Food Chain Radio Michael Olson

Urban Farming Agriculturalist

WASTES NOT, WANT NOT!

Should treated sewage sludge biosolids be spread on farmland?

Guests: Caroline Snyder, Professor Emeritus, Rochester Institute of Technology Founder, Citizens for Sludge-Free Land;  and Patty Martin, Former Mayor, Quincy, Washington, Co-Founder Safe Food and Fertilizer

This Poll is closed!!

Are foods grown in farmlands containing treated industrial wastes safe to eat?

MAYBE

NO

YES

Total voters: 29

*

10%

55%

31%

Until very recently, the totalitarian government of China allowed for the unrestricted dumping of household and industrial wastes into its environment.  Consequently, China’s government was recently forced to admit about 20% of the nation’s farmland and 90% of its surface waters were contaminated with toxic heavy metals.

Food Chain Radio host Michael Olson: Should treated sewage sludge be spread on farmland?

China’s environmental catastrophe most likely could not happen here in the developed world, of course, but how do we treat and dispose of our domestic and industrial wastes?

Here in the developed world, the dumping of domestic and industrial wastes is greatly restricted by an ethic of cleanliness, a set of protective rules and regulations, and an Environmental Protection Agency.

Nowhere, in the developed world, will you find someone dumping raw wastes into the environment, at least for very long.  People would see the dumping, the press would cover the dumping, and government would fine the dumpers.

Though we are very proud of our clean environment, we still produce toxic wastes, and we produce a lot of it.  And so we pause to ask…

How do we treat our domestic and industrial toxic wastes?

What does treatment remove, and what does treatment fail to remove?

How do we dispose of treated domestic and industrial wastes?  And…

Are foods grown in farmlands containing treated wastes safe to eat?

Tune in here, for the syndicated Food Chain Radio Show #968 Live on May 24, 2014 Saturday 9AM Pacific