In a classic kick-the-can-down-the-road move, on January 14, 2025, the Biden Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency finally admitted “forever chemicals” are contaminating U.S. farmland because of the EPA’s own long-standing policy of promoting toxic sewage sludge “fertilizer” as the way to dispose of waste from water-treatment plants.

President Donald Trump’s new EPA could take the logical next step of banning sewage sludge from farmland, but given his EPA nominees, state legislators aren’t holding their breath waiting. Instead, they’re taking action. Already in 2025, several states have introduced bills like the law Maine passed in 2022 to ban sewage sludge from farmland.

The outgoing Biden Administration EPA has marshaled the facts on why toxic sewage sludge shouldn’t be dumped on farmland. 

Will the Trump Administration’s new EPA take the logical next step and implement a ban? Unlikely. Trump has nominated David Fotouhi as the second-most powerful person at the EPA. Fotouhi is a lawyer who has spent his career defending polluters, including those responsible for making sewage sludge so toxic! In 2021, he represented International Paper, one of several paper-mill companies that have contaminated Maine’s drinking water and farmland with PFAS “forever chemicals.”

Learn more and TAKE ACTION! Tell Your State Legislators, Farms Shouldn’t Be Toxic Sewage Sludge Dumps!

Watch and learn how farmers are suffering the consequences of this sewage sludge catastrophe

By Chiana Dickson, Homes & Gardens:

“As we become more conscious of the impact our everyday choices have on both our health and the planet, the way we clean our homes and the products we use are coming ever-sharply under the spotlight.

The detrimental impact of PFAS and other toxic chemicals found in common cleaning products is well documented, with the body of research growing. With it comes a growing demand for healthier, greener alternatives that tackle dirt without compromising our well-being.

Here, leading toxicologist Samara Geller, senior director of cleaning science and consumer safety science at EWG reveals her cleaning tips for smarter, safer housekeeping that will help you create a healthier home with a better environmental footprint.

Green cleaning doesn’t always mean having to make DIY cleaning solutions or only ever cleaning with vinegar, and it certainly doesn’t mean having to settle for less-than-impressive results. Rather, it is about knowing which cleaning product ingredients to avoid, why, and what to use instead.”

Read more

Source: Xinhua, Editor: Huaxia:

“Agricultural experts warned that the existing farm labor shortage, when combined with a possible 25 percent tariff on Mexican and Canadian imports threatened by the Trump administration, could drive up food prices nationwide.

Fear of deportation has led to a sharp drop in farm worker attendance across California’s agricultural heartland, leaving crops unharvested following U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, local news outlets have reported.

In Bakersfield, located in Kern County, California, residents reported sightings of U.S. Border Patrol agents in unmarked Chevrolet Suburbans allegedly targeting field workers.

Sara Fuentes, a manager at a local gas station, told the California non-profit news site CalMatters that plainclothes agents detained individuals outside her store and only stopped those who “looked like they worked in the fields.”

Fuentes added that a typical morning rush of farm workers buying breakfast never materialized that day — an indication that fear kept them away from work.”

Read about the heartbreaking shockwaves running through the entire community. People aren’t going to work, and kids aren’t going to school.

By Libby Leonard, Ambrooke Research:

“After the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp production for the first time since the 1970s, Chelli Stanley started seeking out polluted land for an experiment. Hemp is a hyperaccumulator, meaning toxins from soil can be absorbed through the plant’s roots. Inspired by Indigenous activist John Trudell, the journalist and environmentalist wanted to grow hemp to see if it could clean up contaminated soil.
She eventually met Richard Silliboy, Vice Chief of the Mi’kmaq Nation. In 2009, the Tribe acquired the former Loring Airforce Base. Located in the small town of Limestone, Maine, the military previously used the land for over 40 years as a firefighting testing area. Upon inspection, the Tribe found the soil and groundwater was thoroughly contaminated with PFAS from toxic firefighting foam. It was so polluted, in fact, that the EPA deemed it a Superfund site, putting it on the national priority list for hazard clean-up.

Eager to collaborate, Silliboy partnered with Stanley in 2019 and co-founded Upland Grassroots alongside community activists, Tribal members, and researchers at a variety of institutions. The goal: to try using fiber hemp to remove the PFAS.

While industrial hemp has been used for phytoremediation efforts before on heavy metal toxins and radioactive isotopes — one of its large successes was on agricultural lands in Chernobyl after the 1986 nuclear disaster — hemp’s potential with PFAS is a newer subject.”


