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H.R. 215, The Sewage Sludge in Food Production Consumer Notification Act (3 comments ↓)
- This item is from the 110th Congress (2007-2008) and is no longer current. Comments, voting, and wiki editing have been disabled, and the cost/savings estimate has been frozen.
- This bill, or a similar bill, was reintroduced in the current Congress as H.R. 185, The Sewage Sludge in Food Production Consumer Notification Act.
H.R. 215 would amend the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the egg, meat, and poultry inspection laws to ensure that consumers receive notification regarding food products produced from crops, livestock, or poultry raised on land on which sewage sludge was applied.
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Visitor Comments 
Tracy L Belknap
September 20, 2008, 7:23pm (report abuse)I’m shocked that no one seems interested in this bill. It has been introduce several times and has never made it passed subcommittees. If the public were even vaguely informed they would cringe at the idea of eating food grown on fields fertilized with sewage sludge. Sorry, the industry prefers the user friendly name of biosolids. No wonder Americans are so unhealthy, and all for the sake of profit.
Marc
September 21, 2008, 9:48am (report abuse)I was involved in a project to develop the fertilizer from waste. When I left the company (we did the testing of the product) they had the contamination below EPA limits, but this could have been done by dilution (I am not sure how it was accomplished). Two things people need to keep in mind, there is no other way to get rid of this (incineration - NIMBY, etc.) and EPA limits are permits to pollute.
Caroline
September 22, 2008, 9:14pm (report abuse)This bill needs our support. The Federal Clean Water Act defines sewage sludge as a pollutant. Waste water treatment plants were not designed to produce "fertilizer"; they were designed to remove thousands of industrial chemicals ( some of which are persistent and toxic) from the waste water. The removed contaminants end up, concentrated, in sludge. Why spread this unpredictable and complex mixture of pollutants on our farms and pastures, were toxic thallium or dioxins get into milk or into the rest of the food chain. Marc, there ARE safer, cheaper, and more sustainable alternatives for sludge : it can and is being used as a source of renewable energy. Either in landfills, using the resultant methane, that otherwise would escape as a greenhouse gas, or, dried, as a non-fossil fuel. We will never run out of sludge. Why not use it in a way so it does not sicken people, kill live stock, degrade farm land, or impact groundwater.
For more information visit
www.sludgefacts.org
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From the Blog
Is There Sewage Sludge in Your Food?
A commenter on one bill says: I’m shocked that no one seems interested in this bill. It has been introduce [sic] several times and has never made it passed subcommittees. If the public were even vaguely informed they would cringe at the idea of eatin...