EPA Won't Restrict Sludge Fertilizer
October 17, 2003

John Heilprin

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Farmers and others who use sewage sludge as fertilizer will not face government restrictions over the possible cancer-causing dioxins it may contain.

The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it would not regulate dioxins in land-applied sludge because it believes there to be minimal danger from dioxins, a class of organic chemicals that the agency's studies have shown pose a possible cancer risk in humans.

"The risk of new cancer cases from this source is small, is substantially smaller than other chemicals we regulate," said Geoffrey Grubbs, who heads the EPA Office of Water's science and technology programs. "We just do not see a basis or justification for further regulation of this particular set of contaminants in sludge."

According to EPA's analysis, only 0.003 new cases of cancer could be expected each year -- a statistic that means roughly one case every 300 years -- from exposure to dioxins in sludge used on farms to fertilize crops and animal feed.

About 5.6 million tons of sewage sludge is used or disposed of each year in the United States, including more than 3 million tons used as fertilizer on farms, forests, parks, golf courses, lawns and home gardens.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group that had sued in an effort to force EPA to limit toxic pollutants in sludge, contends that dioxins are "among the most toxic substances on earth, and land-applied sewage sludge is the largest source of dioxin exposure in the United States after backyard barrel burning."

Dioxins, or dioxin-like compounds, are pollutants found in air, soil and water, which can be released when industrial waste is burned. They build up in fatty tissues of animals, and scientists believe that humans are exposed to them when they eat animal fats. Breast-feeding infants and unborn children are at risk of suffering harmful effects like behavioral disorders and cancer if they are exposed to high levels.

The contaminant used in Agent Orange, a defoliant sprayed during the Vietnam War, included the most toxic form of dioxins.

A panel of the National Research Council, an advisory arm of the congressionally chartered National Academies, said last year the government was using outdated science to assess the health risks of the sewage sludge used as fertilizer.

The EPA's Grubbs said Friday the decision against regulating dioxins in land-applied sludge came after five years of peer-reviewed analysis and study, and that EPA also looked at the potential risks to wildlife but didn't find "any significant impacts."

He said the agency has worked hard to reduce human exposure to dioxins through technology regulations for incinerators and cement kilns in the past 15 years. Agency spokeswoman Lisa Harrison said that instead of more regulation, EPA will "encourage proper management" of the chemicals.

Nancy Stoner, director of NRDC's clean water project, said the problems extend well beyond farms.

"This is not about a farm product. This is about sewage sludge that comes out of large urban environments," she said, adding that the group would now review EPA's decision to see if more legal action is warranted.

NRDC said the Clean Water Act required the agency to limit toxic pollutants such as dioxins that may harm human health or the environment.

An EPA scientific advisory committee in 2001 reported that dioxins cause cancer in laboratory animals, and possibly in people -- conclusions that had potential effects for everything from milk, beef and fish to medical, chemical and paper products.

But that committee had split over whether to change wording in a draft report from a year earlier that had said dioxins should be classified as a known human carcinogen.

To read the EPA's press release on this decision, please Click Here

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