tagged w/ Chemicals
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The London 2012 Olympic Games were embroiled in further controversy last night as Meredith Alexander, a Sustainability Commissioner and Ethics Adviser for the games, resigned live on the BBC’s flagship news program Newsnight. In an interview with Jeremy Paxman she announced that her position at the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 (CSL) was no longer tenable in light of the LOCOG’s continued relationship with and defence of the Dow Chemical Company.
She stated, into TV cameras; “By coming on air tonight, I’m taking the decision to resign my position and stand up for my principles… I feel that I was part of a body that has been used to legitimize Dow’s involvement in the games.” She went on to state that while Dow Chemicals have an ‘army of PR people’ she hoped that her resignation could bring some attention to the continuing plight of victims in Bhopal.
The Dow Chemical Company took over Union Carbide corporation in 2001, but neither company have addressed the ongoing issue of water and soil contamination in Bhopal that continues to kill thousands and inflict even more with chronic illnesses. Lord Coe and LOCOG have been criticised for allowing Dow Chemical’s the opportunity to sponsor the London 2012 stadium.
Dow Chemical is currently a named respondent in two court cases pertaining to the Bhopal disaster and Dow’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Union Carbide, is involved in a US court case relating to the ongoing contamination. Union Carbide is also still wanted on criminal charges in India and the Indian courts have stated that Dow is ‘harbouring fugitives from justice’.
Further into the Newsnight interview, Ms. Alexander hinted at a developing crisis within the CSL regarding the Dow issue and stated that some of her fellow commissioners were also “very concerned” but she would not comment on the prospect of further resignations.
More at the linkThe London 2012 Olympic Games were embroiled in further controversy last night as... more
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-- As the trial begins in a major toxic pollution lawsuit against Monsanto Co., jurors won't be allowed to tackle a key issue: Should the company pay to clean up dioxin it allegedly spewed across the city of Nitro?
Experts won't testify about the need for property remediation. Lawyers won't argue about the issue. Jurors won't be asked to force Monsanto to spend the hundreds of millions of dollars such a project could cost.
Judges O.C. Spaulding and Derek Swope issued rulings in July and November that threw out that part of the case.
As a result, Putnam County jurors will decide only if current and former Nitro residents should receive medical monitoring to detect diseases potentially caused by exposure to Monsanto's dioxin. They won't be able to do anything to clean up homes and businesses, ending the toxic exposure.
Lawyers for thousands of residents and property owners in the class-action suit appealed the decisions by Spaulding and Swope. They say the rulings left a huge gap in their efforts to deal with the legacy of Monsanto's chemical-making operations.
"The current presence of dioxin contamination in the class area is a public-health hazard," the lawyers argued in court documents. "It makes little sense to initiate a medical monitoring program for a population without first eliminating that population's exposure to the toxin at issue."
The West Virginia Supreme Court isn't likely to even begin considering the appeal until April. By the time a decision is made, the trial on the medical monitoring question will probably be over.
The situation has left insiders and observers scratching their heads, as lawyers for Monsanto and Nitro residents prepare to head into one of the biggest civil trials in the Kanawha Valley in years.
"It doesn't make any sense from the standpoint of the impact on the community," said longtime Nitro lawyer Harvey Peyton.
Peyton is a former law partner of Charleston attorney Stuart Calwell, who is the lead lawyer for Nitro residents in the case.
Twenty-eight years ago, Calwell and Peyton were among the lawyers who lost in a landmark effort to get jurors to hold Monsanto responsible for dioxin-linked illnesses among Nitro plant workers.
Today, the science showing dioxin's dangers is much more advanced. The law has created some new ways -- such as medical monitoring cases -- to address these issues. Industry has also gotten much better at fighting citizen and worker lawsuits, and at the lobbying and public relations efforts that can block tougher regulations or expensive cleanups.
For decades, chemical plants like Monsanto's provided Kanawha Valley residents with thousands of good-paying jobs. The industry has been in a long decline, and the bulk of those jobs have disappeared. The Monsanto plant went through several ownership changes and then closed in 2004.
Generations of workers put food on their tables and sent kids to college with a chemical plant paycheck. But the industry's legacy also includes tough questions about long-term health effects on workers and plant neighbors.
More than 40 years after Monsanto stopped making 2,4,5-T, the Agent Orange ingredient blamed for much of the plant's dioxin pollution, it's not clear if Nitro residents are any closer to getting answers to such questions.
