PFAS pollution is destroying the environment and causing all kinds of diseases in people, including cancer. “PFAS are a new style of contaminant that doesn’t follow the ‘rules’ of traditional organic contaminants,” says Bradley Clarke, a senior lecturer in Analytical Chemistry and Environmental Science at the University of Melbourne and an Agilent collaborator. “We now have a serious problem with such widespread PFAS contamination of drinking water, agricultural lands and the home environment.” They have been found in Arctic ice and dust from the International Space Station.
Fertilizers produced from sewage sludge have dangerous levels of PFAS, according to laboratory tests organized by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), and therefore pose a major threat to American agriculture and public health. Every year 2.4 million tons of sewage sludge are dumped on American land.
Sixty percent of the sewage sludge produced each year at U.S. wastewater treatment plants is spread on agricultural fields, and there are no federal requirements for testing for PFAS.
Five farmers in Johnson County, Texas, filed a lawsuit against Synagro Technologies, Inc. and its Texas subsidiary. The suit alleges that Synagro’s biosolids-fertilizer contain high levels of PFAS that poisoned them, killed their livestock, contaminated their water, and rendered their property worthless.
“Similar cases of PFAS poisoning on farms, dairies, and ranches have occurred in several states,” said PEER Science Policy Director Kyla Bennett, a scientist and attorney who worked at the EPA, noting that Maine has banned land application of biosolids after more than 60 farms were found to have dangerous levels of PFAS contamination. “This lawsuit against Synagro is likely the first of many.”
Maine has announced a plan to create a $65 million relief fund for organic farmers whose livelihoods are being devastated by plastic pollution from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Congress is considering allocating $500 million of U.S. taxpayer funds to compensate farmers whose farms have been contaminated by toxic biosolids, also known as biosludge.
They further claim that the EPA acted negligently by failing to develop regulations to control PFAS chemicals that they have already acknowledged are present in sewage sludge. Instead, the EPA has sat idly by and allowed “millions of acres” of land to become contaminated with these toxic chemicals and exposed surrounding communities to their harm.
In a press release, a PEER attorney, Laura Dumais, said: “The poisoning of farmland by PFAS is quickly becoming a national agricultural emergency. Farmers whose lands have been decimated by biosolids constantly ask, ‘Why is the EPA allowing this?’ And they are absolutely right. The EPA must act immediately to protect farmers and our food supply from this toxic disaster.”
A new study by researchers at the University of Birmingham shows that dangerous “forever chemicals,” perfluoroalkyls and polyfluoroalkyls (PFAS), are absorbed through the skin at much higher levels than previously thought
PFAS pollution is destroying the environment and causing all kinds of diseases in people, including cancer. “PFAS are a new style of contaminant that doesn’t follow the ‘rules’ of traditional organic contaminants,” says Bradley Clarke, a senior lecturer in Analytical Chemistry and Environmental Science at the University of Melbourne and an Agilent collaborator. “We now have a serious problem with such widespread PFAS contamination of drinking water, agricultural lands and the home environment.” They have been found in Arctic ice and dust from the International Space Station.
Fertilizers produced from sewage sludge have dangerous levels of PFAS, according to laboratory tests organized by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), and therefore pose a major threat to American agriculture and public health. Every year 2.4 million tons of sewage sludge are dumped on American land.
Sixty percent of the sewage sludge produced each year at U.S. wastewater treatment plants is spread on agricultural fields, and there are no federal requirements for testing for PFAS.
Five farmers in Johnson County, Texas, filed a lawsuit against Synagro Technologies, Inc. and its Texas subsidiary. The suit alleges that Synagro’s biosolids-fertilizer contain high levels of PFAS that poisoned them, killed their livestock, contaminated their water, and rendered their property worthless.
“Similar cases of PFAS poisoning on farms, dairies, and ranches have occurred in several states,” said PEER Science Policy Director Kyla Bennett, a scientist and attorney who worked at the EPA, noting that Maine has banned land application of biosolids after more than 60 farms were found to have dangerous levels of PFAS contamination. “This lawsuit against Synagro is likely the first of many.”
Maine has announced a plan to create a $65 million relief fund for organic farmers whose livelihoods are being devastated by plastic pollution from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Congress is considering allocating $500 million of U.S. taxpayer funds to compensate farmers whose farms have been contaminated by toxic biosolids, also known as biosludge.
They further claim that the EPA acted negligently by failing to develop regulations to control PFAS chemicals that they have already acknowledged are present in sewage sludge. Instead, the EPA has sat idly by and allowed “millions of acres” of land to become contaminated with these toxic chemicals and exposed surrounding communities to their harm.
In a press release, a PEER attorney, Laura Dumais, said: “The poisoning of farmland by PFAS is quickly becoming a national agricultural emergency. Farmers whose lands have been decimated by biosolids constantly ask, ‘Why is the EPA allowing this?’ And they are absolutely right. The EPA must act immediately to protect farmers and our food supply from this toxic disaster.”
A new study by researchers at the University of Birmingham shows that dangerous “forever chemicals,” perfluoroalkyls and polyfluoroalkyls (PFAS), are absorbed through the skin at much higher levels than previously thought
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/texas-families-health-problems-sewage-sludge-pfas-contaminated-lawsuit/ (06/10/2024).—
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/human-skin-absorb-toxic-pfas-forever-chemicals/ (07/10/2024).—
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Toxic-Biosolids-Threaten-US-Farmland-and-Livestock.html (03/06/2024).--- https://peer.org/pfas-biosolids-fertilizer-damages-lawsuit/ (02/20/2024).--- https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/maine-organic-farmers-65-million-clean-up-pfas-forever-chemical-contamination/ (03/14(2024).--
This is horrid....... https://open.substack.com/pub/mckadesrihaan/p/jnuc?r=484px1&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web