PFA's in Garden Fertilizer

The Ecology Center and the Sierra Club had nine types of bagged fertilizer tested for PFAS. Eight had between 14 to 20 detectable kinds of PFAS. The industrial chemicals can cause health problems. 
The fertilizer came from bio-solids, the sludge from wastewater treatment plants. The fertilizers are sold in big box hardware stores and garden centers all over the U.S. In a report, the environmental groups suggested municipal wastewater plant operators need to track down the sources of PFAS and stop allowing the chemicals to be flushed down the drain.
 
A new report finds some garden fertilizers contain PFAS, the so-called ‘forever chemicals’ that can cause health problems. 
 
The Ecology Center and the Sierra Club identified dozens of bagged fertilizers that use the sludge from wastewater treatment plants: often called bio-solids. 
 
The groups bought nine fertilizers made from biosolids from different areas of the country. Eight of the nine contained PFAS. 
 
Linda Birnbaum is the former director of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences. She reviewed the report.
 
“We know that the PFAS that you put on your garden, some of it is going to be taken up by the plants either directly through the roots, some of it is going to get on the leaves.”
 
Some of the brands of fertilizer were marketed as “natural” or “organic.”
 
The report suggests one way to get past the problem is for municipal wastewater operators to stop whoever is sending PFAS down the drain.