Moral Obligation to the Public
To those concerned with the well being of children: Sewage Sludge Action Network [SSAN] is a tri-county, non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization working to protect farmland, forest, food, water, and air. We are dedicated to our mission of public education, information sharing, instruction, research, and investigation regarding the practice of application of toxic sewage sludge onto land.
I am the founder and current Chair. I live near farmland that has been sludged for 30 years, and have personally experienced its negative impacts. I have experienced undrinkable well water, noxious odors, and numerous health problems.
SSAN represents the counties of Orange, Chatham, and Alamance, but we have had numerous opportunities to help communities across the United States.
In the past 4 years, SSAN has successfully decreased the average number of acres/year being poisoned by sludge in Orange County, from approximately 325 to -17 acres per year. We promote a popular educational series, free to the public, during which we show the Canadian documentary, “SLUDGE DIET”. We offer free handouts, present a lecture, have discussions, and question/ answer sessions. In addition, we have produced our own, successful documentary film entitled: "SEWAGE SLUDGE ON OUR FARMLANDS: A TOXIC BETRAYAL”. This video has been viewed almost 4000 times, by people all over the world.
One rainy morning, in the Fall of 2009, I received a phone call about sewage sludge being spread across the road from an elementary school in Snow Camp, Alamance County, NC. Needless to say, I was horrified by this report, as it had not occurred to me or other members of SSAN, that sludge COULD BE or WOULD BE spread NEAR A BUILDING OCCUPIED BY CHILDREN!
As I drove out to the site, I believed that I would not find toxic sludge being spread near a school. This could not be happening. Surely, this is not true… No one would allow small children to be put in danger of coming in contact with airborne toxic sewage sludge. No one would allow children’s play equipment to be potentially contaminated by airborne toxins and pathogens.
Much to my disgust, it was true. I photographed the event, and unsuccessfully attempted to communicate with the school principal as to the danger the children were in, from exposure to this toxic material.
Later in the month, a meeting was held with the Burlington Mayor, City Manager, and a representative of the Burlington Waste Water Treatment Plant, to discuss the situation. SSAN made the specific request that the permit to spread sludge near Sylvan School be rescinded in order to safe guard the health and welfare of the children and school personnel. SSAN's request was rejected out of hand and the practice continued.
Summer 2010, one late weekday afternoon, I received a cell phone call from a frantic and terrified grandmother of a student of Sylvan School. She informed me that her little granddaughter and two of her classmates had been diagnosed with JUVENILE RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS within one week of each other. She was devastated.
Her question to me was simple and chilling: COULD THE SEWAGE SLUDGE SPREAD ACROSS THE STREET FROM SYLVAN SCHOOL CAUSE THIS DISEASE IN MY GRANDDAUGHTER AND THE OTHER CHILDREN?
My advice to her was to remove her granddaughter from Sylvan school, immediately, and to advise the other parents of the affected children to do the same.
I wondered: HOW MANY OTHER CHILDREN HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH THIS DISEASE? HOW MANY CHILDREN AT THIS SCHOOL SUFFER FROM ASTHMA OR CHRONIC BRONCHITIS OR PNEUMONIA?
Juvenile Chronic Arthritis is part of a heterogeneous group of chronic joint autoimmune pathologies that affect approximately 1-3 per 1000 children. Clearly, 3 reported cases in one class, in 1 week, would be 3 per 30-35 children!! Obviously, a rate of approximately, 30 times the national average. This is cause for immediate concern.
Since that pivotal point in time, I have tirelessly lobbied for health studies of children going to schools that are near sludged farmlands. By chance, I have discovered many interesting facts and similar disturbing incidents, and the possibility of undertaking such studies is far greater now than ever before. We have uncovered many other schools in North Ccarolina that are in danger of toxic contamination from nearby sewage sludge application. Additionally, we have discovered that composted sewage sludge is routinely used to fertilize playgrounds and ball fields at schools!
With Juvenile Chronic Arthritis (JCA), as with many other autoimmune diseases, there are extensive and well documented associations with genetic markers and environmental stresses. Autoimmune diseases result from an immune reaction caused or triggered by environmental factors such as pollution, or infectious agents, in a genetically susceptible host. There is ample evidence that environmental triggering agents are involved in the pathogenic process. In a recent review of the scientific literature regarding rheumatoid arthritis, the contribution of genetics to pathogenesis is estimated to be approximately 37% with the balance being deemed largely due to environmental factors.
Burlington’s highly toxic Class B sewage sludge has some of the highest levels of chemicals emanating from local industries of any city in the United States. There is research to further suggest that fire retardants, which are abundant in textile manufacturing and, thus, in Burlington’s Class B sewage sludge, may be one of the environmental contributors to the prevalence of autoimmune pathologies in locations of sewage sludge applications. Research has shown that fire retardants are hydrophobic, do not dissolve in water, do not readily wash off of the farmland into ground and surface waters, BUT STAY IN THE SOIL AND ACCUMULATE WITH EACH ADDITIONAL TOXIC SEWAGE SLUDGE APPLICATION. As this poison accumulates, the toxic levels increase, making the dust blowing off of the fields, MUCH MORE DANGEROUS.
