ApocaDocuments (12) for the "Biology Breach" scenario from this week
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Sun, May 18, 2008
from Kalamazoo Gazette:
CAFOs in conflict: Huge farms increase efficiency but create environmental concerns
"...Concentrated-animal-feeding operations, or CAFOs. What's not to love about 'em? Supporters call them technological models of efficiency and energy conservation that protect animals from predators and disease, manage manure wastes that were once scattered across fields and streams, and create cheap food and full-time employment." ...
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Sounds pretty sweet unless you're one of the animals!
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Sun, May 18, 2008
from London Independent:
Warning: Using a mobile phone while pregnant can seriously damage your baby
"Women who use mobile phones when pregnant are more likely to give birth to children with behavioural problems, according to authoritative research. A giant study, which surveyed more than 13,000 children, found that using the handsets just two or three times a day was enough to raise the risk of their babies developing hyperactivity and difficulties with conduct, emotions and relationships by the time they reached school age. And it adds that the likelihood is even greater if the children themselves used the phones before the age of seven." ...
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We can imagine a new disorder named fetal cellphone syndrome otherwise known colloquially as you can't hear me now.
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Sat, May 17, 2008
from Apapa Vanguard:
NAFDAC bans 30 agrochemical products
"THE National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has banned the sale and supply of 30 different agrochemical products in the country. NAFDAC Director-General, Professor Dora Akunyili, explained in Abuja that the ban became necessary when it was discovered that the pesticides were causing food poisoning that had resulted in the death of many after they consumed food crops preserved with the chemicals... "Samples were again taken to our laboratory and it was discovered that the foodstuffs contained outrageously high levels of lindane, an organochlorinated pesticide commonly called gammallin that affects the nervous system, producing a range of symptoms from nausea, vomiting, headaches, dizziness to seizure, convulsion and death," she said." ...
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We're better off eating pests.
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Sat, May 17, 2008
from China Post (Taiwan):
Hazardous chemical discovered in detergents
Three local brands of common household detergents contain hazardous endocrine disrupters potentially harmful to health and environment, a consumers' protection group claimed yesterday.... Results of a survey of 20 brand name household laundry detergents found in the market, conducted by the Consumers' Foundation showed that 15 percent contain nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEO).... NPEO compounds break down into a group of toxic and persistent byproducts, such as nonylphenol (NP). ...
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Maybe if they had more euphonious acronyms, we'd be more afraid of them.
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Fri, May 16, 2008
from ASU, via EurekAlert:
New study links fate of personal care products to environmental pollution and human health concerns
Two closely related antimicrobials, triclosan and triclocarban, are at the center of the debacle. Whereas triclosan (TCS) has long captured the attention of toxicologists due to its structural resemblance to dioxin (the Times Beach and Love Canal poison), triclocarban (TCC) has ski-rocketed in 2004 from an unknown and presumably harmless consumer product additive to one of today’s top ten pharmaceuticals and personal care products most frequently found in the environment and in U.S. drinking water resources.... [the] antimicrobial ingredients used a half a century ago, by our parents and grandparents, are still present today at parts-per-million concentrations in estuarine sediments.... "This extreme environmental persistence by itself is a concern, and it is only amplified by recent studies that show both triclosan and triclocarban to function as endocrine disruptors in mammalian cell cultures and in animal models." ...
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Some days I just want to wash my hands of the whole human race.
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Fri, May 16, 2008
from Science, via EurekAlert:
Atmosphere threatened by pollutants entering ocean, prof says
Human-caused atmospheric nitrogen compounds are carried by wind and deposited into the ocean, where they act as a fertilizer and lead to increased production of marine plant life. The increase in plant life causes more carbon dioxide to be drawn from the atmosphere into the ocean. This process results in the removal of about 10 percent of the human-caused carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, thus potentially reducing the climate warming potential, according to the team's paper.... However, some of the nitrogen deposited in the ocean is re-processed to form another nitrogen compound called nitrous oxide, which is then released back into the atmosphere from the ocean. Nitrous oxide is a powerful greenhouse gas itself – about 300 times more powerful per molecule than carbon dioxide – thus cancelling out about two-thirds of the apparent gain from the carbon dioxide removal, Duce explained. "But of course, the whole system is so complex that we're still rather unsure about what some of the other impacts might be within the ocean," he said. ...
