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Fred Stone

4/26/2022

 
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Episode 5

​ Stoneridge Farm, in Arundel, ME, was the first farm in the state to learn it had high levels of PFAS "forever chemicals" in its water.  The toxic chemicals built up from spreading sludge, as a soil amendment, year after year.  The Maine Department of Environmental Protection assured the Stones that the practice was totally safe, so he helped to spread this form of fertilizer on many area farms, as well. But it was not safe.  The chemicals were in the water and feed given to their cows, who then produced milk with very high levels of PFAS.

Farmer Fred Stone, and his team, chose to notify their milk distributers as a matter of integrity and food safety, though it caused financial ruin, for them. 

Fred was recently quoted in the Beacon saying, "My moral compass so far has cost me $1.5 million.  That is what it costs to have a moral compass." It has also cost them their health and the ability to keep their family farm alive, with the value of the land now ruined by toxic chemicals left from years of sludge spreading. 

Fred Stone thinks telling his story is a lot like fishing, "you never know what you are going to catch."  And after the painful loss of their herd, their livelihood and their health, he wants to do what he can to spread the word on toxics in farming.  Telling his story has helped. Presently, the state of Maine is about to have the first law in the country banning the spreading of sludge on farmland (LD 1911, currently awaiting the governor's signature).  Likewise, a newly established $60 million dollar trust in Maine is intended to offer relief to farms like Stoneridge. 

"So God Made a Farmer" by Paul Harvey was played in this interview to highlight the powerful connection farmers have to the land and thus underscore the inconceivable loss farmers experience when their legacy is cut short by toxic ruin.

Play audio, below:

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Andrea Amico

4/12/2022

 
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Episode 4

Andrea Amico is an occupational therapist who also became a serious activist when she learned, in 2014, that her husband and young children were impacted by drinking highly contaminated PFAS water at the former Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, NH. 
Andrea Amico is a co-founder of the community action group called Testing for Pease which is responsible for a blood testing program and two health studies.  Andrea is truly passionate about raising awareness about PFAS and has presented on the TED stage, before the US congress, at national and international conferences on PFAS.

For more information on Testing For Pease, click here for their Facebook page, and here for Twitter. Resources such as PFAS Exchange, the New Hampshire Safe Water Alliance,  and the National PFAS Contamination Coalition can be found here and on the Resources page of this website. 


​Listen to audio, below

wmw_004_andrea_amico_041222.mp3
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TEDx talk by Andrea Amico on PFAS from a mother's perspective. 
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    The Show

    ​What Mama Wants
    considers how Mother Earth is impacted by toxic chemicals.
    Educators, citizens, decision-makers and scientists discuss the role toxics are playing in our daily lives, including PFAS, phthalates, plastics, and more.  This show is designed to inform and inspire...and, we always consider what Mother Earth wants, in the process.
    What Mama Wants is a 30-minute program that airs every Tuesday at 1PM on WMPG and at 4:30 PM on WERU.

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