In the beginning
Nitro was born as a literal World War I boomtown, the location of one of the federal government's large gunpowder plants. The name "Nitro" came from the chemical term Nitro-Cellulose, which was the type of gunpowder to be produced.
When the war ended, private companies took over the government buildings and converted them into chemical plants. Among the companies was Monsanto, which began making rubber chemicals for the tire industry.
In about 1947, Monsanto's agricultural division designed a new molecule called 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacidic acid, or 2,4,5-T. This new substances killed plants by making their roots outgrow their leaves. Plants destroyed themselves through defoliation.
Monsanto began making this powerful herbicide ingredient in Nitro in 1949. Workers cooked batches of it in large pots, called autoclaves, rather than making it through a continuous production stream.
Monsanto made 2,4,5-T in Nitro for more than 30 years. In its best-known form, 2,4,5-T was used as an ingredient in Agent Orange, the defoliant deployed widely in the Vietnam War.
But 2,4-5-T was contaminated. Every batch of it contained 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin. This chemical is also known as 2,3,7,8-TCDD, or more commonly, simply as dioxin.
Dioxin has been linked to cancer, birth defects, learning disabilities, endometriosis, infertility, and suppressed immune functions. The chemical builds up in tissue over time, meaning that even small exposures can accumulate to dangerous levels.
An early sign of dioxin's effects came in March 1949. A massive explosion rocked the Nitro plant when a pressure valve blew on a 2,4,5-T cooking container. More than 220 workers got sick.
Years later, more than 170 workers sued Monsanto, alleging dioxin exposure at the plant had made them ill. Cases involving seven of the workers went to trial in federal court in 1984.
After an 11-month trial, a jury awarded one of the workers, John Hein, $200,000 for bladder cancer he contracted because of exposure at the plant to another chemical, para-aminobiphynol, or PAB.
Jurors found that dioxin had made the other workers sick and that Monsanto had not acted diligently in seeking to determine the possible impact of exposure on worker health.
More at the link-- As the trial begins in a major toxic pollution lawsuit against Monsanto Co., jurors... more
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1. Food prices have gone up, and more people need help feeding their families
The fact that 46 million people -- about a seventh of the U.S. population -- now receive food stamps (i.e. help from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)) should be enough to tell us that something is wrong with America's food system. But thanks to the way public food assistance is now set up, the problem is all but invisible to the rest of us.
Why are so many Americans using food stamps? Beyond our collective economic woes, a large part of the problem lies in the cost of food itself, which rose considerably in the last few years. Then there's the speculation market, which drives up the cost of commodity crops. Ethanol doesn't help, either.
2. The food we can afford could make us sick (or even kill us)
2011 saw the largest Class 1 (i.e. potentially lethal) meat recall in history, involving 36 million pounds of Cargill turkey tainted with multi-drug resistant Salmonella.
The listeria outbreak in cantaloupes was also the deadliest U.S. foodborne illness outbreak in 100 years.
Germany's E. coli outbreak over the summer was also the deadliest on record -- anywhere.
What happened to last winter's Food Safety Modernization Act -- the much-debated legislation that might have updated the regulations that would stop outbreaks like these? Well, to make a long story short, it was never funded. Who's hungry now?
3. GMOs aren't going anywhere
"Superweeds," resistant to Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, raise red flags.
Photo: Lost in FogTake a deep breath: 2011 began with the approval of GMO alfalfa (which could permanently change the organic milk industry for the worse). Less than two weeks later, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defied a court order and partially deregulated GMO sugar beets without completing an environmental impact assessment.
Meanwhile, concern about "superweeds," which are resistant to Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, raised red flags beyond the foodie and environmentalist communities; now big business is also worried. And our six-legged friends have outsmarted Monsanto too; an insect called the corn rootworm has become resistant to the company's Bt corn (which is supposed to be engineered to produce its own pesticides).
GMO business got especially fishy this year, as well: GMO salmon may also be inching toward commercial approval. The "frankenfish" appeared to be fast-tracked for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval during the first half of 2010, which would have made it the first genetically engineered animal food on the market. But in June, the House of Representatives blocked the FDA from spending money to approve the salmon. This seemed like a good sign, but in October, the USDA gave Aquabounty, the company looking to produce the salmon, a research grant -- meaning this fish is far from out of the picture.
4. Pesticides: Also here to stay for now
Methyl iodide, a known carcinogen, has been approved for use in California strawberry fields.Eaters may have plenty of evidence to suggest that agriculture should involve fewer pesticides (example: this recent piece about the weed killer atrazine in the rural water supply), but big agribusiness vehemently disagrees.
