raw sewage as fertilizer

[Suesumba]

On the “Hong Kong” episode of The Layover on the Travel Channel the host Anthony Bourdain mentioned the number one export from HK to mainland China was human waste because it is being used as fertilizer. In shock the Conscious Life News crack team of investigators searched Google and confirmed that this appears to be true. China has been using human waste as fertilizer for over 4,000 years.


Human sewage, referred to as “bio-solids, can be used as fertilizer however it is potentially hazardous as it contains lead and other heavy metals which can be absorbed by plants and consequently cause further damage when consumed.


Raw sewage alone does have essential nutrients and can usually be used for spinach and other vegetables as well as cereal crops. Unlike the pre-industrial age however, sewage is no longer composed of only human and animal fecal material as now anything including dangerous chemicals could be in sewage. Therefore the raw sewage should be treated and processed before being used on the farm. Even after the treatment the sludge may still contain the following: water, fecal matter, toilet paper, hair, rancid grease, industrial chemicals (containing the heavy metals).


Out in remote or impoverished areas of China it is too expensive to use treated biosolids so the use of raw sewage is fertilizing their crops. Sometimes it is taken directly out of latrines. As a result a 2006 study found that 33.8% of children in China had high levels of lead in their blood. These heavy metals from industrial waste end up in soil as well as rivers and lakes and can remain there for millenia until they are cleaned up but they will also be absorbed by the crops.

http://consciouslifenews.com/warning-chinese-farms-raw-sewage-fertilizer/1122512/

[RichD]

so if is industrial chemicals in the sewage that contain the heavy metals why in rural areas dem have problems with industrial chemicals coming directly from the latrines too?

[Suesumba]

wonder if that's why some of those vegetables are so cheap

[RichD]

wonder if that's why some of those vegetables are so cheap

they would have to be a lot of ppl crapping a lot to grow veggies on a commercial scale wid jus dat to fertilize it.

[Suesumba]

they import the crap outta hong kong.

[RichD]

they import the crap outta hong kong.

so those remote impovrished ppl they talkin about not so bad off if they using that fancy imported crap

[Suesumba]

[St_Bess]

Me no eat nothing imported from China, Mexico, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia no where not even sea food from Louisiana as a matter of fact me stop eating sea food except one or two fish and me buy them from the farmer's market where dem expensive but since me caan eat the money me buy eh. At the supermarkets you see dem big helleva shrimp and when you check the bags it says imported from Mexico, China or Vietnam. Sick me stomach - I even stop eating chicken nowadays right now I am on a farro w/spinach or barley cooked with onions, garlic and olive oil.

In Jamaica dem even importing fish from Guyana; banana to mek chips and other products. What is wrong with planting calaloo, cabbage, carrots and eating yam, bammy, potato, avacado and breadfruit, corn hominy, parch corn and peanut. Drink bush tea, cawfee and hot cocoa plus eating whole heap a mango, sweet sop, sour soup, star apples, and all dem other fruits. Every body wants rice and peas every day no one wants to eat food and salt thing any more but wait dem soon will be eating dat [sh..tt] that same fertilizer posted above.

[Suesumba]

well St.Bess, was looking up Basa and wondering what kind of fish it was when i stumbled on some board where they said they were grown in horrendous conditions.

and you're right, the site mentioned other forms of sea food such as shrimp. even the del monte pineapples in cans are processed in india, probably with water from the ganges. so, we can't even know what we're eating. and that's a scary thought.