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Nature discourages
waste by employing one organism to feed on the waste products of others. It is
only when we interfere with nature and reduce its biodiversity that waste
becomes evident.
Eco-logic suggests
that unpleasant natural mechanisms are nature's ways of warning us about wasted
resources. The degree of the nuisance matches the level of waste. This eco-logic
has enabled me to formulate the Nitrogen Waste Model, which says that the root
cause of most modern problems can be traced to nitrogen waste.
These are the pieces
of my model:
- Nitrogen is a
major plant nutrient. Nature makes it available in a slow-release manner.
The earthworm-bacteria-plant ecosystem achieves this most effectively.
Residual nitrates, free amino acids and other forms of non-protein nitrogen
(NPN) in plants, however, indicate an oversupply (a waste) of nitrogen in
the soil.
- Crop pests look
for such NPN and serve as nature's waste indicators. They scatter the
surplus nitrogen on a large area that may be suffering from a nitrogen
shortage. Storage pests such as fungi, insects, rats, etc., cull
agricultural produce that has NPN.
- Eco-logic suggests
that such food be destroyed because it could be harmful to man. Sanitation
pests, including flies, cockroaches, rats, redworms, potworms, mosquitoes,
aquatic weeds, etc., also look for wasted nitrates.
- Human and animal
diseases, including modern diseases such as cancer, AIDS, Mad Cow Disease,
etc., are the result of NPN coming from food, water and foul air. NPN
primarily affects the brain and sensory organs such as the eyes, ears,
teeth, skin, etc. Modern social problems could also be traced back to NPN
pollution in our bodies.
The validity of the
above model may necessarily be found in its ability to explain available data.
The following points seem to support the Nitrogen Waste Model:
- CO2 is the
limiting plant nutrient. Plants have to get CO2 from a dilute source (air is
about 400 ppm CO2) to build their biomass, which contains about 40% carbon.
Nitrogen is less limiting than carbon. Soil nitrogen content can be 5,000
ppm and plants may have between 2-3 percent nitrogen.
- Nitrogenous
chemical fertilizers seem to work by increasing the nitrate level in the
soil. This initiates a corrective action on the part of denitrifying
bacteria that can crack even the soil humus, the very basis of soil
fertility. CO2 produced during this process boosts crop production. As the
soil humus content is reduced, there are reducing returns and increasing
pollution of water bodies and food.
- Indeed, the
increase in pest attacks follows the curve of nitrogenous fertilizer use.
Recent trials at the University of Ohio (Phelan, 1994) have established the
link between the use of soluble nitrogen and pest attacks.
- Lampkin (1990) has
given a summary of global research, which provides support for the above
model. White (1993), too, provides considerable data on the NPN scavenging
ability of plant insects, rats and animals such as rabbits, monkeys, hares,
pigs, bats, owls, parrots, kangaroos, etc. These animals eco-logically have
prior access to these foods. What they do not consume is good food for us.
- Mad Sheep Disease
was probably due to the consumption of NPN. Sheep offal, although
sterilized, contained NPN and was fed to cows, which may have led to the Mad
Cow Disease in Britain. Mad Fish Disease (reported off the Canadian coast)
was probably caused by an increase in the nitrate concentration in the sea.
Intensive poultry and hog farming also experience NPN problems in the toxic
effects of ammonia, another NPN source.
- People handling
garbage are reported to have a high incidence of tuberculosis and other
diseases. People working in the mining industry, using explosives (which
contain ammonium nitrate) suffer from several health problems because they
breathe air polluted with NPN. In addition, the harmful effects of nitrates
and monosodium glutamate (amino acid, a NPN), particularly in babies, are
well discussed in the literature. In fact, nitrous oxide (laughing gas),
another form of NPN affects the brain and has been used as an anesthetic.
- Prof. Duesberg, a
noted virologist from the University of California, Berkeley, has published
several papers relating drugs such as amyl nitrite to AIDS in the USA. AIDS
in Africa and other countries could be due to NPN in food. Milk is often
adulterated with urea in developing countries, which may account for an
increase in AIDS in these countries. The HIV virus seems to be the
fire-fighter that helps to remove NPN from our bodies and does not allow the
use of drugs to cure the disease. Increased sexual activity seems to be the
natural mechanism for removing NPN from our bodies. The development of a
vaccine against HIV would allow an increase in NPN until the next
fire-fighter, such as the Ebola virus, takes over.
- Food containing
protein and no NPN does not become spoiled due to fungi, insects and rats (Bhawalkar,
1997, White, 1993). The quality of nitrogen in our food, thus, is important.
The traditional Japanese technique of preserving fish in the soil supports
this point. In the old days, fish had a small NPN content. Modern fish can
be boiled and washed with water (which has a low NPN content) and stored for
a long period without refrigeration or chemical preservatives.
- Sanitation
problems or pests such as odor, flies, cockroaches, rats, redworms, potworms,
mosquitoes and aquatic weeds need NPN (Bhawalkar, 1997). Baker (1931) has
reported the use of fly maggots for pathogen control. Even Napoleon's doctor
used this therapy. The Wall Street Journal (January 17, 1995) has reported a
revival of maggot therapy to cure gangrene in the Veterans Affairs Medical
Center in Long Beach, California. The antibiotics that had replaced the
former maggot therapy have become useless now due to the modern practice of
feeding antibiotics regularly to farm animals (to get a better feed
conversion ratio).
- We have recently
discovered the ecoenzymes,similar to those harnessed by flies and
mosquitoes. By integrating these with vermiculture, we are able to produce a
special grade of vermicastings that we market as SUJALA.
- Using SUJALA is an
effective way to prevent fire (pathogen growth) from inviting fire-fighters
(flies and mosquitoes).
- Nitrosamines are
well discussed in cancer literature. The Wheat Grass Therapy by Dr. Ann
Wigmore gives support to the above model because sprouting is an effective
way of removing NPN. Beans are traditionally sprouted. If consumed directly,
they cause gas (due to NPN).
- Organic produce
has 93% less nitrates and 42% less free amino acids (both are NPN) (Lampkin,
1990). Organic produce, thus, can generally be characterized as having a low
NPN content.
- The consumption of
4-5 liters of water (with low NPN) per day is an effective technique to
flush the body of NPN and is known to help cure several health problems.
- Just as with
nitrogen, we must reduce our carbon waste so that we do not contribute
further to global warming. We can do this in part by promoting on-soil
rather than off-soil composting. The latter is wasteful because carbon that
is oxidized away from the soil is not available to soil bacteria and
earthworms. The CO2 produced in off-soil composting cannot be utilized by
growing plants and contributes to global warming. Eco-logic, thus, provides
us with an effective tool to understand nature and achieve prosperity by
reducing these wastes.
Dr.Uday
Bhawalkar
REFERENCES:-
- Baker et al.,
(1931) The Treatment of Chronic Osteomyelitis with the Maggot. The
Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol XIII.
- Bhawalkar, U. S.
(1997) Vermiculture Ecotechnology, 2nd edition, Bhawalkar Earthworm
research institute, Pune,India.
- Duesberg, P. H.
(1995) Infectious AIDS - Have We Been Misled? North Atlantic Books,
Berkeley.
- Lampkin, N. (1990)
Organic Farming, Farming Press Books,
- Ipswich, U. K.
Phelan, et al., (1994) Soil Fertility Management and Host
- Preference
by a Corn Pest: A Comparison of Organic and Conventional Chemical Farming,
(personal communication.)
- White, T.C.R.
(1993) The Inadequate Environment (Nitrogen and the Abundance of
Animals), Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
With permission
from Worm Digest
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