rights Network, the public and the press have easy online access to scores of internal SFPUC files, documenting the strange tale of Chez Sludge: How the Sewage Sludge Industry Bedded Alice Waters. The SFPUC had been deceptively bagging toxic sewage sludge as 'organic compost' and giving it away to unsuspecting gardeners, people to whom the word 'organic' connotes the highest level of pure, toxin-free food production. On March 4, 2010, the Organic Consumers Association and dozens of San Francisco community groups protested at the mayor's office causing the city to put its sludge "compost" giveaway on the shelf, where it sits today -- a major victory for OCA and the Food Rights Network. edit   Featured Hero The Food Rights Network Salutes Acclaimed Documentary Filmmaker Deborah Koons Garcia for Standing Up to Sludge Documentary Filmmaker Deborah Koons Garcia Condemns BioCycle's Attack on Organics Advocates and BioCycle's Push to Grow Food in Sewage Sludge At the national "BioCycle" conference on April 12, 2011 in San Diego, Deborah Koons Garcia bravely spoke out against the sewage sludge industry's efforts to pass off sewage sludge as great compost for gardens and farms. Koons, who directed the acclaimed film "The Future of Food" and whose newest film is "Symphony of Soil," had been asked to be give a keynote address by BioCycle due to her study of the amazing work of soil in our food and ecosystem. When Garcia discovered that BioCycle promotes growing food in sewage sludge -- which is the industrial and human waste flushed down the drains and which contains hazardous substances like flame retardants, metals, endocrine disruptors, and pharmaceuticals -- she gave a keynote address to the conference opposing this practice and expressing concerns about the effect of this contamination on soils and land. She also condemned BioCycle's effort to smear organics advocates. Organics advocates also attended the Biocycle conference to demand a retraction from Sally Brown and Nora Goldstein of BioCycle magazine, who called non-violent organics advocates exercising fundamental first amendment rights "ecoterrorists." For more, see the SourceWatch articles on BioCycle, Sally Brown and Nora Goldstein and the Center for Media and Democracy news release on PRWatch here. edit   No Comment "I Dare You, Put Sewage Sludge In Your Mouth" by Jill Richardson on FireDogLake (April 24, 2011) A new Washington Post piece by Darryl Fears claims sewage sludge is safe enough to put in your mouth. Specifically, the statement was made about “Class A Biosolids,” the treated sewage sludge (renamed “biosolids” to make it sound less unpleasant) that has regulated amounts of 10 heavy metals, salmonella, and fecal coliform. Read more here: http://my.firedoglake.com/jillrichardson/2011/04/24/food-sunday-i-dare-you-put-sewage-sludge-in-your-mouth/ edit   More Resources on Toxic Sludge Here are some very helpful articles about the toxic sludge fight across the country: SourceWatch Articles Food Rights Network Sewage sludge Biosolids You say biosolids, I say sewage sludge Victims of sewage sludge Toxic Sludge Products Scientific Studies of Sewage Sludge Sludge contaminants Flame Retardants Dioxins and Furans Metals Organochlorine Pesticides Perfluorinated compounds Antibiotics Phthalates Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey The EPA's plan to bypass opposition to sewage sludge disposal Sewage sludge giveaways, producers, and brands Water Environment Federation US Composting Council BioCycle Sludge News Sewage Sludge Primer PRWatch Articles Rebekah Wilce, Looking for Kids' Books? Avoid this Propaganda, PRWatch.org, August 22, 2012 Sara Jerving, New Toxic Sludge PR and Lobbying Effort Gets Underway, PRWatch.org, March 16, 2012 Rebekah Wilce, More Free Sludge! Calabasas, California Offers Free Sewage Sludge, PRWatch.org, March 6, 2012. Sara Jerving, Sara Jerving, Sewage Sludge Rash: Texas Musical Fest-Goers Blame "Dillo Dirt", PRWatch.org, March 2, 2012. Rebekah Wilce, Meet Kellogg's Sludge Puppet, PRWatch.org, November 9, 2011. Lisa Graves, Children Gardening in Sewage Sludge: Los Angeles Schools Alerted, PRWatch.org, October 11, 2011. Jill Richardson, Los Angeles and Kern County's Epic Sewage Sludge Battle, PRWatch.org, October 5, 2011. Jill Richardson, ALEC Exposed: Protecting