Even when there is no industry in a community, the residents should be informed what
may be in the sludge based on what is in consumer products.
Back in September of 1995, the Discovery Channel aired a documentary
entitled Assault on the Male. The documentary pointed out that there are a number
of manmade chemicals and a few natural ones, some dangerous and others once thought
to have been harmless, which mimic estrogen in the bodies of wildlife and mammals
(including people). The documentary cited the effects on fish down stream from
sewage treatment plants. Since these chemicals are obviously dumped down the drain.
Wouldn't they also be in the sewage sludge? Certainly, Cornell has identified DDT,
PCBs, dioxins, lead, cadmium, mercury in the sludge. Yet, is the EPA regulating the
dioxin and PCBs, or the DDT? Not unless things have changed since the initial
regulations came out. They only regulate the heavy metals and with that, they allow
the maximum amount to be spread on the soil.
However, other unregulated chemicals can be there also, because they have been
found in the effluent downstream from sewage treatment plants and studies have
suggested that alkylphenol ethoxolates (in detergents) have caused devastating
effects to male fish. The male fish are developing a protein that only females are
said to produce.
The documentary interviewed Professor Sumpter of the Department of
Biology and Biochemistry at Brunel University in England. Dr. Richard
Sumpter discussed his finding that his male trout produced vitellogenin,
a female protein, when exposed to estrogenic pollutants in river water
near sewer outlets. He tested trout in tanks and found that nonylphenol
and octylphenol produced these same reactions in the fish. What is
really troubling is that these effects show up at extremely small doses.
At 50 ppb nonylphenol is very estrogenic to the trout. At exposures of
30 ppb it increases the vitellogenin levels in male trout 1,000 fold; 30
ppb of octylphenol (the building block of the Triton X series of
surfactants) increases the levels over 1,000,000 fold.
See
<http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~mwarhurst/ape.html>
<http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~mwarhurst/usa.html>
Alkyphenol ethoxylate surfactants (usually nonylphenol ethoxylate or
octylphenol ethoxylate) are found in pesticides, domestic clothes washing
detergents, some shampoos, shaving foams and other cosmetics, petrochemically made
detergent, the spermicidal lubricant nonoxynol-9,
various laboratory detergents, including Triton X-100; pesticide formulations, and
in the fuel Orimulsion --all of which can also make
their way into sewage treatment plants. Nonylphenols produced these
reactions in fish, and have also caused breast tissue cultures to multiply in the
laboratory --a sign of breast cancer. They are also linked to developmental
disorders in male mammals.
''Alkylphenol ethoxylates generally end up at sewage treatment plants,
where unfortunately they are only partially degraded, mainly to other
alkylphenolic compounds, which then enter rivers and the sea in the
treated sewage. A recent modeling study concluded that 83 % of UK
nonylphenol ethoxylate production enters the environment, with 37 %
entering the aquatic environment (CES, 1993),'' according to Dr. A.
Michael Warhust who is with Friends of the Earth in the U.K.
Nonylphenol ethoxylates are not regulated in the U.S. And they may be entering our
food. Unfortunately, in the U.S., when regulations are written, they are written
using quantative risk assessment which basically allows people (as well as other
animals) to die, so that business as usual can continue.
The public deserves the right to know when sewage sludge is used to grow food they
eat. However, we don't have that right in the U.S. And, instead of handling the
problem in a more responsible manner, like educating the public about the consumer
products they purchase given that alternatives are available, the government keeps
the public controlled and ignorant to appease corporate powers, and at the same
time, is irradiating our food to kill the pathogens found in the sludge when appear
to be also contaminating some agriculture that uses the waste material.
Pathogens are not nonylphenols. But they are another problem and a reason why
sewage sludge--even composted sewage sludge--should not be spread of fields that
grow food crops.
~Bunny Snow
____________________________________________________
Carolyn Orr wrote:
> There are two separate issues here...the use of sludge - totally
> dependent on its origin and its processing...
> ... and the use of sludge somewhere besides where it is being produced
> (NIMBY approach).
> These two issues should not be mixed up. The first issue - the use of
> sludge must be evaluasted on the community (and industry or lack of)
> from which it originates and how it is processed... Check with Paducah
> KY and see how they are handling theirs.
>
>
> ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
> Subject: Fw: Sludge disposal,or nutrient recycling?
> Author: "Pat Elazar" Wrote
>
> This originally came across on the Organic Gardening List pertaining to an
> article in the Chicago Sun Times. (Sorry for the cross posting) I wanted to
> offer the topic for discussion amongst SA-neters. Is this merely sludge
> disposal,or nutrient recycling on an eco-shed scale?
>
> Larry Newton wrote:
>
> > Thought you all might find this interesting.
> >
> > Residents question sludge use on farm
> > Chicago Sun Times June 30, 1999
> > By Jon Schmid Environment Reporter
> > Chicago's Waste Management Inc. wants to increase the city's recycling by
> > spreading up to 60,000 tons a year of garbage particles on land owned by an
> > organic farm in Kankakee County.
> > The particles, called screenings, are sifted from residential garbage as
> > part of the sorting process. They don't contain anything dangerous and make
> > great fertilizer, said Scott Combis, division environmental engineer with
> > Waste Management.
> >
>
> To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
> "unsubscribe sanet-mg". If you receive the digest format, use the command
> "unsubscribe sanet-mg-digest".
> To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
> "subscribe sanet-mg-digest".
>
> All messages to sanet-mg are archived at:
> http://www.sare.org/htdocs/hypermail
--------------379DAE111B3DCD3424B3AF43
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Even when there is no industry in a community, the residents should be informed what may be in the sludge based on what is in consumer products.
