ApocaDocuments (9) for the "Biology Breach" scenario from this week
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Sun, Jun 21, 2009
from MedIndia:
Agriculture Workers Most Vulnerable to Leukemia
The Centre for Public Health Research at the Massey University has just released the findings of a study started in 2003-04, when researchers interviewed 225 cancer patients aged 25-75 and 471 randomly selected participants from the general population.
They found elevated leukaemia risk four or five times greater among market gardeners and nursery growers compared to the general population. Market farmers and crop growers, and field crop and vegetable growers, also all experienced varying degrees of elevated risk.
The study builds on research published by the centre last year, which showed those working in plant nurseries were four times more likely to develop non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, while vegetable growers and those in general horticulture production have a two-fold risk of developing that disease. ...
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Damn you, plants!
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Sat, Jun 20, 2009
from BBC:
How aerosols mask climate change
The pollution particles he studied include industrial aerosols such as sulphates, nitrates found in smoke from burning agricultural waste and black carbon (soot) from diesel engines and other forms of combustion.
"Global models of the emission of these aerosols suggest the cooling effect they have cancels out approximately 10 percent of the global warming caused by greenhouse gases," explained Jim Haywood, an aerosol researcher from the UK Met Office, who was not involved in this study.
"But satellite methods that detect the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere suggest a cooling effect that cancels out about 20 percent."
By identifying the source of this discrepancy, Dr Myhre was able to reconcile the two approaches and come up with a more precise estimate -- closer to 10 percent. ...
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That means our air pollution is actually helping our planet, right?
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Fri, Jun 19, 2009
from Christian Science Monitor:
The Pacific isn't the only ocean collecting plastic trash
...while the Pacific Ocean has garnered much attention for what some call the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" -- a vast expanse of floating plastic deposited in the middle of the ocean by circulating currents -- the problem doesn't stop there.
New research shows that plastic has collected in a region of the Atlantic as well, held hostage by converging currents, called gyres, to form a swirling "plastic soup." And those fragments of plastic could also be present at the other three large gyres in the world's oceans, says Kara Lavender Law, a member of the oceanography faculty at the Sea Education Association (SEA) in Woods Hole, Mass., which conducted the study. ...
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Keeping up w/ the plastic garbage Joneses.
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Thu, Jun 18, 2009
from The Daily Green:
Even If You Don't Use Pesticides, Your Home May Harbor Them
... pesticides linger in living spaces long after they've been used to kill roaches, ants, wasps, fleas and ticks or other pests in the home, lawn and garden.... About 165 pesticide compounds are probable or possible carcinogens, according to the EPA, and a recent study linked pesticide exposure during pregnancy to leukemia. Other pesticides may mimic hormones and affect early childhood development, reproduction and other diseases. Pesticides have been linked to everything from Parkinson's disease to obesity, and they often stay on the market long after independent scientists raise serious concerns about their safety.
The results were sobering: Most U.S. kitchen floors are laced with pesticides -- several known to be toxic and several that were banned decades ago. ...
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Pesticides... are a pest!
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Wed, Jun 17, 2009
from USA Today:
Clean-energy windmills a 'dirty business' for farmers in Mexico
...The isthmus -- Mexico's narrowest point -- is becoming the Saudi Arabia of alternative energy as U.S. and European companies, emboldened by new technology and high oil prices, rush to stake their claims in one of the world's windiest places. The Mexican government wants the isthmus to produce 2,500 megawatts within three years, a goal that will require thousands of windmills and would catapult Mexico into the top 12 producers of wind energy....But the energy gold rush has also brought discord, as building crews slice through irrigation canals, divide pastures and cover crops with dust. Some farmers complain they were tricked into renting their land for as little as $46 an acre annually. ...
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Echoing the proverb: Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.
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Wed, Jun 17, 2009
from Associated Press:
Ocean current experts warn of risks if eastern Gulf is opened to drilling
While Congress considers opening the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil-and-gas drilling, experts on ocean currents warn of a potential environmental nightmare that could reach the coast of South Florida.
If a rig in the eastern Gulf springs a leak, the spill could turn into an oil slick that gets caught in a fast-moving current that runs south to the Florida Keys. The current turns into the Gulf Stream, which could drag the polluted mess through the Florida Straits and carry it north to the beaches of southeast Florida. ...
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Ocean currents experts...let me introduce you to a tsunami of oil greed!
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Tue, Jun 16, 2009
from University of Alberta, via EurekAlert:
Mercury in Mackenzie River delta dramatically higher than previously believed
... dramatically higher delivery of mercury from the Mackenzie River to the Arctic Ocean than determined in previous studies. She collected samples for three months and discovered the total amount of mercury exported from the river during that three-month period was equal to an entire year's worth of mercury calculated in previous studies.... "Methyl mercury is a neurotoxin and it's primarily passed on to humans through contaminated fish muscle," Graydon said. "This leaves northern communities vulnerable, because a large part of their diet is Arctic fish species and Beluga whales."... "There are very few point sources for mercury in the Arctic," ... Graydon says the biggest contributor of man-made mercury pollution is coal-fired power production. ...
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Maybe all that mercury will make the melting Arctic reflective.
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Tue, Jun 16, 2009
from Carnegie Institution, via EurekAlert:
Global sunscreen won't save corals
Emergency plans to counteract global warming by artificially shading the Earth from incoming sunlight might lower the planet's temperature a few degrees, but such "geoengineering" solutions would do little to stop the acidification of the world oceans that threatens coral reefs and other marine life, report the authors of a new study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters*. The culprit is atmospheric carbon dioxide, which even in a cooler globe will continue to be absorbed by seawater, creating acidic conditions.... Rising levels of carbon dioxide make seawater more acidic, leading to lower mineral saturation. Recent research has indicated that continued carbon dioxide emissions will cause coral reefs to begin dissolving within a few decades, putting the survival of these ecosystems at extreme risk.
Geoengineering's minimal effect on ocean acidification adds another factor to the debate over the advisability of intentionally tampering with the climate system. ...
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You mean there's no universal technological fix? But that's unamerican!
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Tue, Jun 16, 2009
from Glendale News Press:
Illnesses come to light in claims against Disney
As their attorneys shuffle between four similar lawsuits that allege the Walt Disney Co. has for decades contaminated groundwater with cancer-causing chromium 6 and other toxic chemicals, stories of ill health from the plaintiffs are beginning to emerge.
In the latest lawsuit, filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court by the Sacramento-based firm Kershaw Cutter & Ratinoff LLP on behalf of 16 people with strong ties to the Rancho District, the plaintiffs claim Disney dumped wastewater contaminated with hexavalent chromium from its on-site cooling systems down the centerline of Parkside Avenue, toward Parish Place and across Riverside Drive into the so-called Polliwog, an 11-acre parcel near the studio’s Imagineering facilities. ...
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In the old days, there mighta been LSD in the wastewater!
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