Reply #49: The article further stated. “Suslow found that the test plots Fontes treated with composted winery [View All]

[bridgit]

"...waste -- a concentrate of grape skins, seeds and stems called pomace -- consistently had the highest levels of bacteria compared with vegetable fields enriched with composted manure and those left untreated. "I felt (pomace) was a potential risk factor that needed to be looked at." While none of the bacteria was of the deadly type -- Escherichia coli 0157: H7 -- Suslow suspects that the high residual sugars that make pomace especially good for plant growth also could promote growth of the toxin. E. coli 0157 doesn't naturally occur in pomace. But it could be introduced to pomace in compost yards, which may include raw manure. The disease-causing microbe lives in the gut of cattle and other warm-blooded animals and is found in their feces.”'

Up-article, while equally troubling;

'There is a definite time correlation between the initiation of Monterey County’s use of treated sewage water as an irrigation source and the huge increase in pathogen outbreaks with Salinas Valley vegetables. About 384 outbreaks linked to produce occurred in the six years between 1998 and 2004, which is about twice the 190 that happened in the 24 years from 1973 to 1997. This information was provided by Dr. Michael Lynch at this week’s FDA hearing in Oakland, California. Lynch is a doctor with the Foodborne and Diarrheal Disease Branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So in a period of six years there was a 200% increase in the number of pathogen outbreaks compared to the previous 24 years? I ask rhetorically, doesn’t that fact connote a problem? Isn’t it interesting that the year 1998, the beginning year of this 200% increase, is the same year that Monterey County initiated its sewage treated water irrigation program on 12,000 acres?'

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2007/03/hiding_the_ball.html

you are right about one thing sadly, this society is predicated upon the exploitation too many things, animals being among them :(