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>Date: Fri, 13 Mar 1998 00:20:56 -0600
>Reply-To: sksnow@1stnet.com
>Sender: Organic Gardening Discussion List <OGL@LSV.UKY.EDU>
>From: Susan Snow <sksnow@1stnet.com>
>Organization: Pollution Solution
>Subject: sewage sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants
proposed
> for organic agriculture
>X-To: Health and Environment Resource Center
> <HEALTHE@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM>,
> MCS-IMMUNE-NEURO MCS/Chemical Injury Support
> <MCS-IMMUNE-NEURO@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU>
>To: Multiple recipients of list OGL <OGL@LSV.UKY.EDU>
>
>The regulations which the USEPA has written for sewage sludge (the same
>sludge which the USDA proposes to use on organic farms in order for
>those farms to be certified under the USDA's National Organic Program)
>are weaker than the regulations in Canada,
>Germany, and the Netherlands for toxic heavy metals --the only
>substances regulated.
>
>According to a clipping of an article entitled Sewage Treatment Plants:
>"..Under a special provision in the Resource Conservation and Recovery
>Act, 300 to 700 POTWs [publically-owned water water treatment works]
>also accept hazardous waste shipped by truck, train, rail, or dedicated
>pipe. An unknown number of POTWs also have accepted leachate from
>Superfund sites. These wastes are not subject to pretreatment
>regulations...[Office of Technology Assessment, 1987]."
>
>See also,
><http://www.seattletimes.com/todaysnews/browse/html97/natl_070497.html#dee
rtrail>http://www.seattletimes.com/todaysnews/browse/html97/natl_070497.htm
l#deertrail
>
>(Superfund sites are the most toxic hazardous waste sites in the U.S.)
>
>The article goes on to say that "...All metals, however, and many of the
>more complex chemicals and their residues, pass through municipal
>wastewater treatment systems unaffected. These pollutants enter into the
>environment in the wastewater effluent or sludge...Toxic pollutants in
>the sludge are dispersed into the environment, whether the sludge is
>buried, spread on land, or incinerated...Most municipal sewage treatment
>
>systems are doing well to prevent their receiving waters from becoming
>cesspools of human wastes. They are wholly inappropriate for the
>attempted detoxification of wastes containing metals and synthetic
>chemicals, whether these pollutants are discarded by industries or by
>households...the toxics problem has not improved..."
>
><http://web.iquest.net/ofma/ltr.htm>http://web.iquest.net/ofma/ltr.htm reads:
''The Department usurped the
>National Organic Standards Board's responsibilities and powers to limit
>USDA consideration of allowed and prohibited substances for inclusion on
>the National List by adding never considered active synthetic substances
>in farming and by adding NOSB rejected substances like "ionizing
>radiation," "biosolids" (sewage sludge) and GMOs (Genetically Modified
>Organisms) to the Proposed National List.''
>National List:Sec. 205.22, 205.24 and 205.26
> Violates the authority and role mandated by OFPA, Section 2104(c) and
>2118(d)(1) and (2), 2119(a), (k), (1) and (2), (L).
>
>This is unacceptable and should be opposed.
>
>The regulations which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
>promulgated in 1993 for sewage sludge do not even come close to those in
>the Netherlands, Germany, or Canada.
>In the paper version of the newsletter, Waste Not #241, a publication of
>Work on Waste, USA, there is a chart which was originally published in
>Composting Frontiers, Spring 1993, page 23. The chart compares the
>United States, Dutch, German and Canadian Compost Quality Standards
>mg/kg dry weight. (I have neither computer skills nor software--but
>here are some comparisons.)
>
>Standards for U.S. Clean Water Act [CWA] 503 High Quality Sludges/Sludge
>
>Composts: Ceiling standards under the US Clean
>Water Act
>Arsenic 41..................75 ....................
>Cadmium 39..................85..................
>Chromium 1200.............3000...................
>Copper 1500.............4300...................
>Lead 300...............800....................
>Mercury 17.................57..................
>Molybdenum 18.................75.....................
>Nickel 420................420..................
>Selenium 100...............100........................
>Zinc 2800.............7500......................
>
>Of most states that have compost regulations, several allowed higher
>levels for lead and one higher levels of selenium in compost. But the
>rest have lower (i.e., sticter standards) than the US EPA.
