EPA won’t curb sewage sludge; agency cites minimal health risk

WASHINGTON – Farmers and others who use sewage sludge as fertilizer will not face government restrictions over the possible cancer-causing dioxins it may contain.

The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it would not regulate dioxins in land-applied sludge because it believes there to be minimal danger from dioxins, a class of organic chemicals that the agency’s studies have shown pose a possible cancer risk in humans.

“The risk of new cancer cases from this source is small, is substantially smaller than other chemicals we regulate,” said Geoffrey Grubbs, who heads the EPA Office of Water’s science and technology programs. “We just do not see a basis or justification for further regulation of this particular set of contaminants in sludge.”

According to EPA’s analysis, only 0.003 new cases of cancer could be expected each year – a statistic that means roughly one case every 300 years – from exposure to dioxins in sludge used on farms to fertilize crops and animal feed.