Sewage sludge contains all sorts of household and industrial toxins which are flushed down the toilet or private and industrial drains. How could this possibly impact the quality of your ‘natural’ pet food?

Just to remind you: the term ‘natural’ isn’t regulated and the best way to actually get a natural pet food when you want one is to buy a certified organic pet food, which among other things, wouldn’t contain sewage sludge-grown crops or animal ingredients. Verification by an independent party, an organic certification agency, is your guarantee that this is the case.

Non-certified organic pet foods contain so-called ‘conventional’ (i.e., non-certified organic) ingredients. Conventional agriculture routinely uses sewage sludge (also called ‘biosolids’) as ‘fertilizer.’ Every year more than half of the roughly 7 million metric tons of the biosolids produced in the United States are applied as fertilizer to farm fields.

The large amount of human waste processed in sewage plants means that sewage sludge contains high concentrations of phosphates and nitrates, which are desirable components of fertilizers. However, this sludge also contains highly toxic materials such as fluorides, industrial solvents, heavy metals, hormones, antibiotics, and even radioactive waste which may accumulate in the plants that are grown on sludge-fertilized farmland, as well as in the animals that are fed sludge-treated crops.

WHAT TOXINS ARE CONTAINED IN SEWAGE SLUDGE?
Here are just some of the many toxins that were detected by the EPA in sewage sludge from 74 randomly selected publicly owned water treatment/sewage sludge plants in 35 states (Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey Report, 2009).

For understandable reasons, the EPA study had to limit the analysis to relatively few toxins; it is likely that sewage sludge contains many more toxins that have not been included in the EPA study.

‘Class B biosolids,’ which are the principal type of biosolids applied to land, also contain a variety of enteric pathogens (e.g., E.coli, salmonella). These were also not included in the recent EPA study.

At the end of this page you can find information on some of these toxins (marked in the text with numbers in parenthesis) and the health problems with which they are known to be associated.

1. Metals
Twenty seven of the 28 metals analyzed were found in every sewage sludge sample. The most prevalent were barium(1), beryllium(2), manganese(3), molybdenum(4), and silver(5). The other metals included: aluminum, antimony, arsenic, boron, cadmium, cobalt, lead, mercury, selenium, thallium, tin, vanadium, yttrium, and zinc.

Remember that elemental metals often are very toxic while they are life-sustaining in the forms in which they occur naturally in foods.

2. “Organics”
Of the six organics analyzed, four were found in at least 72 samples, one was found in 63 samples, and one was found in 39 samples. The most prevalent ‘organics’ are: pyrene(1), fluoranthene(2), 4-Chloroaniline(3).

3. Polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs)
PBDEs are a particular class of flame retardant chemicals used in plastics, foams, fabrics and other materials. All 7 of the flame retardants studied except one (BDE-138) were essentially found in every sample; BDE-138 was found in 54 out of 84 samples.

4. Pharmaceuticals
Of the 72 pharmaceuticals analyzed, three (i.e., ciprofloxacin, diphenhydramine, and triclocarban) were found in all 84 samples and nine were found in at least 80 of the samples. However, 15 pharmaceuticals were not found in any sample and 29 were found in fewer than three samples.

Among the detected pharmaceuticals are antibiotics, antibiotic derivatives, and disinfectants: azithromycin(1), ciprofloxacin(2), doxycyclin(3), erythromycin-4(4), tetracycline(5), 4-epipetracycline(6), miconazole(7), ofloxacin(8), trilocarban(9), triclosan(10), the antihistamine medicine diphenhydramine(11), anticonvulsant, mood stabilizing drugs or antidepressants: fluoxetine(12), carbamazepine(13), and the heart burn medicine cimetidine(14).

5. Steroids and hormones
Of the 25 steroids and hormones that were analyzed, three steroids (i.e., campesterol, cholestanol, and coprostanol) were found in all 84 samples and six steroids were found in at least 80 of the samples. One hormone (i.e., 17-a-ethynyl estradiol) was not found in any sample and five hormones were found in fewer than six samples.