Last December's approval of methyl iodide (a known carcinogen) for use in strawberry fields in California has many advocates concerned about farmworkers, nearby communities, and water tables. Small bright spot: It has yet to be adopted widely, so many in the state are still working to make the short- and long-term consequences known. Some advocates are even calling for an end to all fumigants.
In May, we covered the fight in Congress to restrict the EPA's ability to regulate pesticides -- specifically when it comes to spraying near streams and waterways -- and the issue has yet to be put to sleep.
Meanwhile, there is now clear evidence linking a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids to recent honeybee die-offs, but top USDA scientists still refuse to recommend a ban. To make matters worse, honeybees aren't the only type of bee that's disappearing: Bumblebees are going missing, too.
5. Extreme weather is messing with our food
Between the drought in the Southwest, which wreaked havoc on farms and ranches in both the U.S. and Mexico, and Hurricane Irene, which hit the East Coast at the worst possible moment (peak harvest for farmers in New York state and elsewhere), 2011 was a terrible weather year. The result? Fewer pumpkins for Halloween, and a costlier Thanksgiving, to start with. But this year was also a reminder of the ways a shifting climate could make food production especially unpredictable in the future.
More at the link1. Food prices have gone up, and more people need help feeding their families
The... more
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There will definitely not be any Dow Chemical branding on the [stadium] wrap before, during or after the Olympic Games," announced a spokeswomen for the London 2012 organizing committee.
The October 18 development marks progress in a global campaign to shame Dow into admitting accountability to victims of the Union Carbide pesticide plant explosion in Bhopal in 1984. Dow merged with UC in 1999, yet has denied liability for the ongoing suffering of tens of thousands.
In 2010, Dow signed a 10-year deal with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as "Worldwide Olympic Partner." IOC rules forbid advertising on game venues, but Dow is paying for the $11 million fabric wrap encircling the stadium, and had planned to emblazon its logo on five "test panels" in preparation for the games.
As GroundTruth reported in October, victims of the Bhopal disaster, including the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, have been working with Members of Parliament in Britain to remove Dow as sponsor of games. Pulling the logo signals that public outrage and political pressure is having an impact.
Some in India's government, the Sports Ministry, and the Indian Olympics Association (IOA) have joined in the campaign. IOA acting president VK Malhotra told The Times of India that removal of Dow's logo is not enough: "Our demand is that Dow should be removed as a sponsor and we have expressed strong reservation with the Olympics. We are sending our communication to Dow as well as IOC on this regard."
More at the linkThere will definitely not be any Dow Chemical branding on the [stadium] wrap before,... more
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Detection of high concentrations of benzene, xylenes, gasoline range organics, diesel range organics, and total purgeable hydrocarbons in ground water samples from shallow monitoring wells near pits indicates that pits are a source of shallow ground water contamination in the area of investigation.
http://veracitystew.com/2011/12/14/fracking-investigation-yes-its-poisoning-the-water/Detection of high concentrations of benzene, xylenes, gasoline range organics, diesel... more
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The Indian Olympic Association may boycott the London Olympics in protest at Dow Chemical's involvement as a sponsor after a group of India's current and former Olympians organised a petition calling for athletes not to travel to London.
"We feel that it will be against the basic principles of the Olympics charter to partner with Dow Chemical, which is responsible for the ongoing disaster in Bhopal," the athletes wrote in a petition sent to the Indian government.
Dow, which will create the £7m wrap around the Olympic Stadium, has links to Union Carbide Corporation, the firm responsible for the Bhopal gas disaster in 1984 that led to thousands of deaths at the time and which many campaigners believe is still affecting the health of people in the area.
Shivraj Singh Chauhan, a minister in the Bhopal region, has backed the athletes' firm stance and demanded in a letter to India's sports minister, Ajay Maken, that the government support a boycott if Dow's sponsorship continues.
V K Malhotra, the acting president of the Indian Olympic Association, said a meeting was scheduled in 10 days' time in which the matter would be discussed after first hearing the response of the government to the petition.
The Indian government is still pursuing a further £1.1bn from Dow for victims after Union Carbide paid £300m as compensation.
Talk of a boycott will put more pressure on the London 2012 Organising Committee, which has defended the deal with Dow, despite protests from campaign groups and MPs who claim it has outstanding liabilities relating to the disaster.
The London 2012 chairman, Lord Coe, said: "I am satisfied that the ownership, operation and the involvement either at the time of the disaster or at the final settlement was not the responsibility of Dow."
