Worms Remove Toxic Metals from Soil

21st October 2014

Swati Pattnaik and M Vikram Reddy of Pondicherry University in India found that specific species of earthworm, namely Eudrilus eugeniae, Eisena fetida, and Perionyx excavates can be used to assist in the composting and cleaning of urban waste.

There is a growing problem of how to manage waste in the world and the process of vermicomposting in this way may help in solving such problems. It allows organic waste to be remediated and the compost used subsequently for growing human food without the risk of accumulating heavy metals in the crops, the researchers state.

The team's tests show that the heavy metal content of such waste can be reduced to levels significantly below the permissible safe limits.

The heavy metal ions are not broken down, however, but stored in the worms' tissues.

Yet, the benefits of vermicomposting go beyond just toxic metal removal: Ken Rohla explains that worms also put probiotics in the soil utilising a 'quantum process' in their guts. The probiotics then break the soil down further, producing microclustered nutrients that can be taken up by the plants and utilized by the human body. Read more here.

Source:

Science Daily: "Bioremediation of Toxic Metals Using Worms: Earthworms Soak Up Heavy Metal"

Jump to top of page

The best natural health tips from this website - 2nd edition!

This book came out of a necessity to begin putting in one coherent place, neatly ordered, all the amazing ways we can use to naturally reclaim back our health, free of charge.

70 brief chapters, each introducing you to the benefits of a certain technique, or a trick, to improve your health frugally. Natural, noninvasive and easy techniques. Pick the ones that suit your lifestyle and begin enjoying the good life!

• 170 pages of content
• Tried and tested methods
• Links to additional information on this website and elsewhere
• All the best insights from the last six years of writing Cheap Health Revolution
• Free and very cheap methods
• Suitable for busy lifestyles
• Amazing benefits of simple everyday habits you didn't know about
• Methods are suitable for most healthy diet types: raw food, paleolithic, vegetarian, vegan, mixed eaters, etc.

Second edition will be released this month! Available to pre-order now as a Kindle ebook on Amazon!