ApocaDocuments (15) for the "Biology Breach" scenario from this week
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Sun, Nov 23, 2008
from London Independent:
Invasion of the Aliens
British waters are being invaded by a wave of species making their way in from the sea, according to a new study. While foreign varieties of barnacles, brown seaweed and kelp may not sound dramatic, they are, in effect, slipping in under the radar, their progress hastened by climate change, according to Dr Nova Mieszkowska from the Marine Biological Association.
Their arrival will add to pressure on native species already under siege by a range of marine invaders to Britain's shores such as the American red signal crayfish and the Pacific oyster. Some have arrived as a result of climate change, while others have made their way here on ships' hulls, in ballast water or through the global trade in aquaculture. ...
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We have met the enemy and they are us.
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Sun, Nov 23, 2008
from Science News:
Is Your Fish Oil Polluted?
Diets rich in fish oil offer a number of health benefits, from fighting heart disease to boosting immunity. However, many noxious contaminants preferentially accumulate in fat. These include pesticides, brominated flame retardants, dioxins, and some related compounds known as polychlorinated biphenyls. So there's been some concern that if a fish was pulled from polluted waters, its fat might be polluted too. And those pollutants could end up an unwanted bonus in commercial fish-oil supplements.
A new survey of some 154 different fish-oil capsules sold by 45 different companies now confirms that some supplements are remarkably dirty and others quite pure. In general, PCBs and a breakdown product of DDT were the major pollutants in fish-oil supplements. ...
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Hey. What doesn't kill you ... might make you sick!
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Sat, Nov 22, 2008
from Scientific American:
Fact or Fiction?: Cell Phones Can Cause Brain Cancer
This summer, Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, sent a memo to staffers warning them to limit their cell phone use and to use hands-free sets in the wake of "growing evidence that we should reduce exposure" to cell phone radiation. Among the possible consequences: an increased risk of brain cancer.
Five months later, a top official at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) told a congressional panel that published scientific data indicates cell phones are safe.
So what's the deal? Do cell phones cause cancer -- or not?
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Cell phones are no more dangerous than my bad-tempered carrier pigeons!
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Sat, Nov 22, 2008
from Los Angeles Times:
Are pill-popping turkeys a danger?
Turkeys, like any other animal, get sick. And while few would dispute that they should be treated when that happens, many scientists, medical professionals and animal experts are concerned that too much medicine is being given to too many turkeys -- and to too many food animals in general... The potential for danger from antibiotic use in farm animals comes in two forms, experts say: The antibiotics could remain in meat when people eat it. They could also contribute to the development of resistant bacteria.
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Who's the turkey now?
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Fri, Nov 21, 2008
from Indianapolis Star:
Indiana lands on group's Top 50 list of mercury emitters
Three Indiana power plants have landed on an environmental group's tally of the 50 facilities in the nation that emit the greatest amount of poisonous mercury into the air and water.
Together, the 50 plants last year released about 20 tons of mercury, which can cause permanent damage to brains, kidneys and developing fetuses, according to a report from the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonprofit that advocates for stricter enforcement of environmental regulations.... Indiana has no restrictions specifically addressing mercury emissions from power plants.... Environmental activists would like the state to do more to reduce emissions from power plants. ...
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Maybe Hoosiers ought to get some of them restrictions!
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Fri, Nov 21, 2008
from Imperial College, via EurekAlert:
Hairspray is linked to common genital birth defect, says study
Women who are exposed to hairspray in the workplace during pregnancy have more than double the risk of having a son with the genital birth defect hypospadias, according to a new study published today in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
The study is the first to show a significant link between hairspray and hypospadias, one of the most common birth defects of the male genitalia, where the urinary opening is displaced to the underside of the penis. The causes of the condition are poorly understood.... The study suggests that hairspray and hypospadias may be linked because of chemicals in hairspray known as phthalates. Previous studies have proposed that phthalates may disrupt the hormonal systems in the body and affect reproductive development. ...
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Looks like helmet-head can be dangerous to others!
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Thu, Nov 20, 2008
from London Guardian:
President for 60 more days, Bush tearing apart protection for America's wilderness
George Bush is working at a breakneck pace to dismantle at least 10 major environmental safeguards protecting America's wildlife, national parks and rivers before he leaves office in January.
With barely 60 days to go until Bush hands over to Barack Obama, his White House is working methodically to weaken or reverse an array of regulations that protect America's wilderness from logging or mining operations, and compel factory farms to clean up dangerous waste.
In the latest such move this week, Bush opened up some 800,000 hectares (2m acres) of land in Rocky Mountain states for the development of oil shale, one of the dirtiest fuels on the planet. The law goes into effect on January 17, three days before Obama takes office.
The timing is crucial. Most regulations take effect 60 days after publication, and Bush wants the new rules in place before he leaves the White House on January 20. That will make it more difficult for Obama to undo them. ...
