Millions of acres of American farmland have been contaminated by toxic chemicals commonly referred to as PFAS.
Dubbed “forever chemicals” due to their near-indestructible composition, PFAS have been linked to kidney disease, certain cancers, birth defects and countless other health issues.
And now companies selling this PFAS-laced fertilizer are lobbying Congress to stop farmers from taking them to court.
How did PFAS get into fertilizer?
How did this fertilizer become tainted by PFAS in the first place? The short answer: sewage sludge.
Once prized for their durability and water-resistance, PFAS have been integrated into all sorts of products. The non-stick pans you cook with, the raingear you wear and the furniture you sit on all more than likely contain PFAS.
Some of the factories that put PFAS in these products send their wastewater to sewage treatment plants. The PFAS in their wastewater then winds up in the “sludge” that remains after sewage plants treat their water.
Multiple studies have detected elevated levels of PFAS in sewage sludge, with scientists first reporting high concentrations in sewage to the Environmental Protection Agency in 2003.
Despite that contamination, some companies have been recycling sewage sludge into fertilizer and selling it to farmers.
Food raised near PFAS can become unsafe
When PFAS fertilizer mixes with the food we eat, bad things happen. PFAS spread on farmland are then absorbed by the crops used to produce the food on our tables. Studies report an increased presence of PFAS in food products including milk, eggs and fruit juice. That may be part of the reason that nearly every American has detectable levels of PFAS in their blood.
These fertilizers are poisoning our food, our environment, and our bodies. The companies that produced them should pay the costs of cleaning up.
For the safety of our food and environment, we must decontaminate America’s farmland from PFAS as soon as possible. But that will only happen if farmers can make the fertilizer companies pay for the damage they have caused.
Join us in urging Congress to allow farmers the right to secure clean-up support from sludge fertilizer companies.
