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| | Experts soothe worries about using bone, blood meal |
 | | Safety concerns about bone meal have turned into something of an urban legend, according to Dalton Hobbs, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Agriculture, but he knows of no evidence that bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) can be contracted by inhaling bone meal dust. |
 | | Parts of the cow (hooves, bones and innards) that don't end up in the grocery store for human consumption are sent to rendering facilities, where they're boiled down, ground up and made into any number of products, including bone meal and blood meal sold as plant nutrients. |
 | | Bone meal provides an organic source of phosphorus, needed for root development, and a little nitrogen, used by the plant for healthy growth. |
| www.organicconsumers.org /madcow/fertilizer1804.cfm (775 words) |
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