tagged w/ News and Information
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Newborn babies who are exposed to air pollution in the womb have to breathe faster to get more oxygen into their lungs, according to research confirming environmental fumes can damage a child's lungs before birth.
A study of 241 Swiss infants shows for the first time that the more pollution a pregnant woman breathes in, the more her baby will struggle for breath.
Australian child health experts say the findings support recent research on Brisbane mothers and help build a case for more environmentally-friendly town planning and better efforts to avoid pollutants in pregnancy.
"This is scary proof that we need to be paying a lot more attention to how we are designing our cities," said Professor Peter Sly, director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research on Children's Environmental Health in Perth.
Respiratory specialists at the University of Bern measured the day-to-day air quality of a group of pregnant women and measured lung health of their babies at five weeks.
Babies of mothers who had the highest exposure to pollution breathed an average of 48 times a minute, compared with 42 for those less exposed.
They also had higher levels of exhaled nitric oxide, a marker of airway inflammation.
Those living within 150 metres of a major road were most affected, lead researcher Philipp (Philipp) Latzin told the European Respiratory Society congress in Berlin.
Previous studies have only shown lung damage from air pollution in school-aged children.
Dr Latzin said he was uncertain of the mechanisms but it was possible that oxidative stress and inflammation in the mother's lungs may stifle blood flow to the placenta, reducing nutrient supply.
If the popular theory that exposure to toxins in the womb has lasting effects proves true, "then these early influences on the respiratory system will lead to an increase in lung disease in adulthood and reduce life expectancy," Dr Latzin said.
Prof Sly said this was further evidence for a need to strengthen pollution reduction measures and improve town planning.
"With too many road developments in Australia the only concern is moving traffic and that has to change," Prof Sly said.
"Air pollution has a serious impact on people living near major roads and these roads are everywhere.
"Climate change is going to increase humidity and make the situation worse so we need to get smart about it now."Newborn babies who are exposed to air pollution in the womb have to breathe faster to... more
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The 2008 ozone hole – a thinning in the ozone layer over Antarctica – is larger both in size and ozone loss than 2007 but is not as large as 2006.
Ozone is a protective atmospheric layer found in about 25 kilometres altitude that acts as a sunlight filter shielding life on Earth from harmful ultraviolet rays, which can increase the risk of skin cancer and cataracts and harm marine life.
This year the area of the thinned ozone layer over the South Pole reached about 27 million square kilometres, compared to 25 million square kilometres in 2007 and a record ozone hole extension of 29 million square kilometres in 2006, which is about the size of the North American continent.
The depletion of ozone is caused by extreme cold temperatures at high altitude and the presence of ozone-destructing gases in the atmosphere such as chlorine and bromine, originating from man-made products like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were phased out under the 1987 Montreal Protocol but continue to linger in the atmosphere.
Ozone hole extension during the last 10 years
Depending on the weather conditions, the size the Antarctic ozone hole varies every year. During the southern hemisphere winter, the atmosphere above the Antarctic continent is kept cut off from exchanges with mid-latitude air by prevailing winds known as the polar vortex – the area in which the main chemical ozone destruction occurs. The polar vortex is characterized by very low temperatures leading to the presence of so-called stratospheric clouds (PSCs).
As the polar spring arrives in September or October, the combination of returning sunlight and the presence of PSCs leads to a release of highly ozone-reactive chlorine radicals that break ozone down into individual oxygen molecules. A single molecule of chlorine has the potential to break down thousands of molecules of ozone.
Julian Meyer-Arnek of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), which monitors the hole annually, explained the impact of regional meteorological conditions on the time and range of the ozone hole by comparing 2007 with 2008.
"In 2007 a less concentric and larger polar vortex led to an early onset of the ozone destruction in the sunlit parts of the polar vortex," Meyer-Arnek said. "Therefore, we saw an ozone hole formation in the beginning of September 2007 which corresponded to the average behaviour of the years 1995-2006."
"In 2008 a more concentric polar vortex led to a delay of the onset of the ozone destruction of about one week. The preconditioning of the polar chemistry was about the same for both years, although in 2008 the temperatures were slightly below the 2007 temperatures leading to slightly improved formation of PSCs," he continued.
-------------------more at link---------------I'm wondering if this is a natural progression....something that the earth needs to do every 1000 years or so. Earth is a 'living organism' and can need to do some drastic things in order to survive. Like make certain species extinct that are harming it. Oh wait a minute...aren't humans doing this?
