Have eternal pollutants made her children sick?

(Durham, New Hampshire) Allison Jumper’s family was the picture of health. Active children. Healthy meals. A freezer full of organic beef, from his in-laws’ farm in Maine.

At the end of 2020, she received a terrible call. High levels of “perennial pollutants” had been detected in the soil and in the milk of their cows. The farm was going to be closed.

At the time, M^me Jumper worried about her in-laws and their livelihood. But she quickly thought of something else: the mysterious illnesses of her children, including very high cholesterol levels.

“That’s when it hit me,” she said in her home in Durham, New Hampshire. “Could it be the beef? »

Decades earlier, before his in-laws bought the farm, the soils had been fertilized with sewage sludge contaminated with a dangerous class of chemicals linked to cancer, liver disease and other conditions.

Cattle had grazed on contaminated pastures, making the meat and milk toxic. However, his family had been eating it for years.

The story of the Jumper family and the Dostie farm is one of the most compelling cases of the dangers of food coming from farmland contaminated with fertilizers containing dangerous chemicals called PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances). Since then, the Dosties have collaborated on Maine research into the amount of chemicals leaching into agricultural products and hypotheses for decontaminating soil containing PFAS.

Toxic spreading

The contaminated fertilizer sludge crisis is affecting farms and families across the country and calling American food security into question. Sewage plants produce enormous quantities of sludge, and for decades the federal government encouraged farmers to use it as fertilizer on millions of acres.

Today, scientific research shows that sewage sludge can contain a lot of PFAS, synthetic chemical compounds that never decompose and are widely used in nonstick pans, raincoats, firefighting equipment and other products. They can accumulate in the blood and tissues of humans and animals who consume contaminated water or food.

This year, the U.S. environmental agency ruled that there is no level of PFAS that is safe for humans and imposed strict limits on certain PFAS in drinking water.

For M^me Jumper and her husband, who is a medical specialist, this discovery was frightening. Since then, they have been investigating whether beef raised on the family farm made their children sick.

The mother has broader questions: “If there were PFAS in our beef, without our knowledge, who can guarantee that there are not PFAS in other meats and foods found in the grocery store? »

Mass produced for years

These chemical compounds were mass-produced for decades even as evidence of their dangers mounted. It’s unclear how much PFAS is entering the food supply, whether from sludge or elsewhere, or their effect on public health. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not set limits for PFAS levels in foods. But since 2019, the agency has tested nearly 1,300 samples: the vast majority did not contain the types of PFAS it can detect, she says.

However, some experts and activists question its methodology. The FDA itself warns that “dietary exposure to PFAS is an emerging area of ​​science and much remains to be discovered.” This year, Consumer Reports said it detected PFAS in some milks, even organic. Researchers have found PFAS in eggs, fruit juices and seafood.

“We’ve been discovering that there are PFAS in our food for a long time,” says Courtney Carignan, an environmental researcher at Michigan State University. “These chemical compounds were simply not monitored,” she adds. If you don’t look, you sure as hell won’t find any. »

The Jumper couple would never have believed that the beef from the Dostie farm would be contaminated with anything.

A freezer full of PFAS beef

Egide Dostie Sr. and Egide Dostie Jr. farmed organically in Fairfield, Maine, sold their milk to Stonyfield Organic, a New Hampshire dairy company, and never fertilized their land with sewage sludge.

In 2020, when Stonyfield told them that tests had revealed the presence of high levels of PFAS in their milk, they were stunned: “We are certified organic,” Egide fils told them.

The Dosties understood later, when officials told them that the farm’s previous owners had used sewage sludge fertilizer during the 1980s and 1990s.

“They closed us down,” said Egide fils. They said, “It’s over for you.” »

Allison Jumper immediately stopped cooking with Dostie Farm meat, which she served about once a week: steaks, hamburgers and pot roast for Sunday supper. “I didn’t want my children to eat it anymore. I was sure of that,” she says.

There is no clear protocol for this type of health alert and the Jumper couple had to grope their way forward. The little one’s pediatrician found blood tests detecting PFAS. It wasn’t that simple; only a handful of laboratories offer this type of analysis.

Tests confirmed M’s fears^me Jumper. Her son, then 10, had higher levels of PFOS – a type of PFAS – than 95% of Americans.

“My oldest, the one who always emptied his plate, had the highest rate,” said M.^me Jumper.

Her two youngest had rates above 75 percent of Americans, as did she and her husband, Cullen, who is a urologist at an area clinic.

Fortunately, they had kept the beef in the freezer. With the help of Maine officials and a Department of Agriculture scientist, the meat underwent testing for 16 types of PFAS, which revealed high levels of PFOS, a perennial pollutant with a potential carcinogen. The meat was unfit for consumption.

Their well water was also tested. No levels were detected, ruling out this potential source. (A recent government study detected PFAS in the running water of nearly half of Americans.)

Rachel Criswell is an environmental health researcher and family physician in Skowhegan, Maine. She treats patients who have been exposed to PFAS in fertilizer sludge. She is especially worried about farming villages and families, who are more likely to eat meat from a single cow or herd, putting them at risk.

“It’s a delayed environmental catastrophe, which will turn lives upside down,” she predicts.

Maine’s unusual strategy

Maine is the only state that systematically tests agricultural soils for PFAS, since the chemical compounds were detected on a dairy farm in 2016. Contaminations have been found on 68 farms so far.

Nationwide, the situation is less clear. Industry data shows that more than 2 million dry U.S. tons (a measure excluding any moisture) of sewage sludge were applied to 18,600 square kilometers of agricultural land in 2018.

According to Maine officials, their state may be just the tip of the iceberg: “We are the only ones doing the right thing and investigating,” says Nancy McBrady, deputy commissioner of the Department of Health. Maine Agriculture.

Farms like the Dostie Farm are the epicenter of research into the spread of PFAS in contaminated water and soil to crops, livestock and the human food chain. Some preliminary findings: Livestock can become contaminated with PFAS if they eat or drink contaminated food or water. Cows eliminate chemicals through their milk.

In plants, PFAS uptake is greatest in leafy green vegetables; chemicals seem to accumulate more in leaves and stems than in roots, fruits or grains. However, a 2021 study shows that consuming a single radish grown in PFAS-rich soil can result in exceeding daily exposure recommendations set by the federal government.

More recently, the EPA said no levels of certain types of PFAS were safe.

In 2022, Maine completely banned the use of sludge fertilizers and is providing income compensation to affected farmers. The state, in collaboration with a group of local organic farmers, is also working to help owners of contaminated farms turn to floriculture or electricity production using solar panels.

“At least most of the contaminated farms remain in operation,” notes Sarah Alexander, director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. “Despite this, the situation is extremely stressful, especially for farmers whose land is too contaminated. »

In New Hampshire, the Jumper family is adapting. Children are tested annually for PFAS: the rate is slowly falling. But two of the three children still have high cholesterol, a problem linked to PFAS. And all three had poor vaccine responses, which is also linked to PFAS.

“I’m really sad,” concludes Allison Jumper. We thought this beef was as safe as it could be. »

This article was published in the New York Times.

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Read an information sheet from the Quebec Ministry of Health on PFAS

Read an INSPQ fact sheet on the potential health effects of PFAS