Detected were widely used phytosterols (1): Beta Stigmastanol, Campesterol, and Stigmasterol, Cholesterol (2), markers of human fecal matter contamination: the cholesterol derivatives coprostanol and epicoprostanol (a coprostanol isomer formed during treatment of wastewater ), hormones with androgenic activities: testosterone, androsterone, androstenedione (a direct precursor to testosterone), estrogenic hormones natural and synthetic estrogens: estriol, estrone,17-α-estradiol, 17-β-estradiol, β-estradiol-3-benzoate, 17-α-ethynyl estradiol(3*), equine estrogens (‘Premarin’): 17α-dihydroequilin, equilenin, equilin, progestins: norethindrone and norgestrel(4), progestogens: progesterone(5).

CONCLUSION
This necessarily restricted EPA analysis of toxins contained in sewage sludge shows that a number of known toxins are present in the ‘biosolids’ used in conventional agriculture. Among these are a veritable cornucopia of antibiotics, hormones, and toxic metals, many of which have the ability to accumulate in plants, animals, and humans.

Any ‘natural pet food claim’ that isn’t associated with certified organic pet foods, can therefore not withstand real life scrutiny. These natural pet food claims are often associated with ‘free of hormones’ and ‘free of antibiotics’ statements. The results of this EPA study demonstrate clearly that these natural claims are largely meaningless.

Certified organic pet foods simply cannot contain ingredients that were grown with hormones or antibiotics, whether they are applied intentionally or indirectly through the use of sewage sludge as a fertilizer. Therefore, only certified organic pet foods can, in good conscience and backed by solid science, be considered as natural pet foods.

………………………..
APPENDIX
1. Metals
(1) Kidney disease, cancer, increased mortality, decreased birth weight, hypokalemia – tachycardia, hyper- or hypotension, muscle weakness, paralysis.

(5) Natural or synthetic progestogens.

If your pet’s food isn’t certified organic,* it most likely contains toxins from sewage sludge that has been used to fertilize the crops grown for ‘conventional’ (i.e., non-certified organic) ingredients or that were fed to the non-organically raised animals used as ingredients.
* [Certified organic pet foods have to be produced without ingredients that were grown with or raised on sewage sludge-treated feed.]

Hm… so what exactly is sewage sludge? It doesn’t sound good for sure…
Here is what Sludgenews says about it:

“Sewage is the mix of water and whatever wastes from domestic and industrial life are flushed into the sewer. To retrieve the precious water, the sewage is then “treated,” that is, “cleaned,” in what are called “treatment plants.” The ideal of the treatment plant is to take out of the sewer water all the “wastes” that sewering put into it. The water is “cleaned” in the degree to which the pollutants which had turned the water into sewage are removed by treatment-primary, secondary, or tertiary-and concentrated in the sludge.
We must note that, though the aim of sewage treatment is to produce clean water, it is never to produce “clean” sludge. Indeed, the “dirtier” the sludge-the more complete its concentration of the noxious wastes-the more the treatment has done its job. If there are industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, hormones, nano particles, prions, hospital wastes including antibiotic-resistant bacteria-and there will be all of these-you want them to end up in the sludge. Every waste produced in our society that can be got rid of down toilets and drains and that can also be got out of the sewage by a given treatment process will be in the sludge.

Sludge is thus inevitably a noxious brew of vastly various and incompatible materials unpredictable in themselves and in the toxicity of their amalgamation, incalculably but certainly wildly dangerous to life.

But the land “application” of sewage sludge represents a clear lose-lose-for people and for the environment-on a scale staggering to contemplate. It will pollute the whole chain of life for which soil is the base.”

