ApocaDocuments (14) for the "Biology Breach" scenario from this week
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Sun, Jul 27, 2008
from Birmingham Sunday Mercury:
Human sewage used on crops in the Midlands
"FARMERS are using treated human sewage as crop fertiliser on almost 3,000 Midland fields.
Severn Trent Water says demand for the waste has soared because it is now just a fifth of the cost of conventional animal-based fertiliser, which is closely linked to the price of oil.
The treated human sewage, known as sludge, is being used on fields to grow crops including maize, corn and oats." ...
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There's something sooooooo interconnected about this farming practice.
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Sun, Jul 27, 2008
from Des Moines Register:
Floods foul Iowa environment
"The scope of environmental damage in the wake of this spring's massive flooding is just starting to come into focus. The early findings: Iowa is awash in bacteria, plagued with pesticides, and doused in oil and dangerous compounds, but at concentrations that don't pose an immediate risk to aquatic life or human health. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency collected 169,836 stray computers, appliances, televisions and containers as of July 17, most in Linn County." ...
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There is no ark that can save us from this flood.
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Sat, Jul 26, 2008
from Newsweek:
Beetlemania
"After ravaging 22 million acres of pine trees in Canada over the last 12 years, the rice-sized insects have been feasting their way southward. Their favorite meal: the majestic lodgepole pine, which makes up 8 percent of Colorado's 22 million acres of forests. Before landing in Beaver Creek, the pine beetles tore through neighboring Vail, Winter Park, Breckenridge and several areas around Steamboat Springs. So far, say state foresters, the beetles have eaten through 1.5 million acres, about 70 percent of the all the state's lodgepole pines. The tree's entire population will be wiped out in the next few years, Colorado state foresters predict, leaving behind a deforested area about the size of Rhode Island." ...
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Majestic lodgepole pine... my, that does sound tasty!
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Fri, Jul 25, 2008
from Wall Street Journal:
It's all about the lighting
"Around the world, the night sky is vanishing in a fog of artificial light, which a coalition of naturalists, astronomers and medical researchers consider one of the fastest growing forms of pollution, with consequences for wildlife, people's health -- and the human spirit. About two-thirds of the world's population, including almost everyone in the continental U.S. and Europe, no longer see a starry sky where they live." ...
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The only connection we have with The Milky Way is as a candy bar.
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Fri, Jul 25, 2008
from Natural News:
Chemical Causes of Diabetes: Overeating Is Not the Only Problem
Medical science has discovered how sensitive the insulin receptor sites are to chemical poisoning. Metals such as cadmium, mercury, arsenic, lead, fluoride and possibly aluminum may play a role in the actual destruction of beta cells through stimulating an auto-immune reaction to them after they have bonded to these cells in the pancreas. ...
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Great -- gimme another piece of pie.
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Fri, Jul 25, 2008
from Downey Patriot:
Getting rid of your TV and a tsunami of waste
[T]he biggest loser to the great HDTV switchover could be our environment. Solid waste managers worry that consumers will opt for HDTV en masse, consigning perfectly good analog TVs to the U.S. waste stream. Eighty to 200 million televisions could be discarded over the next 30 months.... Picture tubes hold up to eight pounds of toxic lead, while television plastic casings contain cancer-causing flame retardants. Other TV toxins can include cadmium, mercury, chromium, beryllium and arsenic. If not recycled, toxic TVs can poison people, soils and groundwater. ...
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But hey, we'll be able to watch the devolution in high def!
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Thu, Jul 24, 2008
from Chicago Sun-Times:
Global warming may boost kitten population
"Global warming and kittens. While it may seem hard to see the connection between the two -- a climate phenomenon that melts glaciers and acidifies oceans, and cuddly, 4-ounce balls of fur -- experts say there could be one. Each spring, the onset of warm weather and longer days drives female cats into heat, resulting in a few months of booming kitten populations known as "kitten season." ... What shelter officials and veterinarians have begun noticing, however, is that kitten season is starting to begin earlier and last longer." ...
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oh how cute! maybe global warming won't be all bad...
