Free Republic

SEOUL — Shops selling human excrement began operating in North Korea this year, as acute shortages of fertilizer in the sanctions-wracked country put a price on feces, an analyst said Tuesday. Aid groups have said human waste has long been used on domestic crops in the impoverished communist state, but there is now a trade in the readily available commodity, a North Korea analyst told a seminar at a South Korean university. “Each household used to use human excrement as fertilizer. But because it’s hard to keep up with the amount, ‘human manure’ shops showed up at markets,” Kim Young-Soo,...

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Wastewater is widely used to irrigate urban agricultural land in developing countries, a practice that has both advantages and disadvantages, a 53-city study presented at a water conference in Stockholm showed Monday. Wastewater agriculture contributes importantly to urban food supplies and helps provide a livelihood for the poor, but can also lead to health risks for consumers, particularly for vegetables consumed uncooked, the report by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) said.

(MIAMI) -- It used to be that you could only find organc food in specialty health food stores. But that has changed as the organic industry is proving to be big business. Now, China is getting in on the action exporting millions of dollars of organic food to the United States. But in the wake of lead in toys and tainted toothpaste, many consumers are wondering just how organic anything from China can be. Pinecrest Mom Ivy Milian decided to eat only organic foods about 18 years ago and has seen its popularity go mainstream. She usually shops at Wild...

CHICAGO - Buying organic milk these days - or organic apples, eggs, or beef - no longer has to mean an extra trip to a Whole Foods supermarket or the local co-op. Organic products now line the shelves at Safeway and Costco. And Wal-Mart - already the nation's largest organic-milk seller - says it wants to sell more organic food. Large companies including Kraft, General Mills, and Kellogg own sizable organic- and natural-food brands. Now, they are developing organic versions of their own products, too. Still, while some organic-food fans welcome its broadening appeal and availability, others worry that the...

SARS virus may spread via sweat, food, sewage, touch: study Thu May 6, 2004 15:11:03 ETThe SARS virus has been found in sweat glands and the intestine, according to a new study, which says that in theory the disease may spread via contaminated sewage, food or even a handshake, not just by airborne droplets. Pathologists from the First Military Medical University in Guangzhou, southern China, warn that if further research proves that Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) can be transmitted by these unexpected routes, the implications for public health are major. The results were remarkable, according to their study, which...

Rats could have been cause of Sars outbreak Latest research into the spread of the virus at a Hong Kong apartment complex overturns previous ideas. Ien Cheng reports Published: August 24 2003 18:24 | Last Updated: August 24 2003 18:24 The World Health Organisation is studying new research that points to rattus rattus - the common black rat - as a key agent in the massive spread of Sars at Amoy Gardens, the Hong Kong apartment complex where 329 people contracted the deadly virus earlier this year. The research by Dr Stephen Ng, published this month in The Lancet, the...

Not too long ago, the Far Eastern Economic Review made this prediction: The world's next flu pandemic will probably originate in southern China, then transit through Hong Kong and on to the world. How ready are we? It comes from a report, written in the wake of an outbreak of killer avian flu, from our issue of June 7, 2001, which opens: THE FEAR IS THAT when Hong Kong sneezes, the world catches the flu. The world's leading influenza experts are virtually unanimous in their suspicion that Hong Kong will be close to the epicentre of the next pandemic of...

Sars virus is robust enough to survive in sewage By Steve Connor, Science Editor 06 May 2003 The virus responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) can survive outside the body much longer than previously thought, which could explain why it can spread so easily within a building. Tests by the World Health Organisation (WHO) show that the virus remains stable for up to four days in the faeces of infected people with diarrhoea. The findings could explain why more than 320 people from the Amoy Gardens apartment block in Hong Kong became infected after a man with Sars stayed...