SLUDGE VICTIMS

The Story of Someone That Does Not Exist

This is the story of someone that does not exist, or is told that they do not exist. You see, I am one of the growing number of victims of land applied sewage sludge. We have all seen articles on this 'soil amendment' in the papers recently. The EPA and the Health Department assure us that it is perfectly safe for us to live with and have on our food. I am (luckily) living proofs that, yes, there are consequences to forced exposure to sewage sludge.

It all started back in the spring of 1999. My husband and I were trailering our horses back from our friend's house inCulpeper,Virginia. Our friend was telling us that a farm down the road a few miles had applied sewage sludge on the grazing fields. This sludge was just dumped out and left there. On the fence by the gate was a sign stating the company name and their phone number. Although I was not too concerned since, after all, it was at least 5 miles up the road, my husband was quite uneasy. He told me that it was not the 'poop' he was worried about, but the host of other toxins and contaminants that he was worried about, namely the heavy metals. The area that we lived in was very wet, blackjack soil. It was swampy almost year around. My husband was worried about the water systems, since it flooded frequently around the area. I remember driving home that night saying 'you don't think any of our neighbors would be dumb enough to do that, do you?' and he replied with 'I don't think so, but I would hope not'. I shrugged it off as the majority of people do.

Life went on as usual and basically I thought nothing more of it. Our farm was 20 acres with a 40 acre narrow and long tract of 600 yards separating us from the nearest working farm next door. This farm consists of approximately 400+ acres and was on the northern side of our farm. I had permission to ride on the 40-acre tract and took almost daily walks there with my pony and dog. Come July, my husband told me that he had seen 'the trucks' in the neighbors cattle field approximately 1/3 of a mile from our house, dumping sludge very early in the morning. In the evenings, there was an odor, however unpleasant, but since this field was one of the furthest from our farm, it was only overpowering at night and in the misty mornings and life went on.

I made my first phone call to the Zoning Committee in Culpeper. I wanted to know why I was not notified of this, since I am the only home to the left and directly downwind of the property (with an open field separating us). I was told that since I was not directly adjacent to the property, that I did not have the be informed of the sludging and that I was an 'oversight'. My pleas not to apply any closer to my property fell on deaf ears.

I then called the next in line that I could think of, the County Health Department, to complain. Desiree Lopasic came out to 'inspect' the sight. Copies of this were sent to the VA State Department of Health (Kal Sawyer), Clayborne Taylor (spreader), Aubrey Rozell (zoning) and Bio Gro (now Synagro). The 'inspection' consisted of a visual overview by Ms. Lopasic that visually observed 'buffers' (flags), noted the pH, Temperature and 'normal' odor.

All -summer, I had nagging, painful headaches. Not a normal headache, but a type that I have never experienced before. The pain was constant, with no amount of Tylenol helping it. I can only tolerate children's Tylenol, so that is what I tried to take to stop the pain. I began to feel like not doing much of anything at all. My head constantly hurt, but I did begin to make a connection when the headaches would stop if we went to eat in Fredricksburg or take the dog to training in King George. I started to develop a dry cough. Constant, dry, nagging cough. The pony developed the same type of cough, too.

We read some information on the Internet about sludge. It did not sound like good stuff, but so far, the connection between my constant headaches and nagging fatigue was not drawn. We brought some of the information down to the neighbor, who informed us that the farmer renting her fields brought her an application to sign for 'cheap fertilizer'. She did not read it, had no idea of what it was, just signed the approval. She let Scott pick up a couple of 'samples' of the

VIRGINIA - CULPEPER - VICTIM SUFFERS SEVERE HEADACHES, CONSTANT COUGH, NAGGING FATIGUE, NAUSEA, SEVERE DIARRHEA, RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS INCLUDING CHOKING INABILITY TO BREATH. STATE AND FEDERAL HEALTH OFFICIALS SAY "NO DOCUMENTED CASES OF ILLNESS (FROM SLUDGE) ... YOUR SYMPTOMS ARE "PSYCHOSOMATIC."