Farm Sewage Sludge A Health Threat
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Farm Sewage Sludge A Health Threat
Date:
Mon, 5 Aug 2002 16:01:07 -0400
From:
Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide
Regulation
CC: "Brian J. Foster" <bfoster@swlaw.com>
cc: Christine Whitman
whitman.christine@epa.gov
Farm Sewage Sludge a Health Threat
Sun Aug 4, 7:05 PM ET
SUNDAY, Aug. 4(HealthScoutNews) -- You may be anything but flush with health if you live near farm fields fertilized with sewage sludge.
Burning and irritated eyes and lungs, skin rashes and other illnesses are among the problems experienced by residents of homes close to land where Class B biosolids -- a byproduct of the human waste treatment process -- are applied, says a recently published University of Georgia study.
The study included 54 people living near 10 biosolid application sites in Alabama, California, Florida, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Texas and the province of Ontario in Canada.
Many of the residents had Staphylococcus aureus infections on the skinand in their respiratory tracts. About 25 percent of the people in the study were infected, and two died as the result of septicemia and pneumonia. S. aureus is commonly found in the lower human colon.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency doesn't consider S. aureus to be a significant public health risk, even though it's the leading cause of hospital-acquired infections and is commonly found in sewage, says study co-author David Lewis, a research microbiologist at the university.
Lewis says that chemicals are added when the sludge is being processed. These chemicals can irritate the skin and respiratory tract and make people more susceptible to infection, he said.
In a recent report about biosolids, the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences concluded the use of processed sewage sludge as a commercial fertilizer may be a public health risk.
Along with pathogens, sewage sludge can contain household chemicals,heavy metals, pesticides, and synthetic hormones from birth control pills and dioxins.
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Biosolids Applied to Land: Advancing Standards and Practices (2002)
http://stills.nap.edu/books/0309084865/html/
Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology (BEST)
Front Matter
Summary
1. Introduction
2. Biosolids Management
3. Epidemiological Evidence of Health Effects Associated with Biosolids Production and Application
4. Advances in Risk Assessment Since the Establishment of the Part 503 Rule
5. Evaluation of EPA's Approach to Setting Chemical Standards
6. Evaluation of EPA's Approach to Setting Pathogen Standards
7. Integration of Chemical and Pathogen Risk Assessment
Appendix A: Biographical Information on the Committee on Toxicants and Pathogens in Biosolids Applied to Land
Appendix B: Participants at Public Sessions
Farm Sewage Sludge a Health Threat
Well Mr. Helliker, this story sort of reminds me of what a dog must think when we use his "water dish" as a toilet. Yummy!
Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten
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