Passing this on from another list...................

Trish
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50% Of Human Sewage Produced Yearly Is Spread On Cropland
By Keith Mulvihill
7-12-1

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Biosolids, the treated sewage sludge that
is spread on cropland as a fertilizer, contain ''high concentrations
of an environmentally persistent class of organic pollutants'' called
brominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs), study results indicate.

And the researchers report that they found BDEs in 87% of fish
sampled from Virginia waters, with one fish close to setting a world
record for contaminant levels.

``This finding indicates that significant environmental release of
these pollutants is occurring in the United States and that humans
may be exposed to them through their diet,'' according to Dr. Robert
C. Hale and colleagues from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science
in Gloucester Point.

BDEs are added to polyurethane, the synthetic foam used to make seat
cushions and many other materials, as a fire retardant. The European
Commission plans to ban BDEs due to mounting concerns about their
potential health risks and a recent study that found concentrations
of BDEs on the rise in human breast milk, Hale explained in an
interview with Reuters Health.

``What's new here is the fact that BDEs are a persistent pollutant--
meaning that it does not readily break down in the environment--and
they have not been well studied,'' Hale told Reuters Health.

Notably, Hale pointed out that concentrations in US biosolids exceed
those typically found in European biosolids by a factor of 10 to 100.

In the study, published in the July 12th issue of the journal Nature,
the researchers analyzed 11 samples of treated biosolids from
California, New York, Virginia and Maryland.

The total concentration of BDEs in the biosolids was 1,100 to 2,290
micrograms per kilogram of dry weight, ``suggesting that input was
high and consistent, regardless of the region of origin and
irrespective of pre-application treatment,'' the authors write.

The researchers found BDEs in 87% of 334 fish from Virginia waters
that they tested. In fact, a carp from one stream in Virginia
contained 47,900 micrograms per kilogram of total BDEs, ``rivaling
the highest fillet burdens reported in the world so far,'' the report
indicates.

``The jury is still out about how toxic BDEs are, but the fact
remains--they do bio-accumulate and they are persistent,'' Hale said.

Hale also noted that BDEs are ``quite similar in structure to the
drug thyroxine'' and said that the chemicals may mimic the drug's
activity in humans.

Thyroxine is used in the treatment of thyroid disorders and helps
regulate growth and cell metabolism.

Over half the sewage sludge produced annually in the United States is
applied to land, amounting to roughly 4 million tons in 1998, the
authors note.

SOURCE: Nature 2001;412:140-141.