Lawmakers and advocates are stepping up efforts to combat “humane” consumption

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KOKH) — An Oklahoma lawmaker is taking issue with the use of human, commercial and industrial waste as fertilizer.

The product is called “biosolids,” or “sewage sludge,” and it’s not just the smell that worries him and other concerned advocates.

In a draft assessment released Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found “that exposure to the ‘forever chemicals’ PFOA or PFOS from all three methods of using or disposing of sewage sludge – land application of biosolids – poses risks to human health.” “, surface disposal in landfills or incineration.”

A Luther farmer has been raising the alarm about this for years.

Saundra Traywick is in the donkey milk business. She has also been at the forefront of advocating against biosolids, which she referred to as “humanure.”

“I think there’s a big cover-up where farmers weren’t told the truth and everyone knew there was a problem,” she explained.

Traywick fears that human, commercial and industrial waste laced with chemicals and prescription drugs is contaminating food, water and land.

Newly sworn-in State Representative Jim Shaw (R-Chandler) shares Traywick’s concerns. In his view, what is flushed down the toilet has no place on farmland.

“We must stop polluting our farm and pastures now,” he argued.

Rep. Shaw told FOX 25 he will file a bill Wednesday to ban the use of biosolids in land applications and ask state officials to study their impacts.

FOX 25 has been following this issue for years and previously spoke with State Senator Shane Jett (R-Shawnee) about efforts to curb the use of biosolids.

Rep. Shaw and Sen. Jett plan to work together to address their concerns about biosolids in the upcoming legislative session beginning February 3 at the Oklahoma State Capitol.

“Two and a half miles away, where there is only a light southerly breeze, it was terrible at my house,” Rep. Shaw explained of the smell.

He added: “Mothers have to keep their children inside for days afterward because they can’t even bear to be outside.”