Both deaths were folks growing their own cannabis, and they were handling the fertilizer directly. Not linked to product contamination in any way.<p>> The spores they inhaled were in fecal matter they had used or planned to use to fertilize homegrown cannabis plants, according to the report.
People using organic fertilizers indoors should be mindful of the realities about what they are using. Many of these animal byproducts are not inherently ‘safer’ just because they’re organic. Especially in poorly ventilated areas, animal fecal dusts are not something I’d want inside my home. It might sound obvious to say that, but there is a mysticism around organic fertilizers that seems to obscure people’s thinking.
Solar ovens are handy for sterilizing organic fertilizer mixes in relatively small quantities. The simplest version is just a box lined with black absorbant material (not plastic, it might melt) with a glass plate on top, and orient towards the sun around noon for a few hours. Test it for sufficient heat generation for sterilization purposes by seeing if a metal cup full of water starts boiling.<p>Even then you should wear an decent mask when handling all fertilizers, you don't want to be breathing the dust regardless of whether it's synthetic or organic fertilizer.
The NYT is very firm in their position:<p>People should use alcohol, tobacco and firearms, like the little baby jesus intended!<p>Any activity outside of the holy trinity may lead to divine punishment...
The only animal shit I wouldn't worry about is cow shit, probably because it is so well digested and not having nearly any sugars as a grass to start with that there isn't much bacteria left that would find a human a good host. Everything else generally contains some not great bacteria that you don't want to catch.