Michael Hansen

Dr. Michael Hansen is Senior Scientist with Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports magazine. According to his official biography, he has been a scientist with Consumers Union for more than 20 years and is a biologist and ecologist who did his Ph.D. in the techniques of Integrated Pest Management. ... He develops policy, testifies before government agencies, speaks widely at conferences in the US and abroad, and talks frequently to media on critical food safety and environmental health issues including mad cow disease, genetic engineering, and pesticide use."

Hansen Comments on 2010 Tests of San Francisco Sewage Sludge Showing PBDEs, Triclosan
On August 10, 2010, the Food Rights Network announced in a news release that "Independent tests of sewage sludge-derived compost from the Synagro CVC plant -- distributed free to gardeners since 2007 by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission in their "organic biosolids compost" giveaway program -- have found appreciable concentrations of contaminants with endocrine-disruptive properties. The independent tests were conducted for the Food Rights Networkby Dr. Robert C. Hale of the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences." Michael Hansen was quoted in the release.

In an August 6, 2010, letter reporting on his findings to the Food Rights Network Robert Hale wrote: "A sewage sludge-derived compost from the Synagro CVC plant, distributed by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission in their "compost give away" program, was analyzed for synthetic pollutants.  Several classes of emerging contaminants with endocrine disruptive properties were detected in appreciable concentrations, including polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants, nonylphenols (NPs) detergent breakdown products and the antibacterial agent triclosan." PDFs are attached here of the letter and the data: