Sludge News
The "land application" of sewage sludge has been promoted by EPA since 1993 as the preferred method of sludge disposal. Millions of tons of hazardous sewage sludge have subsequently been spread on farmland and parks in the United States, and many people living near sludged agricultural sites and many farm animals fed on sludged silage and hay have been made very sick. Many of these people have attempted to stop this practice. Now, they are getting some help.
On February 25, 2008, Judge Anthony Alaimo of the 11th Circuit Court ruled that the sludge applications on a farm in Georgia were responsible for killing hundreds of diary cattle and contaminating the milk supplies in several states.
Then an April 14, 2008, the A.P. filed a story about federally funded research (EPA and USDA) that supported the spreading of sludge on yards in poor, black neighborhoods in Baltimore to test whether it might protect children from lead poisoning in the soil. The Alaimo decision and the Baltimore story alerted the public to the real dangers of sludge disposal on land and the EPA's failed policy that supports the practice.
This summer, we learned that the soil in the White House organic garden, established by Michele Obama for all the right reasons, was contaminted when sewage sludge was applied to the White House lawn as a fertilizer. The sludge was applied before the Obamas moved in, but the toxins in sludge do not go away (in fact, they accumulate with subsequent applications). Since sludge is prohibited under the National Organic Program regulations, the garden cannot be USDA certified organic until the soil is removed.
On September 23, 2009, the Center for Food Safety petitioned the City of San Francisco to stop its toxic sludge giveaway program.
Changing federal policy can end the appalling systematic contamination of our food supply and the degradation of our health from sewage sludge.
You can find more information about sewage sludge and what sludge victims are saying, at Sludge News. Read on.