Draft findings published Tuesday echo what Maine has been saying since 2022, when it became the first state to ban the use of sludge as fertilizer because of high concentrations of harmful forever chemicals.

The report was published weeks after a ProPublica investigation found that the chemical causes more cancer than any other toxic air pollutant and can trigger asthma, miscarriages and fertility problems.

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 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday.

Food produced on farms whose land was contaminated with toxic “forever chemicals” may pose a risk to human health, according to a new draft report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The report from the EPA is focused on risks to those who live near impacted farms or who otherwise rely primarily on their