NEW CONCERNS OVER WASTEWATER SLUDGE

After sewage is cleaned at a wastewater treatment plant, sludge is left behind. This sludge is often used on farms as fertilizer. But the wastewater treatment doesn't get rid of all the drugs and chemicals we flush down the drain. Kinna Ohman reports researchers are finding some of these chemicals are affecting wildlife and could be getting into our food:


Take a tour of any wastewater treatment plant and you'll soon understand the main objective: to separate the liquids from the solids. Until the mid 90s, most of these solids, or sludge, used to go into landfills or were dumped in the ocean. But in 1994 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency started a program to promote the use of sludge on farm fields as fertilizer. The EPA thought this was the perfect solution... turning waste into a useful product.

But scientists have found something which could turn the EPA program on its head. Rolf Halden is an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Water and Health. He says sludge contains most of the chemicals we use:

"If you look at municipal sludge, it really is a matrix that reflects the chemical footprint of our society."

Halden's focused on one chemical he's found in sludge called Triclosan - and there's a lot of it out there. It's in antibacterial soaps, and can even be in our toothpastes, deodorants, and shampoos. Until recently, most if it was thought to break down. Now, Halden says they found something different:
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