More at the linkThe Indian Olympic Association may boycott the London Olympics in protest at Dow... more
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At least 29 firms involved in the chemicals industry were targeted by a recent series of cyber-attacks traced to China, according to Symantec.
link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15529930At least 29 firms involved in the chemicals industry were targeted by a recent series... more
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We have come a long way from the days of Dicken’s Oliver Twist singing “Food Glorious Food” while eating gruel. One would thing that our food chain has improved greatly since those days of workhouses and debtor prisons. For a while I think we did.We have come a long way from the days of Dicken’s Oliver Twist singing... more
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To The Bayer AG Corporation:............. Anonymous sees your crimes and will not let them go unpunished. You have won our attention after decades of greedy abuses of humanity and nature. Bayer - we see you profiting off of death and destruction! We see you escape unscathed from justice! Bayer AG pharmaceutical (formerly known as IG Farben) has been involved in countless corporate abuses, which have resulted in the death of thousands in the last century. These abuses have been consistently ignored, and cannot be ignored further. Bayer’s victims are diverse and widespread, however all these deaths have been as a direct result of Bayer’s exploitive nature. These abuses include: disregard to proper and thorough investigation of chemicals, vaccines and substances; the employment of Nazi war criminals; the destruction of the environment, and much more. Anonymous places the following crimes and accusations at the feet of Bayer. We at Anonymous are here to make you more famous, Bayer; We want your name on the lips of lads and Lords. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/recent-news/42982-operation-green-rightsTo The Bayer AG Corporation:............. Anonymous sees your crimes and will not let... more
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We returned to the scene of our September, 2010 plastic collection at Crescent Beach in Oregon (See "Plastic Beaches" on this YouTube channel) to find that the ocean has already restocked the beach with plastic of all shapes and sizes. This plastic kills birds and fish, so we also interviewed the director of the Wildlife Center of the North Coast, Sharnelle Fee, to get her thoughts about the threats marine pollution poses.We returned to the scene of our September, 2010 plastic collection at Crescent Beach... more
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As the surging waters of the Mississippi pass downstream, they leave behind flooded towns and inundated lives and carry forward a brew of farm chemicals and waste that this year — given record flooding — is expected to result in the largest dead zone ever in the Gulf of Mexico.
Dead zones have been occurring in the gulf since the 1970s, and studies show that the main culprits are nitrogen and phosphorus from crop fertilizers and animal manure in river runoff. They settle in at the mouth of the gulf and fertilize algae, which prospers and eventually starves other living things of oxygen.
Government studies have traced a majority of those chemicals in the runoff to nine farming states, and yet today, decades after the dead zones began forming, there is still little political common ground on how to abate this perennial problem. Scientists who study dead zones predict that the affected area will increase significantly this year, breaking records for size and damage.
For years, environmentalists and advocates for a cleaner gulf have been calling for federal action in the form of regulation. Since 1998, the Environmental Protection Agency has been encouraging all states to place hard and fast numerical limits on the amount of those chemicals allowed in local waterways. Yet of the nine key farm states that feed the dead zone, only two, Illinois and Indiana, have acted, and only to cover lakes, not the rivers or streams that merge into the Mississippi.
The lack of formal action upstream has long been maddening to the downstream states most affected by the pollution, and the extreme flooding this year has only increased the tensions.
“Considering the current circumstances, it is extremely frustrating not seeing E.P.A. take more direct action,” said Matt Rota, director of science and water policy for the Gulf Restoration Network, an environmental advocacy group in New Orleans that has renewed its calls for federally enforced targets. “We have tried solely voluntary mechanisms to reduce this pollution for a decade and have only seen the dead zone get bigger.”
Environmental Protection Agency officials said they had no immediate plans to force the issue, but farmers in the Mississippi Basin are worried. That is because only six months ago, the agency stepped in at the Chesapeake Bay, another watershed with similar runoff issues, and set total maximum daily loads for those same pollutants in nearby waterways. If the states do not reduce enough pollution over time, the agency could penalize them in a variety of ways, including increasing federal oversight of state programs or denying new wastewater permitting rights, which could hamper development. The agency says it is too soon to evaluate their progress in reducing pollution.
Don Parish, senior director of regulatory relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation, a trade group, says behind that policy is the faulty assumption that farmers fertilize too much or too casually. Since 1980, he said, farmers have increased corn yields by 80 percent while at the same time reducing their nitrate use by 4 percent through precision farming.
