North Texas farmers have begun reporting the presence of “forever chemicals” on their land that have been causing major issues, with multiple farmers reporting that these chemicals are affecting the health of livestock.
Grandview farmer Tony Coleman said his farm was disproportionately affected by these mysterious chemicals, causing many deaths before he was able to determine the root cause of the issue, as reported by KERA News.
Coleman explained that 35 out of his 150 cattle have died since the beginning of 2023, including a one-week period in which he lost a bull, a cow, and a 3-week-old calf.
Coleman recalled when he and his neighbor, James Farmer, noticed a sewage smell coming from smoking piles of fertilizer, with heavy rains later washing this fertilizer onto their lands, per KERA.
The two farmers could not figure out what was happening with their livestock, prompting them to seek out help from someone from within the local government.
A Johnson County environmental crime investigator began to look into the reports that the men had filed, collecting samples from a variety of sources to learn about what was causing these deaths.
This investigation determined that chemicals in fertilizer were causing many of the issues. The fertilizer, made with biosolids from sewage plants, has been touted as an ecologically-friendly way to recycle municipal sewage, according to KERA.
Many Texas wastewater plants across the state have developed agreements with fertilizer companies to take their biosolids, which the companies then use to make fertilizer. However, the chemicals contained in the biosolids remain in the finished product and wind up spread across farmland and washed into waterways, per KERA.
The biggest issue with biosolids is that they contain polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are known as “forever chemicals” and are associated with a wide variety of medical risks.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, PFAS chemicals are called “forever chemicals” because they do not break down and can persist in water, soil, and the bodies of living organisms.
Coleman explained that the chemicals dumped nearby have tainted nearly all of his land, making it nearly impossible to avoid the risks that are associated with ingesting the chemicals in some way.
“Everything we plant here is just sucking this [PFAS] stuff up,” he said to KERA.
“The cows drink the water and eat the grass. For them there is no escaping.”
Kyla Bennett, a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employee, said the presence of PFAS chemicals has grown significantly over the years and many do not understand the risks that come along.
“Some people are saying, [PFAS contamination] are isolated incidents. No, they’re not. I guarantee that this is a problem in every single state that uses biosolids,” she said, per KERA.
“The reason we’re not hearing about it all over the country, in all 50 states, is because nobody’s looking for this problem.”
Contributing to issue is the scarcity of regulations regarding these “forever chemicals,” with the EPA outlining some regulations that are meant to limit the presence of just five of these chemicals, according to KERA.
Although the government continues to overlook many of the issues associated with these chemicals, researchers from Texas State University have begun conducting investigations into the effects of the chemicals.
While these studies revolve around the risks associated with firefighters wearing these chemicals in uniforms, many of the discoveries have the potential to be applied to other aspects of the world that are dealing with “forever chemicals,” as previously reported by The Dallas Express.