Texas farmers are suing a fertilizer company that uses human waste in products
They claim the fertilizer spread and made their farmland ‘useless’
A group of Texas ranchers have claimed their animals are being killed by a toxic fertilizer that spread from a nearby farm – likening it to the Chernobyl disaster.
The farmers from Johnson County are suing Synagro, a fertilizer company that uses treated human waste in its products, for the contamination on their land.
According to Synagro, the fertilizer meets government standards – but the farmers say that their cattle, fish and horses are dying and getting sick because of the toxic product.
Rancher Tony Coleman is one of the farmers behind the lawsuit, which claims that runoff from the fertilizer has made the farmland useless. ‘We are nervous, and we are scared,’ he told WFAA.
Coleman said his neighbor used the Synagro product to fertilize his land, and what came after was a disaster.
‘You have your whole livelihood taken from you,’ Coleman said.
Coleman contacted Johnson County Constable Detective Dana Ames – who traveled to the ranch to investigate the problem.
Ames said she learned later that what she had found in the area were piles of fertilizer made from biosolids – which come from human waste and are full of PFAS, which are known as ‘forever chemicals’ by scientists.
‘It’s chemicals that are man made,’ Ames said. ‘It’s in the sewage sludge. It’s in the biosolids.’
Ames partnered with scientists and experts to try to find out how the toxic man-made chemicals ended up on a ranch in rural Texas.
They eventually discovered that the chemicals were coming from Synagro – which uses ‘sewage sludge’ to make its’ products.
Ames presented her findings to the Johnson County Commissioners Court. ‘The contamination that has occurred on our victims’ properties is pervasive,’ she told commissioners in her presentation.
Alongside the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility group, also known as PEER, Ames looked at where the wastewater had come from and traced it back to a Fort Worth waste water facility
The waste becomes intoxicated because all humans consume PFAS, a complex group of synthetic chemicals that can be found in anything from frying pans, to makeup, candy wrappers and even pizza boxes.
The PFAS chemicals all end up in a human waste and are sent to the wastewater facility, where the sewage sludge is then used to make the cheap fertilizer that is sold across the nation.
Since the allegedly toxic fertilizer was used in Johnson County, ranchers are looking at having to abandon farms and euthanize animals
When the farms were tested, extremely high level of PFAS were found in the animals as well as the well water. Everything was contaminated.
‘My first thought was, you know, this is Chernobyl, a nuclear meltdown,’ commissioner Kenny Howell said in court after the findings were presented.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13444875/desperate-ranchers-CHERNOBYL-cattle-horses-fish-dying.html