“We are on the razor’s edge,” Mr. Parish said. “When you get to the point where you are taking more from the soil than you are putting in, then you have to worry about productivity.”
Dead zones are areas of the ocean where low oxygen levels can stress or kill bottom-dwelling organisms that cannot escape and cause fish to leave the area. Excess nutrients transported to the gulf each year during spring floods promote algal growth. As the algae die and decompose, oxygen is consumed, creating the dead zone. The largest dead zone was measured in 2002 at about 8,500 square miles, roughly the size of New Jersey. Shrimp fishermen complain of being hurt the most by the dead zones as shrimp are less able to relocate — but the precise impacts on species are still being studied.
The United States Geological Survey has found that nine states along the Mississippi contribute 75 percent of the nitrogen and phosphorus. The survey found that corn and soybean crops were the largest contributors to the nitrogen in the runoff, and manure was a large contributor to the amount of phosphorus.
There are many other factors, of course, that determine what elements make it from crops into river water, for example, whether watersheds are protected by wetlands or buffer strips of land.
John Downing, a biogeochemist and limnologist at Iowa State University, said structural issues were also to blame. Many farms in Iowa, he said, are built on former wetlands and have drains right under the crop roots that whisk water away before soils can absorb and hold on to at least some of the fertilizer.
Still, overapplication of fertilizers remains a key contributor, he said. “For farmers, the consequences of applying too little is much riskier than putting too much on.”
cont.As the surging waters of the Mississippi pass downstream, they leave behind flooded... more
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Pregnant women exposed to certain widely used pesticides may give birth to children with lower intelligence, according to a new study.Researchers found that exposure during pregnancy to pesticides called organophosphates – used on food crops – may impair child cognitive development.
link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8463533/Pesticide-link-to-lower-IQ.htmlPregnant women exposed to certain widely used pesticides may give birth to children... more
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A quick premise for the people that do not know who Monsanto is and what is high fructose corn syrup:
Monsanto is the leading producer of biochemical products and the world's largest seed company. It has monopolized agriculture and our food with its genetically engineered corn, soy and cotton.
From this GM corn, a substance is made: High fructose corn syrup; it's found as an ingredient in almost every conventional food. It's used as a sweetener, flavor enhancer, preservative and is cheap.
More and more studies are showing the dangerous effects of this substance that not only feeds humans but is used to feed livestock, pigs, chickens, fishes and even our precious bees!
This genetically engineered food has been deteriorating people's health for over 40 years since its introduction to our agriculture.
It was engineered to work in conjunction with the herbicide "Roundup" which contaminates water, soil and kills all plants and animals.
Ironically, this industry is heavily subsidized by the government; our tax money are put to work against us and to enrich corporations like Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow, Bayer etc.
You can learn more about who owns nature here (excellent publication):
http://www.etcgroup.org/upload/publication/707/01/etc_won_report_final_color.pdf
Said this, since 2006, billions of bee colonies have died for no apparent reason. This phenomenon has affected the world's food production, and has been titled "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD). As you might know already, bees are responsible for 1/3 of the world's food production, and it is one of the world's most important natural assets.
We think of the CCD for the bees as the cancer for humans.
We believe that one of the main causes of the massive dying off of bees is high fructose corn syrup. Learn more about the importance of bees:
http://www.pan-europe.info/Resources/Articles/A_World_Without_Bees.pdf.
Other causes are pesticides, antibiotics, parasites, pathogens, livestock-like practices (bigger hive cell sizes, migratory stress, antibiotics, various chemicals used), drought, etc.
Also, as a result of this diet, the honey that gets produced is essentially high fructose corn syrup and honey mixed together; there isn't such a thing as "pure" or "natural" honey.
Now, why would beekeepers feed this poison to bees? Simply and tragically because it is a money saving solution, the quick fix mentality and the adoption of short sighted solutions.
Who's behind all of this?
The corporations that control corn, soy, cotton, also control nature, control our economy and society just like the fossil fuel industry does. Corporatism is killing nature and people, represents our current economy and laws, and is the new Nazism or form of imperialism.
What's the solution?
A healthy environment and organic beekeeping are the answer to this problem, learn more here: http://www.bee-hexagon.net/files/file/fileE/Organic/ProgramAbstracts.pdf
This can only be achieved if we steer away from a chemical based agriculture and embrace an organic agriculture where principles of permaculture, sustainability and biodiversity are implemented.
