Harmful chemicals in sewage sludge spread on pasture as fertilizer pose a risk to people who regularly consume milk, beef and other products from those farms, in some cases raising cancer risk “several orders of magnitude” above what the Environmental Protection Agency considers acceptable,

The use of treated sewage sludge as fertilizer on farms can pose a health risk to residents and consumers because of the presence of “forever chemicals” that break down slowly, the Environmental Protection Agency said today.