Lies

                         TOXIC SLUDGE IS GOOD FOR YOU

         LIES, DAMN LIES AND the Public Relations Industry
                 by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton

                                            A must read

                   http://www.prwatch.org/books/tsigfy.html
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Administrator:
Ten years after the book Toxic Sludge is Good for You was published, scientists, educators and
government officials are still embarrassing themselves by repeating the PR lies.

The first unwritten law of the United States for the general public is that: Ignorance of the
law is no excuse for violating the laws. The second unwritten law is that: Federal Agency
guidelines (regulations, Standards) for corporations and municipalities give some
leeway for violating the laws within specified limits which may or may not be enforced.

We are collecting outrageous statements. We will start with a few of EPA's.

1.     EPA PR statement: "The WSTB report confirms the basis of Federal policy that properly
     treated and managed wastewater effluents and biosolids can be safely and effectively used
     in food crop production, while presenting negligible risk to the crops, consumers, and the
     environment."

T.    Actually, this unscientific literature review assumed federal law and common law works.

     Ken Arnold (Mo) and John H. Dunn (EPA) state: "Sludge that is not used as biosolids must
    be disposed in a permitted sludge disposal facility.
   There are two types of disposal — surface disposal and incineration. Surface disposing
   sludge requires a solid waste disposal permit under the Missouri Solid Waste Management
   Law and regulations, 10 CSR 80-3. This applies to sanitary landfills, sludge monofills,
   sludge disposal lagoons and any other type of sludge disposal on land."

   Federal Law and guidlelines state: Exposure to the chemicals and pathogens in sludge may
   kill you or cause serious health problems through air, water or food.. 40 CFR 503.9(t),
   RCRA and CWA.

2.     EPA completed a 14 pathway risk assessment to prove sludge/biosolids was safe according
   to the PR lies.

T.     EPA did not do a risk assessment for any of the pollutants in sludge/biosolids.

3.     None of the pollutants in sludge/biosolids cause or induce cancer according to the risk
   assessment PR lies.

T.    EPA published a list of 21 carcinogens in sludge/biosolids in 1989. Five of them are cancer
  inducing agents when inhaled in dust. Federal Register 54, P. 5777

4.     All chemicals in sludge are fully researched for safety according to the PR lies.

T.    EPA claims it does not have data on most of the chemicals in sludge/biosolids to make a
  determination of a safe level in sludge/biosolids.. Federal Register 58, p. 9384

5.    The nine inorganic chemicals (metals) in sludge was all EPA was required to regulate
  according to the PR lies. § 503.13   Pollutant limits.

T     In 1993 EPA wrote, The Agency concluded that Congress intended that EPA develop the
   part 503 pollutant limits for a broader range of substances that might interfere with the use
   and\disposal of sewage sludge, not just the 126 priority pollutants"?    (FR. 58, 32, p. 9327)

6.    The PR lie, "In later stages of wastewater treatment, the sludge is processed into a purified
   and nutrient-rich organic material known as a biosolids. Scientists have long urged farmers
   to spread the substance on their fields but the practice remains controversial, says
   McMahon." UW-Madison: Scientists Probe CWD's Spread Through Soils 7/11/2005

T.     There is no 503 treatment process that purifies sludge to create biosolids. § 503.32
    Pathogens.

7.    D. Roe Darnell, Ed.D, President of Taft College in Kern County writes, "The company
   processes residual waste in an environmentally responsible way without endangering, in any
   fashion, our precious water table."

T.    A cheap PR statement for $25,000.00 a year. Assuming that SYNAGRO always complies
   with the part 503 guidelines, SYNAGRO composts sludge/biosolids for unlabelled use with
   undetectable levels of disease causing organisms. EPA and Congress states that exposure
   to the chemicals and disease causing organism through the air, water and food will cause
   death, disease, cancer, etc. See item 1.

8.    PR statement "We had absolutely no intent on causing this kind of problem," Tilton said. "It’s
   important to us that we are environmentally responsible."
   The sludge was sprayed on the Fayette County field from Jan. 19 to Feb. 2, records show.
   Bowman said it ran into a ditch that drained into Paint Creek during a warm spell and a
   rainstorm.

