permaculture

["Saor Stetler" <sstetler@earthlink.net>]

Human Urine Safe As Fertilizer, Say Finnish Researchers


Submitted by News <http://www.scientificblogging.com/profile/news>  Account
on 8 October 2007 - 6:31pm. Environment
<http://www.scientificblogging.com/environment>  

If you grew up on a farm, the first thing you were taught about fertilizer
is that you can't use waste from anything that eats meat. Cows okay. Humans
bad.

Researchers in Finland disagree and say that human urine is virtually
sterile, free of bacteria or viruses and naturally rich in nitrogen and
other nutrients. 

Urine fertilization is rare today though they say it was common in ancient
times. Maybe in Finland.

In the new study, Surendra K. Pradhan and colleagues collected human urine
from private homes and used it to fertilize cabbage crops. Then they
compared the urine-fertilized crops with those grown with conventional
industrial fertilizer and no fertilizer. 

The analysis showed that growth and biomass were slightly higher with urine
than with conventional fertilizer. 

There was no difference in nutritional value of the cabbage. "Our results
show that human urine could be used as a fertilizer for cabbage and does not
pose any significant hygienic threats or leave any distinctive flavor in
food products," the report concludes.

- American Chemical Society.