THE MILWAUKEE SLUDGE STORY
Milwaukee has led the charge to put the public health at risk with the use of sludge as a fertilizer. It even conspired with
EPA to remove chromium from the part 503 guidelines by misleading a federal court. That didn't quite work, so EPA lied
about the courts act.
Chromium and Sludge
The reaction to the advent of the Food Quality Protection Act which was by Congress in 1996 has been dramatic: 1)
Almost a quarter of the States rushed to enact food slander laws to prevent vocal complaints against adulterated food
products; 2) EPA prevailed on the National Academy of Science's National Research Council (NRC) to release an
unedited (and very flawed) scientific study on the positive benefits of using sludge as a fertilizer on food crops; and 3)
EPA quickly changed the Sludge Use and Disposal Regulation (40 CFR 503) by removing the ref erence to regulating
the extremely high toxic Chromium limits from the beneficial sludge use tables in part 503.13. The basic premise of the
"food slander laws" is that the media will not carry any "horror" stories about contaminated food products that have not
been proven scientifically.
JOHN WALKER AND SLUDGE
John Walker, a key player in getting States to accept sewage sludge as a fertilizer has retired from EPA. However, his
legacy will live on as more and more health and environmental damages from toxic chemicals and disease organisms
are reported. As a USDA employee, Walker was one of the first people to report to EPA that sludge treatment processes
didn't work. So, he went to work for EPA selling sludge as a safe fertilizer.