New bill could bail out US farmers ruined by ‘forever chemical’ pollution

Fred Stone, whose family, farm, water and cows were poisoned by PFAS, at Stoneridge Farm in Arundel, Maine, on 17 March 2022. Photograph: Tristan Spinski/The Guardian

The US may soon bail out farmers whose livelihoods were destroyed by toxic PFAS “forever chemical” contamination.

The proposal for a $500m fund aims to head off a crisis for the nation’s growers and is moving through Congress amid increasing evidence that PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge used as a cheap fertilizer alternative poisoned crops and livestock. Separately, around 4,000 farms nationwide have been contaminated by PFAS from neighboring military bases.