Read how industrial hemp has been successfully used for phytoremediation on agricultural lands in Chernobyl and much more

Read “Mi’kmaq Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe, UMaine Awarded Federal Grants for Forever Chemical Research”

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola:

“STORY-AT-A-GLANCE

* Research has identified a brain circuit involving the anterior cingulate cortex, pons and medulla that links slow breathing to reduce anxiety. Activating this circuit in mice led to slower breathing and decreased anxiety, while shutting it off increased stress and breathing rates

* The discovery of this brain circuit provides a neurological basis for practices like yoga and mindfulness

* Another study found that torso stiffness, a common stress response, limits venous return and cardiac output, exacerbating anxiety symptoms. Aerobic exercise and proper breathing reduce torso stiffness, improve circulation and prevent negative effects on your cardiopulmonary system

* Understanding the biomechanics of how the body responds to anxiety is helpful for developing holistic treatment strategies. Techniques that promote muscle relaxation and enhance circulation, such as aerobic exercise and controlled breathing, are useful for anxiety treatment plans

* By addressing both the neurological and physical aspects of anxiety, it allows for a more comprehensive approach to managing anxiety. This includes integrating breathing techniques and physical exercise to alleviate symptoms and promote overall well-being”

Learn more

You probably know by now that every year, tragically, millions of tons of toxic sewage sludge, misleadingly labeled as “biosolids,” are dumped on and contaminating agricultural land and gardens across the U.S.

It contains a cocktail of PFAS, other hazardous chemicals, heavy metals, and pathogens that are poisoning our soil, air, and water.

It’s a recipe for disaster, threatening the very foundation of our lives, the land, water, our food system and our collective health.

The OCA is fighting back against this toxic practice, and has been since 2010, but we need your support!

Your donation today will help us:

* Expose the truth about the dangers of sewage sludge
* Educate to encourage farmers and gardeners to stop this dangerous practice
* Advocate for policies that ban the use of biosolids on agricultural land
* Give people the opportunity to take action and tell their State Legislators to ban toxic PFAS

Together, we can create a safer, more organic and regenerative food system.

Can you join us in this fight?

Donate now, if you can, and help us fight against the toxic sewage sludge assault on our soil!

Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

Make a tax-deductible donation to Regeneration International, our international sister organization

Make a lasting impact through monthly giving, stock donations, planned giving, and IRA charitable distributions

David Zipper writes for Bloomberg:

“Are city streets places for pedestrians to hang out, or are they routes to be traversed as quickly as possible?

Americans are increasingly treating them as the latter rather than the former.

That is the striking implication of a recent interdisciplinary study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Applying modern artificial intelligence techniques to old video footage, the researchers compared pedestrian activity in 1980 and 2010 across prominent locations in Boston, New York City and Philadelphia. Their unsettling conclusion: American ambulators walked faster and schmoozed less than they used to. They seemed to be having fewer of the informal encounters that undergird civil society and strengthen urban economies.

The study was conducted by a team of eight researchers with diverse backgrounds, including Harvard economist Ed Glaeser, Michigan State communications professor Keith Hampton, and MIT urban technologist Carlo Ratti. Its lead author, Yale School of the Environment professor Arianna Salazar-Miranda, told me she was inspired by the work of William H. Whyte, a journalist and urban observer who examined how people in cities used slivers of public space.

Whyte turned his insights into a film as well as a 1980 book, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, which has become a classic of urban planning. Among his other influences, you can credit (or blame) Whyte for the widespread public space deployment of moveable metal chairs, which he often praised for their malleable utility.”

Read how streets are places where we must pause and meet one another for opportunities to arise

By Jess Cockerill, Science Alert:

“A new study has found that US communities exposed to drinking water contaminated with ‘forever chemicals’ have up to 33 percent higher rates of certain cancers.

Scientists have good reason to believe a number of compounds referred to as PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) are linked to cancer: they’ve already been implicated in kidney, breast, and testicular cancer, with at least one of the chemicals, PFOA, labeled as a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

They’re in our raincoats and upholstery, food packages, non-stick pots and pans, and fire-fighting foams. As these things disintegrate and become peppered throughout our environments, they’ve wound up in our food, our drinking water, and our bodies, too.

The new research is based on data collected between 2016 and 2021 from 1,080 counties in the United States, which equates to about 156.1 million people, roughly half of the country’s population.”

