| With all the diseases present in farm animals of late, do I need to worry about using bloodmeal and bonemeal in my vegetable garden? I'm speaking specifically about 'hoof and mouth disease' and 'mad cow disease'. Thanks! |
| Hoof and mouth disease does not generally affect people and has not been found in this country so should not be an issue in materials produced from animals grown in this country. There is some concern among some researchers that diseases related to mad cow disease that might affect people might be able to persist in bone meal after processing, but that has not been clearly determined. Whether or not that would be reason to not use the material would be a personal decision, perhaps based on consultation with your physician. Certainly there are alternative sources of the nutrients for which those materials are usually applied and depending on your own analysis of the situation you might prefer to use them instead. |
