Vol. 1, No. 1, September 1998
Vol. 1, No. 1, September 1998
By Scott Crawford
[Note: Substantial material for this article was drawn from Chapter 8, "The Sludge Hits the Fan," of John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton's Toxic Sludge is Good for You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry, Common Courage Press (Monroe, Maine), 1995. Also see hyperlinked citations within this document and our More Info page for other related resources.]
Please read this article carefully and do what YOU can to spread the word, and prevent this from happening to more of our youth in Hawaii.
to sludge products by children." Cornell Waste Management Institute |
On April 25, 1997, 12 year old Nicholas Natale was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare childhood malignant soft-tissue muscle tumor. Nicky's father Ralph Natale firmly believes that the cause of Nicky's cancer was his exposure to composted sewage sludge at public school and in a public park.
This is the story of the Lingle administration's callous disregard for public health with the policy of spreading sewage sludge compost in our schools and parks, how one child on Maui has been devastatingly affected by this practice, and one man's determination to bring this issue to light, to seek justice, and protect other children from experiencing a similar tragic fate.
In late 1996, after beginning to experience a number of symptoms which are common with exposure to sludge, such as headaches, vomiting, sore throats and respiratory problems, a pain began to develop in the right side of Nicky's jaw. Nicky went to see a string of doctors, but each was unable to diagnose the cause, and referred him to another. Finally, as the pain grew more severe, a noticeable lump developed behind Nicky's right ear.
On April 25, 1997 a biopsy was performed on Nicky at Kapiolani Hospital for Women and Children. The biopsy revealed that Nicholas was a victim of Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare malignant soft-tissue muscle tumor. In the following months Nicky underwent 29 days of radiation therapy to the right side of his face and head, in conjunction with chemotherapy. The cancer went into remission but in May of this year a chest x-ray of Nicky revealed three cancerous tumors on his left lung. Nicky has recently undergone 9 days of radiation to his left lung and is currently receiving chemotherapy for the recurrence of Rhabdomyosarcoma.
Nicky and his family are investigating new therapies and have hope in some options that have just recently become available. Nevertheless, the prognosis for surviving recurrent childhood Rhabdomyosarcoma is extremely poor.
Ralph Natale is presently preparing a lawsuit which alleges that the daily exposure to and cumulative doses of the chemicals and pathogens in the sewage sludge compost contributed to the disruption of normal cellular activity in Nicky's body, starting the process of a cell becoming cancerous. Natale has assembled a team of legal experts, medical toxicologists and other specialists to help prepare the complaint and provide the supporting evidence for his claim.
Natale's is one of a growing number of "toxic tort" lawsuits that seek to hold government and polluters accountable for the public health consequences of environmental contamination.
Natale has warned the County of Maui for many years about the dangers of sewage sludge co-composting and it is a tragic irony that his son now stands face to face with Rhabdomyosarcoma as a result of sludge exposure. Our community must take pause as we witness Nicky and his family meeting this challenge with a will to safeguard the future children of Maui.
Natale became aware of the presence of sludge compost at Kalama School and Eddie Tam Park only after Nicky had been exposed over a long period of time and become ill, and Natale went to investigate what the cause might have been. He discovered piles of sewage sludge compost still exposed. Most other parents probably would not have realized that the material at the school was in fact a sludge product, nor that the material was dangerous and carcinogenic.
The nutrients in human waste may make plants grow to a certain extent, but this does not diminish the harmful consequences of the many other substances contained in sludge, which include known carcinogens (some of which have been linked specifically to soft tissue muscle tumors). Maui's sewage sludge is being mixed with green waste and co-composted at the Central Maui Landfill in Puunene, by contractor Maui EKO Systems, Inc., and then spread as fertilizer across our schools and park, as a policy of the County of Maui.
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When questioned, the County administration and the producers of the sludge compost try to reassure the public that sludge products are safe and meet all required regulations. In a letter to the Haleakala Times on June 4, 1997, Linda Lingle wrote that "Maui County does stand behind its contract with EKO" and referred to the process as "safe." But just because the County and the EPA says it is safe, does not necessarily make it so. The fact is there's no such thing as "clean sludge."
