Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), an advocacy group, has announced a lawsuit against a major U.S. producer of so-called “biosolids-based fertilizer” for contaminating the natural environment with toxic chemicals like PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances).

In what PEER says is the first “in what may be a tidal wave of product liability lawsuits,” the claim against Synagro, which produces crop fertilizers from sewage sludge contaminated with all sorts of deadly toxins, alleges the company is responsible for unleashing “a major threat to American agriculture and public health.”

Five farmers from Johnson County, Tex., filed the suit against Synagro Technologies, Inc. and its Texas affiliate for poisoning their farms with PFAS-contaminated fertilizer. Livestock have died, water has become polluted and farming properties are now worthless as a result.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), several of the PFAS identified in Synagro’s biosludge-based fertilizer are so toxic to humans that there is no safe level of exposure to them, even in very small amounts.

As explained by PEER, concentrations of PFAS in soil, water, fish and calf tissue on Johnson County farms were “stunningly high.” A stillborn calf liver was found to have 610,000 parts per trillion (ppt) of PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonic acid), while two fish samples were found to contain 57,000 and 74,000 ppt of PFOS respectively.

(Related: Did you know that at least 20 states in America liquefy vaccine-murdered people and spread their flesh goo on food crops as “fertilizer?”)

Maine bans biosludge

Synagro says its biosludge fertilizer is produced from sewage sludge the company collects from a water treatment facility in Fort Worth, Tex. Every year, Synagro manufactures 26,500 tons of said fertilizer just at its Fort Worth location. The company also says it has about 1,000 other such contracts with water treatment plants all across North America.

Every year, Synagro manages an astounding 6.5 million tons of biosolids for the North American market – and all of that biosludge ends up getting dumped on conventional farms that grow food for animal and human consumption.

“Similar instances of PFAS poisonings of farms, dairies and ranches have occurred in several states,” commented PEER Science Policy Director Kyla Bennett, a scientist and attorney who used to work at the EPA. “This lawsuit against Synagro will likely be the first of many.”

After more than 60 farms in Maine were found to have unsafe levels of PFAS contamination caused by biosludge, the state outlawed all land application of the stuff – and others could soon follow.

The lawsuit, which was filed in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, Md., where the company is based, specifically targets false claims made by Synagro that its biosludge fertilizers are safe and “organic,” which is anything but true. Not only that, but Synagro does not warn purchasers about the risks involved with PFAS exposure, pretending as though such risks do not exist.

“Although civil and criminal sanctions at both the state and local levels are available, the PFAS biosolids problem calls for a national solution,” Bennett added, noting that Johnson County, Tex., is also now conducting a criminal investigation into Synagro.

“Unfortunately, EPA has yet to act to protect consumers and farmers from these avoidable toxic exposures.”

The Austin, Tex.-based law firm Guerrero & Whittle PLLC filed the suit in partnership with the Baltimore-based firm Brown, Goldstein & Lefy, LLP.

The EPA currently advises exposure limits in drinking water for PFAS and other related “forever chemicals” at a maximum of 70 ppt, which is orders of magnitude lower than the amounts of PFAS and other forever chemicals contained in Synagro’s biosludge fertilizer.