>
>In comparing compost Very Clean Compost ......... Sludge
>after January 1, 1995 .............after 1/1/95.........................
>
>in the NETHERLANDS:
>
>Arsenic....................15.............5.0..............................
...........15................................
>
>Cadmium
>1...............0.7.........................................1.25...........
..................
>
>Chromium
>50...........50.0......................................350.00..............
......
>
>Copper
>60............25.0........................................75.00............
............
>
>Lead
>100............65.0.....................................100.00.............
................
>
>Mercury
>0.3...........0.2........................................0.75..............
..........
>
>Molybdneum --
>Nickel
>20.00........10........................................30.0................
...........
>
>Selenium --
>Zinc
>200.00........75.......................................300.0...............
..............
>
>
>
>GERMAN COMPOST & SLUDGE QUALITY STANDARDS
> Compost
>Sludge
>Arsenic -- ---
>Cadmium 1.5.........................................
>1.5
>Chromium 100.0.........................................10.0
>Copper
>100.0.............................................6.0
>Lead
>150.0..........................................100.0
>Mercury
>1.00...............................................1.0
>Molybdenum ---- ----
>Nickel
>50.0...............................................5.0
>Selenium --- ----
>Zinc
>400.0........................................150-200
>
>EVEN THE CANADIAN COMPOST STANDARDS ARE STRONGER THAN THE U.S.
>
>National Guideline on Compost
>
>Arsenic 13.0
>Cadmium 2.6
>Chromium 210.0
>Copper 6.0
>Lead 83.0
>Mercury 0.83
>Moly 7.0
>Nickel 32.0
>Selenium 2.6
>Zinc 315.0
>
>(the online version of this newsletter, which does not have the chart is
>
>at:
<http://ecologia.nier.org/english/level1/wastenots/wn241.htm>Http://ecologia
.nier.org/english/level1/wastenots/wn241.htm )
>
>For more information, contact: Composting Frontiers, 19 Girard Place,
>Maplewood, New Jersey 07040-3107. Tel: 201-762-4912. Fax: 201-761-5415.
>
>These proposed USDA regulations for organic agriculture in the U.S.,
>allow toxic sewage sludge governed by the weak regulations (above) and
>spread on organic farms in order for those farms to be certified organic
>under the law. (Makes one wonder why our health is worth less than
>other countries and how our children will be able to compete in a global
>economy.
>
>Just for your information. I am not an organic farmer, but, a consumer
>of organic foods. Initially, I began buying organic to help farmers
>develop a market for synthetic pesticide-free/synthetic fertilizer-free
>crops. This is my way of slowing the use of toxic pesticides and
>fertilizers from being spread all over America.
>
>BTW, I understand the need to do something with sewage sludge. If
>sludge is landfilled, it poison the groundwater (as it will ultimately
>as more and more is layered on farms); if dumped into waterways; it
>poisons aquifers, fish and other life forms;
>if dumped into the oceans and Gulf of Mexico --it poisons marine life
>and creates vast dead zones. If burned, sludge releases mercury as
>other dangerous heavy metals and produces dioxins (because of the dioxin
>precursors that have been dumped down the drain. However, many organic
>consumers already try to take precautions to protect the environment.
>We should not be poisoned for our efforts.
>
>There is an alternative. Public education on less toxic
>cleaning/gardening supplies to stop them from being dumped down the
>drain. Industries must be made responsible for the havoc they are
>creating. Composting toilets can take care of the organic matter. We
>can prevent much of the waste we create, rather than making organic
>farming a dumping ground from synthetic chemicals created by industries
>and dumped down the drain.
>
>Also, within the article on Sewage Treatment Plants, there is a chart,
>which cites the USEPA's figures of the sources of toxic pollutants in
>POTWs as 7.5 percent from households and 92.5 percent from industry for
>priority pollutants, and 19 percent from households and 81 percent from
>industry for toxic metals. Those are all synthetic ingredients.
>Contrary to what the USEPA and USDA claims, sewage sludge should not be
>considered organic!
>
>Moreover, the principal of organic agriculture is First, do no harm.
>Whereas conventional agriculture is governed by quantative risk
>assessment which allows people to die until harm can be conclusively
>proven.
>Susan Snow
>--------------------------------------------------------------------
>
An organic growers homepage check out
http://www.rain.org/~sals/my.html
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