What can you do about this?
The first and easiest thing is to inform yourself more about sewage sludge and how it applies to agriculture and the food you and your pet eat. The second step is to avoid adding to the toxicity of the sewage water. The third step is to choose certified organic food products, for yourself and your pet so that neither of you falls victims to hidden toxins in your food. This will also support (certified) organic agriculture and (pet) food manufacturers, which in turn will help put an end to the abundant use of toxic sewage sludge in conventional agriculture. The fourth step is to urge your legislators to prohibit the use of sewage sludge in agriculture and to prevent toxins entering sewage systems to begin with.

As another Green America-approved business friend pointed out: “Non-certified organic products shouldn’t just be called ‘conventional’ products - they’re supposed to be called ‘toxic’ products.” He’s right.

The important thing is to be educated. One needs to understand that many pet foods that aren’t certified organic but marketed as ‘natural’ are more likely pet foods that are laced with many more toxins than pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, or GMOs.

Our Onesta Organics Veggie-Hides are going to be featured in “The Green Life” Sierra Magazine, March 2010 issue.

Here is a preview:

“Call it the canine Clif Bar. The Veggie-Hide, by ONESTA ORGANICS, is a meatless, wafer-thin snack made with all-organic ingredients–including spinach, flax, and quinoa–that are GMO-free and fit for humans. The company also makes vegan treats for rabbits, rodents, and birds.”

From Sierra Club

More than 500,000 kg of approximately 600 different pesticide chemicals are applied annually in the US, while approximately 2.5 million tons are used throughout the world (Pimentel 1996).

The World Health Organization reported in 1992 that about three million pesticide poisonings occur in humans annually and result in 220,000 deaths worldwide.

Our pets are more vulnerable to pesticide poisoning than their human companions since they are in closer and direct contact to pesticide-treated areas such as the grass in the dog park, and because they keep licking themselves clean.

Lawns
A study published in 1991 found that dogs whose owners’ lawns were treated with the herbicide 2,4-D at least times per year, were twice as likely to develop canine malignant lymphoma than dogs whose owners did not use this herbicide. Exposure to herbicide-treated lawns and gardens also increases the risk of bladder cancer by more than four times in dogs.
Good ways to help prevent pesticide poisoning in your pet is to keep pesticides off your property and to routinely wash your pet’s paws after he spent time outside.

Insect repellants
Many pets are treated with flea and tick repellents. Research studies link hyperthyroidism in cats to flea powders or sprays and lawn pesticides. A World Health Organization study linked allethrin, a common ingredient in home mosquito and other home insect repellant products, to liver disease in dogs. Chronic exposure to abamectin, a commonly insecticide used on fire ants was shown to affect the nervous system of dogs, including lethargy and tremors.
A great way to avoid pesticide poisoning of your pet is to give natural pest control measures a good shot before using synthetic ones in your home or on your pet.

Pet food
Pesticides accumulate in our pets’ bodies also if they eat foods that have been treated with synthetic pesticides (i.e., the non-certified organic pet foods) or fish which have accumulated these toxins in their lives. Pesticide contamination in pet foods has been shown to increase the risk of hyperthyroidism in cats.
The safest way to avoid feeding your pet pesticides along with her food, is to choose certified organic pet foods, which per law have to be grown and processed without toxic chemicals.

Pesticide in water and fish
Pesticides that are applied to agricultural or landscaping areas often wash off through irrigation or rain into our waterways such as rivers, lakes, and oceans. After fish take up the pesticides from the water through their gills, guts, and skin (which also covers the scales), these toxins are stored predominantly in the fish’s fatty tissue. The older the fish gets, the more toxins, including pesticides, accumulate in its fatty tissue.

Omega-3 in fish
Omega-3s offers excellent health benefits; however, if they are derived from fish, they come from the fish’s fatty tissues which accumulate pesticides to a great extent. Problems occur when pet guardians who want to improve their pets’ health naturally, choose omega-3 rich fish-based foods (e.g., those containing fish meal) for their pets which consequently can unknowingly ingest high amounts of pesticides.

