# Human feces as fertilizer in Asia. Why aren't those people all dead? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 19, 2013, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951 "2013-07-19T16:14:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/1 "2013-07-19T16:14:41Z")
Using human shit as fertilizer seems to violate the most basic sanitary rules. It’s well known that Cholera epidemics are linked to contaminated water. Hatti had Cholera break out after the earthquake a couple years ago. Giardia is another big pathogen that is found in feces. Any farmer knows the placement of his outhouse or septic tank is critical for his family’s health. All sorts of illnesses come from feces contaminated water. You don’t shit where you want to plant a vegetable garden either. So why aren’t the people in Asia all dead? They crap in their rice fields every morning. The fields are covered in water. So both their food and their water supply is contaminated. Yet these people are thriving. But any Viet Nam or Korea vet will tell you that they got sick if they ate the local food. Bonus question: Why is cow manure ok in a garden? What other animal fertilize is safe to grow food in? Sheep? Pig? Chicken? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/2 "2013-07-19T16:23:35Z")
There’s a difference between drinking water contaminated with human feces and eating food that was fertilized by it, basically. In the former, the enteric pathogens like cholera, salmonella, giardia, shigella, campylobacter, C. Diff, etc, go right into the person via ingesting the water, and make them sick. In the latter, the growing grains utilize the nitrogen in the feces to build, well, rice and similar. The enteric pathogens are not assimilated into the plants. And harvesting, drying, then cooking the grains ensures further that the pathogens are dead. Field workers who ingest the fertilizer or don’t otherwise practice good hygiene probably do have more problems with enteric pathogens. And water sources for cooking and eating are generally separated from those used for fertilization. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/3 "2013-07-19T16:27:41Z")
I’m going to have to Google this, but I certainly recall that using human feces here in Ontario is allowed. I’ll be back… ETA: [Yep.](http://www.thereview.ca/story/concerns-over-sewage-sludge-being-spread-eastern-ontario-farmland) ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/4 "2013-07-19T16:31:37Z")
I assume in those situations they still understand the concept of separating drinking water sources from recent field run-off. Water from a deep well will not be contaminated unless there’s a shortcut from the fields. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/5 "2013-07-19T16:41:38Z")
I searched Cecil’s columns for “rice” and didn’t find any that covered feces fertilized fields. I’m surprised because the feces fed rice fields became known by Korean Vets over 60 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/6 "2013-07-19T16:44:30Z")
In the U.S. thier have been a few problems where contaminated water was used in a sprinkler system on leafy vegetables. I have never heard of a probelm comming from contaminated soil. Possibly root vegis would be at risk here if not properly washed. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/7 "2013-07-19T16:48:17Z")
Wasn’t last years cantaloupe and cucumber illness from poop? Quite a few people got sick and there were some deaths. Listeria was in the cantaloupe. We just had a cucumber Salmonella outbreak a few months ago. ---
**Author:** ![sylmar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@sylmar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sylmar)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/8 "2013-07-19T16:54:29Z")
Farmers aren’t supposed to use raw feces on crops. They have to be broken down by composting or spread out on a fallow field to allow time/microbes/heat generated to make a fertilizer that won’t “burn” plants and make the nutrients the plant can use available. I don’t believe many pathogens would survive the temperature spike associated with well composted materials. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/9 "2013-07-19T17:02:50Z")
> [@sylmar](#): > > … > > I don’t believe many pathogens would survive the temperature spike associated with well composted materials. Distant memory or confabulation… Something about peat bogs catching fire? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/10 "2013-07-19T17:07:34Z")
I’d forgotten that livestock manure had to be composted or treated before using. I buy treated cow manure at Home Depot for my flowerbeds and shrubs. Raw manure is dangerous stuff. [http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/story/2012-08-19/canteloupes-deadly-salmonella-outbreak/57149000/1](http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/story/2012-08-19/canteloupes-deadly-salmonella-outbreak/57149000/1) > [@](#): > > Cantaloupes growing on the ground can also pick up dirt and germs from manure that runs off from livestock fields, or from farm workers’ unsanitary bathroom practices, Powell says. Throwing cantaloupes into a big wash tub can also lead to contamination, unless farmers regularly check the water’s chlorine levels. Farmers also need to ensure that employees wash their hands. And farmers should never use raw manure on their fields, he says. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/11 "2013-07-19T17:15:05Z")