Researchers at Cornell Waste Management Institute, in the working paper The Case For Caution published in August 1997, state that "Sewage contains not only human fecal wastes from homes and businesses but also products and contaminants from homes, industries, businesses, storm water...and contaminants leached from pipes. The goal of sewage treatment is to clean up the water, so many contaminants are concentrated in the sludges."
Imagine what is under the common sink in any household. We have chlorine bleach, liquid drain cleaners, potent household cleaning agents, and myriad other substances which no one would advocate pouring on the garden or the park for our children to play in.
The startling fact is that many common household products contain toxic substances. Just because it sells in the store doesn't mean it is safe! We are exposing ourselves and our families to these toxins directly, and this in itself is a grave concern. But the way that many of these substances leave our home is through our drains into the sewage system, where they are all mixed together and concentrated in the sludge. Now add the garage, with everything the home mechanic might put down the drain. Now add the businesses, the hotels, the commercial garages, the hospitals, the various industries, and so on.
Imagine every product that is ever put down the drain from every home and business, then add the storm runoff which has the toxic non-point source pollution from roads, all concentrating in the same place. Finally, add the flocculent used to stabilize the sludge at the wastewater treatment facilities.
What we end up with is a toxic soup, and these substances do not just miraculously disappear during sewage treatment and composting. Human excrement alone could be safely processed into a valuable fertilizer with plant nutrients, so-called "night soil" which has been used for ages. However, the nature of our modern sewage system and industrial chemical society contaminates our own waste, making it virtually impossible to safely reuse as a fertilizer.
Using sludge as plant fertilizer was considered hazardous to health and the environment until the 1970's, but it has the advantage of being inexpensive. As budget concerns mounted in the late 1970's, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began to pressure sewage plants to adopt the cheapest method available for disposal-spreading sludge on farm fields. In the late 1980's the Clean Water Act banned ocean dumping of sewage.
In 1992 the EPA modified its "Part 503" technical standards which regulate sludge application on farmlands. The new regulations used the term "biosolids" for the first time, and encouraged the beneficial use of sludge, which previously designated as hazardous waste was reclassified as "Class A" fertilizer.
The EPA regulations set testing requirements for only 9 heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, selenium, zinc) and either one of two pathogenic bacteria.
The widely quoted Cornell report The Case For Caution, focuses on the EPA's current risk assessment rules for sludge use, finding them inadequate and poorly conceived. "Current US federal regulations governing the land application of sewage sludges do not appear adequately protective of human health, agricultural productivity or ecological health," the report concludes.
U.S. regulations are weaker than those of any other developed country.
EPA engineer Hugh Kaufman says "Official U.S. government policy in the Clinton administration is to grow food chain crops-the food supply of America-on poison. And not to tell the public." (CNN Moneyline, June 26, 1997)
Kaufman was sued by a sludge dumper in Texas for defamation and libel, but Kaufman won on appeal, when on June 3, 1997, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that "experts have yet to reach a consensus on the safety of land application of sludge." (Merco v. Kaufman, Fifth Circuit No. 96-50253, June 3, 1997)
James Bynum, director of the organization Help for Sewage Victims in Washington state, says "The beneficial sludge use policy simply changed the name from sludge to fertilizer, and the regulation changed the character of sludge from polluted to clean so it could be recycled with a minimum of public resistance."
The largest of America's food producers, including Heinz and Del Monte, remain unconvinced of the safety of sludge, and refuse to use it as a fertilizer, despite a high-powered public relations effort. The National Food Processors' Association says it "does not endorse the use of sewage sludge on crop land" in part because "state and federal oversight may not be sufficient." (CNN Moneyline, June 26, 1997)
The National Organic Standards Board also opposes the use of sewage sludge in organic fertilizers. The US Department of Agriculture proposed to include sewage sludge fertilizers in the Organic Rule it published for comment last December, but dropped its plans after over 250,000 public comments were registered in four months urging the prohibition the sewage sludge uses in certified organic farming practice.
