EPA issued draft guidance departing from its Biden-era assessment of PFAS cancer risk in farmland sewage sludge

On July 1, 2026, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a draft guidance document that criticized and departed from a Biden-era draft risk assessment detailing human health risks, including cancer, from applying PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge to farmland. The guidance, signed by EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Jess Kramer, stated that the previous administration's draft assessment "relied on assumptions too disconnected from real-world conditions to give Americans clear, actionable information" and offered voluntary recommendations in its place, such as avoiding land application of biosolids near waterways and on high-exposure crops.

The Biden-era assessment, released in the final days of that administration, was a 272-page analysis that found applying contaminated sludge to land could cause unacceptable risks of cancer and other health effects, including from drinking milk or eating beef, eggs, or fish from contaminated farms. Had it been finalized, it could have laid the groundwork for federal restrictions on the practice. The EPA replaced that analysis with a substantially shorter guidance document and opened a 60-day public comment period. Erica Kyzmir-McKeon of the Conservation Law Foundation said the guidance "completely fails to address the risk to human health and the environment from PFAS-contaminated sludge" and signaled the agency had "no intention of regulating PFAS and sludge."