On Sat, 11 Jan 2003 10:07:41 +0000 (UTC), "anton"
wrote:

...we (or most of us) are human, and a possible infection
route for many human diseases & parasites is via sewage.
I appreciate that the micro-organisms/ spores etc disappear
with time, but I don't know how much time. Eating things
which you eat raw from ground which has been freshly
flooded with a sample of everyone's faeces from miles
around sounds to me like a dopey idea. I hope that we
can agree on that. So the question then is- what length of
time would you leave before cropping such ground with
a crop that you eat raw? I'd choose a couple of years-
you choose what you like.

Here in Victoria, A few gardening enthusiasts routinely put their
family's fecal waste into the compost. One is a medical doctor,
who has investigated the safety of the practice.

AIUI, if you put human feces on the vegetable garden, the produce
should not be served to anyone outside the immediate family. A
secondary rule was that if anyone was sick, their wastes went
down the toilet in the "normal" way.


Two other data points:

I was born in South Carolina. Whenever my family travelled to
visit relatives there, my mother warned me to never go outside
unless I was wearing shoes. (As a youth, I was the original
barefoot boy, and to this day often wander around outside with no
shoes on.) Her concern was hookworm infection, which is spread by
fecal contamination and can be acquired through the soles of the
feet.

Hookworm is a fairly nasty parasite that completely saps one's
strength, and was particularly prevalent among poor rural blacks.
It thrives in warm climates such as that of the American
southeast. I doubt it would be a serious problem in the colder
climate of the UK, but it offers a very real example of the kind
of trouble improper disposal of feces can result in.

Second data point: statements that the use of "nightsoil" to
fertilize fields in China leads to the death of hundreds of
thousands of people a year there. Yes, it has kept the soil in
good heart for millenia, but it also spreads any number of
diseases and parasites.


A spill of raw sewage, though unpleasant, is nothing to freak out
about. But neither is it something to treat casually.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada