FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Contact:
Kyla Bennett (508) 230-9933 kbennett@peer.org
Laura Dumais (202) 792-1277 ldumais@peer.org
Biosolid Fertilizer Maker Confirms PFAS in Product
Company Has Not Published Supposedly Exonerating “Independent” Study
Washington, DC — The country’s biggest manufacturer of biosolid fertilizer claims it is not responsible for the severe toxic contamination devastating Texas farms linked to its product, according to a statement issued today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The company, Synagro, has issued a press release touting an “Independent Scientific Study” which concluded its sludge-based fertilizer “could not be the source of the PFAS levels found in the fish and animals” in Johnson County, Texas, but did not release the study itself.
PEER points to several questionable premises in the company’s March 12th press release, including that the levels of toxic PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) found in its study as “well within background soil concentrations observed across the nation.”
“There is no such thing as ‘background soil concentrations’ of PFAS because PFAS are a manmade, synthetic family of chemicals that do not exist in nature,” noted PEER Science Policy Director Kyla Bennett, a scientist and attorney formerly with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “EPA has determined that there is no safe consumption level for two PFAS, PFOS and PFOA, and there may be human health risks exceeding EPA’s acceptable thresholds when land-applying sewage sludge contains as little as 1 part per billion (ppb) of these two PFAS. By contrast, our tests of Synagro’s biosolids showed PFOS at 13 times the level EPA says may cause human health risks.”
In addition, Synagro did not test the ranches where PEER and Johnson County sampled, and where their independent lab found high levels of a variety of PFAS. Further, the Synagro press release states that one of the PFAS PEER and Johnson County found on the two ranches “does not match” the PFAS found in Synagro’s biosolids and concluded that the PFAS on the farms must have come from another source. Synagro ignores the fact that this one PFAS is a common degradation product of other PFAS that were found in the biosolids.
The levels of PFOS PEER and Johnson County found in fish and calf liver on these Johnson County ranches were exceedingly high: specifically, 57,000 and 74,000 ppt in the fish, and 610,000 ppt in the calf liver. EPA has established that there is no safe ingestion level of PFOS. Synagro has offered no alternate explanation for these findings. Meanwhile, Johnson County is seeking an emergency declaration from the state to free federal aid to compensate for the devastating losses.
“We would invite Synagro to let everyone see what is behind the claims in its press release,” added PEER Staff Counsel Laura Dumais, who is handling the litigation to compel EPA to start regulating PFAS in biosolid fertilizers under the Clean Water Act. “Synagro needs to lay its cards on the table so the scientific work can be independently evaluated.”
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Read PEER’s statement on the Synagro study
Compare peer-reviewed study showing a link between biosolids and PFAS contamination
Examine the new EPA risk assessment on PFAS in biosolid fertilizers
Look at the product liability suit
