What is sludge: You'll be shocked:
Sludge is the byproduct that remains after the wastewater is extracted leaving a concentrated slurry of poisons, pathogens, heavy metals, and toxins. Since the banning of ocean dumping in the 1980's, the millions of tons of sewage sludge produced annually in America is applied on farmlands, public parks, golf courses and home gardens.
Sewage sludge is promoted by waste companies as a free fertilizer for farmers. As Andy McElmurray and Bill Boyce explained Tuesday there is a heavy price to pay for such "free" fertilizer. It cost both of them their farms after decimating their dairy herds and destroying their land. Both men stated they do not trust any official from any state or federal agency on the issue. EPA actually allows sewage to be spread on your food sources and in Pennsylvania DEP is actually an arm for corporate agriculture companies and corporate agribusiness. They do not exist to protect you or your food.
Boyceland Dairy raised blue ribbon holsteins and produced above average yields of milk on their ward winning farm outside Augusta, Georgia. After using sludge they began burying hundreds of prized cows, sued the sources of their damages, and had to sell their farm when the land became unusable for agriculture. Andy McElmurray's family faced the same problem and their farm is now laying fallow.
Sewage sludge poisoned their farms, destroyed their families, ruined them financially and led them into prolonged court battles to recover their losses. These proved mostly unsuccessful. "Free" sludge can ruin a farmer financially, expose them to huge risks of litigation, responsibility for poisoning people, and ruin their beloved lands.
Perhaps the most shocking information delivered was about the presence of heavy metals in sludge. The substance is promoted as nothing more than treated human waste but actually includes anything and everything flushed into drains, hauled to treatment plants, and all industrial and commercial pollutants legally (and illegally) permitted to be dumped. These include lead, mercury, chromium, cadmium, silver, millithium (especially fatal to bovines), PCB's, and other dangerous metals and toxins.
Only nine metals are tested for in sludge treatment and then only rarely. In fact sludge may only be tested for heavy metals once a year. Whatever is dumped in the intervening 364 days goes undetected. Guess where that winds up? In your food.
Buying locally does not mean your food is safe. Pennsylvania is a magnet for sludge and many local farms are using the substance. You must know where your food came from and how it was grown. If you are shopping at a local farmer's market you must inquire to the farmer whether they use sludge. If so shop elsewhere.
What else can you do? Go to the website for United Sludge-Free and take advantage of all the knowledge available. Then contact your state and federal legislators about getting EPA and DEP to begin protecting our food supplies. Act by attending seminars such as this one and contribute to their cause. Talk with your neighbors and refuse to do business with food producers poisoning our farms.
What will we eat once we've poisoned all our farms? |
