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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Environment
Tom Perkins

The unlikely alliance pressing Trump to regulate Pfas on US farms: ‘This is a basic human right’

A view through tree branches of apparently sludge covered in straw mulch.
Sludge virtually always teems with Pfas and other dangerous chemicals, which contaminate water, crops and livestock. Photograph: Portland Press Herald/Getty Images

An unlikely alliance of farmers, bikers, truckers, a detective and scientists from across the political spectrum are working to pressure the Trump administration and Republican leadership to rein in the use of toxic sewage sludge as fertilizer on the nation’s farmland.

Sludge often teems with Pfas, or “forever chemicals”, which present a health risk to farmers and the public, and have destroyed farms and contaminated water across the country. The issue has touched the groups’ lives in different ways, highlighting its broad risks to health.

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