You can start by supporting the organic market, you can call your congress representatives and pressure them to subsidize organic agriculture and abandon our current system: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml.
More than that, you can sign the petition that can stop this all:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/bring-down-monsanto-monopoly/
Save our planet, all of us and our dear bees now!
Article from:
http://organiclegion.org/pt/Commercial-Bee-Farms-Feed-GM-High-Fructose-Corn-Syrup-to-Bees/blog.htm
More info on the CCD: http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder
A study on the HFCS and bees:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090826110118.htm
Photo by bcJordan:http://www.flickr.com/photos/28568408@N03/2667935792/
P.S.: If you are an artist and would like to donate/volunteer your artwork to us, you can submit it to: http://organiclegion.org/artthatmovestheworld.htm.
We are looking right now for a drawing or picture showing/suggesting Hitler/Nazism and GMO Corn. Thank you.
Join the Organic Movement:
http://current.com/groups/organicgreen/A quick premise for the people that do not know who Monsanto is and what is high... more
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High levels of pesticide exposure in pregnant women have been linked to lower IQs in their children, according to three separate US studies.
Two studies were done in New York City and a third was in Salinas, a farming area of northern California. All spanned nearly a decade, tracking levels of pesticide in expectant mothers and testing nearly 1,000 children up to age nine.
Researchers looked at exposure to a family of pesticides known as organophosphates, which are commonly used on fruit and vegetable crops. The reports are published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
In the California study involving 392 kids, "researchers found that every tenfold increase in measures of organophosphates detected during a mother's pregnancy corresponded to a 5.5 drop in overall IQ in the seven-year-olds."
The differences held even after researchers accounted for factors such as education, family income, and exposure to other environmental contaminants, the study, released on Thursday, said.
Researchers at Mount Sinai, New York measured 400 women and their children from 1998 onward.
They found that "exposure to organophosphates negatively impacted perceptual reasoning, a measure of non-verbal problem-solving skills" between the ages of six and nine.
They also found that about one-third of the mothers studied carried a gene variant that made them less able to metabolize the pesticides, and that the negative effects in children were limited to this subgroup.
The third study, done by researchers at New York's Columbia University, looked specifically at one pesticide, chlorpyrifos, which was widely used to kill cockroaches and termites until it was banned from residential use in 2001.
In the sample of 265 minority children born before the ban took effect, higher prenatal exposure was linked to lower intelligence scores and poorer memory.
Children in the top 25 percent of exposure levels scored 5.5 percent lower in working memory tests and 2.7 points lower in IQ.
"These observed deficits in cognitive functioning at seven years of age could have implications for school performance," said lead author Virginia Rauh of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health.
"Working memory problems may interfere with reading comprehension, learning and academic achievement, even if general intelligence remains in the normal range."
Even though the studies were carried out independent of each other, the similarity in results raises concern, said lead author of the California study, Maryse Bouchard.
"It is very unusual to see this much consistency across populations in studies, so that speaks to the significance of the findings," she said.
cont.High levels of pesticide exposure in pregnant women have been linked to lower IQs in... more
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Newsroom: Press Releases
Sen. Lautenberg Introduces "Safe Chemicals Act of 2011"
Lautenberg Launches Video on Facebook and Twitter to Kick Off Chemical Safety
Reform Push
Lautenberg Press Office, 202-224-3224
Thursday, April 14, 2011
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced updated legislation to modernize the “Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976” (TSCA) and protect Americans from exposure to dangerous toxins. Lautenberg, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health, seeks to require – for the first time – that chemical manufacturers demonstrate the safety of industrial chemicals used in everyday household products.
Senator Lautenberg launched a video on his Facebook and Twitter pages to build support for chemical safety reform and his “Safe Chemicals Act of 2011.” Watch it here.
“The average American has more than 200 industrial chemicals in their body, including dozens linked to cancer and other health problems. The shocking truth is that the current law does not require tests to ensure chemicals used in everyday household products are safe,” said Senator Lautenberg. “The EPA does not have the tools to address dangerous substances and even the chemical industry has asked for stronger laws to assure consumers that their products are safe. My 'Safe Chemicals Act' will breathe new life into a long-dead statute by empowering EPA to separate the chemicals that help from the chemicals that hurt.”
