Human manure or ‘nightsoil’ makes great crop fertiliser – but attitudes to poo-grown produce differ drastically
Human manure or ‘nightsoil’ makes great crop fertiliser – but attitudes to poo-grown produce differ drastically
A tale of two poos - attitudes towards the agricultural use of human excretion-based fertiliser differ between Japan and England as new research shows.
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I was pretty sure dusease concerns were the primary reason for not using human waste. Was hoping the article addressed that, but it did not.
Also toxic waste
For the same reason predators have higher levels of bioaccumulated toxins in their flesh, humans have much higher levels of all kinds of toxic sludge in their poop and blood and whatnot
The only thing I've ever heard about it is that you'd have to wash all produce you bought and my exact response has always been "Are you people not washing your produce after purchase!?"
Edit: Also a lot of y'all seem to think we'd be throwing raw untreated human waste directly into the fields. We don't even do that with animal fertilizer. It's treated waste that removes a lot of the toxins that would cause us to get sick (again only if you're not washing your produce which you should always do regardless)
Raw waste is, of course, nasty stuff until all the dangerous bacteria have been killed off, either by heat or anaerobic digestion.
Right, but the entire reason to prefer herbivore waste is because it is much less likely to spread disease when handled improperly.
There's a risk if you do it wrong, of course, but that doesn't stop us from doing it right.
I think we can safely assume you've never met an actual farmer 😂
Actual farmers have used human feces as fertilizer for ages