Farmers issue warning on major health hazard in US food system: 'Very, very concerning'

Farmers in the United States have called out the dangers of using sludge on farmlands, as the fertilizer contains toxic chemicals that put the food supply at risk.

Sludge is used to provide nutrients for soil, but it also contains PFAS or "forever chemicals" that can contaminate crops, per WPDE. Livestock eat the chemical-exposed crops, which leads to PFAS appearing in food consumed by millions of Americans.

"This is a forever chemical," Robb Hinton, a fourth-generation farmer, said. "It's not leaving."

Data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that PFAS are associated with various health problems, including cancer. Those most at risk include people who consume fish from contaminated water and those who drink milk from cows raised on pastures using sludge, per CNN.

More than 22 million jobs were related to the agricultural and food industries in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or 10.4% of total U.S. jobs. However, the use of sludge or biosolids has affected both the health and livelihoods of agricultural workers.

Fred Stone, a farmer from Maine, was forced to close his dairy farm after discovering milk from his cows had extremely high PFAS levels, per WPDE. Those high levels of PFAS are now in his blood, too.

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"All conventional farms are allowed to use biosolids," Kyla Bennett, the director of science policy at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said. "So that's hundreds of millions of people in the U.S. eating food from farms that use biosolids. So the exposure is incredibly high and very, very concerning."

Certain states do test for PFAS in sludge, but there is no federal regulation in place, per WPDE. Meanwhile, there are other major threats to the food supply, too, like global heat waves. Researchers anticipate that rising global temperatures will reduce crop production unless changes are made.

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