The 2008 ozone hole – a thinning in the ozone layer over Antarctica – is... more
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The environmental impacts of Alberta's oil sands will not be restricted to Western Canada, researchers say, but will extend thousands of kilometres away to the Great Lakes, threatening water and air quality around the world's largest body of fresh water.
In a new report, the University of Toronto's Munk Centre says the massive refinery expansions needed to process tar sands crude, and the new pipeline networks for transporting the fuel, amount to a "pollution delivery system" connecting Alberta to the Great Lakes region of Canada and the U.S.
It warns that the refineries will be using the Great Lakes "as a cheap supply" source for their copious water needs and the area's air "as a pollution dump."
The report, which is being released today at a conference at the university, says that as many as 17 major refinery expansions around the lakes are being considered for turning the tar-like Alberta bitumen into gasoline and other petroleum products. While not all will be undertaken, enough of them will be to have a regional environmental impact.
Proposed pipeline and refinery projects around the lakes are expected to lead to total investments of more than $31-billion (U.S.) by 2015, spending similar in scale to expenditures at many oil sands projects. For this reason, the report says the various projects, when taken together, threaten to "wipe out many of the pollution control gains" achieved around the lakes since the 1970s.
The massive expenditures are needed because typical refineries can't process heavy crude derived from tar sands without costly upgrades.
"This expansion promises to bring with it an exponential increase in pollution, discharges into waterways including the Great Lakes, destruction of wetlands, toxic air emissions, acid rain, and huge increases in greenhouse gas emissions," it says.
Most of the projected spending is on the U.S. side of the lakes. Only one major refinery project has been announced for the Canadian side, but that expansion, at a Shell refinery in Sarnia, was put on hold in July because of surging costs.
However, two big Canadian companies, TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. with its Keystone project, and Enbridge Inc., with its Alberta Clipper project, are vying to build pipelines to bring crude from the tar sands to U.S. refineries around the lakes.
The report says the environmental effects in Alberta from tar sands development - from dying ducks caught in tailings ponds to massive carbon dioxide emissions - are well known, but the implications for the Great Lakes "are less well-understood and less extensively explored."
Policy makers around the lakes, in both Canada and the U.S., are largely unaware that the tar sands will lead to massive industrial development in their region, and consequently have no strategy to minimize the environmental impacts, it says.
Some of the harshest criticism is for the Ontario government, which it characterizes as "remarkably unengaged" over how tar sands oil will affect the province and "doesn't seem to even be asking the key questions, let alone contemplating the possible policy answers."
There has been one major dispute in the U.S. over a tar sands-related refinery expansion, at a British Petroleum facility at Whiting, Ind. The company proposed a $3-billion refinery modernization that would raise discharges of two pollutants by about 35 per cent and 54 per cent respectively. But it backed down and pledged not to increase the pollutants after a public outcry.
The environmental impacts of Alberta's oil sands will not be restricted to... more
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John McCain and Republican Presidential candidate have been accused of inciting dangerous hatred in their campaign against opponent Barack Obama.
McCain has been forced to try and tone down his supporters at his rallies as they increasingly shout out "terrorist", "liar" and even "kill him" when Obama is mentioned.
"He's a decent family man (and) citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign's all about," McCain said at the town-hall meeting in Lakeville, Minnesota.
The plea, which seems to undercut the thrust of his aggressively negative ad campaign, drew boos from the crowd but appreciative recognition from Obama.
Critics say the seething anger seen at McCain rallies has been whipped up by campaign ads which have accused the Democrat of associating with terrorists.
Civil rights campaigner John Lewis today said McCain and Palin were "sowing the seeds of hatred and division" with their incendiary rhetoric against Obama.
"As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Senator McCain and (Alaska) Governor Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all," Lewis said in a statement on Politico.com
McCain has also been forced to sack a prominent Virginia Republican figure after he wrote a newspaper column mocking a potential Barack Obama administration.
MCCain spokesman Bobby May was dropped from his job as McCain's Buchanan County campaign chairman for writing that Obama would paint the whitehouse black and hire rapper Ludacris to rewrite the national anthem.John McCain and Republican Presidential candidate have been accused of inciting... more
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over 1200 people have purposefully jumped to their deaths from San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge since it was opened, and today a motion was passed to attach a safety net to catch the depressed masses!over 1200 people have purposefully jumped to their deaths from San Francisco's... more
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rwylie
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added this
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3 years ago
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The United States removed North Korea from a terrorism blacklist, US officials said Saturday, as Washington said it got everything it wanted in a nuclear disarmament deal.