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Thu, Jul 24, 2008
from Albany Times-Union:
Mercury release wasn't stopped
Federal environmental officials failed to stop cement plants from releasing unsafe levels of toxic mercury despite repeatedly being sued by environmentalists for disobeying federal law, according to report issued Wednesday.
Such lawsuits led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reveal this year that cement plants sent nearly 23,000 pounds of mercury into the air nationwide -- more than double what the agency had reported just two years earlier.... Mercury that drifts back to earth enters the food chain mostly through water.... One-seventieth of a teaspoon of mercury is enough to taint a 25-acre lake. ...
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What's EPA stand for? Perhaps
Environmental Procrastination Agency?
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Thu, Jul 24, 2008
from EUobserver.com:
EU clears baby bottle chemical despite Canada ban
The levels of bisphenol A, or BPA, found in such items is safe for infants in small amounts, according to a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)scientific opinion issued on Wednesday (23 July), which stated that the substance "provides a sufficient margin of safety for the protection of the consumer, including fetuses and newborns." ... "The scientists also concluded that newborns are similarly able to metabolise and eliminate BPA at doses below 1 milligram per kilogram of body weight per day." ...
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Whew! Endocrine disruptors are safe for my newborn, then.
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Wed, Jul 23, 2008
from Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Fresh scent may hide toxic secret
Ten of the 100 volatile organic compounds identified qualified under federal rules as toxic or hazardous, and three of those -- 1,4-dioxane, acetaldehyde and chloromethane -- are "hazardous air pollutants" considered unsafe to breathe at any concentration, according to the study.... [A]s this UW study shows, it's disturbingly easy to find toxic chemicals in everyday products like these because companies don't have to say what's in their products." ...
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But how else can I get the smell of faux nature in my sheets?
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Wed, Jul 23, 2008
from ANI, via MSN (India):
Allergy-causing sofas from China
Thousands of Brits have developed severe allergies after coming in contact with the toxic gas emitted by an anti-mould agent in their Chinese sofas. An increasing number of patients are being treated in hospitals for symptoms, which appeared to range from skin cancer, and chemical burns to severe eczema.
The cases have been linked to an estimated 100,000 sofas... He added that it could take weeks or months to become hypersensitised to the chemical, which disguised the link to the furniture in many cases.
Exposure to dimethyl fumarate can make a person more vulnerable to reactions to other chemicals. ...
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So much for kicking back and watching the game.
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Tue, Jul 22, 2008
from Scientific American:
Happy Fish Go Hungry?
"...Toxicologists at Clemson University in South Carolina have found that hybrid striped bass exposed to the antidepressant fluoxetine (the generic name for Eli Lilly's Prozac) were markedly less interested in feeding than other fish. The more fluoxetine ingested, the less the appetite. The fish also did things that could lead to life-shortening events -- like failing to take usual precautions around predators and making them easier prey." ...
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We knew clams were happy, but now we know striped bass are rockin'!
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Tue, Jul 22, 2008
from Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, via EurekAlert:
Study reveals air pollution is causing widespread and serious impacts to ecosystems
[A]ir pollution is degrading every major ecosystem type in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic United States.... "Deposited pollutants have tangible human impacts. Mercury contamination results in fish that are unsafe to eat. Acidification kills fish and strips nutrients from soils. Excess nitrogen pollutes estuaries, to the detriment of coastal fisheries. And ground-level ozone reduces plant growth, a threat to forestry and agriculture." ...
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Take a deep breath...
again... again...
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Want more context?
Try reading our book FREE online:
Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies!
More fun than a barrel of jellyfish!
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Mon, Jul 21, 2008
from The Durango Herald (Colorado):
Gasfield chemicals sicken nurse, state agency pushing for transparency
All the tests on Cathy Behr were negative. As the medical mystery deepened, her body began failing.... Finally, doctors ... diagnosed a chemical exposure that happened in their own emergency room, where Behr works 12-hour shifts as a nurse. She had treated a sick gas-field worker and breathed the fumes on his clothes from a chemical called ZetaFlow for five or 10 minutes.... ZetaFlow and similar chemicals are exempt from many federal and state environmental laws. ...
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Wonder what the worker was sick from.
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