Cameron, Mo.-A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of 24 landowners alleging that they were misled about the safety of tannery sludge that was used as fertilizer on their farm fields. The lawsuit also states that the property was devalued because the fertilizer contained the carcinogen chromium 6, also known as hexavalent chromium. In addition, landowners are seeking damages for possible cleanup costs. Use of the material from Prime Tanning, which is now owned by National Beef Leathers, is also under investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state agencies, and is the object of other suits by residents claiming the fertilizer from the tannery is the cause of their brain tumors and other cancers. According to documents on file in Buchanan County Circuit Court, from at least l983 through early 2009 Prime Tanning hauled and applied thousands of tons of fertilizer containing hexavalent chromium and other metals to Missouri farms in Andrew, Buchanan, DeKalb, and Clinton counties. The chromium in the fertilizer was above acceptable limits for human exposure. In addition, the lawsuit named Elementis LTP, a chemical company that claims to be the world’s largest producer of chromium chemicals, and Burns and McDonnell, a Kansas City engineering firm, which it says designed the system to produce the fertilizer.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain