No literature review was done by the NRC
Committee or it would have found the 1995 EPA
report which stated EPA did not do a cancer risk
assessment for chemicals, metals or pathogens
as well as admitting it lack data on most
chemicals, nor did the Committee review the1989
preamble to the proposed part 503 where EPA
listed 21 known carcinogens in sludge biosolids,
5 of which are cacinogens when inhaled.
When EPA first promulgated criteria for land
application of municipal wastewater sludges to
cropland in 1979, some food processors
questioned the safety of selling food crops grown
on sludge-amended soils and their liability. In
response, the principal federal agencies
involved-EPA, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA)-developed a Joint Statement of
Federal Policy in 1981 to assure that current high
standards of food quality would not be
compromised by the use of high quality sludges
and proper management practices.
Sponsors
the EPA, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the
USDA, the FDA, the National Water Research
Institute, the Water Environment Research
Foundation, the National Food Processors
Association, the Association of Metropolitan
Sewerage Agencies, California's Eastern
Municipal Water District, the Metropolitan Water
Districts of Southern California, Bio Gro Division of
Wheelabrator Water Technologies, and N-Viro
International Corporation.