T.    If there was no intention why wasn't 503.14(b) followed. "Bulk sewage sludge shall not be
   applied to agricultural land, forest, a public contact site, or a reclamation site that is flooded,
   frozen, or snow-covered so that the bulk sewage sludge enters a wetland or other waters of
   the United States." (EPA only covers rainstorms when biosolids is disposed: (2) The run-off
   collection system for an active sewage sludge unit shall have the capacity to handle run-off
   from a 24-hour, 25-year storm event.)

According to a transcript, In a recent TV debate in Kern County, California UDSDA's Rufus
Chaney made three PR statements without hardly taking a breathe.

9.    Chaney's PR statement, "The 503 Rule, Congress made a law. EPA was --
  developed a regulation to comply with the federal law to protect human -- humans in the
  environment when biosolids are used on land."

T.   The Law to protect humans was RCRA. EPA developed 503 regulation based on exclusions
   in federal law - domestic sewage
   exclusion (RCRA), statutory agricultural runoff exclusion (CWA), and commercial fertilizer
   exclusion (CERCLA).

10.   Chaney 's PR statement, "They examined the count, the metals in the organic
   compounds that were believed to comprise the highest risks and -- and developed
   regulations so that you can apply at least a thousand tons per foot -- either farm it for
   hundreds of years; and the implication, based on all the science, is we can farm it forever."

T.    In 1995, Walker (EPA) and Chaney (USDA) stated in the Guide to the 503 risk assessment
   that no risk assessment was completed for any of the metals or organics included in 503.

11.   Chaney 's PR statement, "We say unequivocally it's a sustainable practice
    because we have achieved industrial-free treatment."

T.    Perhaps he meant industrial pretreatment. According to NY documents, "After pretreatment,
   either through local limits or categorical standards, 83% to 84% of New York City Sludges
   would still be unacceptable for land application. The reason for this is that non-domestic
   sources of pollutant loading, not industrial sources, are primarily responsible for interfering
   with this sludge use." (Wat. Sci. Tech. (1987) Vol. 19, No. 9. p. 142)

12.   Rufus CHANEY:(USDA) PR statement " -- the report that she just quoted, in its summary,
    has a statement, an overarching finding, that no matter what she said, we don't have any
    evidence of an adverse effect of biosolids used under the -- the 503 Rule. They don't have
    adverse effects."

T.     The point being made, according to scientists Linaker & Smedley . "Overall, only a small
     proportion of the population is employed in agriculture, so respiratory disease in
     farmers is not a major public health issue."

    Chaney and US Agencies simply refuse to admit there are studies which show adverse
    effects as could be expected based on the definition of a pollutant in 40 CFR 503.9(t)

    Farmers and farm workers are also at greater risk than the general population for certain
    cancers. Significant increases in cancers of the stomach, brain, prostate, and skin, as well
    as leukemia, non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, and multiple myeloma have been found in the
    farming population (Blair et al. 1992). Increased mortality due to kidney, bladder, prostate,
    lymphoma, and large bowel cancers has also been identified among farmers. Although the
    only direct link found to date between exposures to an agricultural environment and cancer
    is skin cancer, exposure to pesticides, chemical solvents, engine exhausts, animal viruses,
    and other substances commonly found in an industrialized farm operation are suspects.

    In the U.S., some scientists acknowledge that chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) and
    Organic Toxic Dust Syndrome (OTDS) (Farmers Lung) are hazards to farmers health, but
    fail to note organic toxic dust in sludge/biosolids on farms and lawns may also cause
    EXTRINSIC ALLERGIC ALVEOLITIS.

    By 1986 Australia recognized that EXTRINSIC ALLERGIC ALVEOLITIS, a respiratory
    disease, is caused by fertilizer containing microorganisms and sewage sludge/biosolids.
    Canadian OSHA even has a name for it, Sewage Sludge Disease.