Relief for Farmers Hit with PFAS Act: The Importance of Supporting the Farmlands
Farmlands across the country are an important part of our everyday lives. They sustain life by providing us with the food that we need to survive. They also provide shelter for wildlife, help control flooding, maintain air quality, and protect wetlands and watersheds.
Maine is no stranger to PFAS contamination and our struggle is linked directly to the national fight for farmers across the country to receive support after their farms have been contaminated. According to Maine Public, more than 50 farms in Maine have been impacted by PFAS contamination.
PFAS exposure can lead to a host of severe health risks such as an increased risk of some cancers including prostate and kidney cancers, child development effects including low birth weight and behavioral changes, reduced ability of the body’s immune system to fight infections, and increased cholesterol levels. Farmers’ products, as well as the health of farmers and their families, can be impacted greatly due to PFAS contamination. Products grown in a contaminated environment must be taken off of shelves or thrown out, which is a lost profit. The economic effects of PFAS contamination on farmers are disheartening, especially with the added stress of the health impacts on their spouses and children.
Farmlands are essential to the general public because they sustain our lives, but they are also fundamental to the farming communities themselves. Entire livelihoods are connected to farmlands, and to experience toxic contamination that can upheave a farmer’s way of life can be detrimental.
Why is this important? Below are stories about Maine farmers who have been directly impacted by PFAS contamination and why it is crucial to pass S.747 Relief For Farmers Hit with PFAS Act:
FRED STONE
We’re taking it back to the beginning with the first impacted farmer that Defend worked with. In 2017, Fred Stone learned that his dairy farm, Stoneridge Farm, was contaminated by toxic sludge. His drinking water and milk tanks were contaminated with PFAS which impacted his livelihood tremendously. Two years later, Stone still could not sell his milk and was losing hundreds of dollars a day, every single day.
Defend joined Stone in 2019 to help advocate for the state of Maine to take action to address PFAS contamination in farmlands across the state.
BRENDAN AND KATIA HOLMES
Brendan and Katia Holmes are the owners of Misty Brook Farm in Albion, Maine. In 2022, the Holmes family had to replace an entire herd of Jersey cows after they consumed hay contaminated with PFAS chemicals. Due to the contamination, the Holmes family was forced to pull dairy and meat products from more than 50 stores and pay for their testing. This included throwing 6,000 pounds of meat inventory into the landfill and throwing away milk from the contaminated cows.
While Misty Brook Farm is one of the few farms that are bouncing back from this crisis, this is due in part to the state of Maine addressing the issue of PFAS contamination and allotting funding and resources to impacted farmers.
Maine has been a leader in addressing PFAS contamination. Other states throughout the country must follow suit because farmlands impact us all!
FRANK TOZIER
In February 2020, the Tozier Dairy Farm in Fairfield, Maine was found to have levels of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) that were higher than the state-allowed limit of 210 parts per trillion. Milk samples from the farm had levels of 12,700, 14,900, and 32,200 parts per trillion. The farm’s products were pulled from shelves in June 2020. The source of contamination for Tozier Dairy Farm was sludge, just like Stoneridge Farm. According to the Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy, the Tozier Dairy Farm’s contamination levels may have been the highest contamination levels ever recorded in North America.
ADRIENNE LEE AND KEN LAMSON
Adrienne Lee and Ken Lamson are the proud owners of New Beat Farm. In February 2022, New Beat Farm found out that their well contained roughly 100 times as much PFAS as the state says is safe to drink. The scariest part for Adrienne and Ken is that they were worried for the health of their then two-year-old daughter who had been exposed to the contaminated water.