The EPA recently released a long-awaited draft report demonstrating that toxic “forever chemicals” in sewage sludge applied to farmland can cause cancer and other diseases in people who live near farm fields where the sludge is applied, or consume tainted milk, beef or other foods from these farms.

The chemicals – per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – contaminate wastewater treatment plant sludge that for decades, at EPA’s urging, has been applied as cheap fertilizer to many millions of acres of pasture and cropland. PFAS are taken up by crops and grasses grown on contaminated land, accumulate in the meat and milk of pasture-raised livestock, and pollute the drinking water of at least 45% of Americans. Testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that nearly everyone in the U.S. has one or more PFAS in their bloodstreams.

PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because of their resistance to breakdown, meaning they can build up in the environment and in humans.