Sludge Watch ==> Univ of Georgia Profs Paid $1.5M Distorted Data - now being sued

[Maureen Reilly]

Its best to read this online...there are several live links.
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7263


The Fudge on Sludge

Source: Integrity in Science Watch, April 28, 2008


David Lewis, a University of Georgia professor and former Environmental 
Protection Agency scientist, is suing officials at his university for 
publishing allegedly fraudulent research funded by the federal government.

In court documents, Lewis claims that university researchers, who were paid 
more than $1.5 million in federal grants, intentionally distorted toxic 
substance amounts in the sludge from wastewater treatment plants in Augusta, 
Georgia by collecting samples only during droughts, when levels would be 
"misleadingly low."

Last month U.S. District Court judge Anthony Alaimo ruled that sludge 
treated in Augusta’s facilities had metals concentrations thousands of times 
over allowed toxicity levels, noting that the University of Georgia's report 
on those facilities was "faulty and incomplete."


Lewis has investigated the harmful side affects linked with the sludge since 
1998 and argued in 2005 that his research led to his firing from the EPA. 
(We examined the sludge issue in our 1995 book, Toxic Sludge Is Good For 
You.)