decaying organic matter can get hot enough to burn. grass piles are a real fire hazard. compost piles and peat bogs can start on fire. fresh shit on the outside of any food can spread disease. food needs to be washed with good technique. ---
**Author:** ![simple\_homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@simple\_homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simple_homer)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/12 "2013-07-19T17:38:11Z")
I’m in China, and most of my Chinese friends refuse to eat fresh, uncooked vegetables. Why ? Because it is well known that the vegetables in China are fertilized with human poo. Very difficult to find vegetables in China that are not cooked in oil. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/13 "2013-07-19T17:43:48Z")
My bus through rural Guangxi once stopped at a road house for lunch. The bathroom consisted of a trough against a wall, with the wall not quite going down into the bottom of the trough. Poopers simply squatted with their backs against the wall. It then dawned on me what the strange sound was on the other side of the wall. It was hogs, profiting from nutritional access to the shit. Whereupon, I went back into the dining room and enjoyed a dish containing the best Canadian Bacon I’ve ever eaten. The Chinese people produce about 100-million tons of shit a year. They don’t waste anything that can be used. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/14 "2013-07-19T18:12:56Z")
I can’t remember where, but I saw a program in which it was theorized that ancient people who were overly modest (cleaner?) about their bathroom habits would crap in a few secluded shady spots, basically consolidating the waste into petri dishes of disease. While more open cultures (unclean?) would crap everywhere, and the drying effect and UV from the sun would kill off anything bad. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/15 "2013-07-19T18:53:41Z")
We use human crap here all the time to fertilize fields. We call it “sludge”, and it’s basically treated sewage that farmers use as fertilizer. > **[Sludge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sludge)** > > Sludge is a semi-solid slurry that can be produced from a range of industrial processes, from water treatment, wastewater treatment or on-site sanitation systems. For example, it can be produced as a settled suspension obtained from conventional drinking water treatment, as sewage sludge from wastewater treatment processes: 23–25  or as fecal sludge from pit latrines and septic tanks. The term is also sometimes used as a generic term for solids separated from suspension in a liquid; this so Indus... ---
**Author:** ![Grateful-UnDead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ccd318/32.png) [@Grateful-UnDead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grateful-UnDead)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/16 "2013-07-20T02:25:12Z")
Speaking from experience, I can say that drinking water from a stream a long way from a shit fertilized field will still make you very, very sick. Also, flopping down into a shit fertilized rice paddy will inevitably splash some mud into the general vicinity of your mouth or hands, which will inevitably get into your mouth and digestive tract. The result of either route of ingestion is bound to ruin you weekend. And the rest of the month too. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/17 "2013-07-20T02:28:36Z")
> [@simple\_homer](#): > > I’m in China, and most of my Chinese friends refuse to eat fresh, uncooked vegetables. > Why ? Because it is well known that the vegetables in China are fertilized with human poo. > Very difficult to find vegetables in China that are not cooked in oil. Yeah, I’m guessing this is why salads aren’t big in China. ---
**Author:** ![agnesnitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@agnesnitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agnesnitt)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/18 "2013-07-20T02:45:35Z")
I used to work at the Air Force Academy. At the time, the medians on the boulevard leading up to the campus was watered by --shall we say-- the effluvia of said campus. Since the watering schedule was at the same time as the employee rush hour in the morning, we had to drive through the spray. Ruined many a car’s finish. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/19 "2013-07-20T02:45:52Z")
Chinese food is generally cooked over extremely high heat, which kills basically anything. Raw veggies are rarely consumed, and when they are, they are always peeled. Fruit is always washed with soap (most Chinese dish soap does double duty as produce wash) and peeled. Even grapes get peeled. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-feces-as-fertilizer-in-asia-why-arent-those-people-all-dead/663951/20 "2013-07-20T03:29:14Z")
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