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Even if Bush can't read, apparently he can count!
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Thu, Nov 20, 2008
from The Epoch Times:
'Recyclers' Illegally Exporting Electronic Waste
It contains toxic components such as lead, mercury and cadmium, and Canada generates about 140,000 tons of it each year. The United States generates three million tons yearly.
It is electronic waste, and disposing of it in an environmentally friendly way is proving complicated and open to abuse.
With the astronomical growth of e-waste in the last decade, the number of recyclers of the ever-growing tidal wave of discarded computers, monitors, printers and cell phones has exploded in North America. ...
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Not to mention all those analog televisions that we're being forced to discard in February...
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Wed, Nov 19, 2008
from Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Bug bombs don't just kill pests: People, pets also sickened by foggers
...Last month, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study the agency says is the first look at pesticide poisoning incidents related to bug bombs. Using the records of eight states where such incidents are tracked most carefully, including Washington, they documented 466 cases of injuries or illness from 2001 to 2006.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency responded this month by launching an effort to re-examine bug bombs' labels and packaging.
The agency is also trying to figure out how to make consumers more aware of the need to read directions carefully.... ...
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We are all connected.
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Tue, Nov 18, 2008
from New York Times:
Bark Beetles Kill Millions of Acres of Trees in West
...From New Mexico to British Columbia, the region's signature pine forests are succumbing to a huge infestation of mountain pine beetles that are turning a blanket of green forest into a blanket of rust red. Montana has lost a million acres of trees to the beetles, and in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming the situation is worse....In Wyoming and Colorado in 2006 there were a million acres of dead trees. Last year it was 1.5 million. This year it is expected to total over two million. In the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, the problem is most severe. It is the largest known insect infestation in the history of North America, officials said.
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If a tree is bitten by a bark beetle in the forest, can you hear it ... scream?
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Tue, Nov 18, 2008
from Canwest News:
Continents of garbage adrift in oceans
Scientists are growing alarmed about massive floating dumps that are believed to be building up in centres of nearly all of the world's oceans.
The best-known patch, known by some as the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch, consists of an estimated 100 million tonnes of plastic debris that has accumulated inside a circular vortex of currents known as the North Pacific gyre. Environmentalists call it the Pacific Trash Vortex....An estimated 100,000 marine mammals die each year from eating or being entangled in debris -- mostly plastic -- in the North Pacific alone. Hence the vortex's other nickname: the Plastic Killing Fields. ...
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Maybe we should spend less time making up nicknames and more time finding solutions!
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Tue, Nov 18, 2008
from Environmental Health News:
Future hazy for cleaner school buses
...While pollution-fighting technologies are widely available, fledgling efforts to clean up the nation's aging fleet of half a million school buses may stall as budget revenues plummet... About 24 million American children spend an average of an hour and a half every weekday riding school buses, nearly all of them powered by diesel fuel. Scientists say diesel exhaust contains carcinogens, and that its fine particles can sink deep into lungs, triggering respiratory infections, asthma attacks and heart attacks, and reducing lung capacity. ...
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I'm sure these children would be happy to stay home and telecommute!
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Mon, Nov 17, 2008
from USGS, via EurekAlert:
Acid soils in Slovakia tell somber tale
Increasing levels of nitrogen deposition associated with industry and agriculture can drive soils toward a toxic level of acidification, reducing plant growth and polluting surface waters, according to a new study published online in Nature Geoscience.... On the basis of these results, the authors warn that the high levels of nitrogen deposited in Europe and North America over the past half century already may have left many soils susceptible to this new stage of acidification. The results of this further acidification, wrote the authors, are highly reduced soil fertility and leaching of acids and toxic metals into surface waters. ...
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lalalala I can't hear our past gaining on us lalala...
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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, Nov 17, 2008
from Los Angeles Times:
Cellphones in Yellowstone?
Reporting from Yellowstone National Park -- Natural forces over millennia created the geysers, peaks and canyons that fascinate visitors here. But a newer feature is emerging on this stunning landscape -- cellphone towers... After years of complaints from environmental groups about the proliferation of cellphone towers in national parks, officials here and across the country are asking: How wired do we want our wilderness? ...
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Why don't we just call it wirederness?
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Mon, Nov 17, 2008
from Fresno Bee:
Study bolsters link between Parkinson's, pesticide
For years, researchers have suspected commercial pesticides put people at risk for Parkinson's disease. Now evidence in the San Joaquin Valley suggests it's true.
Researchers have found a strong connection between the debilitating neurological disease and long-term exposure to pesticides, particularly to a fungicide that is sprayed on thousands of acres of almonds, tree fruit and grapes in the Valley.
The fungicide ziram -- the 20th most-used agricultural toxin in California in 2006 -- emerged as a common factor in a UCLA study of 400 people with Parkinson's in the Valley. ...
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Who's the pest now?
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