Read how the team estimates that PFAS from drinking water may contribute to between 4,000 and 7,000 cases of cancer each year and more

By Nasha Addarich Martínez, CNET:

“If you’re one to eat your feelings away or simply crave food that makes you feel good, the winter weather probably isn’t helping you feel much better. Or maybe you started the year with ambitious health goals but aren’t exactly thrilled by your new “clean eating” routine (for weight loss or otherwise) don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

Believe it or not, the key to a better mood isn’t just a pep talk or an attitude adjustment. It might actually be on your plate. The foods you’re eating (or not eating) play a bigger role in how you feel than you think. So if you’re ready to turn things around, these tasty, mood-boosting bites are here to help you improve your happiness. C’mon, get happy.

Studies linking nutrition and mental well-being have emerged in the past decade. Certain foods, for instance, are associated with increased serotonin in our brains, and serotonin, also known as the “happy hormone,” is a chemical that plays an important role in regulating our mood — low levels can lead to mood instability.

Here are our favorite foods for a lift.”

Check out these 8 foods to boost your happiness

By Alexandra Hopkins, EWG:

“From popsicles to pistachios and from meat to mac and cheese, synthetic food dyes are everywhere. Their vibrant colors make food appealing and increase our appetite.

But many dyes also pose serious health risks.

Made with petroleum-oil-based chemicals, artificial coloring has been associated with various health harms. Health concerns include behavioral and developmental issues in some children and the potential for increased risk of cancer.

The U.S. is one of the few industrialized countries without strict regulations on these harmful chemicals. Many countries, including Australia, Japan and those within the European Union, either restrict or ban these chemicals from use. 

EWG is particularly concerned with the potentially harmful effects of seven food dyes: Blue Dye No. 1, Blue Dye No. 2, Green Dye No. 3, Red Dye No. 3, Red Dye No. 40, Yellow Dye No. 5 and Yellow Dye No. 6.”

Learn about the uses of artificial food coloring and the specific health risks associated with these 7 food dyes

TAKE ACTION: Tell the FDA to Ban Carcinogenic & Neurotoxic Food Dyes!

Ana Cláudia Coelho, Juan García Díez, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology:

“There are many biological risks in health biotechnology, such as bacteria, viruses, rickettsiae, fungi, and parasites (Liberman et al., 1990; World Health Organization (WHO), 2004). Regarding biosafety and biosecurity in biomedical laboratories, there is great concern about new vaccines, diagnostic tools, or therapeutic agents, some of which are made by genetic engineering (Doblhoff-Dier and Collins, 2001). Currently, a main concern of biosafety is due to the emergence of new diseases or the re-emergence of diseases that were already under control (Brown, 2004; Jones et al., 2008). In laboratories, there are many tasks that involve numerous risks to the laboratory staff. Thus, any incident associated with a given microbiological hazard is probably most likely to happen in a microbiology laboratory. However, incidents are not associated to a single factor but the interaction of several of them (Sewell, 1995; Kozajda and Szadkowska-Stanczyk, 2010).

The research will involve the manipulation of pathogenic microorganisms that could have harmful effects on public health and the environment.”

Learn how gain-of-function (GOF) research or dual use research have arisen as an important concern, not only among the scientific community but also among the population, while GOF is associated with the acquirement of a new activity or the enhancement, a previous function, DUR, is associated with a misuse of science

TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to Ban “Gain-Of-Function” Bioweapons Research!

Read the Memo

The same companies that make toxic pesticides and genetically-engineered Frankenfoods make chemical and biological weapons–and have colonial interests that involve them in U.S. war-making. These are also the companies peddling the pharmaceuticals that, by some estimates, are the leading cause of death in the U.S.

The secret military history of Bayer and Monsanto goes back to World War I when an invention that would win the Nobel Prize for its use in agriculture was tested on the battlefield, killing thousands with poison gas. During the Holocaust, Bayer ran medical research laboratories and massive factories out of the concentration camps where its Zyklon B was used in the gas chambers. Monsanto was instrumental in developing the bombs that needlessly murdered hundreds of thousands of people in Japan and remained a nuclear weapons contractor until its plants became superfund sites in the 1990s. Today, Bayer and Monsanto, which merged in 2018, are the monopoly Pentagon supplier of the white phosphorus weapons Israel is using in Gaza and Lebanon.

Alexis Baden-Mayer, political director of Organic Consumers Association, is giving a talk on this subject at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House in Washington, DC, on Friday, February 7 at 7:30 pm. You’re welcome to join in person if you’re in town. Otherwise, please watch online on OCA’s Rokfin or Rumble channels.

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