Bill Rice with the Environmental Protection Agency addresses a news conference in Kansas City, Wednesday.

Officials with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources have released findings from an initial investigation into allegedly toxic sludge spread on Northwest Missouri farms.

In April of this year, lawsuits were filed against the former Prime Tanning Company, now National Beef Leathers, alleging that fertilizer sludge provided to farmers free of charge by the companies contained Hexavalent Chromium, and was the source of a cluster of brain tumors cases in the Cameron, Missouri area.

After the suits were filed, the EPA and the DNR opened a joint investigation.

EPA and DNR officials say their findings are based on testing performed on a limited number of farm soil samples, and that they intend to conduct more soil testing this month.

There was also an inspection conducted at the National Beef Leather facility in Saint Joseph between April 29th and May 4th. Inspectors found no problems with compliance regarding air or water regulations. but they did note several violations regarding the treatment, handling and storage of waste, and are currently weighing civil penalties for those. it's important to

According to the EPA and the DNR, none of the violations found seem to have an impact on the levels of Chromium 6 in the sludge produced by the company. Testing at the Saint Joseph landfill where some sludge was disposed of also showed no apparent risk to public health.

The Missouri DNR has ordered National Beef Leathers to immediately stop applying the sludge to farms for fertilizer, noting that the levels of Chromium 6 found in soil and fertilizer so far, while not considered hazardous, are still higher than they anticipated finding.