Well here is MY opinion. My opinion is that that quote is Calfo and Fenners
opinion on how it all works. In no way did they ever back up their claim with any scientific evidence. It just seems to me that they insinuate alot of things about it and then leave it hanging and you need to find out for youself? I dont' know if you posted the whole quote, I'll have to check the book out when I get home.
Some examples of other organisms that can live in stasis are, yeast, Clostridium botulinum (botulism toxin) Clostridium tetanae (tetanus toxin), kefir and one you should all recognize SEA MONKEYS
When they don't have a happy place to live, they just pack it in and wait for a better day. Heck half the bacteria I use at work are like that. Take away their oxygen and food, they just sit there hanging out. The other day I took a bacteria from 1985 out of "stasis" and its chugging away growing on the plate like its 1986!
If bacteria couldn't use stasis/spore forumulation as part of their life cycle we certainly wouldn't have such problems with them.
Quite frankly, I would rather use sand that came from someone elses tank but to buy a bag of live sand and then have someone suggest that I rinse it seems like a waste of money.