Brian Purchia

WARNING! Sewage sludge is toxic. Food should not be grown in "biosolids." Join the Food Rights Network.

Brian Purchia is a director for Burson-Marsteller, a global public relations and communications firm. Prior to that Purchia was Deputy Communications Director and Tech Advisor for the Office of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. He served Newsom during the scandal involving the city giving away sewage sludge as "organic compost," involving SFPUC President Francesca Vietor.

Soil Association 2010 Report: Consider Growing Organic Food in Toxic Sewage Sludge

On November 29, 2010, the Soil Association issued a major report authored by Dr. Isobel Tomlinson titled "A rock and a hard place: Peak phosphorus and the threat to our food security." [1]. On page 3 the report advocated that the ban on using toxic sewage sludge for growing organic food be reconsidered. It stated: "In the UK, the majority of treated sewage sludge (biosolids) is returned to land. At present time EU organic regulations prohibit the use of such biosolids due to historical concerns about the toxic effects of heavy metals... Heavy metal levels have declined in recent years, and are now low enough for the organic movement to reconsider allowing treated sewage sludge to be used where it meets strict standards."

Lord Peter Melchett, a consultant to Burson-Marsteller Public Relations, is the Policy Director of the Soil Association. Burson-Marsteller's parent firm, WPP Group, has as a client [2] Carlyle Group, a private corporation whose Synagro subsidiary is the world's largest processor of toxic sewage sludge.

Tnis pro-sludge report has since been promoted by Gene Logsdon of BioCycle magazine, a long time advocate for growing food in sewage sludge.

Attached here is the PDF of the Soil Association report of November 29, 2010: [3]

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