For the first time, the EPA is warning about the presence of “forever chemicals” in fertilizers

For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency warned that “forever chemicals” found in sewage sludge used as fertilizer could pose risks to human health, saying in a study Tuesday that the risks may in some cases exceed the agency’s safety. Thresholds are “sometimes by several orders of magnitude.” However, the agency stressed that the public food supply is not in danger.

A growing body of research has shown that sludge can be contaminated with man-made chemicals known as perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which are widely used in everyday items such as nonstick cookware and stain-resistant carpets. Chemicals, which are Associated with a group of diseases Including an increased risk of cancer, not decomposing in the environment, and when contaminated sludge is used as fertilizer on farmland, it can contaminate soil, groundwater, crops and livestock.

last year, The New York Times reported 3M, which has manufactured PFAS for decades, found as early as 2000 that the chemicals were showing up in sludge samples from municipal wastewater plants across the country. In 2003, 3M reported its findings to the EPA.

The EPA has for decades encouraged the use of sludge from treated wastewater as inexpensive fertilizers with no limits on the amount of PFAS it can contain. But the agency’s new draft risk assessment outlines a possible new path. If completed, it would represent what could be the first step toward regulating PFAS in sludge used as fertilizer, which the industry calls biosolids. The agency currently regulates some heavy metals and pathogens in sewage sludge used as fertilizer, but not PFAS.

The Biden administration has addressed PFAS contamination elsewhere, Set limits on PFAS in drinking water For the first time and Identify two types of PFAS as hazardous Under the nation’s Superfund cleanup law. These rules came after the agency said in 2023 that there is no safe level of exposure to these two types of PFAS.

The new EPA assessment “provides important information to help guide future actions of federal and state agencies,” as well as wastewater treatment plants and farmers, “to protect people from exposure to PFAS,” Jane Nishida, acting EPA administrator, said in a statement. “. .

It is unclear what additional steps the incoming Trump administration might take. President-elect Trump has been hostile to regulations. However, on the campaign trail he talked about “removing dangerous chemicals from our environment,” and concerns about PFAS fertilizer contamination have reached some deep red flags.

This comes from a risk study conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency Farmers across the country have discovered PFAS On their land.

In Maine, the first and only state to systematically test its farmland for PFAS, dozens of dairy farms were found to be contaminated. In Texas, a group of ranchers sued a sludge fertilizer provider last year after a neighboring ranch used the fertilizer on its fields. County investigators found several types of PFAS in ranchers’ soil, water, crops and livestock, and ranchers have since sued the EPA, accusing the agency of failing to regulate PFAS in biosolids. In Michigan, state officials closed a farm where tests found particularly high concentrations in the soil and in livestock grazing on the land.

The EPA said its analysis does not indicate that the public food supply is at risk. Sewage sludge is applied to less than 1 percent of the fertilized area of ​​farmland annually, a figure roughly consistent with industry data, she said. Not all farms where sewage fertilizers are used pose a risk.

However, studies have found that because PFAS are persistent in the environment, contaminated sludge that was applied years or even decades ago can still be a source of contamination. More than 2 million dry tons were used on 4.6 million acres of farmland in 2018, according to the biosolids industry. Farmers have obtained permits to use sewage sludge on nearly 70 million acres, or about one-fifth of all U.S. farmland, the industry said.

The EPA has not changed its policy on promoting sludge fertilizers, which have benefits as well as risks. It is rich in nutrients, and spreading it on fields reduces the need to burn it or put it in landfills, which would have other environmental costs. The use of sludge fertilizers also reduces the use of synthetic fertilizers based on fossil fuels.

On farms using contaminated sludge, the highest human risks involve drinking milk from pasture-raised cows raised on a contaminated farm, from drinking contaminated water, and from eating eggs from pasture-raised chickens or beef from cattle, the agency said in its new assessment. They are raised on contaminated land, or from eating fish from lakes and ponds polluted by runoff.

Households living near or relying on contaminated source products, such as milk or milk, were particularly at risk Beef from a family farm is contaminated with PFAS from sewage sludgeThe agency said. In certain circumstances, the risks exceeded EPA’s acceptable limits by several orders of magnitude, she said.

The general public, who are more likely to buy milk from a grocery store that sources its products from many farms, was less at risk, the agency said. In its assessment, the EPA focused on the two most common types of forever-detected chemicals, called PFOA and PFOS, although many others exist.

The Food and Drug Administration does not set limits on PFAS levels in food. However, since 2019, the agency has done so Nearly 1,300 samples were tested The vast majority of them were free of the types of PFAS the agency can test for, she said.

Some public health experts and advocacy groups have done so He questioned the testing methodologyThe agency itself says that “exposure to PFAS from food is an emerging area of ​​science and there is still much we do not yet know.” Last year, Consumer Reports said it had discovered this PFAS in some milkincluding organic brands. Packaging is another source of PFAS in food.

The National Association of Clean Water Agencies, which represents wastewater treatment plants across the country, said the findings reinforced that sludge fertilizers do not pose a risk to the public food supply. Sludge providers have argued that they are He shouldn’t be responsible As for PFAS contamination, saying the chemicals are simply passed to them.

“Ultimately, manufacturers of these chemicals must bear the responsibility and cost of removing these chemicals” from their products and environment, said Adam Krantz, the group’s CEO.

In the absence of federal action, states began taking their own actions. Maine banned the use of sewage sludge on agricultural fields in 2022, remaining the only state to do so. In December, A Texas state lawmaker has introduced a bill It would place limits on levels of certain types of PFAS in sewage sludge applied to farmland. Oklahoma lawmakers also filed A bill that would stop the use of sludge on agricultural lands.

A complete ban on the use of sludge as fertilizer would bring its own problems. Sewage sludge still needs somewhere to go. Since Maine’s ban, some wastewater treatment plants say they have had to ship sewage sludge out of state.

What’s important, environmental experts say, is limiting the amount of PFAS that ends up in sewage and sewage in the first place. This could come by phasing out the use of PFAS in everyday products, or requiring manufacturers to treat contaminated wastewater before sending it to municipal wastewater treatment plants.