In addition, several potential pathogens, such as E.Coli, all very abundant in Class B sewage sludge, have been implicated in literature searches, as a causal component of autoimmune diseases. The Rubella virus has been implicated, for some time, in causing JCA. Incidents of individuals, who received rubella immunizations, have consequently developed arthritis, very similar to JCA. Both Chlamydia and Epstein-Barr virus proteins have been identified in the joints of some children with JCA. These pathogens are found in sewage sludge.
Recently, and not surprisingly, it has come to my attention that Sylvan School has the highest absentee rate due to illness in the county. During the 2010-11 school years, students missed more than 2,500 hours of instructional time because of late arrivals and early checkouts relating to health care.
With sewage sludge being spread in such close proximity to the school and school grounds, the cleanliness of the play equipment, employee vehicles and the drinking water of the facility are all are in danger of contamination, not to mention the air being breathed.
Furthermore, I have discovered the prevalence of CA-MRSA (community-acquired methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) outbreaks in schools in North and South Carolina. Coincidentaly, these outbreaks of CA-MRSA correspond with the application of composted sewage sludge on school playgrounds and ball fields!!!
To quote a North Carolina study: “The incidence of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) infections in children has increased dramatically over the past decade. CA-MRSA infections are often resistant to standard outpatient antibiotics and present a large burden to the health care system and to afflicted families…. Risk factors for CA-MRSA infection in children included parental employment in a school or daycare,… ”
There was a recent MRSA outbreak in a South Carolina School system: On February 26th, 2013, a Facebook post warned parents of several students at Chester High School (Chester County, South Carolina) infected with MRSA. November, 2007, 3 Chester County school students contracted CA-MRSA infections, according to a school official. Each case occurred at separate schools. Four clusters of multiple cases were reported in South Carolina during September, 2007, in Darlington, Chesterfield, Florence and Charleston counties. WERE THE BALLFIELDS OF THESE SCHOOLS SPREAD WITH COMPOSTED SEWAGE SLUDGE? WAS SEWAGE SLUDGE SPREAD NEAR THESE SCHOOLS?
Sewage sludge is concentrated, pathogen laden, toxic waste. NO ONE SHOULD BE EXPOSED TO IT, MUCH LESS CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS!
If a tanker truck flips over, and sewage sludge is spilled on the road, a hazmat team would respond to clean it up. If the tanker truck does not flip over, then the toxic sludge is sprayed on farmland and it becomes “FERTILIZER”!
In the past, sludge was dumped into the ocean, and ‘dead zones’ formed. Is sewage sludge safe to spread on land that our food is grown on, and beef cattle graze on, and children play on?
Is the well being of the children not important to you? Why does protecting the public’s health fall into a diminishingly unimportant position when compared to industry profits, bureaucratic needs and comfort? Nothing is being done to safeguard the children!
Do I have to emphasize to you that these incidents of JCA and CA-MRSA are serious situations that should be reported to the Center of Disease Control in Atlanta?
Studies will be done, and it will be proven that sewage sludge is the causative factor of these particular illnesses and many other health related issues, such as pneumonia, asthma, and chronic bronchitis.
Would you want to take a risk that exposure to sewage sludge would be causing health issues in children? Are you prepared for an epidemic of MRSA?
The current issue of the day is children’s safety in schools. Parents do not want lunatics with guns in the schools. Parents do not want their children to be exposed to toxic chemicals and pathogens while in school either.
Children are overly sensitive to chemicals and pathogens, and their immune systems are immature. This population is THE MOST SUSCEPTIBLE and exposing them to toxic waste is unacceptable. WHY ARE YOU PLAYING RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN?
I honestly do not understand why the local governments of Burlington, and Alamance County, along with the appropriate school boards, are not doing their best to ensure parents that their children’s health and safety are of the utmost importance to them, by using their influence to have these permits revoked. You are morally obligated to do your best to protect the children.
SSAN is officially putting the people who could put a stop to this, on report. The moral responsibility is yours, now that you have been educated and warned of the hazards. SSAN can supply unlimited scientific reports and literature supporting our position, many of which are EPA documents. We can supply contact information for top scientists at renowned universities throughout the United States that are leading the research in this field.
SSAN is respectfully asking you to safe guard the children of Alamance County. We are requesting that the City of Burlington end the practice of applying their Class B sludge on fields close to schools, on play grounds, and ball fields in the Alamance-Burlington School District.
I am at your service.
Yours,
Myra M. Dotson, Chair