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Use of PFAs-tainted Sludge As Fertilizer Raises Cancer Risk on Farms, EPA Says

January 16, 2025 | Source: The Minnesota StarTribune | by Chloe Johnson

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. The EPA identified risks for people consuming some animal products from their land, drinking well water and eating fish from polluted lakes. The draft study found an unacceptable cancer risk when two PFAS chemicals were present at low levels.

To those who have been tracking the sprawling pollution problems posed by PFAS chemicals, the findings were long overdue. The chemicals don’t break down in human bodies or the environment and have already been linked with some cancers and health risks. The EPA’s report relied on many prior studies that have shown the chemicals will migrate into soil and groundwater, and be absorbed into some plants, including pastures that cows graze.