Pesticides ingested and accumulated through eating fish can cause significant health problems. Organochlorines are known endocrine disrupters which interrupt normal hormone processes which are essential for every biological process. Organochlorines, even at very low concentrations, interfere with reproduction, growth and development.
To avoid pesticide poisoning when feeding omega-3 rich foods, select foods that are prepared from small fish, give fish oils which have been shown to contain fewer organochlorines, and consider feeding your pet also other omega-3 rich foods such as flax seeds.

If you suspect your pet has been poisoned contact the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at 888-426-4435.

Learn more about pesticide toxicity on the Beyond Pesticides website (www.beyondpesticides.org).

… It is almost shameful that we nowadays use, or if you are a real natural pet food manufacturer, have to use, the term ‘natural’ to describe pet foods. Pet food should be natural without having to make a big deal out of it. However, time is always changing! And so are advertising claims and marketing needs…

What do they mean if they say their pet food is ‘natural’?
In most cases they mean that no (obvious) synthetic chemicals are used as ingredients, such as synthetic preservatives or artificial colors. Is this good enough to call it natural? Not necessarily.

If a pet food manufacturer includes ‘refined’ ingredients such as ‘rice’ instead of whole rice, or ‘quinoa flour’ instead of ‘whole quinoa flour’, or ‘honey’ instead of ‘raw honey’, the food already isn’t natural any more because it contains food fragments instead of the entire whole food. Nutrients in whole foods act in synergy, that means they enhance, buffer and balance each others actions. Nutirents in most food fragments loose this natural synergy between nutrients which can lead to health problems such as insulin resistance, gluten insensitivity, and their associated disease symptoms.

If a pet food manufacturer uses isolated minerals and vitamins to supplement their foods so that they fulfill AAFCO requirements for a ‘balanced’ or ‘complete diet’, these foods also are no longer ‘natural’.

Why would that be?
Because the vitamin and mineral supplements used for pet foods aren’t really natural (i.e., whole food-based) but synthetic. For example, most vitamin E supplements (even the ‘natural’ versions and those marketed as ‘100% natural’) are derived from genetically engineered soybeans. Genetic engineering of ingredients simply isn’t natural; and as increasing numbers of studies show, this technology renders foods unhealthy.
Synthetic supplements can also contain harmful contaminations that accumulate during the chemical manufacturing processes. Furthermore, synthetic supplements, unlike naturally occurring nutrients, are also often not bioavailable, have unpredictable biological actions, or they can accumulate in the body to unhealthy levels. But nobody seems to like to talk much about this.

If a pet food contains conventional instead of certified organic ingredients, these ingredients can be loaded with artificial and toxic chemicals such as pesticides, can be irradiated, genetically engineered, or all of the above. Even if you omit synthetic preservatives from such foods, these foods are a far cry from ‘natural’.

So, what would I call a ‘natural pet food’?
In my view, both as a biologist and pet food manufacturer, ‘natural pet foods’ are certified organic, unrefined, minimally processed and whole food-based.

… and animals love each other and Onesta Organics pet foods!

Greenchi and Peppi are fed fresh foods and some supplemental certified organic pellets. They also love our Onesta Organics Pet Pasta treats for ‘pocket pets’ and our hypoallergenic Veggie-Hides dog treats!

When we first took these birds in, Peppi’s feet were infected and the rest of his skin was unhealthy; his beak was cracked and dirty. Before, he was on a ’seed diet.’ Greenchi’s feathers were dull and broken when we found her, her skin was terrible, her beak was cracked, and for two weeks after coming to us, she continued to eliminate in the same red color as the artificially colored seed/pellet mix she received.

Within a month, the new, real food diet improved these birds’ skin, feathers, and beaks.

“You are what you (do and don’t!) eat.” And our bird friends are not only healthy and happy, they are also very beautiful!

The French authors Vendômois, Roullier, Cellier and Séralini studied how the health of rats was effected when their diet contained three varieties of genetically modified corn (published in International Journal of Biological Sciences, 2009; 5(7):706-726). They found “a clear negative impact on the function of the kidneys and livers in rats consuming GM maize varieties for just 90 days.”

