Human pathogens (bacteria, viruses, etc.) are also known cancer causing biohazards. However, generally symptoms of biohazardous infectious pathogenic disease organisms spread by exposure through sewage sludge contaminating, air, food or water, start with flu-like symptoms including gastroenteritis or diarrhea.
According to the CDC, Death will result for a relatively few people (5,000 to 9,000) each year from food poisoning. CDC doesn't count deaths from Enteric fever, Meningitis (inflammation of the membrane of brain and spinal cord), Carotids (inflammation of the heart), Central nervous system involvement (brain and spinal cord), Pneumonia, infectious hepatitis, severe (acute) respiratory infections (lungs), Cholera, hookworm, tapeworm, Visceral larva, migraine, Ascariasis, Taeniasis, Toxoplasmosis, Balantidiasis, Amebic dysentery, Giadiasis, Aspergillosis, (FR 54-p.5829). http://journals.aol.com/nsa1025/NationalSludgeAlianceFactSheets/entries/253
EPA's horror stories debunking program indicated other Agencies knew there would be a lot of deaths: "(14) BLM policy opposing use of biosolids on Federal lands: equating it(s) use to hazardous waste dumping and landfilling raising SUPERFUND liability concerns." http://www.penweb.org/issues/sludge/101.htm
Zander has had to watch her family and friends become sick, and some have already died, as well as her livestock.
There is additional documentation which confirms the EPA, WEF, Washington State Ecology Department and King County Department of Metropolitan Services (Metro) are conspiring to destroy the credibility of the Zander family claim. http://www.penweb.org/issues/sludge/111.htm
Can you imagine having to watch a love one suffocate? Kansas City, Mo. Leonel F. Schlobohm and wife Glenna, lived about 500 feet from the 1,200 acre sludge site. Glenna died from pulmonary fibrosis. Organic toxic dust syndrome caused by dried sewage sludge dust may result in pulmonary fribosis www.deadlydeceit.com/Medical-issues.html
Naegleria Deaths In Arizona -- 50 families that have been found to be ill from sludge
Residents of the Arizona towns of Peoria and Glendale have been shocked by the deaths of two five-year old boys from amoebic meningitis caused by Naegleria fowleri. MORE
* A series of Milwaukee Journal articles from January and February, 1987 focused on the connection between three San Francisco 49ers playing on fields spread with Milorganite sludge fertilizer who contracted Lou Gehrig's disease and two MMSD milorganite plant employees who died of the disease. By February 10, 1987, 39 ALS patients had been found who had some exposure to milorganite. According to the articles, as many as 115 PEOPLE had died from ALS in the past eight years, the ALS death rate for Milwaukee County was 1.6 %, one percent higher than the state average. Two out of the 155 documented MMSD employee deaths were caused by ALS, Whereas, the normal rate is about 2 in 100,000. According to the son of one of the ALS victims, "The son said that the father knew of "four or five" ALS cases at the plant over the last 25 to 30 years."
* According to the Milwaukee Journal article titled "EPA LAUNCHES MILORGANITE PROBE, dated February 12, 1987, the EPA planned a scientific investigation into a possible link between Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) and the cadmium, chromium or other substances in MMSD's Milorganite fertilizer. , In the article Rubin "conceded that there were not many studies about the possible health hazards of sludge and sludge products." So where is the science that proves sludge is safe? http://journals.aol.com/nsa1025/NationalSludgeAlianceFactSheets/entries/1028
"The Pennocks' son Daniel contracted a rotavirus and staph infection in March 1995 that attacked his lungs and led to his death just two weeks later". (14) Daniel may be only one of 100,000 deaths attributed to toxic organic dust syndrome. Yet, "The Daubert ruling has allowed lawyers and judges to demand certainty from science that is not in line with what the law would require, Berger explained. It is in particularly troubling for toxic tort cases, Berger added, where a plaintiff relies on scientific experts to demonstrate causality. With so much unknown about the toxicity of the vast array of chemicals individuals can be exposed to, it is very rare for scientists to reach definitive conclusions http://deadlydeceit.com/NSA-139.html
Shayne Conner, 26, of Greenland, N.H., died in November 1995, weeks after several hundred tons of sludge were spread on a field near his home. His mother, Joanne Marshall, filed a wrongful-death suit against the hauler, claiming that the sludge contributed to the breathing problems that led to her son's death.
Public outcry resulting from Conner's death persuaded 44 municipalities in that state to ban or limit the spreading of sludge.
In 1994, Tony Behun, 11, of Osceola Mills, Pa., rode a dirt bike through a field covered with sludge. He developed a fever and lesions on his arm, fell into a coma and was dead one week later. http://www.mindfully.org/Farm/Sewage-Sludge-Health-Fears.htm
Russell and Antoinette Pennock thought the farmer next to their Pennsylvania home was simply spreading cow manure on his fields, a time-honored tradition. But when their son Daniel died in 1995 of a massive bacterial infection, the Pennocks began to suspect that the foul-smelling fertilizer had played a role in his death. http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2002-09-30-sludge-usat_x.htm
According to reporter Mary Sanchez the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says between 800 and 1,000 farm workers die in the United States each year as a direct consequence of pesticide exposure. Another 313,000 farm workers in the United States may suffer pesticide-related illnesses annually. http://journals.aol.com/nsa1025/NationalSludgeAlianceFactSheets/entries/1033
E. COLI: TWO MORE DEATHS PROBED; BEREAVED FAMILIES CALL OPP WITH SUSPICIONS June 2, 2000 The Toronto Star/Globe and Mail/National Post http://www.thestar.com/editorial/news/20000602NEW01b_CI-DEAD2.html Ontario¹s chief coroner is, according to these stories, investigating two more deaths in Walkerton¹s water tragedy, bringing the total to a possible 11 dead. Families of two men, an 82-year-old who died May 29 and a 30-year-old Kitchener resident who¹d been working around Walkerton, called the Ontario Provincial Police to report the deaths might be connected to the E. coli outbreak.
The committee was prompted to launch an investigation into the company's waste disposal management after two vocational students died mysteriously in mid-April while cleaning a truck carrying sludge taken from the water treatment tank of the company's factory in Ang Thong.
An autopsy by the Institute of Forensic Medicine found the students died of exposure to carbon disulphide that severely damaged their lungs and bronchial tubes.
A toxic expert said the sulphur compounds uncovered at the site could produce toxic gas when reacting with water and would be lethal if inhaled. In liquid form, they could also harm underground water and crops if they leaked underground. ''Officials tried to convince me that the waste is not hazardous but our laboratory tests show it is,'' said Pricha Pitanon, the committee vice-chairman. ''This is a crime. Someone has already died and many more may be dying slowly by living nearby and taking those toxic substances into their bodies.'' http://www.asianlabour.org/archives/001861.php
One death attributed to sludge generated a lawsuits that settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. Landowners are potentially liable if sludge spread on their fields is shown to be the cause of injury or death, even if they play no direct role in the processing or application of the harmful sludge. On the other hand, farmers themselves can be the injured parties. A federal jury in Miami awarded $3.9 million to a farmer who proved contaminants in 296 tons of Dade County sewage sludge destroyed 500 acres of papayas. http://www.loudounnats.org/position.htm