farmers facing ruin in America’s ‘forever chemicals’ crisis https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/22/i-dont-know-how-well-survive-the-farmers-facing-ruin-in-americas-forever-chemicals-crisis
Farms are being shut down after PFAS (“the forever chemical”) contamination from Biosludge.
I don’t know how anyone ever thought it was a good idea, but indeed, now that many “organic” farms have tossed urban wastewater full of chemicals on their farmland for a few years, suddenly the government notices it is poisonous, starts declaring these farms toxic, and shutting them down.
Maine alone has shut down over 700 farms contaminated -- and it is NOT limited to this state.
It also affects neighboring farms for miles. This is just the latest avenue to shut down farms.
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Farmers face ruin in America’s ‘forever chemicals’ crisis
Maine’s disaster from PFAS-contaminated produce is causing farms to close and farmers to face the loss of their livelihoods
Sludge is a by-product of the wastewater treatment process that’s a mix of human excrement and any number of more than 90,000 human-made chemicals or substances discharged from industry’s pipes. “It’s a toxic soup,” said Laura Orlando, a Boston University civil engineer who studies sludge contamination.
Additionally, PFAS can spread. Ironwood Farm, about six miles from Songbird, tested its water and found high levels suspected to have migrated from a neighbors’ sludge-packed field.