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Selected list of features that the Cornell Waste Management Institute researchers "believe to be questionable" because they are "not conservative or protective":
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Composting sludge reduces harmful pathogens below certain levels, due to the heat generated by biological activity as material breaks down, but it does not completely destroy them. The Cornell researchers discuss how "... a compost could have met processing requirements and standards for E. coli or Salmonella (US EPA requires testing for one or the other for Class A), but could subsequently have significant bacterial levels if regrowth occurs after testing."
While it may pass tests for E. coli or Salmonella when sold, testing of a more than year-old sludge compost pile from Eddie Tam Memorial Park (pictured at right) revealed much higher levels of fecal coliform bacteria than the tests on fresh product reported by Maui EKO Systems, and a testing lab referred to a sample as "active."
No monitoring is required for viruses or parasites in sludge and sludge products, and certain pathogenic organisms have been documented to survive for years in soils.
Pathogen risk is especially relevant in Hawaii, as we host tourists from all over the world and with them all the disease causing pathogens both common and exotic. New emerging diseases are becoming a real problem throughout the world.
The respected Worldwatch Institute states that "U.S. researchers found more than 60,000 toxic substances and chemical compounds in sewage sludge mixed with household and industrial waste, making it unfit for fertilizer use." (Recycling Organic Waste, August 1997)
Dr. Stanford Tackett of Indiana University of Pennsylvania describes sludge as being "closer to the definition of toxic waste than it is to a fertilizer."
Sewage treatment and composting does nothing to reduce the threat of the myriad of chemical compounds that can be found in sludge, and we cannot possibly measure, test for, clean up, or know the effect of the substances that may be present in any given load of sludge compost. We do know that some of the possible compounds are known carcinogens and endocrine disrupters.
Cancer, which was almost unknown a few generations ago, is now the most common fatal childhood disease, and the number 2 killer of American adults. According to the National Cancer Institute, cancer rates among children have seen double-digit increases since the advent of commercial chemicals and pesticides in our environment. Today, 1 in every 600 children will get cancer before the age of 10, and 8,000 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in children under 15 this year.
According to the EPA, nearly 5.7 billion pounds of toxins were released into the environment last year, and nearly two-thirds are known or suspected carcinogens. In the last 50 years more than 75,000 chemicals have been developed and introduced into commerce in the U.S., with 700 -1000 new chemicals each year.
Many toxins are fat soluble. Because our body cannot detoxify them, they often become lodged in fat cells in our bodies, where they can accumulate to toxic levels. When different pesticides combine in the fat cells in our bodies where they're stored, they can become 1,000 times more carcinogenic than when they were alone!
Because of their physical size and the inability of their bodies to eliminate toxic compounds as effectively as adults, infants and small children are the most at risk to the effects of these chemical compounds.
(September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month - for information call 1-800-575-4223.)
According to Lingle's campaign ads on television, "Linda really cares about kids."
The Cornell researchers emphatically state: "Avoid access to sludge products by children."
The Cornell paper recommends to "...prevent access to sludged areas by small children who might ingest sludged soils to avoid potential exposure to pathogens (possibly an issue with composted sludges) and other contaminants."
Most of Maui's parents are totally unaware that in many of our parks and schools, the soil has been amended with sewage sludge compost, and in some cases piles of sludge compost have been left exposed where children have easy access to them, including at Kalama School, where Nicholas Natale played every day.
Presently there is no labeling requirement for sludge products sold in retail stores (such as EKO Premium Compost), and no indication is made to alert the public in areas where sludge compost has been applied, most likely due to the resistance this practice would encounter if the public were more aware of the policy.
