News Articles:

"Europe Sets Maximum Levels for Dioxins and PCBs in Food", Environmental News Service, Feb 6, 2006 
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2006/2006-02-06-02.asp  

NATS Comments:

Many of you will know that sewage sludge and paper mill sludges which can be top dressed on grazing pastures in North America can lead to elevated levels of dioxins and PCBs in meat, milk, and milk products like cheese. Since grazing animals consume quite a few kilos of dirt as they graze, they can ingest the top dressed sludges, even if the voluntary waiting periods are respected. 

In the US and Ontario, there are proposed waiting periods of about 1 to 3 months between spreading a pasture with sludge and allowing sheep, goats, and cattle to graze. However, since the sludge spreading regs or certificates only bind the the sludge hauler and not the farmer, farmers are not normally bound by any enforceable instrument to prevent their animals from grazing sludge spread fields. 

Since humans ingest so much dioxin, PCB, and other persistent pollutants, mothers breast milk is increasingly loaded with these toxins. It is time that North America looked at implementing these food safety laws, and stopped the land application of contaminated sludges.

The EPA has decided not to regulate the level of dioxin in land applied sludge.