Association of pathogens and antibiotic resistance in sewage byproducts.

Dear Editor:

This topic should alert professionals in the area of environmental health that a critical issue out there is possibly being overlooked. I was recently on a U.S. EPA scientific panel that looked at the association of pathogens and antibiotic resistance in sewage byproducts. The topic is now ripe for the environmental health industry to appreciate.

My area is Medical Geo-hydrology; I have a degree in medicine and Ph.D. in water quality. I work with the spread and transfer of antibiotic resistance from sewage and its byproducts, i.e., sewage sludge (biosolids), reclaimed water, and composted biosolids. In that work, I have contacted USDA, CDC, and U.S. EPA. Apparently none of these agencies has a coordinated and functional interagency program dealing with this overall subject and its impacts on human health. There are numerous complaints of illness related to those who are living near sewage sludge (biosolids) application or composting sites and the U.S. EPA has some of its officers on record stating that they have stacks of illness complaints on their desk that are two feet high. Not withstanding that, there seems to have been no serious program to get officers in the field to follow up on these issues. If the author of "Enhancing and Revitalizing Environmental Public Health" (Direct from CDC, JEH Vol. 71, Number 5, December 2008, pp. 46-47) would like to look into this vacuum, it would be appreciated.

Since entire communities are impacted by the down-wind drift of sewage sludge land application and runoff of the biosolids to water sources, the next JEH article entitled "Community Testing: A Commentary," (Direct from ATSDR, Vol. 71, Number 5, December 2008, pp. 48-49) is also something that bears comment. In the cases where there are illnesses reported that are related to sewage sludge (biosolids) land application or composting, where is CDC, ATSDR, or for that matter the rest of the environmental health community? These illnesses are also related to the movement of toxic materials as well as pathogens.

I would very much appreciate your collective attention to these issues and some kind of a response.

Dr. Edo McGowan

Carpinteria, CA