High levels of PFAS, the virtually indestructible \u201cforever chemicals\u201d used in nonstick pans, stain-resistant carpets and many other products were turning up in the nation\u2019s sewage…<\/p>\n
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By: Hiroko Tabuchi,<\/strong> covers pollution and the environment for The Times. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years in Tokyo and New York.<\/p>\n In early 2000, scientists at 3M, the chemicals giant, made a startling discovery: High levels of PFAS, the virtually indestructible \u201cforever chemicals\u201d used in nonstick pans, stain-resistant carpets and many other products were turning up in the nation\u2019s sewage.<\/p>\n The researchers were concerned. The data suggested that the toxic chemicals, made by 3M, were fast becoming ubiquitous in the environment. The company\u2019s research had already linked exposure to birth defects, cancer and more.<\/p>\n That sewage was being used as fertilizer on farmland nationwide, a practice encouraged by the Environmental Protection Agency. The presence of PFAS in the sewage meant those chemicals were being unwittingly spread on fields across the country.<\/p>\n 3M didn\u2019t publish the research, but the company did share its findings with the E.P.A. at a 2003 meeting, according to 3M documents reviewed by the The New York Times. The research and the E.P.A.\u2019s knowledge of it has not been previously reported.<\/p>\n Today, the E.P.A. continues to promote sewage sludge as fertilizer and doesn\u2019t require testing for PFAS, despite the fact that whistle-blowers, academics, state officials and the agency\u2019s internal studies over the years have also raised contamination concerns.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are highly complex mixtures of chemicals,\u201d said David Lewis, a former E.P.A. microbiologist who in the late 1990s issued early warnings of the risks in spreading sludge on farmland. The soil \u201cbecomes essentially permanently contaminated,\u201d he said in a recent interview from his home in Georgia.<\/p>\n The concerns raised by Dr. Lewis and others went unheeded at the time.<\/p>\n The country is starting to wake up to the consequences. PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, has been\u00a0detected<\/a>\u00a0in sewage sludge<\/a>,\u00a0on<\/a>\u00a0land treated with<\/a>\u00a0sludge fertilizer<\/a> across the country, and in milk and crops produced on contaminated soil. Only one state, Maine, has started to systematically test its farms for PFAS. Maine has also banned the use of sludge on its fields.<\/p>\n In a statement, 3M said that the sewage study had been shared with the E.P.A., and was therefore available to anyone who searched for it in the agency\u2019s archives. The agency had sought 3M\u2019s research into the chemicals as part of an investigation in the early 2000s into their health effects.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n