For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s Toxic Sludge and Organic Compost page, California News page and our Environment and Climate Resource page.

Do you want everything that goes down your drain winding up on your backyard produce? Well that’s what happens to those who use organic compost made with municipal sewage.

More than half of the 15 trillion gallons of sewage flushed annually by Americans ends up in a fertilizer product and those products contain everything that goes down the drain from Prozac flushed down toilets to the motor oil rinsed off factory floors (http://motherjones.com/environment/…). The U.S. Department of Agriculture doesn’t regulate which fertilizers can be labeled as “organic” which means anyone can use the term, including those companies that are packaging what we flush.

A 2009 EPA survey of U.S. sludge samples found 12 pharmaceuticals, 10 flame retardants, and high levels of endocrine disruptors such at triclosan, an antibacterial soap ingredient that scientists believe is killing amphibians.