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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from
View By Scenario:
Species Collapse:(5)
Plague/Virus:(6)
Climate Chaos:(11)
Resource Depletion: (3)
Biology Breach:(9)
Recovery:(8)
This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
global warming  ~ climate impacts  ~ contamination  ~ pandemic  ~ rising sea level  ~ carbon emissions  ~ water issues  ~ alternative energy  ~ airborne pollutants  ~ stupid humans  ~ plastic problems  



ApocaDocuments (9) for the "Biology Breach" scenario from this week
[see full week] ~ [see full Biology Breach scenario and stories]
Sun, May 3, 2009
from McClatchy Newspapers:
Inspectors find safety problems at nuclear weapons complex
Contractors at one of the nation's major nuclear weapons complexes repeatedly used substandard construction materials and components that could've caused a major radioactive spill, a recently completed internal government probe has found. One of the materials used at the Savannah River Site on the South Carolina-Georgia border failed to meet federal safety standards and "could have resulted in a spill of up to 15,000 gallons of high-level radioactive waste," the Energy Department's inspector general found....The DOE inspector general's probe found instances of hiring Savannah River Site subcontractors who sold standard commercial materials instead of the required military-grade components, which are subjected to tougher testing during production under higher standards. One commercial subcontractor sold goods through retail catalogues. ...


Surely, they'd be more careful when constructing nuclear power plants, right?

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Sat, May 2, 2009
from Los Angeles KABC:
Tests of women leaders show how toxins turn up in Americans' blood
We hear every day about dangerous chemicals in household products that are linked to cancer, infertility, autism and other diseases -- yet many Americans may not realize just how many of these harmful substances they've actually ingested in the course of everyday living. The answer? About 48. That's according [to] a study by the Environmental Working Group and Rachel's Network, in which five leading minority women environmentalists from different parts of the country volunteered to have their blood tested for toxins. The results, say EWG experts, show that regulation of chemicals in the U.S. is weak and "antiquated" and needs a major overhaul.... It found, in the aggregate, traces of 48 chemicals in the women, notably flame retardants (used to treat some furniture and clothing), synthetic fragrances (from body care products and perfumes), the plastics ingredient Bisphenol A (found in bottles, canned food liners and other products) and the rocket fuel perchlorate (which has been found in some drinking water). ...


Sounds like these gals contain a charming elixir!

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Fri, May 1, 2009
from The Charleston Gazette:
Study finds food-wrapper chemicals in blood
A new scientific study has for the first time found a group of chemicals used in coatings on food wrappers in human blood. Previous reports have documented low levels of certain perfluorochemicals -- those used to make commercial products like food wrapper coatings -- in the blood of the general human population. But the new study, led by University of Toronto researchers, focused on chemicals that are actually used in food wrapper coatings and other consumer products... Scott Mabury, one of the study authors, said the results indicate that these food wrapper coatings are likely breaking down in the body into C8, which is also known as PFOA, and a related chemical called PFOS. ...


They say you are what you eat.

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Fri, May 1, 2009
from Purdue University, via EurekAlert:
Fish may actually feel pain and react to it much like humans
Because both groups of fish wriggled at about the same temperature, the researchers thought the responses might be more like a reflex than a cognitive reaction to experiencing pain.... Upon later observation in their home tanks, however, the researchers noticed that the fish from each group were exhibiting different behaviors. "The fish given the morphine acted like they always had: swimming and being fish," Garner said. "The fish that had gotten saline -- even though they responded the same in the test -- later acted different, though. They acted with defensive behaviors, indicating wariness, or fear and anxiety." Nordgreen said those behavioral differences showed that fish can feel both reflexive and cognitive pain. ...


Next you'll be telling me we should treat fish humanely. Something's fishy about that.

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Thu, Apr 30, 2009
from Shreveport Times:
'Frac' fluid kills 19 cattle
An unidentified substance that apparently flowed from a natural gas drilling site into a pasture is being eyed as a potential cause of the deaths of 19 head of cattle Tuesday evening, according to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.... Authorities believe the cows ingested the [milky white] liquid before dying. Tracks went to and from the puddles, a Caddo sheriff's office spokeswoman said. ...


Thank goodness that stuff would never get into groundwater! (Halliburton said so!)

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Thu, Apr 30, 2009
from Inter Press Service:
HEALTH-ARGENTINA: Half of Children at Risk for Lack of Clean Water
More than half of all children in Argentina are at risk of illness because of lack of access to clean, running water, while a large proportion are also threatened by polluting industries and the use of pesticides in agriculture, according to a study by the ombudsman's office... More than one-third of the causes of child mortality are related to modifiable environmental factors, says the study. These include lack of access to safe water, inadequate waste disposal, pollution, accidents and occupational illnesses or injuries in the countryside, industry or informal sector activities. ...


Whatever you do... don't cry for them!

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Wed, Apr 29, 2009
from Reuters (UK):
186 million in U.S. live with dangerous air pollution
Six in 10 U.S. residents -- more than 186 million people -- live in areas with dangerous levels of air pollution, the American Lung Association reported on Wednesday. The air in many U.S. cities became dirtier last year, the association said in its annual "State of the Air" report. "Despite almost 40 years since the Clean Air Act passed in 1970, six in 10 Americans still live in dirty air areas, areas where the air is unhealthful to breathe," the group's Paul Billings said in a telephone interview.... This year's air pollution numbers were far higher than in last year's report, which found 125 million people, or about 42 percent of U.S. residents, living with unhealthy air pollution. ...


Smmms fnn to mmmnn.

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Wed, Apr 29, 2009
from Discovery News:
Plastic Water Bottles May Pose Health Hazard
With all of the bad press swirling around certain types of plastic lately, regular old plastic water bottles have maintained a reputation as safe, at least as far as human health is concerned. New evidence, however, suggests that plastic water bottles may not be so benign after all. Scientists in Germany have found that PET plastics -- the kind used to make water bottles, among many other common products -- may also harbor hormone-disrupting chemicals that leach into the water. ... "What we found was really surprising to us," [lead researcher Martin] Wagner said. "If you drink water from plastic bottles, you have a high probability of drinking estrogenic compounds." ...


Hey, my man boobs could use a little definition.

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Tue, Apr 28, 2009
from Environmental Health News:
Sleeping with the enemy: indoor airborne contaminants
New research studying household air in homes in Arizona found more than 400 chemicals ranging from pesticides to phthalates, confirming that indoor air can be heavily contaminated with pollutants. Pesticides, including diazinon, chlorpyrifos and DDT were found at surprisingly high levels, as were phthalates... A total of 586 individual chemicals were identified. The pesticides diazinon and chlorpyrifos were found in the greatest amounts and both were found in all of the 52 homes tested.... Researchers were not able to identify at least 120 of the chemicals. Many of these unidentified chemicals had structures similar to fragrance compounds. Fragrances made up the major chemical component of the collected chemicals. ...


So... outside is polluted, and inside is toxic? Where else is there?

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