TOXIC SLUDGE PRODUCER PAYS HISTORIC SETTLEMENT

The article below was recently published by the National Whistleblower
Centre in the U.S.  Find out more at
http://www.whistleblowers.org/release_SludgeSettle.htm

The web site http://www.whistleblowers.org includes several articles related
to the Synagro settlement.

And for some more news stories on the recent EPA internal probe on sewage
sludge try these links:
--- Insight On The News, February 25, 2002, "Will EPA Clean Up Its Sludge
Policy?" at
http://insightmag.com/main.cfm/include/detail/storyid/174904.html
--- Guardian Unlimited, February 7, 2002, "EPA Rebuked for Sewage Safety" at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-1500572,00.html

****************

TOXIC SLUDGE PRODUCER PAYS HISTORIC SETTLEMENT
Whistleblower Group Requests that Settlement Terms Be Made Public

The sludge industry has paid its first damage award as a result of a
successful toxic tort-wrongful death suit filed. On January 8, 2002,
Synagro, Inc, the nation's largest sludge producer, paid the family of
Shayne Conner an undisclosed amount of money in order to settle a wrongful
death suit. The settlement is the first known payment of money to alleged
victims of sludge-induced sicknesses.

"The settlement appears to be a complete vindication of the scientific
critics of EPA sludge policies and industry practices" according to Kris
Kolesnik, the Executive Director of the National Whistleblower Center. "It
is inconceivable that a corporation such as Synagro, which has a reputation
for aggressively defending sludge from any criticism, would pay a
significant settlement award, if they did not fear losing the case,"
Kolesnik added.

Synagro was forced to settle its case as a result of the expert testimony
offered by Dr. David Lewis, an internationally respected microbiologist and
thirty-year veteran of the EPA's Office of Research and Development. Synagro
deposed Dr. Lewis, who was awarded the EPA's Science Achievement Award by
Administrator Carol Browner in 2001 for a groundbreaking article highly
critical of the EPA's risk assessment of sludge, for five days.

As a direct result of Dr. Lewis' research on sludge, the National
Whistleblower Center filed a complaint with the EPA Office of Inspector
General, alleging that the EPA permitted toxic sludge to be dumped by
companies such as Synagro, prior to the completion of six important
scientific studies identified by EPA as needed to close gaps in scientific
knowledge of health and environmental risk.

The Center provided the Inspector General's office with sworn testimony from
EPA scientists who set forth their opinion that without the completion of
these studies the EPA's approval of sludge dumping was "scientifically
indefensible." The results of the EPA OIG investigation into the Center's
complaint are expected to be released by the end of January 2002.

Additionally, as a result of the scientific concerns raised by Dr. Lewis,
the EPA agreed to fund a National Academy of Science review of the sludge
rule. This review is ongoing.

The National Whistleblower Center has requested that the U.S. EPA obtain a
copy of the settlement agreement in order to ensure that the agreement does
not improperly gag the Marshall family from further exposing problems with
the sludge rule. "Given the EPA's current approval of the dumping of toxic
sludge, it is in the public interest for the EPA to obtain all of the
information documenting the hazards of sludge which were uncovered during
the Marshall litigation, " stated Kolesnik.

Kolesnik added, " The EPA also needs to know how much money was paid as a
result of a law suit which alleged that an American citizen and taxpayer
died as a result of exposure to a pollutant which the EPA permits to be
dumped on land-sites which have no physical barriers preventing public
contact with deadly pathogens."

The National Whistleblower Center has been able to obtain copies of some of
the depositions taken in the Marshall law suit, including the transcripts of
Dr. David Lewis' deposition. "In order to facilitate public understanding of
the risks and hazards of sludge, the Center will make these documents
available to the public. The pubic has a right to know the full story on
sludge," Kolesnik said.

Sludge dumped by corporations such as Synagro, contains bacteria, viruses,
fungi, and parasites that are potentially harmful to the public health and
the environment. The NIOSH/Centers for Disease Control issued a Hazard
Identification Advisory in August 2000 warning that sewage sludge contains
human pathogens and that exposure to sludge may result in potentially
serious to life-threatening infections.