Lautenberg’s “Safe Chemicals Act of 2011” would require safety testing of all industrial chemicals, and puts the burden on industry to prove that chemicals are safe in order to get on or stay on the market. Under current policy, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can only call for safety testing after evidence surfaces demonstrating a chemical is dangerous. As a result, EPA has been able to require testing for just 200 of the more than 80,000 chemicals currently registered in the United States, and has been able to ban only five dangerous substances. The new legislation will give EPA more power to regulate the use of dangerous chemicals and require manufacturers to submit information proving the safety of every chemical in production and any new chemical seeking to enter the market.
After introducing similar legislation last year, Senator Lautenberg chaired a series of hearings to solicit feedback from chemical industry leaders, public officials, scientists, doctors, academics, and non-profit organizations. Based on that feedback, Senator Lautenberg made several changes to improve the bill. For example, the updated bill establishes risk-based prioritization categories so that the EPA can focus its resources on the highest-risk chemicals. It also requires chemical companies to initially submit basic hazard and exposure data to quickly determine the risk and assess the need for further testing or restrictions.
The “Safe Chemicals Act of 2011” comports with the reform principles laid out by the Obama Administration, the American Chemistry Council and the Safer Chemicals Healthy Families Coalition. In addition, public health groups, environmentalists, industry representatives and the EPA have all expressed support for reforms to our nation’s toxic substance laws.
The legislation is co-sponsored by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Al Franken (D-MN).
The text of the bill can be found here: http://lautenberg.senate.gov/assets/SafeChem.pdf
A full summary of the bill can be found here: http://lautenberg.senate.gov/assets/SafeChem-Summary.pdf
Highlights of the “Safe Chemicals Act of 2011”
Provides EPA with sufficient information to judge a chemical’s safety. Requires manufacturers to develop and submit a minimum data set for each chemical they produce, while also preventing duplicative or unnecessary testing and encouraging the use of rapid, low-cost, non-animal tests that provide high quality data. EPA will have full authority to request additional information needed to determine the safety of a chemical.
Prioritizes chemicals based on risk. Calls on the EPA to categorize chemicals based on risk, and focus resources on evaluating those most likely to cause harm.
Takes fast action to address highest risk chemicals. Requires EPA to take fast action to reduce risk from chemicals that have already been proven dangerous. In addition, the EPA Administrator is given authority to act quickly if any chemical poses an imminent hazard.
Ensures safety threshold is met for all chemicals on the market. Places the burden of proof on chemical manufacturers to prove the safety of their chemicals. All uses must be identified and determined safe for the chemical to enter the market or continue to be used.
Creates open access to reliable chemical information. Establishes a public database to catalog the chemical information submitted to the EPA by manufacturers, as well as the safety determinations made by the EPA. The EPA will impose requirements to ensure the information collected is reliable.
Promotes innovation and development of green chemistry. Establishes grant programs and research centers to foster the development of safe chemical alternatives, and brings some new chemicals onto the market using an expedited review process.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Dq55QvyN3a8
http://lautenberg.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=332502&Newsroom: Press Releases
Sen. Lautenberg Introduces "Safe Chemicals Act of... more
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Amid efforts by authorities to stop the use of illegal synthetic drugs, revelers at a spring break party in a Minneapolis suburb overdosed this week on the risky substances, leaving one dead, officials said on Saturday.
:http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/19/us-drugs-overdose-idUSTRE72I3QT20110319Amid efforts by authorities to stop the use of illegal synthetic drugs, revelers at a... more
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suzane
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11 months ago
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Very good interview regarding the lack of testing and regulation of the millions of chemicals used daily that are largely unregulated and untested, and the thousands of scientists standing up to change it.
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Excerpt:
"Forty-five million different chemicals are commercially available around the world — and many of these chemicals go untested. Host Bruce Gellerman talks with Professor Patricia Hunt from Washington State University who wrote a letter in the journal Science, calling for more stringent review of chemicals. Her letter was co-signed by scientific societies representing 40,000 researchers and clinicians.
Transcript
GELLERMAN: It’s Living on Earth, I’m Bruce Gellerman. The American Chemical Society registers twelve thousand new substances every day. And according to their records, there are nearly 45 million different commercially available chemicals sold worldwide. But data on the potential hazards these chemicals pose is available for only a very small percentage.
That’s why Professor Patricia Hunt has sounded a call for swifter and sounder testing of chemicals. She’s a reproductive biologist at The Washington State University School of Molecular Biosciences and author of a letter that appears in the current issue of the journal Science. In it, Professor Hunt writes about the need for new ways to safeguard chemicals. The letter is signed by scientific organizations representing 40,000 researchers and clinicians/"
cont.Very good interview regarding the lack of testing and regulation of the millions of... more
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It’s not just magicians who can make something appear out of thin air; researchers can do it, too. A group at Princeton University has developed a way to shoot a laser beam at a specific point in the air where a second beam is created that can travel in the reverse direction.
