RE: RE: Financials NEWS!Worm Castings replenish the soil with vital microbial life. Using casting as an organic fertilizer is only one of the many uses. I would like to see someone do studies with worm castings and contaminated sites. There are microorganisms that will literally decontaminate sites that are polluted from gasoline spills (old gas stations), toxic pesticides, heavy metals such as lead or copper and even radioactive material such as Uranium.
Here is an exert from the Humanure Handbook which can be downloaded at weblife.org
COMPOST MIRACLES
COMPOST CAN DEGRADE TOXIC CHEMICALS
Compost microorganisms not only convert organic material into humus, but they also degrade toxic chemicals into simpler, benign, organic molecules. These chemicals include gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, oil, grease, wood preservatives, PCBs, coal gasification wastes, refinery wastes, insecticides, herbicides, TNT, and other explosives.59
In one experiment in which compost piles were laced with insecticides and herbicides, the insecticide (carbofuran) was completely degraded, and the herbicide (triazine) was 98.6% degraded after 50 days of composting. Soil contaminated with diesel fuel and gasoline was composted, and after 70 days in the compost pile, the total petroleum hydrocarbons were reduced approximately 93%.60 Soil contaminated with Dicamba herbicide at a level of 3,000 parts per million showed no detectable levels of the toxic contaminant after only 50 days of composting. In the absence of composting, this biodegradation process normally takes years.
Compost also seems to bind lead in soils, making it less likely to be absorbed by living things. One researcher fed lead-contaminated soil to rats, either with compost added, or without. The soil to which compost had been added showed no toxic effects, whereas the soil without compost did exhibit some toxic effects.61 Compost seems to strongly bind metals and prevent their uptake by both plants and animals, thereby preventing transfer of metals from contaminated soil into the food chain.62 Plants grown in lead contaminated soil with ten percent compost showed a reduction in lead uptake of 82.6%, compared to plants grown in soil with no compost.63
Fungi in compost produce a substance that breaks down petroleum, thereby making it available as food for bacteria.64 One man who composted a batch of sawdust contaminated with diesel oil said, "We did tests on the compost, and we couldn't even find the oil!" The compost had apparently "eaten" it all.65 Fungi also produce enzymes that can be used to replace chlorine in the paper-making process. Researchers in Ireland have discovered that fungi gathered from compost heaps can provide a cheap and organic alternative to toxic chemicals.66