To the Editor:

New York State Health Department Commissioner James McDonald, M.D. was quoted in the Aug. 14 Enterprise saying, “We know what we’re doing at the state health department. I’m worried the federal government doesn’t know what they’re doing or, worse, they do.”[“‘You get what you pay for’: Health leaders say federal cuts will mean more illness, higher costs”].

Despite having many superb employees, the state health department is hardly a model of integrity and its leaders can be accused of not knowing what they are doing, or worse.    

On many environmental health issues, the state health department is a key enabler of contamination because it quietly supports the Department of Environmental Conservation’s issuance of permits and regulatory neglect.

The state government allows and even encourages the spreading of sewage sludge — often misnamed biosolids — on agricultural lands. Sewage sludge includes materials flushed down drains and washed into sewers.

Sludge contains many known and unknown poisons. Putting it on farms is unhealthy. Land, water, food, flora, fauna, and people are harmed.

Tom Ellis

Albany