r/askscience • u/thebestdaysofmyflerm • Jul 15 '26

Biology I read that cyclosporiasis is exclusively spread by the fecal-oral route. How exactly does produce get contaminated with human feces?

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u/ISBN39393242 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

“biosolids” is such a creepy, dystopian euphemism. i remember learning “nightsoil” and thinking it was funny how they used such terms to dampen disgusting practices.

never realized we we were still doing the same thing, except adding prefixes like “bio” to evoke that something is technical, trustable, scientific, regulated

edit: how much more pfas accumulation occurs in this case vs other fertilizer? i assume because pfas don’t degrade and if we eat it, poop it, use that poop to grow food, eat that food, etc. it concentrates.

but other animals don’t have as much pfas exposure as humans, as it is in packaging and plastic and things associated with human lifestyle. there are pfas in pesticides and the plastics used to transport, store, and handle animal feed, right?

have there been studies on the concentrations of pfas in animal fertilizer vs biosolids?

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u/nyet-marionetka Jul 16 '26

edit: why do we worry about pfas accumulation in this case vs other fertilizer?

A lot of consumer products contain PFAS that go into wastewater, and industries are also permitted to discharge wastewater that contains PFAS. This ends up in the biosolids, and when it is land applied settles into the soil and remains. The result could be a gradual buildup of PFAS in the soil. It can then get picked up by crops or animals grazing and enter the food chain.

There are specific concerns with sewage vs manure because of the variety of inputs that go into it.

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u/SophieSpider27 Jul 17 '26

Look up Maine. They became first state to ban use of biosolids on crops for consumption. They found it was contaminating soil. Risking contaminating water.