Possible Link Of Milorganite To Lou Gehrig's Disease Stirs Controversy
JAMES A. CARLSON , Associated Press
MILWAUKEE (AP) _ Sixty years ago, Milwaukee transformed a sewage disposal
problem into a bonanza by pioneering a process that uses human and
industrial wastes to make a nitrogen-rich fertilizer for commercial sale.
Now there are fears that heavy metal in the fertilizer, which earns the
Metropolitan Sewerage District $6 million a year, may be linked to the fatal
illness known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Researchers caution, however, that there is as yet no evidence of a definite
connection, that reports of a link are so far anecdotal, and that clusters
of Gehrig's disease cases are not unusual.
The fertilizer, called Milorganite, has been produced since 1926 and was
applied to fields used by professional football's San Francisco 49ers in the
1960s.
Three members of the 1964 team contracted the neuromuscular disease, and two
of them, Gary Lewis and Matt Hazeltine, have died. The third, Western
Carolina University football coach Bob Waters, 48, is battling the disease,
formally called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
The Milwaukee Sentinel reported recently that other ALS patients have told
of some contact with Milorganite, and that of 155 sewer district employees
who died since 1961, two died of ALS.
The normal incidence of ALS is two cases per 100,000 people.
Tom Kaczkowski, president of the union local representing the workers, said
people who work with Milorganite should be concerned.
''It could be a very serious thing, but there's no concrete information
yet,'' said Kaczkowski, who has worked occasionally with the fertilizer.
Medical researchers and producers of Milorganite agree there is no evidence
of a definite connection with the disease. Part of the problem is the
elusive nature of ALS, which causes a gradual breakdown of nerve cells that
control muscles of the limbs and throat. Although ALS was recognized nearly
a century ago, its causes are unknown.
Among its well-known victims were Lou Gehrig, the New York Yankees' first
baseman who was stricken and died in 1941, and former Sen. Jacob Javits of
New York, who died in March 1986.
Benjamin Brooks, director of the ALS Clinical Research Center at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, said reports of a possible link with
Milorganite so far amount only to anecdotal evidence but helped spur plans
for a study involving hundreds of patients in Wisconsin.
However, Brooks and other experts cautioned that clusters of ALS cases are
not unusual.
''I'm a little uncomfortable about the way this has taken on headline
proportions,'' said Dr. Neil J. Lewis, assistant director of research with
the Muscular Dystrophy Association in New York City.
Investigations into past clusters found no causal factor, even in the case
of three ALS victims who formerly taught school in the same Ohio classroom,
Lewis said. The exception, Lewis said, is the high incidence of the disease
on Guam, where an environmental factor in food and water is suspected.
''Our feeling is that it's always important to pursue background
information'' of ALS patients, Lewis said, but he noted that no conclusive
links have been made between ALS and heavy metals, such as those in
Milorganite.
Brooks said heavy metals such as the cadmium in Milorganite are among many
suspected links with ALS. Other possibilities include regular exposure to
electrical shocks, certain viruses or abnormal immune system functions and
regular, strenuous athletic activity.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warned about high cadmium levels in
Milorganite a decade ago, prompting Milwaukee's sewer district to begin a
program requiring industrial pollution sources to reduce discharges of the
material into the sewage system.
The program reduced the cadmium level to what the district considers a safe
amount.
But the district has directed a ''group of national medical experts'' to
review evidence and decide whether a full-scale study should be done. ''More
light needs to be shed on the question,'' said Patrick Marchese, the
district's executive director.
In 1926, the district opened what it said was the first large-scale,
activated sewage sludge plant in the world. The sludge is preconditioned in
an acid bath, vacuum-filtered to remove moisture and dried.
Thomas J. Hagerty, district spokesman, said about 60,000 dry tons of
Milorganite is produced a year, with slightly less than half marketed in 40-
pound bags and the rest sold in bulk. He said the recent publicity was not
expected to affect plans to expand Milorganite production by about 25
percent.
http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1987/Possible-Link-Of-Milorganite-To-Lou-Gehrig-s-Disease-Stirs-Controversy/id-6302ee76f2286bbcac489b60cef66709
From: "Curt Raymond" <curtlud...@yahoo.com>
What method did you use to compost?
I use a big pile and let it rest for a year which should allow most
baddies to die off. I don't compost poop (dog poo gets spread under a
maple tree) but I do compost meat, milk, yogurt and all sorts of other
stuff thats "bad".
Above ground plants (i.e. not radishes, carrots, potatoes and the like)
should at least in theory have less chance of passing on stuff from your
compost. I suppose the greatest risk is from touching the soil.
The field across the street from my parent's house has been spread with
sewer sludge as long as anyone can remember. I used to fly kites in that
field. We would of course wait for the sludge to get rained on and dry out
good before heading over but it doesn't seem to have hurt me any.
-Curt
Date: Thu, 6 Jun 2013 11:16:12 -0400
From: Andrew Strasfogel <astrasfo...@gmail.com>
For the record, I tilled in a binful of my cat-centric compost and planted
some cucumbers, with peppers and hopefully eggplant to follow. If all
goes
to plan, I will be a guinea pig for your theories about cat to human
transfer of toxoplasmosis, feline lukemia, or hairballs.
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