Harmful chemicals in sewage sludge spread on pasture as fertilizer pose a risk to people who regularly consume milk, beef and other products from those farms, in some cases raising cancer risk “several orders of magnitude” above what the Environmental Protection Agency considers acceptable,

Washington, DC – On Tuesday, EPA released a long-awaited draft report demonstrating that toxic "forever chemicals" in sewage sludge applied to farmland can cause cancer and other diseases in people who live near farm fields where the sludge is applied, or consume tainted milk, beef or other foods from these farms.

Fertilizers that contain treated sewage tainted with toxic PFAS chemicals can be spread on farmland and pose a health risk to people who consume milk, eggs and beef, the agency says.

Draft findings published Tuesday echo what Maine has been saying since 2022, when it became the first state to ban the use of sludge as fertilizer because of high concentrations of harmful PFAS.

Farm families that consume milk, eggs and beef they raise themselves face an increased risk of cancer if their fields were fertilized with PFAS-laced sewage sludge, the EPA reported this week. The results do not suggest that the broader food supply is contaminated.

Environmental advocates are calling for a ban the use of sewage sludge as fertilizer. An EPA draft report found that there may be health risks associated with exposure to PFAS "forever chemicals" in the sludge,