Back in September of 1995, the Discovery Channel aired a documentary
entitled Assault on the Male. The documentary pointed
out that there are a number of manmade chemicals and a few natural
ones, some dangerous and others once thought to have been harmless, which
mimic estrogen in the bodies of wildlife and mammals (including people).
The documentary cited the effects on fish down stream from sewage treatment
plants. Since these chemicals are obviously dumped down the drain.
Wouldn't they also be in the sewage sludge? Certainly, Cornell has
identified DDT, PCBs, dioxins, lead, cadmium, mercury in the sludge.
Yet, is the EPA regulating the dioxin and PCBs, or the DDT? Not unless
things have changed since the initial regulations came out. They
only regulate the heavy metals and with that, they allow the maximum amount
to be spread on the soil.
However, other unregulated chemicals can be there also, because they have been found in the effluent downstream from sewage treatment plants and studies have suggested that alkylphenol ethoxolates (in detergents) have caused devastating effects to male fish. The male fish are developing a protein that only females are said to produce.
The documentary interviewed Professor Sumpter of the Department of
Biology and Biochemistry at Brunel University in England. Dr.
Richard
Sumpter discussed his finding that his male trout produced vitellogenin,
a female protein, when exposed to estrogenic pollutants in river water
near sewer outlets. He tested trout in tanks and found that nonylphenol
and octylphenol produced these same reactions in the fish. What is
really troubling is that these effects show up at extremely small doses.
At 50 ppb nonylphenol is very estrogenic to the trout. At exposures
of
30 ppb it increases the vitellogenin levels in male trout 1,000 fold;
30
ppb of octylphenol (the building block of the Triton X series of
surfactants) increases the levels over 1,000,000 fold.
See
<http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~mwarhurst/ape.html>
<http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~mwarhurst/usa.html>
Alkyphenol ethoxylate surfactants (usually nonylphenol ethoxylate or
octylphenol ethoxylate) are found in pesticides, domestic clothes washing
detergents, some shampoos, shaving foams and other cosmetics, petrochemically
made detergent, the spermicidal lubricant nonoxynol-9,
various laboratory detergents, including Triton X-100; pesticide formulations,
and in the fuel Orimulsion --all of which can also make
their way into sewage treatment plants. Nonylphenols produced
these
reactions in fish, and have also caused breast tissue cultures to multiply
in the laboratory --a sign of breast cancer. They are also linked
to developmental disorders in male mammals.
''Alkylphenol ethoxylates generally end up at sewage treatment plants,
where unfortunately they are only partially degraded, mainly to other
alkylphenolic compounds, which then enter rivers and the sea in the
treated sewage. A recent modeling study concluded that 83 % of UK
nonylphenol ethoxylate production enters the environment, with 37 %
entering the aquatic environment (CES, 1993),'' according to Dr. A.
Michael Warhust who is with Friends of the Earth in the U.K.
Nonylphenol ethoxylates are not regulated in the U.S. And they may be entering our food. Unfortunately, in the U.S., when regulations are written, they are written using quantative risk assessment which basically allows people (as well as other animals) to die, so that business as usual can continue.
The public deserves the right to know when sewage sludge is used to grow food they eat. However, we don't have that right in the U.S. And, instead of handling the problem in a more responsible manner, like educating the public about the consumer products they purchase given that alternatives are available, the government keeps the public controlled and ignorant to appease corporate powers, and at the same time, is irradiating our food to kill the pathogens found in the sludge when appear to be also contaminating some agriculture that uses the waste material.
Pathogens are not nonylphenols. But they are another problem and a reason why sewage sludge--even composted sewage sludge--should not be spread of fields that grow food crops.
~Bunny Snow
____________________________________________________
Carolyn Orr wrote:
There are two separate issues here...the use of sludge - totally--------------379DAE111B3DCD3424B3AF43-- To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command "unsubscribe sanet-mg". If you receive the digest format, use the command "unsubscribe sanet-mg-digest". To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command "subscribe sanet-mg-digest". All messages to sanet-mg are archived at: http://www.sare.org/htdocs/hypermail
dependent on its origin and its processing...
... and the use of sludge somewhere besides where it is being produced
(NIMBY approach).
These two issues should not be mixed up. The first issue - the use of
sludge must be evaluasted on the community (and industry or lack of)
from which it originates and how it is processed... Check with Paducah
KY and see how they are handling theirs.
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Fw: Sludge disposal,or nutrient recycling?
Author: "Pat Elazar" WroteThis originally came across on the Organic Gardening List pertaining to an
article in the Chicago Sun Times. (Sorry for the cross posting) I wanted to
offer the topic for discussion amongst SA-neters. Is this merely sludge
disposal,or nutrient recycling on an eco-shed scale?Larry Newton wrote:
> Thought you all might find this interesting.
>
> Residents question sludge use on farm
> Chicago Sun Times June 30, 1999
> By Jon Schmid Environment Reporter
> Chicago's Waste Management Inc. wants to increase the city's recycling by
> spreading up to 60,000 tons a year of garbage particles on land owned by an
> organic farm in Kankakee County.
> The particles, called screenings, are sifted from residential garbage as
> part of the sorting process. They don't contain anything dangerous and make
> great fertilizer, said Scott Combis, division environmental engineer with
> Waste Management.
>To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"unsubscribe sanet-mg". If you receive the digest format, use the command
"unsubscribe sanet-mg-digest".
To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".All messages to sanet-mg are archived at:
http://www.sare.org/htdocs/hypermail