HEALTH EFFECTS FROM CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATED SLUDGE/BIOSOLIDS |
| Neurotoxicity from Municipal Sewage Sludge - Peer Reviewed study Results: Based on results of the Neurotoxicity Screening Survey, symptoms consistent with neurotoxicity were found in all who completed the test. The two children born and raised on the farm have been classified by their schools as mildly retarded and having attention-deficit disorders, although there was no family history of these illnesses. Conclusion: Municipal sewage sludge poses a measurable neurotoxic hazard to nearby residents and farm workers, who need to be informed of possible neurotoxic injury from their exposure, and then monitored using repeated neurobehavioral tests. http://www.expertlaw.com/library/toxicology/sewage_sludge.html Based on medical evaluation, immunological tests and lung biopsy organic toxic dust syndrome and pulmonary fribosis were diagnosed in this young compost worker. He was medically removed and a worker's compensation claim is pending. www.deadlydeceit.com/Medical-issues.html Mehan says, "• Page 41 in the section entitled Health Concerns • Here you discuss the NIOSH Hazard ID report and recommendations, but fail to mention thatmost of the NIOSH recommendations are routinely practiced by local POTWs and land application operations." No city or sludge contractor is going to admit to the public that they actually have to follow OSHA safety rules. http://deadlydeceit.com/NSA-140.html The Corps of Engineers seems to be the only federal Agency that will admit that sludge dumping creates nonpoint sources of pathogen pollution which can create havoc on human health and the environment. Nonpoint sources of microbial pathogens include urban runoff contaminated with pathogens from litter and refuse, sanitary sewer overflows produced during storm events, leaking sewage and septic systems, livestock wastes released into pastures and feedlots, poultry wastes from large production farms, soil surface applications of manure and sewage sludge, and wastes pumped from holding tanks. The Corps lists a new pathogen which is a killer. Naegleria fowleri Amoebic meningoencephalitis Fatal brain inflammation Water Quality Technical Note PD-03 July 1999 This list does not include the waterborne pathogens recently recognized in developing countries. http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:HZdxwkfLwLMJ:el.erdc.usace.army. mil/elpubs/pdf/wqtnpd03.pdf+Naegleria+fowleri,+sewage+sludge&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 Health Stream Article - Issue 28 December 2002 Naegleria Deaths In Arizona 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. The source of the infections has not been positively established but suspicion has fallen on a small unchlorinated ground water supply operated by a private company. This supply was taken off-line on 3 November, a boil water notice was issued and 6,000 consumers were warned not to use unboiled tap water for drinking, cooking or bathing. Schools and restaurants in the suspect area were also closed, and residents were advised to drain and clean spas and hyperchlorinate swimming pools. Supply to the affected area was switched to a chlorinated surface water source, and a flushing program with hyperchlorinated water was carried out to remove possible contamination from the water distribution system. One of the victims lived in Peoria and the other in the neighbouring town of Glendale, some four miles away. They attended separate schools, however the Glendale boy frequently visited his grandparents' home a few blocks from the other boy's residence in Peoria. Both boys became ill on 9 October and died a few days later on 12 and 13 October respectively. Health authorities then began investigating possible common sources of Naegleria exposure including drinking water, pools, bathtubs, spas and fountains. Tests by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have detected N. fowleri in three samples: · one pre-chlorination water sample from a municipal well that was routinely chlorinated · one tank water sample from the suspect unchlorinated groundwater system · the refrigerator filter from the home of the grandparents of one of the boys http://www.waterquality.crc.org.au/hsarch/HS28c.htm This is in Mohave County Arizona where Mohave County, Arizona 50 families that have been found to be ill from sludge (item 63 http:/216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:qvfkzlUuP_EJ:www.co.mohave.az. us/1moweb/meetingcalendar/calendars/2003%2520calendar/BOS%2520Minutes/July/07-07- 03.pdf+Peoria,+AZ,+sludge&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 The EPA said reports of adverse health effects cited in the petition were not proven to have been caused by exposure to land-applied sewage sludge. The Center for Food Safety cited 350 claims of adverse effects from land-applied sewage sludge cited by the Cornell Waste Management Institute; three human deaths in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania; and a court case in which 300 cattle deaths at a farm in Augusta, Ga., were blamed on sewage sludge. http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2004/01/21/news/sludge.html Walkerton is the Ontario Canada town where thousands were made sick and seven people died of Ecoli 0157 and Campylobacter jejuni from contaminated drinking water. www.deadlydeceit.com/Walkerton.html But while infamous, most consider Walkerton a tragedy that was laid to rest. But there's a lingering, equally insidious side to the outbreak. That many Walkerton residents consider themselves walking wounded. That the physical aches and pains, for many, have not gone away over time. www.deadlydeceit.com/walkerton-aft.html In Florida,Teresa Hansen's daughter and her family were and are being exposed to unknown levels of unknown disease organisms that have run off the sludge site in rainwater.The indicator coliform bacteria recovered on their front drive and the front of their porch was 160,000 vs the "safe" level of 2,400 per 100ML (100 grams) for surface water contamination. www.deadlydeceit.com/DD1.html Both urban and rural communities across the country are reporting illnesses associated by their nearness to a composting facility. To mention just a few: Almaden, California in the West, Islip Township and South Bronx in New York in the East, and Franklin, Kentucky in the South. www.deadlydeceit.com/DD1.html CDC report warns of sludge danger A scientist close to the CDC study expressed concern not only for sludge-handlers’ safety, but for the general public’s safety as well. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the scientist said Class B sludge could even, in some cases, contain “super bugs,” bacteria resistant to modern antibiotics.http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9846 Twenty years ago research showed that our homes and offices were contaminated by volatile chemical cancer causing chemicals. Recently the Environmental News Service reported, "Test results never before made public, obtained by EWG, show that leafy vegetables grown with contaminated irrigation water take up, store and concentrate potentially harmful levels of perchlorate." Sandra Blakes Lee recently reported on a 1999 California study which found the number of children with "full Spectrum", or profound autism had increased by 273 percent since 1987. The Washington Post recently reported that the number of children treated with psychiatric drugs has tripled in the 15 years between 1987 and 1996. Bravley said, "The health problems physician Sarah Hampl is seeing in her practice sounds like the woes of advancing middle age: high blood pressure, diabetes, elevated cholesterol." Hampl said. "We see complications in about 40 percent of obese children. In the past five years, it's increased dramatically."" Jonah Goldberg, reports that in the last decade the waiting list for organ transplants has dramatically increased from about 20,000 to 79,523 people in February of 2002. Doctors seem to be unaware that EPA approved the release of toxic chemical and biological disease organisms on food crops 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 |