All three GM (genetically modified) corn varieties contain novel pesticide residues that is present in food and feed made from this corn.

The authors summarize their results: “Our analysis clearly reveals for the 3 GMOs new side effects linked with GM maize consumption, which were sex- and often dose-dependent. Effects were mostly associated with the kidney and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, although different between the 3 GMOs. Other effects were also noticed in the heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system. We conclude that these data highlight signs of hepatorenal toxicity, possibly due to the new pesticides specific to each GM corn. In addition, unintended direct or indirect metabolic consequences of the genetic modification cannot be excluded.”

”Natural” (i.e., non-GM) corn is a great food source for several pet species, but only certified organic corn is verifyably GM-free. Considering the data presented in above study, it is worthwhile to look for organic corn if you want to add it to your pet’’s diet.

Sadly, most all US corn is genetically engineered. However, if you see signs of organic certification (either a certified organic claim or the USDA organic seal) on a product, you can be assured that it wasn”t genetically engineered (in addition that it wasn”t doused in pesticides).

FDA’’s Pet Health and Safety Widget was launched this week as part of “an ongoing effort to provide timely, user-friendly, public health information.” It provides up-to-date releases from the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine on how to report a pet food complaint, and gives other current information such as on adverse drug reactions, recall information, disaster preparedness for pet owners, and many other pet health- and safety-related topics.

Go here to download this widget to your own website and share.

Meat, fish, or bone meals are ‘convenient,’ easy-to-process ingredients that are often included in pet foods or pet supplements. But how good is the quality of such meals?

According to the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), chicken meal “…is the dry rendered product from a combination of clean flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from whole carcasses of chicken thereof, exclusive of feathers, heads, feet and entrails.” [Wikipedia]

To produce commercial meals, animals are slaughtered, and desirable parts are rendered and ground into a meal that is subsequently dried. ‘Wet rendering’ is a less frequently used process employed in the manufacture of feed meals.

A passionate opponent of meals—particularly chicken meal—makes the following claim:
“Chicken meal is never suitable for human consumption as it is rendered. Rendering facilities always process chicken meal using unrefrigerated carcass up to but not limited to 7 days old and may contain maggots.”

More thought-provoking—and stomach-turning—is a Virginia Tech study Virginia Tech study that offered that “dry rendering has been identified to be the most appropriate technology for disposing of animal waste.”

An FDA compliance guidance manual provides a very comprehensive overview about the manufacturing and safety standards applied in the production of meat meals (e.g., fish and chicken meals) for animal feed. Here are some choice excerpts of this guidance manual:

“Rendered animal feed ingredients include the various poultry, meat and marine products which result from the rendering of these animal tissues. Rendering of poultry and other animal tissues has been practiced for over a hundred years as a means of salvaging valuable protein and fat content from otherwise waste material. For many years end products from rendering have been used to feed animals. The rendering industry utilizes packinghouse offal, meat processing waste, restaurant waste and animal tissues from other sources including animals that have died otherwise than by slaughter.”

“…the Center [for Veterinary Medicine] has permitted other aesthetic variables in dealing with animal feed, as for instance the use of properly treated insect or rodent contaminated food for animal feed.”

We at Onesta Organics agree that animals that are raised and killed for meat should be used in the least wasteful manner possible. Unfortunately, although both the taste and nutritional value of organ meats is appreciated in some countries, the same organs are less valued by other cultures, particularly those in the modern West. We at Onesta Organics think that it’s a great idea to use animal parts that would otherwise go to waste during the manufacture of pet foods. But we prefer to use fresh organ meats instead of any rendered, heavily processed meals the quality of which we absolutely couldn’t vouch for. Whenever possible, fresh, minimally processed ingredients—including meat—are always best!

A dear friend at www.thenaturalrat.co.uk made this wonderful movie featuring her rats and one of her own songs. Enjoy! Anabrese’s Christmas Movie