ApocaDocuments (10) for the "Biology Breach" scenario from this week
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Sun, Jun 1, 2008
from Daily Mail:
Chlorine in tap water 'nearly doubles the risk of birth defects'
"Pregnant women living in areas where tap water is heavily disinfected with chlorine nearly double their risk of having children with heart problems, a cleft palate or major brain defects, a new study has found. Scientists say expectant mothers can expose themselves to the higher risk by drinking the water, taking a bath or shower, or even by standing close to a boiling kettle." ...
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Ceasing any of those activities is bound to make an irritable pregnant woman downright apoplectic!
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Sun, Jun 1, 2008
from In These Times, in AlterNet:
Will the Toxic Sludge Industry Be Held Accountable for Human Health Risks?
"... and we have precocious puberty, little girls developing breasts at 5 or 6 years old, little boys developing armpit hair. And that is something that people don't want to talk about," Holt says. "They will talk about their thyroid glands, their cancers, but they will not talk about early puberty. We are on a true toxic tilt."
For the first time since she became involved in the sludge issue, Holt is guardedly hopeful that her concerns will finally be addressed, and that the sulphurous alliance between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), municipal sewer authorities and Synagro Technologies (the nation's largest sludge disposal firm, which was recently bought by the Carlyle Group) -- will be exposed for the blight it is.
In April, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, announced that her committee will hold hearings on the issue this summer. The catalyst is a confluence of recent news reports about sludge-related scandals. ...
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Who'd have thought that laying a bunch of toxic shit down would have consequences?
Note: the Carlyle Group is Poppy Bush's investment tribe.
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Sat, May 31, 2008
from Washington Post (US):
Safety Studies on Nanoparticles Lag Behind Technology
One issue is that the explosion of products using nanomaterials has outpaced the research into what happens when the particles escape into the environment or the human body. "Safety studies are dribbling in, but new consumer products are pouring in... The system is backwards"... Silver, one of the most widely used nanomaterials, has potent antibacterial properties, "which can be a good thing or a bad thing"... When nanosilver and ionic silver reach wastewater treatment plants, they could kill beneficial bacteria used to remove impurities; if the particles get back into waterways, they could also harm fish and algae. Leftover sewage sludge is also used as agricultural fertilizer; nanosilver remaining there could damage soil used to grow food. ...
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Heck, no problem. We'll just do what we always do: test it in the field, and then apologize, saying we didn't know.
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Fri, May 30, 2008
from DailyTech:
Buckyballs Versus Cell Membranes
The group, from the University of Calgary, used the computing power of WestGrid to run their simulations, which involved buckyball clusters interacting with lipid cell membranes. Their simulations found that the molecules were able to dissolve into the cell membrane, passing through it without causing mechanical damage, and reform in the cell's interior. Once inside the cell, the buckyballs could cause damage to the cells.
Peter Tieleman, one of the study's leaders, explains "buckyballs are already being made on a commercial scale for use in coatings and materials but we have not determined their toxicity. There are studies showing that they can cross the blood-brain barrier and alter cell functions, which raises a lot of questions about their toxicity and what impact they may have if released into the environment." ...
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"Good-ness, Grac-ious,
small balls of fi-ire!"
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Fri, May 30, 2008
from Washington Post (US):
Lead Exposure in Childhood Linked to Criminal Behavior Later
A study in the May 27 issue of PLoS Medicine is the first empirical evidence that elevated blood lead levels, both in the pregnant mother and in the child, are associated with criminal behavior in young adulthood.
"I never would have thought that we would be seeing these effects into the later 20s," said study co-author Kim Dietrich, a professor of environmental health at the University of Cincinnati. "I'm actually quite astounded and quite worried about this. Although lead levels have been going down in this country, a large proportion of the population now in their 20s and 30s had blood levels in this neurotoxic range." ...
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I wonder what other heavy metals might do -- mercury, cadmium, and the like.
Y'know, the stuff we spew out of coal-fired power plants all day long.
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Fri, May 30, 2008
from BlueRidgeNow (Times-News):
Unknown toxin kills fish in Davidson River
PISGAH FOREST - State officials on Thursday were investigating the cause of a mile-long fish kill on the lower Davidson River, while Transylvania County officials urged residents to avoid contact with the water in the Davidson and downstream on the French Broad River.... a preliminary report with the DWQ office in Black Mountain listed as a possible source a 22,000 gallon tank of "black liquor," a concentration of organic byproducts of the paper-making process.... The Davidson is famous for its trout fishing, both along the private section downstream of U.S. 64/276 and through Pisgah National Forest upstream.
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"Black liquor" even sounds toxic.
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Fri, May 30, 2008
from EuroNews:
Toxic fish scare in France sparks national enquiry
There is new concern over a pollution scare in France. People living along the Rhone river, and regular eaters of fish caught in it, have tested positive for dangerously high levels of a carcinogenic chemical in their blood. Some exhibited four to five times the so-called 'safe' level of PCBs, or polychlorobiphenyles.... Despite being banned from sale for industrial use in France for more than 20 years, PCB was used in glues, paints and even paper.
The startling results of this limited study have now prompted a two year national enquiry to find out just how dangerous France's rivers are. ...
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"O Seine and Rhone, I long to see you
waaayhaaay, you toxic rivers...."
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Thu, May 29, 2008
from Institut de Recherche Pour le Développement, via EurekAlert:
Reforestation using exotic plants can disturb the fertility of tropical soils
In Burkina Faso, controlled experiments showed that the development of E. camaldulensis, the eucalyptus species most often planted in the world, outside its area of origin, significantly reduced the diversity of the mycorrhizal fungi communities essential for the healthy functioning of the ecosystem.
... also found in the soil of a Senegalese plantation ... where, scarcely a few months after its introduction, the soil’s microbial characteristics had completely changed. ... The soil sampled from areas surrounding the A. holosericea plantation had a balanced distribution of mycorrhizal fungi species, whereas [inside showed] a strong imbalance in the composition of the mycorrhizal fungi community... there is a risk that the Australian acacia might create a new ecosystem whose physical, chemical and biological characteristics will not necessarily be favourable to a recolonization of the habitat by native species. ...
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Gollygosh. Again with these stories that imply that evolution is smarter than we are.
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Wed, May 28, 2008
from American Chemical Society via ScienceDaily:
Melting Glaciers May Release DDT And Contaminate Antarctic Environment
"In an unexpected consequence of climate change, scientists are raising the possibility that glacial melting is releasing large amounts of the banned pesticide DDT, which is contaminating the environment in Antarctica." ...
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Sounds like someday we'll all be eating DDT for breakfast.
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Mon, May 26, 2008
from Chemical & Engineering News:
Nanotube Inflammation
"RIGID MULTIWALLED carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) longer than 20 µm elicit the same toxic response in mice that asbestos does, according to two new studies. The results suggest that in humans nanotubes could lead to mesothelioma, the hallmark cancer of asbestos exposure, if sufficient quantities of the material are able to reach the lungs by inhalation." ...
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Maybe nanobots can cure the cancer that nanotubes cause!
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