No WAY!!! Human Sewage Spraying Linked To Sydney Outbreak Of GI Disease Common To Developing World

:eyes:

Human sewage used as fertiliser on farms across NSW is being blamed for a breakout of Third World parasites across Sydney.

Doctors fear the Sydney Water biosolids strategy, which turns 180,000 tonnes of human waste into fertiliser yearly, could be behind the emergence of a gut bug, Blastocystis hominis, usually found in dirty water in Third World countries and spread via faeces, and a second parasite which often accompanies it, Dientamoeba fragilis.

Both cause cramps, distended abdomen, diarrhoea, weight loss and fatigue.

Confidential microbiology tests, signed off on by Sydney Water in the past four months and obtained by The Sunday Telegraph, detected D. fragilis in one in five samples of primary wastewater. The tests did not look for Blastocystis hominis.

EDIT

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/parasites-linked-to-sewage-fertiliser-as-stomach-bugs-grip-sydney/story-e6freuy9-1226051794833

Test the sewage spray for the parasites. If they are there, then the spraying is to blame. If no parasites are in the spray, then they need to look for another source.

which they prefer to rebrand as "biosolids" is responsible for all the outbreaks of e-coli and various other bugs in things like spinach and other veggies. I also read to be careful about the potting soil you buy as they put sludge in there in some cases without having to label it.

Of course, industry might have a problem doing a study about it to prove you are right!

than it would be to test all the farms and processors and middle-men that come between fertilizing the growing plants and the dinner table. It may be responsible, but testing and controls are simple.

Any conceivable sustainable agriculture must use human waste as a fertilizer source, so "getting used to the idea" is a very good thing. Of course, having the controls in place for it to be done with safety and confidence is also a very good thing.

I would keep in mind that there are many ways to contaminate food, and most of them are harder to control and identify than fertilizer.

of using toxic sludge to grow food in. There are other ways, grow what you can, buying local and know where your food comes from is a start.

and is only dangerous, as is any animal-waste fertilizer, if its not processed correctly. The main issue is that maintaining soil fertility in the long run means recycling organic nutrients rather than throwing them "away" (wherever that is).

The transition not long ago to petroleum-based fertilizers has left a gap of knowledge about how to properly compost manure to produce compost, but its not rocket science.

The petroleum-based fertilizer that all industrial agriculture uses is a better fit for the "toxic sludge" label.

to clarify the problem I have with using sewage sludge is all the other compounds that wind up in it, including all those toxic household chemicals of all sorts and the copious amounts of pharmaceuticals that many people are washing down every day that all wind up in the food chain. Somebody's little composting toilet is a different matter entirely.

...and remember reading awhile back that treated water released back into streams and so forth still had measurable levels of anti-depressants, birth control chemicals, and antibiotics. I don't know for sure if the composting process is more effective at breaking them down.

pathogens like these.

The problem isn't using biosolids as fertilizer. That ought to be mandatory around the world.

The problem is processing wastewater sufficiently PRIOR to doing so. And it's not rocket science.