Biosolids are treated to various standards: Class B, Class A and Class A Exceptional Quality. There are 22,000 sewage treatment plants across the US, many of which serve bedroom communities with little to no industrial/chemical waste. In these types of areas, the sewage sludge that is turned into biosolids is based on human waste and food scraps that are sent down the garbage disposal; these are the bi-products of everything we eat.
More info from the EPA on Biosolids: http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/wastewater/treatment/biosolids/
OMRI (certifies food as organic) only gives guidance on Arsenic, Cadmium and Lead in soil. They do not have any pharmaceutical or other heavy metals guidance or standards, therefore food certified as organic could be grown in contaminated soil.
It would be very helpful to understand what the PPM/PPB concentrations of the chemicals and other elements that are being called out in this article are and at what level they even begin to pose a risk to humans. That is more relevant to the conversation at hand than a political review of who's who in San Francisco.
Transparency is very important on the part of the officials taking on bold and potentially questionable initiatives, however the same holds true for the activists who purport to watch out for the public. The links in this article mostly go back to Sourcewatch, many of the references rely on pages created in Sourcewatch and many of the references that don't go to Sourcewatch go to newspaper articles. A sound assessment or at least presentation of legitimate studies (primary research) would go a long way to validating (or if the evidence leads to such a conclusion, refuting) the case laid out above.
In 2010, NCSL received $30,000 from John Merck Fund for "Purpose: to improve members capacity to strengthen state policies on toxic chemicals by informing them about the full array of public policy options and improving their communications with nonprofit allies." Sounds sorta like they expect some quid pro quo. Why is left wing money to influence the organization different than corporate money or right wing money?
Sadly, he's paid off so many representatives and senators, when he says "jump", they say "how high?". So terribly corrupt--but legally so. Teachers are not guaranteed jobs. They get analyzed and reviewed, they have tons of state regulations to follow, they have some of the worst jobs--especially in this day and age. Some are great, some are good, some are bad but I don't see a line waiting to do their job. The legislators would LOVE to get there hands on the PSRS funds so they can blow those too--and that's a lot of what this tenure-busting is about. Our legislators need to get a clue and not just follow the money. As to voters.........
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