{"id":18975,"date":"2024-12-27T09:00:42","date_gmt":"2024-12-27T10:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=18975"},"modified":"2024-12-27T10:25:41","modified_gmt":"2024-12-27T10:25:41","slug":"epa-promotes-fertilizer-carrying-pfas-long-after-3m-shared-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=18975","title":{"rendered":"EPA Promotes Fertilizer Carrying PFAS, Long After 3M Shared Risks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In early 2000, scientists at 3M, the chemicals giant, made a startling discovery: High levels of PFAS, the virtually indestructible \u201cforever chemicals\u201d used in nonstick pans, stain-resistant carpets and many other products were turning up in the nation\u2019s sewage.<\/p>\n

The researchers were concerned. The data suggested that the toxic chemicals, made by 3M, were fast becoming ubiquitous in the environment. The company\u2019s research had already linked exposure to birth defects, cancer and more.<\/p>\n

That sewage was being used as fertilizer on farmland nationwide, a practice encouraged by the Environmental Protection Agency. The presence of PFAS in the sewage meant those chemicals were being unwittingly spread on fields across the country.<\/p>\n

3M didn\u2019t publish the research, but the company did share its findings with the E.P.A. at a 2003 meeting, according to 3M documents reviewed by the The New York Times. The research and the E.P.A.\u2019s knowledge of it has not been previously reported.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Today, the E.P.A. continues to promote sewage sludge as fertilizer and doesn\u2019t require testing for PFAS, despite the fact that whistle-blowers, academics, state officials and the agency\u2019s internal studies over the years have also raised contamination concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are highly complex mixtures of chemicals,\u201d said David Lewis, a former E.P.A. microbiologist who in the late 1990s issued early warnings of the risks in spreading sludge on farmland. The soil \u201cbecomes essentially permanently contaminated,\u201d he said in a recent interview from his home in Georgia.<\/p>\n

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In early 2000, scientists at 3M, the chemicals giant, made a startling discovery: High levels of PFAS, the virtually indestructible \u201cforever chemicals\u201d used in nonstick pans, stain-resistant carpets and many other products were turning up in the nation\u2019s sewage.The researchers were concerned. The data suggested that the toxic chemicals, made by 3M, were fast becoming ubiquitous in the environment. The company\u2019s research had already linked exposure to birth defects, cancer and more.That sewage was being used as fertilizer on farmland nationwide, a practice encouraged by the Environmental Protection Agency. The presence of PFAS in the sewage meant those chemicals were being unwittingly spread on fields across the country.3M didn\u2019t publish the research, but the company did share its findings with the E.P.A. at a 2003 meeting, according to 3M documents reviewed by the The New York Times. The research and the E.P.A.\u2019s knowledge of it has not been previously reported.Today, the E.P.A. continues to promote sewage sludge as fertilizer and doesn\u2019t require testing for PFAS, despite the fact that whistle-blowers, academics, state officials and the agency\u2019s internal studies over the years have also raised contamination concerns.\u201cThese are highly complex mixtures of chemicals,\u201d said David Lewis, a former E.P.A. microbiologist who in the late 1990s issued early warnings of the risks in spreading sludge on farmland. The soil \u201cbecomes essentially permanently contaminated,\u201d he said in a recent interview from his home in Georgia.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18977,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18975"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18978,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18975\/revisions\/18978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}