First of all, I'd like to say what an honor it is to be included among this august group. I have worked hard all my life to be considered an expert on human waste, so consider my participation in this TPM Cafe a culmination of sorts . . .

Second of all, loved Rose's intro a lot, but she's downplaying the passions human waste engenders today, and over the whole of human history. Perhaps as we go along we should keep in mind that none other than the great Paracelsus, father of modern pharmacology, kept a store of (what he called) zibethum in the cabinet, from which he hoped to conjure nothing less than the philosopher's stone.

That said, I have spoken to scores of human waste professionals who envision a utopian future for sludge, not only as Milorganite (the best deer-repelling fertilizer on the market), but an endless source for recycling caffeine, Tylenol, and Chanel Number 5. A quick example: Lehigh Cement Company's Maryland plant burns human waste, then tosses the ash into their concrete mix, the foundation for tomorrow's skyscrapers.

On the other hand, from the Bronx to Temescal Canyon, complaints have arisen about a grave threat to nature and humanity. Human waste includes the outputs not only of you and your next door neighbor, but of DuPont, Monsanto, 3M, and the red bag waste of your local hospital, which can make for some far-reaching effluvial consequences. Content surveys have uncovered dioxins, furans, and coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls, not to mention germs of pneumonia, encephalitis, and meningitis. There's arsenic, lead, and mercury in that zibethum. Cows graze on treated pasture, as well as on field corn and sweet corn grown on human waste. And when a cow eats pasture, she also eats the dirt from which it springs. Sheep may ingest up to a third of their diet as straight dirt. Then we eat the meat.

So there you have it. A little more pro, a little more con.