Central to the claim in Natale's lawsuit is the fact that Mayor Lingle and members of her administration, as well as agents of the state Departments of Health and Education and the private composting firm Maui EKO Systems, Inc., had prior knowledge that composted sewage sludge contains known carcinogens and pathogens and were grossly negligent in failing to prevent the exposure of Nicholas and the general public to these dangerous substances. The County has a policy of promoting the use of sewage sludge compost in a manner which unavoidably causes exposure to children and the general public, in reckless disregard for the safety and health of the people of Maui.
In 1992, Natale and his partners Charles Davidson and Ken Hess, through their organization Campaign Recycle Maui, initiated Maui's first large scale composting project, located in Waikapu, using only clean green waste with no sewage sludge.
The County's co-composting project was the brain child of Hana Steel, Lingle's Recycling Coordinator, and from the time the idea was first introduced in 1992 it has been the subject of criticism and warnings from various segments of the community and outside experts.
When Natale and his partners first heard of the County's plans to co-compost sewage sludge, they were skeptical of the wisdom of this approach, and the more they researched, the more their concerns grew. Starting in 1992, they expressed their concerns at numerous public hearings and other meetings, presenting documentation from expert sources about the dangers of sludge composting and land application.
On April 14, 1993, at a hearing of the Mayor's Solid Waste Advisory Committee, committee member and Class IV sewage treatment plant operator Bill George, discussing the draft Maui Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan, questioned the quality of the sludge coming out of the Wailuku-Kahului Wastewater Reclamation Facility. George stated that "they're pushing it through the plants so fast the microorganisms don't have time to do the job," and recommended doing a feasibility study for alternatives to sludge co-composting.
Many other members of the community also spoke out in opposition to the County's plans, and warned of the public health hazards involved. A number of other alternatives were suggested for handling the sludge.
The County was determined to force the project through, however, despite opposition, warnings and alternatives from the community. In 1993 the County awarded a contract to Maui Composting Company for a "pilot project" to begin composting the sludge at the Central Maui Landfill in Puunene, Maui.
During the selection process, Solid Waste engineer Elaine Baker took issue with the Maui Composting Company's lack of experience and credentials, but Baker was then summarily removed from the project by the Solid Waste Chief. The County Council later discovered that the Maui Composting Company had in fact falsified their credentials in order to get the contract.
As this project got underway, the level of criticism and opposition grew steadily louder. In 1994 and 1995, a variety of adverse health effects were reported to various agencies and officials of the State and the County, by current and former employees of the sewage sludge co-composting facility (which at that time was operated by the Maui Composting Company), by visitors to the landfill, and by workers at nearby locations including the Ameron quarry. Two employees of Maui Composting Company were subsequently dismissed, which they believe was a result of their raising of health and safety concerns. Some of these individuals continue to suffer from adverse health conditions, such as aspergillosis (a respiratory ailment caused by an airborn mold), which they attribute, with medical evidence, to exposure to the co-composting sewage sludge.
On December 2, 1994, responding to concern from numerous sources, the Maui County Council voted to hire an independent consultant to review the sludge co-composting project, for the purpose of investigating the dangers to the public health and safety. However, Travis Thompson, Finance Director for the County, refused to certify $4,500 in funds to hire the independent consultant, in effect blocking any investigation into the potential public health threats of the sewage sludge co-composting project. Goro Hokama, then chair of the Council, stated at that time that Thompson told him that he was acting under the instruction of Lingle.
In a letter to the Director of Public Works for the County dated January 19, 1995, head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency Region IX Water Management Division, Harry Seraydarian, demanded detailed information on the sludge composting operation, and stated that "This action is appropriate to protect public health and the environment from adverse effects which may occur from toxic pollutants in the sewage sludge."
The EPA also admitted in a council hearing, however, that sludge regulation is a new area and they do not have the resources to monitor or enforce the regulations on Maui, essentially telling the State and particularly the County that it is up to them locally to ensure the safety of the operation and the end products.
The fact that many warnings were given by various credible parties, with supporting documentation, over a period of years, and that these warnings were reported on numerous occasions in various Maui publications, indicates that Mayor Lingle and members of her administration cannot claim to be ignorant of the risks involved in co-composting and land application of sewage sludge.
