Public Health Protection in the United States: Turning a Blind Eye to APEs

If you missed the publication, "Troubling Bubbles," from the Washington Toxics Coalition or the ReSource Musing about alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs), the bottom line is that their use should be banned. Many European countries, finding time in the business of government to remember what "public health" means, have already banned these poisons. But in the United States, public health protection is increasingly political and the politics are not favoring health.

Alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs) are surfactants. Surfactants are chemicals widely used in the US and elsewhere in detergents. There are many kinds of surfactants, some benign and some toxic. Industry in the United States favors the use of the toxic kinds because they are cheaper than their non-toxic replacements. The key to understanding APEs' toxicity is to look at what they turn into when they biodegrade. When they breakdown they turn into - among other things- chemicals called nonylphenols (NPs). NPs are highly toxic to the aquatic environment and dangerous to human health. The funny thing about NPs is that they are significantly accumulated in digested sewage sludge. As a direct result of anaerobic sludge treatment, large amounts of NPs are formed. Nonylphenols are both attached to the sludge solids and discharged with the treated sewage effluent. Nobody knows what happens when these chemicals are spread on fields and forests. In the United States, nobody is looking. According to researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute for Water Resources and Water Pollution Control (EAWAG), "Compared to other chemicals contained in sewage sludge such as polychlorinated biphenyls, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons and pesticides like lindane or dieldrine, the flux of LAS (the most commonly used surfactant in laundry detergents) and NPs in sludge is several orders of magnitude higher." The soil becomes the sink and we become the sewer.

The widespread use of a chemical that is highly toxic to aquatic life, is known to cause harm to people, and is banned in Europe begs the question: where is the watchful eye and protective hand of government in the United States? It seems it can be as easily bought and sold as it could in Rachel Carson's time, when government bureaucrats argued that there was absolutely no harm in dumping fuel oil mixed with synthetic pesticides on your property several times a day. No harm at all. You could watch the birds literally drop dead after planes sprayed the poisons on America's farms, forests, and yards. But pesticide manufacturers and government spokespeople insisted there were no ill effects from the aerial spraying. We know better now. But the fact of the matter is, we knew better then.

What has changed in thirty five years? Instead of fuel oil and DDT being dumped from airplanes to kill bugs, we have sewage sludge infused with toxic chemicals being spread on land and touted as organic fertilizer for plants. Same lies. Same liars. Better public relations departments.

Laura Orlando

Notes

"The Fate of Organic Pollutants in Wastewater and Sludge Treatment: Significant Proces and Impact ofCompound Properties." Alfredo C. Alder, Hansruedi Siegrist, Karl Fent, Thomas Egli, Eva Molnar, Thomas Poiger, Christian Schaffner, and Walter Giger, CHIMIA 51 (1997) No. 12 (December).

"Occurrence and Behaviour of Linear Alkylbenzenesulphonates, Nonylphenol, Nonylphenol Mono- and Nonylphenol Diethoxylates in Sewage and Sewage Sludge Treatment." Paul H. Brunner, Silvio Capri, Antonio Marcomini, and Walter Giger, Wat. Res. Vol. 22, No. 12, pp. 1465-1472, 1988.

"Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature." Linda Lear, Henry Holt and Company, 1997.

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