| Today was quite a day in the San Francisco sludge drama (see an INCREDIBLE report on it from CBS news here). Recall that San Francisco's Public Utility Commission gave away compost made from sewage sludge for several years, most recently in late 2009. They put this program on hold after a protest in March. In the latest installment of the story, San Francisco tested the sludge compost for 127 pollutants to "prove" that it was safe. They found some stuff in it - DDE and DDD (breakdown products of DDT), a phthalate called DEHP (a lovely chemical credited for making boys penises smaller if they are exposed while in their mothers' wombs), some dioxins, and a little bit of cyanide. They also found some heavy metals although none exceeded the legal limits for what is allowed in sludge. It's worth noting, however, that one of the metals they found was chromium, which is not regulated in sewage sludge used as fertilizer.
However, they did NOT test for flame retardants, even though tests done by the EPA as well as prior tests done of San Francisco's sewage sludge compost by the Center for Food Safety indicated that flame retardants were probably present. Nor did they test for triclosan or any other pharmaceuticals. Triclosan, which is itself a suspected endocrine disruptor and breaks down into dioxins, was found in most samples tested by the EPA, as were many other pharmaceuticals.
But, even though San Francisco didn't test for these things, the Food Rights Network did. And, not surprisingly, they found them - along with another chemical called nonylphenols. (I should note that I'm working with FRN and I am being paid for writing about this subject.)
I think it would be disingenuous not to mention that, aside from this sludge issue, what I'm learning is that we live in a very toxic world, and much of the toxins are man-made. Often they are also unnecessary. In the case of flame retardants, California has a law that requires excessive use of them, and Californians are therefore exposed to high levels of various flame retardant chemicals (many of which are toxic). I recommend checking out the Green Science Policy Institute for information on how we might prevent fires in a less toxic way.
About triclosan and another chemical, triclocarban, both are used in antibacterial soaps and other products, but studies find them to be no more effective than regular soap and water. So in that case, what the hell are we doing using them? Especially when so many of us have measurable levels of the chemicals in our bodies, and when triclosan and triclocarban in the soil makes it into the edible portions of the plants and thus gets into our diets. NRDC has just sued the FDA to ban these in soaps and body washes, so cross your fingers.
Sludge is more or less a catch-all for every sort of chemical we put down the drains in our homes, hospitals, and in industry. It's where it all comes out in the wash, unless it is somehow processed out of the sludge or released with effluent in the wastewater treatment plant. And I'm finding that the answer in many cases isn't just to dispose of sludge in a site suitable for toxic waste but also to stop using the toxins in the first place - particularly in the cases I've cited here where they aren't serving much purpose beyond getting into the environment and our bodies and causing trouble. |