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You mean we don't know what we're doing?
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Fri, May 16, 2008
from Ottowa Citizen (Canada):
Silicone gel implants may lose approval
Health Canada is expected to announce Friday its plans for synthetic chemicals found in silicone fluids as part of a risk assessment of 200 chemical substances, identified as top priorities for action because they are potentially harmful to human health or the environment.
It has already written to industry, explaining that "in the absence of additional relevant information," the government is "predisposed to conclude, based on a screening assessment, that this substance satisfies the definition of toxic (under the) Canadian Environmental Protection Act"... A toxic declaration about the Cyclohexasiloxane family, also known as D4, D5, D6, would start a process that could lead to a ban in certain products, as with bisphenol A in baby bottles. ...
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Hunh. A chemical in silicone breast implants, Bisphenol A, is bad, and gets noticed because it might be found in already-toxic baby bottles.
Jokes about "stacked deck," and "nursing a toxin," and "Bisphenol A sucks" and "the Cyclohexasiloxane blues" all worth imagining.
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Thu, May 15, 2008
from LawyersAndSettlements.com:
Botox Migration a Recipe for Disaster
The concern, which initially only circulated through medical journals but has since been widely reported in mainstream media, surrounds the potential migration of the neurotoxin from the initial injection site. A study by the Italian National Research Council discovered that Botox injected into the whisker muscles of rats, had migrated in trace amounts to the brain stem in as little as three days.
A Canadian study achieved similar results. Last month the Journal of Biomechanics published the findings of Walter Herzog, a noted kinesiologist from the University of Calgary. While researching osteoarthritis and joint degeneration, he found that botulinum toxin injected into the supporting muscles of cats not only paralyzed the muscles into which the toxin was injected, but had spread into, and weakened all muscles in the area. ...
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Surprise, surprise! What next, will we discover that silicone doesn't stay where it's injected?
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Thu, May 15, 2008
from NewsDaily:
Research links common chemicals to obesity
Exposure in the womb to common chemicals used to make everything from plastic bottles to pizza box liners may program a person to become obese later in life, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.... Previous studies have linked these chemicals -- also found in water pipes -- to cancer and reproductive problems, prompting a number of countries and U.S. states to consider potential bans or limits of the compounds, the researchers said. One of the chemicals is called Bisphenol A, found in polycarbonate plastics. Past research has suggested it leaches from plastic food and drink containers. ...
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Cancer and reproductive problems are one thing. But if it makes us fat? That changes everything!
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Wed, May 14, 2008
from Ecological Society of America, via Eurekalert:
Restoring fish populations leads to tough choice for Great Lakes Gulls
You might think that stocking the Great Lakes with things like trout and salmon would be good for the herring gull. The birds often eat from the water, so it would be natural to assume that more fish would mean better dining. But a new report says that the addition of species such as exotic salmon and trout to the area has not been good for the birds, demonstrating that fishery management actions can sometimes have very unexpected outcomes. ...
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Daddy, why is it hard
to fix my broken lake?
It worked before I broke it.
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Wed, May 14, 2008
from The Dickinson Press vis Associated Press:
Idaho raptor group: Study confirms lead fragments in venison
"An Idaho raptor group working to eliminate lead from ammunition has released findings it says shows 80 percent of ground venison from deer killed with high-velocity lead bullets contains metal fragments. The Peregrine Fund, based in Boise, and researchers from Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., say the study released Tuesday is further evidence people who eat meat from game animals shot with lead bullets risk exposure to the toxic metal." ...
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The upside here is you no longer need a fork to eat the meat -- you can just use magnets!
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Tue, May 13, 2008
from Washington Post:
Firms Seek Patents on 'Climate Ready' Altered Crops
"A handful of the world's largest agricultural biotechnology companies are seeking hundreds of patents on gene-altered crops designed to withstand drought and other environmental stresses, part of a race for dominance in the potentially lucrative market for crops that can handle global warming, according to a report being released today. Three companies -- BASF of Germany, Syngenta of Switzerland and Monsanto of St. Louis -- have filed applications to control nearly two-thirds of the climate-related gene families submitted to patent offices worldwide..." ...
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By all means, let's let giant corporations get even more powerful -- they take our concerns to heart!
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