permaculture

[trevor william johnson <john2116@msu.edu>]

i was just reading the humanure handbook this morning by joseph  
jenkins.  i did not read anything about vitamins or antibiotics but  
it seems that the composting process would expose them to the right  
combo of micro organisms /high temps that would wither break them  
apart, use them  as food or stabilize them into hummus molecules.    
jenkins has been using humanure to fertalize his vegetable garden for  
30 years now and he lets all sorts of strangers use his compost  
toilet.  i imagine many of those people use vitimans and antibiotics  
and jenkins does not seem to have a problem with it.  i looked up  
antibiotics in the intex of the humanure handbook and it only  
mentions antibiotics produced by  some thermophilic antinomycetes and  
mesophilic bacteria.  he says that theoretically the antibiotics help  
kill the human pathogens in the humanure.  it says noting about oral  
antibiotics.  I also herd a recent story on npr that was about some  
micro organisms that can eat the antibiotics and live off of them.   
if i remember correctly the organisms are found in soil.  so maybe  
what your trying to get rid of will actualy help your compost.  the  
solution is embedded in the problem.

trevor
On May 26, 2008, at 2:10 PM, DGilsen@aol.com wrote:

> It seems to me that it will take longer to get into the water table  
> but it
> will over the years get into the water table .... and be there  
> forever.  I  did
> a little study on my own.  I found that the few medications I take  
> are,  it
> seems not very easy to get rid of.  Distilling the urine produced   
> "water" but
> it also contained trace amounts of antibiotics and the vitamins I   
> take.
> Scary I thought that distilling would remove all that ....but it   
> didn't.  I don't
> know what will work.
>     Any suggestions folks?
> Carol