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Past White House Propaganda Compromises Safety of Current White House PR Effort

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Jun 19, 2009 at 12:03:38 PM PDT

UPDATE: Turns out the sources I used here got the story wrong. The White House Garden soil tested very low for lead.

How's this for some sick irony? The White House Garden tested high for lead and there's a good chance the reason is sewage sludge:

Grist published a series of articles recently on the dangers of using sewer sludge on agricultural lands. Sludge tends to be full of heavy metals like lead, along with an encyclopedia's worth of industrial chemicals and pharmaceuticals. But back in the 1980s, the EPA was trying to convince everyone how wonderfully safe and useful all the leftover poo product was. So they spread some "clean" sludge on the White House South Lawn to prove it (and reportedly continued to do so for years).

Jill Richardson :: Past White House Propaganda Compromises Safety of Current White House PR Effort

I'm a fan of the book "Toxic Sludge is Good For You," and its anecdote about pro-sewage sludge PR. The book is an expose of the PR industry and when it was initially planned, it was not going to contain a chapter about actual toxic sludge. The title came from a funny Tom Tomorrow cartoon that illustrates what the PR industry does in a catchy way.

However, the book ended up with a chapter on toxic sludge, after the sewage sludge lobby contacted the authors and asked them to perhaps change their title. While China is famous for using human excrement (nightsoil) as fertilizer for millennia, modern-day sewage sludge is not as safe as poop of centuries past. The reason is because we combine human waste with industrial waste in our sewage system. So, sure, sewage sludge contains nutrients that are valuable as fertilizer - along with heavy metals and other nasty things you don't want in your farm fields or in your food.

Yet, all that waste has to go SOMEWHERE, and those who are charged with disposing of it want a cheap place to put it. Putting it on farm fields is a convenient way to get rid if it - if you can just ignore the lead and stuff. When they contacted Jon Stauber & Sheldon Rampton (authors of Toxic Sludge is Good For You), they explained that they were trying to re-brand their product as "biosolids" and they would prefer that the book did not reinforce negative stereotypes of their oh-so-valuable product. Why not re-title the book "Smoking is Good For You"?

Sewage sludge is not allowed in organics but it IS allowed in conventional food. And the White House garden's current dilemma underscores exactly why it should not be used in ANY food production. If food without lead is good enough for the First Family, it should be good enough for the rest of us too.

Tags: lead, Biosolids, Sewage Sludge, White House Garden, (All Tags)

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Past White House Propaganda Compromises Safety of Current White House PR Effort | 7 comments

I have to wonder . . . . (4.00 / 5)

Since they knew the problem, why they didn't do raised beds and bring in organic soil that didn't have lead in it? After all, they are working with and feeding children from that garden . . . and they could have made a point about caring for the soil because of long term impact.

by: nycstray @ Fri Jun 19, 2009 at 19:54:22 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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I was kinda thinking that too (4.00 / 4)

I know they tested the soil because that's how they know about the lead.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

by: Jill Richardson @ Fri Jun 19, 2009 at 20:40:41 PM UTC

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I just searched Google images... (4.00 / 2)

you're right. Not a raised bed in sight. Amazing.

How are they getting away with calling the garden organic? Sure, maybe they aren't using pesticides, but for a farmer to be certified organic, she can't just stop using pesticides. Transitioning from conventional to organic requires time and effort.

by: count @ Sat Jun 20, 2009 at 00:51:19 AM UTC

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Actually (4.00 / 3)

I think that if you're small enough, you can call yourself organic, but don't have to go through the certification process. Just as, if you slaughter under a certain number of birds, you call slaughter on-farm with no inspection as long as you follow safe and sanitary practices, or, as long as I don't sell more than $250 worth of potted plants I don't have to have a greenhouse license, or if I have less than 3 cows milking or 9 goats milking and I don't advertise and do sell from the farm gate I don't have to pasturize or have a fluid milk license, etc.

There are lots of loopholes for very small operations, and I think the White House kitchen garden qualifies as one of those.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

by: Joanne Rigutto @ Sat Jun 20, 2009 at 04:30:04 AM UTC

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Well, they're not selling (4.00 / 2)

so they can call it anything they like.

As it was, he did a deal with a blancmange, and the blancmange ate his wife.

by: elfling @ Sun Jun 21, 2009 at 22:58:23 PM UTC

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I used to be intimately familiar with this (4.00 / 3)

because I was a chemist in the environmental laboratories division of the Maryland Department of Health. One thing we analyzed was sewage sludge. It can be scary stuff, depending on how much industry is in the treatment plant's catchment area. If the sludge has lead, it probably also has cadmium, chrome, etc. That was at the time the put-it-on-farmland movement was beginning, at least here in Mid-Atlantic.

None of our laboratory people would put sewage sludge (mulch, soil conditioner, or fertilizer) on our home gardens.

Very interesting you mention that chapter, Jill. Nowadays many of us are familiar with the controversy over applying manure, say from factory chicken farms, to farmland. The sewage sludge problem is comparatively off the screen, isn't it? I had forgotten about it. Did the "conventional ag is good for you" people mention this "benefit"?

by: count @ Fri Jun 19, 2009 at 23:52:12 PM UTC

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Off the screen for me, maybe, but not for Grist. (4.00 / 3)

Wow. Chasing those links could send a fellow racing to the liquor cabinet. One article says that today, more than 50% of our sewage sludge is disposed of on land. Is that what the word wizards call "beneficial re-use"?

by: count @ Sat Jun 20, 2009 at 00:08:51 AM UTC

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Past White House Propaganda Compromises Safety of Current White House PR Effort | 7 comments