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John,
A class of toxic chemicals that can last in the environment for thousands of years and are linked to countless health issues -- including cancer and reproductive disorders -- are being spread across America's agricultural land.1
It reads like the plot of a disaster movie, but this is exactly what's happening across the country: Sewage sludge fertilizer laced with a class of hazardous chemicals known as PFAS is being smeared over millions of acres of farmland.
Tell the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): PFAS don't belong on America's farmland.
The EPA acknowledged last week that some of the forever chemicals found in sewage sludge fertilizer can pose health risks, sometimes exceeding the agency's safety thresholds by "several orders of magnitude."2
Farmers have already obtained permits to spread this fertilizer across 70 million acres -- about a fifth of all US farm land.3
Some farms have already shut down after discovering exceptionally high concentrations of PFAS in treated soil. And there are suspicions that tainted sewage sludge fertilizer may be to blame for the deaths of cattle, horses and fish on properties near treated farms.4
Studies have indicated that eating various produce and other farm products grown with PFAS-laden fertilizer can also pose health risks.5
Because PFAS are incredibly difficult to break down, they have been collecting in our environment for years. Almost every American today has PFAS in their blood.6
When tainted sludge fertilizer is applied to a field, the contamination can last for decades.7 This is a problem that has the potential to impact generations -- that's why we have to act fast.
Thank you for taking action,
Faye Park
President
1. Morgan Coulson, "The Omnipresence of PFAS--and What We Can Do About Them," Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, March 28, 2024.
2. John Rumpler, "PFAS in sewage sludge puts farms and food at risk," Environment America, January 15, 2025.
3. Hiroko Tabuchi, "In a First, the E.P.A. Warns of 'Forever Chemicals' in Sludge Fertilizer," The New York Times, January 14, 2025.
4. Hiroko Tabuchi, "Something's Poisoning America's Land. Farmers Fear 'Forever Chemicals,'" The New York Times, August 31, 2024.
5. John Rumpler, "PFAS in sewage sludge puts farms and food at risk," Environment America, January 15, 2025.
6. Barbara Moran, "Our sewage often becomes fertilizer. Problem is, it's tainted with PFAS," Maine Public Radio, April 10, 2023.
7. Hiroko Tabuchi, "In a First, the E.P.A. Warns of 'Forever Chemicals' in Sludge Fertilizer," The New York Times, January 14, 2025.
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