Cleaning up industrial farms has become a priority among legislators in the US. Aside from being a major source of global warming emissions, due to the massive amounts of methane they create, the farms can also be a major source of pollution because of fertilizer run-off.

A large majority of the problems caused by run-off trace their roots back to the somehow-legal practice of simply dumping sewage sludge from waste treatment plants on farmland as fertilizer. It’s estimated that some 2.7 tons of sludge find their way onto US farmlands each year. 

As you might expect, everyone from food safety advocates to scientists has spoken out against the practice, citing a growing case history of death and illness tied to sludge use.  But five years ago the EPA denied an appeal, citing lack of scientific evidence proving the sludge dumping was hazardous for the environment. 

While manure has long been recognized as an effective fertilizer, sewage run-off contains all matter of nastiness that cow dung doesn’t: heavy metals, carcinogens and the prions responsible for mad cow disease. Better uses for waste biosolids have been arriving for years, making this one practice we should have flushed out of our farmlands years ago.