Factory Farms and Sewage Sludge?, PRWatch.org, August 4, 2011. John Stauber, San Francisco's Free "Organic Biosolids Compost" is Toxic Sludge, and Not Good For You!, PRWatch.org, August 17, 2010. John Stauber, Chez Sludge: Complaint Filed Regarding Francesca Vietor's Threat to the Guardian, PRWatch.org, July 13, 2010. John Stauber, Chez Sludge: How the Sewage Sludge Industry Bedded Alice Waters, PRWatch.org, July 9, 2010. John Stauber, ACSH Makes Alice Waters a Poster Child for Toxic Sludge, PRWatch.org, April 13, 2010. John Stauber, Waiter, There is Toxic Sludge in my Soup!, PRWatch.org, March 16, 2010. John Stauber, San Francisco's Toxic Sludge: It's Good for You!, PRWatch.org, February 8, 2010. External Articles University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, Study: Sludge-based fertilizer may be causing human illnesses, university press release, March 11, 2013. Xoco Shinbrot, Beyond Pesticides, "Biosolids or Biohazards?, Pesticides and You, organizational quarterly magazine, Volume 32, Number 3, Fall 2012, pp. 9-15. Jill Richardson, Why Is the Monterey Aquarium Greenwashing Sewage Sludge?, FireDogLake, May 19, 2011. Beth Buczynski, Celebrities Duped By Sewage Sludge Industry's 'Compost', Care2.com, May 7, 2011. Rebecca Renner, Sludge Sloughs Off Perfluorinated Chemicals: Biosolids can leach perfluorinated chemicals into farm soil, albeit at low levels, Chemical and Engineering News, April 8, 2011. Dr. Steve Wing, When Research Turns to Sludge, American Association of University Professors, November-December 2010. Food Rights Network Finds Contaminants in "Organic Biosolids Compost", CMD, August 10, 2010. John Stauber, Chez Sludge: How the Sewage Sludge Industry Bedded Alice Waters, July 9, 2010 James Burger, Kern wins again as U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear sludge case, Bakersfield.com, June 1, 2010. Barry Estabrook, Composted Sewage Stirs Up Bay Area Food Fight, The Atlantic, May 3, 2010. Susan Galleymore, The Green Mayor Has Toxic Sludge on His Hands, Op-Ed News, April 25, 2010. John Stauber, ACSH Makes Alice Waters a Poster Child for Toxic Sludge, PRWatch.org, April 12, 2010. Leora Broydo Vestel, Food Groups Clash Over Compost Sludge, New York Times Green Inc. blog, April 9 2010. Jill Richardson, What San Francisco Found in Their Own Sludge, La Vida Locavore blog, April 8, 2010. Peter Fimrite, Groups make stink over S.F. 'biosolid' compost, SF Chronicle, April 7, 2010. Jill Richardson, Francesca Takes Legal Action over Sludge Article, La Vida Locavore blog, April 7, 2010. Suzanne Goldenberg, US chef Alice Waters criticised over sewage fertiliser: Top US healthy-eating chef Alice Waters attacked for supporting fertiliser made of sewage, UK Guardian, April 1, 2010. John Stauber, Chef Alice Waters and Chez Panisse the Targets of a Toxic Sludge Protest, PRWatch.org, March 31, 2010. Brady Welch, Shit show: What the SFPUC has been dumping in city gardens?, San Francisco Bay Guardian, March 23, 2010. John Stauber, Waiter, There Is Toxic Sludge in my Organic Soup!, PRWatch.org, March 16, 2010. Jill Richardson, Food Sunday: Toxic Sludge as 'Organic Fertilizer', FireDogLake, March 7, 2010. Anna Werner, Concern Over SF Compost Made from Sewage Sludge, CBS Channel 5, March 3, 2010. Chris Roberts, News Farmers Call PUC's Shit, Will Dump it on City Hall Today, San Francisco Appeal, March 4, 2010. Josh Harkinson, A Backlash After San Francisco Labels Sewage Sludge Organic, Mother Jones magazine, March 4, 2010. Evelyn Nieves, Claim: San Francisco giving gardeners toxic sludge, Associated Press in the Boston Globe, March 5, 2010. Charlie Reid, There's a reason towns ban sludge spreading, Foster's Daily Democrat, February 21, 2010. Barry Estabrook, Free Compost--Or Toxic Sludge?, The Atlantic, December 1, 2009. Heather Knight, Nonprofit calls PUC's compost toxic sludge, San Francisco Chronicle, September 27, 2009. Lawsuit Links Chemical To Cameron Tumors Brockovich Report Says Hexavalent Chromium Used As Fertilizer, KMBC-TV, April 23, 2009. Mark Schultz, Biosolids concerns bubble to surface Neighbors say sewage sludge spread on fields may be making them sick, Chapel Hill News, April 19, 2009. Portals: Peterson Pyramid · ALECexposed  · NFIBexposed  · Real Economy Project · CoalSwarm · Toxic Sludge · All Portals