The United States removed North Korea from a terrorism blacklist, US officials said... more
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Several species of fungi new to the UK have been unearthed by mushroom experts.
Conservationists say the wet summer means some species of fungi have thrived this year and the recent warmer winters means there could be even more exotic mushrooms to be found in this country.
One of the new species to be identified has the Latin name of Tuber mesentericum, which is also known as the Bagnoli truffle, which is prized in Italy for its intense flavour. However, another new discovery is from a family of fungi commonly known as pinkgills, some of which can be very poisonous.
Experts say it is likely these new discoveries have always been at the Nottinghamshire park, but that they flourished in the extremely wet August.
Several species of fungi new to the UK have been unearthed by mushroom experts.... more
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About 450 people have fallen ill in southern China after drinking contaminated water, the Xinhua state news agency says.
Four of the sick, in two villages in Guangxi province, have arsenic poisoning. Industrial waste from a metal company has been blamed.
Residents began to show symptoms of facial swelling, vomiting and blurred vision on 3 October.
Last month, tainted milk left more than 50,000 children sick.
Plant closed
Ge Xianmin, head of the Guangxi regional occupational disease prevention and control institute, told Xinhua: "The villagers were slightly poisoned. They can be cured in nine to 15 days with timely treatment."
Health officials said 23 children under the age of seven and 32 people aged over 60 had been kept in hospital for observation, while others were receiving outpatient treatment.
According to local government officials, torrential rain caused waste water containing arsenic from the Jinhai Metallurgy Chemical company to overflow and pollute nearby ponds and wells.
The company - a branch of the state-owned Liuzhou China Tin Company - was closed after the contamination was discovered.
Xinhua said the local government and the company had agreed to share the medical costs of the villagers.
Last month, four children died and more than 50,000 were sickened after they were fed on baby milk powder contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine.
The scandal resulted in a recall of many Chinese milk products.About 450 people have fallen ill in southern China after drinking contaminated water,... more
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Washington is to remove North Korea from its list of countries sponsoring terrorism, US officials have confirmed.
US State Department officials made the announcement after reaching an agreement with Pyongyang over nuclear verification measures.
"Every element of verification that we sought has been included in this agreement," an official said.
The US listing has been a major factor in the deadlock over North Korea's nuclear disarmament.
The State Department spokesman also said that North Korea would resume its disablement of nuclear facilities.
The move follows days of deliberations within the US administration after a visit to Pyongyang last week by US envoy Christopher Hill.
Analysts say the deal will be unpopular with some conservative Republicans.
North Korea began disabling its Yongbyon nuclear reactor in August, but more recently it has made moves to reassemble the plant after Washington refused to remove it from the terror sponsors' list.
In other provocative steps, it expelled UN inspectors and test-fired short-range missiles, heightening tensions with the US.
Correspondents say that Pyongyang wants to come off the US list in order to receive international aid and loans, and as a step towards its diplomatic rehabilitation. Washington is to remove North Korea from its list of countries sponsoring terrorism,... more
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The Associated Press has learned the Bush administration plans to remove North Korea from a terrorism blacklist on Saturday after getting assurances the Stalinist nation has agreed to a plan to inspect its nuclear facilities.
Diplomats briefed on the matter say President Bush signed off on the move on Friday in a bid to salvage a faltering disarmament accord aimed at getting North Korea to abandon atomic weapons. But they say North Korea will be put back on the list if it doesn't comply with the inspections.
The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because the State Department has not yet announced the step. It comes as North Korea moves to restart a disabled nuclear reactor and takes other actions that threaten the agreement.The Associated Press has learned the Bush administration plans to remove North Korea... more
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I did not hear a single word about this on the "news" ... DID YOU? There are TONS of related videos on the RNC protest. You need to watch this, you need to wake the fuck up! This is happening NOW, and since October 1st, units have been deployed on to American soil to stop those of us who "resist" (and therefore we are labeled terrorists). Watch and learn:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXG9wAILqGs&feature=relatedI did not hear a single word about this on the "news" ... DID YOU? There... more
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Greg Palast, a BBC journalist, has begun to make a name for himself as the man to chase down voter fraud, it is widely known that Palast believes that voter fraud goes on in US elections. Check out this investigation into how it is happening again.Greg Palast, a BBC journalist, has begun to make a name for himself as the man to... more
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On Fox News Sunday, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol implied that President Bush is more likely to attack Iran before leaving office if he believes Barack Obama is going to win the election because he is confident that John McCain will continue his Iran policy for a third term.On Fox News Sunday, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol implied that President Bush is... more
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