But they have continued to push the project forward, and over the past two years have been spreading the sludge products in public spaces where our children play.
Can we prove beyond doubt that it was the toxins in the sewage sludge compost that caused Nicky's cancer? Perhaps not, because direct causative links are difficult to establish. We can be certain, however, that at the very least the Lingle administration knowingly put Nicky and hundreds of other children at increased risk of cancer and other diseases through their actions.
It is important in challenging the County's sludge composting project to be clear that alternative methods for dealing with our sludge do exist. First, it is legal and viable to properly put the sludge in the landfill. Prior to Lingle's tenure, the county had been legally disposing of the sludge in the landfill, mixing it with lime, and covering it each day to ensure safety. After Lingle was elected the practice was changed and the County started dumping the sludge in ponds and leaving it uncovered for months and months, exposing every landfill worker and user, attracting flies and creating odors and other problems.
Of course the state Department of Health told the County they couldn't do that anymore. But the Department of Health didn't say they couldn't put it in the landfill, just that they couldn't continue the way they were doing it.
To some observers, it appears that the County intentionally set it up to seem like there were no other options except to do co-composting, as a way to justify this predetermined course of action.
But the sludge can be put in the landfill. A key issue in recycling is volume versus tonnage. Often in discussions about recycling reference is made to the tons of material recycled. But what really matters in the landfill is volume, not tonnage. Sludge weighs a lot because it is wet, but it doesn't take up all that much space, compared with green waste, for example (tree trimmings, grass clippings, and other plant materials). Green "waste" composting is essential, but as Ralph Natale and others have argued for years, co-composting just contaminates the valuable clean green resource. Green material and sewage sludge should be processed separately, so that the plant compost can be safely returned to our parks and farmlands. Green waste composting is beneficial on both ends, as the easiest and most cost effective way to divert volumes of material from the landfill, and as a boon to local farmers and landscapers with a natural, organic soil amendment. But only if processed free of sludge contamination.
To deal with the sludge, it would be feasible and cost effective to just resume properly disposing of it in the landfill, as we earnestly explore other more long term solutions.
One example can be seen in Japan, where the Ebara Corporation has developed a zero emissions in-vessel sewage treatment system that produces hydrogen which in turn runs a fuel cell that produces energy. This technology is being exported internationally. More alternatives include other contained gasification processes, drying, pelletization, biological treatment, and other methods.
It is not yet clear exactly what the best solution for Maui would be. This is not due to a lack of alternatives, but to the fact that the Lingle administration has single-mindedly pursued one course over the valid and strenuous objections of many citizens and experts, and ignored any alternatives which may be available.
It seems prudent to begin by first preventing further contamination of our parks and exposure of the public. Then we can create an open process to truly evaluate the alternatives and find the best long-term solution or combination of solutions for meeting Maui's sludge challenge.
no "away" on an island. |
While we must find the best solution in the near term for dealing with the sludge as it exists, the long term solution must take a pollution prevention approach, with massive public education about the products we use in our homes and our work, and the harmful health and environmental effects these substances have.
There is no "away" on an island. Once we bring these substances into our community, there is no ideal way to deal with them. We should certainly avoid dangerous and senseless acts like spreading them around in our parks and schools, but ultimately we must find safe, nontoxic, environmentally friendly alternatives to replace the toxic products we commonly use. It is up to each of us to hold our government accountable for the health and welfare of the community and the safety of our public spaces, and at the same time become educated and aware about the true nature of the products we use in our own homes, businesses and industries, and how we contribute to the problem, and then make choices to do our part in keeping Maui a clean place for our children to grow up healthy.
Let us pray that Nicholas Natale is able to fight off his disease and return to a relatively normal life.
Meanwhile, we can only hope that the suffering of Nicky and his family serves as a wake up call to the people of Hawaii, through education and litigation, in order to protect others from a similar fate.
Please read this article carefully and do what YOU can to spread the word, and prevent this from happening to more of our youth in Hawaii.
© 1998, Hawaii Environment & Health News