ApocaDocuments (10) for the "Biology Breach" scenario from this week
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Sun, Aug 31, 2008
from McClatchy Newspapers:
Scientists fear impact of Asian pollutants on U.S.
"From 500 miles in space, satellites track brown clouds of dust, soot and other toxic pollutants from China and elsewhere in Asia as they stream across the Pacific and take dead aim at the western U.S... By some estimates more than 10 billion pounds of airborne pollutants from Asia - ranging from soot to mercury to carbon dioxide to ozone - reach the U.S. annually. The problem is only expected to worsen: Some Chinese officials have warned that pollution in their country could quadruple in the next 15 years." ...
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So ... um ... why is it only scientists are afraid?
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Sat, Aug 30, 2008
from NaturalNews.com:
Broken Compact Fluorescent Lights Release Mercury Into the Air: Over 100 Times the EPA Limit
"Compact fluorescent light bulbs can release dangerous amounts of mercury into the air when they break and must be disposed of very carefully, according to a report by the state of Maine.
Compact fluorescent bulbs, which consume only about a quarter as much energy as traditional incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer, all use mercury to produce light." ...
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It seemed like a good idea.
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Sat, Aug 30, 2008
from LA Times (US):
Italy mobsters block efforts to clean up toxic trash heaps
The Naples-based Camorra controls the import, transport and disposal of millions of tons of rubbish, an extremely lucrative business in which the group follows its own rules, ignores regulations on toxic waste and contaminates once-fertile farmland, country fields, forests and rivers.
Beyond the ugliness of it all, evidence now suggests that the garbage is poisoning the food chain and may be causing cancer, birth defects and other health problems.... Scientists continue to study the link between the refuse and health, but already point to alarming trends, according to the World Health Organization, including a rate exceeding regional or national norms for cancers of the stomach, kidney, liver and lung, as well as congenital malformations. In some areas between Naples and the city of Caserta, residents are two to three times more likely to get liver cancer than those in the rest of the country, according to Italy's National Research Council.
...
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We're here... to provide...
protection.
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Fri, Aug 29, 2008
from Wenachee World:
Investigators identify toxic goo, still looking for who dumped it
Nearly all of the 2,353 barrels contained industrial paint solvents and sludge, though more than half of the containers had deteriorated and spilled most or all of their contents. Some held medical waste and two barrels tested positive for low levels of radioactive materials.... Aquifers under the dump tested positive for high levels of organic compounds, metals, petroleum products, solvents, pesticides and other chemicals.... Officials believed the contamination was coming from the 55-gallon barrels, which were brought to the unlined landfill by a transport company in August 1975 and buried. But no records of what the barrels contained could be found.
The [transport] company paid $2 per barrel — about $4,700 in all — to bury the toxins. ...
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Zombie toxic barrels:
they just won't stay buried!
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Thu, Aug 28, 2008
from ABC News:
Future Storms, Global Warming Could Devastate Louisiana Coast
Louisiana's 15,000 square miles of coastal wetlands traditionally act as natural buffers from storm surges. For centuries, the fresh floodwaters of the Mississippi River replenished the wetlands with sediment, building them up and flushing out the saltwater blown in by hurricanes. But when levees were built in the 1930s to control the flooding of the river, saltwater flowing in from the gulf was left unchecked, killing habitats for freshwater wildlife and eating away at the coastline.
The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources estimates that every 38 minutes the area loses an area of coastline about the size of a football field.
"And they say over the next 20, 25 years we'll lose another thousand miles," Jindal said. ...
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Silly goose -- we can control mother nature, at our whim, because we're smarter than she is. And more powerful.
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Thu, Aug 28, 2008
from Western Morning News (UK):
'Barmy' pesticides ban blasted
Ministers are to step up pressure on the European Parliament not to press ahead with "barmy plans" to ban three-quarters of pesticides used by farmers.... The opposition has to come from across the continent to ensure that it is "not just Britain whingeing", he said.... The controversy centres on the types of chemicals which Brussels wants to remove. They include banning substances which have "endocrine disrupting properties" that could cause adverse effect in humans.
However, the public is already exposed to such substances through prescribed drugs, meat, peas and beans and products like soya milk. ...
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Oi, guv'nor. Wot rubbish.
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Wed, Aug 27, 2008
from Popular Science:
New research finds higher-than-expected levels of pesticides in hives
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulates agricultural pesticide use, but this regulation does not account for the interaction of these chemicals that inevitably takes place through the bees' pollination processes. Some of these combinations of pesticides have been found to have a synergistic effect hundreds of times more toxic than any of the pesticides individually, says James L. Frazier, professor of entomology at Penn State.... These changes include immune system blocks and disorientation, which may help to explain the CCD crisis of late. ...
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Sort of like mixing gin and tequila.
Only lots worse.
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Wed, Aug 27, 2008
from Citizens Voice (PA):
Federal agency: Cancer cluster exists between Tamaqua, McAdoo
The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry on Monday confirmed something that residents of an area at the intersections of Schuylkill, Carbon and Luzerne counties have felt sure of for many years -- that an unusually high number of people there are suffering from a rare blood cancer.... The report found three environmental similarities in common in the cluster areas: hazardous waste sites, air pollution and coal mining operations. ...
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Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble, eye of newt and hazardous brew.
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Tue, Aug 26, 2008
from NaturalNews:
Canada's Oil Sands Declared "Most Destructive Project on Earth" as Eco Disaster Looms
The report accuses the Canadian government of allowing the Tar Sands Project to emit levels of greenhouse gases that far outstrip any reductions made in other areas.
"Ottawa is letting the Tar Sands hold Canadians hostage on global warming," said Program Manager Matt Price.... The group also says that the project has contaminated rivers and groundwater with toxic chemicals, caused an increase in acid rain and created "health sacrifice zones" in the surrounding region. ...
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"Health sacrifice zones" sound a lot like "collateral damage" to me.
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Mon, Aug 25, 2008
from University of New South Wales, via EurekAlert:
Heavy metal link to mutations, low growth and fertility among crustaceans in Sydney Harbor tributary
Heavy metal pollutants are linked to genetic mutations, stunted growth and declining fertility among small crustaceans in the Parramatta River, the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, new research shows.
The finding adds to mounting evidence that toxic sediments and seaweeds in Sydney Harbour are a deadly diet for many sea creatures.... Earlier this year, UNSW scientists revealed that copper-contaminated seaweeds in Sydney Harbour were killing 75 percent of the offspring of small crustaceans that feed on a common brown seaweed. ...
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Golly! Who would have imagined that toxic sediment could affect sea life?
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