:http://news.discovery.com/tech/air-laser-could-detect-harmful-chemicals-110223.htmlIt’s not just magicians who can make something appear out of thin air;... more
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suzane
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added this
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12 months ago
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thttp://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/fish-toxins-environment/
Some fish in New York’s Hudson River have become resistant to several of the waterway’s more toxic pollutants. Instead of getting sick from dioxins and related compounds including some polychlorinated biphenyls, Atlantic tomcod harmlessly store these poisons in fat, a new study finds.
But what’s good for this bottom-dwelling species could be bad for those feeding on it, says Isaac Wirgin of the New York University School of Medicine’s Institute of Environmental Medicine in Tuxedo. Each bite of tomcod that a predator takes, he explains, will move a potent dose of toxic chemicals up the food chain — eventually into species that could end up on home dinner tables.
From 1947 to 1976, two General Electric manufacturing plants along the Hudson River produced PCBs for a range of uses, including as insulating fluids in electrical transformers. Over the years, PCB and dioxin levels in the livers of the Hudson’s tomcod rose to become “among the highest known in nature,” Wirgin and his colleagues note online Feb. 17 in Science. Because these fish don’t detoxify PCBs, Wirgin explains, it was a surprise that they could accumulate such hefty contamination without becoming poisoned. His team now reports that the tomcod’s protection traces to a single mutation in one gene. The gene is responsible for producing a protein needed to unleash the pollutants’ toxicity.
All vertebrates contain molecules in their cells that will bind to dioxins and related compounds. Indeed, these proteins — aryl hydrocarbon receptors, or AHRs — are often referred to as dioxin receptors. Once these poisons diffuse into an exposed cell, each molecule can mate with a receptor and together they eventually pick up a third molecule. This trio can then dock with select segments of DNA in the cell’s nucleus to inappropriately turn on genes that can poison the host animal.
The tomcod actually has two types of AHRs, with AHR-2 offering the most effective binding to dioxin-like pollutants. But one naturally occurring AHR-2 variant, the result of a gene mutation, proves a very poor mate, Wirgin’s team has found. It takes five times more of the pollutants to get substantial binding than is needed with the conventional AHR-2.
In local rivers relatively free of dioxins and PCBs, 95 percent of tomcod possess AHR-2 only in the conventional form. But in the PCB-rich Hudson, Wirgin’s group finds, the only kind of AHR-2 protein in 99 percent of tomcod is the poorly binding variant.
The mutant receptor appears to have evolved long ago and to be widely dispersed. But in the Hudson, fish with the gene to make the mutant receptor have thrived, while those without it have died out, Wirgin notes.
Adaptation to resist poisons occurs throughout biology, observes molecular toxicologist John Stegeman of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. This process explains why some pesticides no longer kill their targets and why some microbes become immune to antibiotics.
Stegeman has been chronicling resistance to toxic PCBs and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in another coastal species, a killifish. “But the mechanism in the killifish has not been uncovered, despite a long effort to determine it,” he says.
Knowing the genetic underpinnings for chemical resistance can help predict the likelihood of that resistance developing, he explains, and can point to “how one might exploit resistance — even understand why chemicals are toxic.” Genetic mechanisms for chemical resistance in wild species are known for some invertebrates, such as bugs. Stegeman says, to his knowledge, this tomcod finding is the first in a vertebrate.thttp://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/fish-toxins-environment/
Some fish in... more
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Over a million people have signed this petition calling on governments to ban pesticides that kill bees:
We call on you to immediately ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides until and unless new independent scientific studies prove they are safe. The catastrophic demise of bee colonies could put our whole food chain in danger. If you act urgently with precaution now, we could save bees from extinction.
If you are curious as to just why this is so important, here’s Tom Theobald, the whistleblowing beekeeper who “leaked” an EPA memo about the systemic pesticide Clothianidin. EPA scientists do not approve of the use of this toxic poison because of the damage caused to honeybees and other insects and invertebrates. Yet the EPA proposes the sale will simply continue. Here he discusses the EPA and the bigger picture problems that allowed this toxic chemical to be released onto the market – despite concerns of the EPA scientists.
http://www.disinfo.com/2011/01/the-bee-crisis/
go here to sign petition
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees/96.phpOver a million people have signed this petition calling on governments to ban... more
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