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China: Contaminated Integrity
BEIJING — China’s leaders scrambled Saturday to contain public dismay over widespread contamination of milk supplies, criticizing local officials for negligence while moving to tamp down criticism of the government’s response.
Officials promised to keep stores supplied with clean milk and set up medical hot lines nationwide to help people cope with one of the worst product safety scandals in years.
Milk and dairy products from 22 companies have been recalled after batches tainted with the industrial chemical melamine sickened more than 6,200 children and left four infants dead from kidney failure.
Trying to shore up public confidence, Premier Wen Jiabao told senior Communist Party members that official misconduct contributed to the milk contamination and earlier product scandals. He demanded they put public safety “at the top of the agenda.”
In a show of concern, Wen’s chief deputy made a highly publicized trip to a dairy region south of Beijing at the center of the scandal, visiting farms, shops and a hospital, where he urged “all-out efforts on medical treatment” for the sick.
The energetic response underscored the deep challenge the crisis poses for the communist leadership. The government has staked its legitimacy in part on competent management of a rapidly developing society, a reputation it hoped would be burnished by last month’s lavish, well-run Beijing Olympics.
But the post-Olympic accolades have been pushed aside, and the scandal is again baring widespread public skepticism about the government’s abilities to get lower level officials to enforce policies and overcome cover-ups of problems.
In the 10 days since the government revealed that Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group sold tainted milk powder and infant formula, sketchy details have exposed one local government cover-up as well as the sale of contaminated milk by China’s biggest dairies, many of them state-owned.
Recalls of Chinese-made dairy products widened Saturday to Japan, which followed the lead of Singapore, while more products were recalled in the self-governing Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Macau.
Seeking to rein in criticism, propaganda officials ordered newspapers, TV stations and Web sites to mainly use reports from the government’s official Xinhua News Agency, news employees at two publications reported.
Food and product safety scandals have been a feature of Chinese life. Only last year, the government promised to overhaul inspection procedures after exports of medicines, toys and other products that killed and sickend people in the United States.
Also last year, pet food contaminated with melamine killed thousands of pets in North and South America. The dangerous chemical in the pet food was the same as in the milk scandal -- melamine. Used in making plastics, melamine is high in nitrogen, which registers as protein in tests of milk.
Some of the farmers who sell milk to Chinese food companies are thought to have used melamine to disguise watered-down milk. BEIJING — China’s leaders scrambled Saturday to contain public dismay over widespread contamination of milk supplies, criticizing loca... more -
Double Dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup
Farmers receive subsidies to grow corn - much of this corn is sold to cola and other junk-food companies at a reduced rate. These companies then make high fructose corn syrup to sweeten their products. It is much cheaper to use than beet or cane sugar and can have serious negative effects on our bodies - especially the bodies of children. It's in just about any processed food you can name. As well as sweets and colas it is in bread, beer, fruit juices, frozen treats - read your labels. High fructose corn syrup is not processed by the body like sugars from fruits and vegetables - it's something we all should learn about if we value our health. Farmers receive subsidies to grow corn - much of this corn is sold to cola and other junk-food companies at a reduced rate. These com... more
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EPA is Hiding Colony Collapse Disorder Information
EPA Buzz Kill: Is the Agency Hiding Colony Collapse Disorder Information?
{Natural Resources Defense Council, Via Common Dreams}
NRDC Forced to Sue to Get Public Records on Bee Mystery:
WASHINGTON - August 18 - The Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit today to uncover critical information that the US government is withholding about the risks posed by pesticides to honey bees. NRDC legal experts and a leading bee researcher are convinced that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has evidence of connections between pesticides and the mysterious honey bee die-offs reported across the country. The phenomenon has come to be called "colony collapse disorder," or CCD, and it is already proving to have disastrous consequences for American agriculture and the $15 billion worth of crops pollinated by bees every year.
EPA has failed to respond to NRDC's Freedom of Information Act request for agency records concerning the toxicity of pesticides to bees, forcing the legal action.
"Recently approved pesticides have been implicated in massive bee die-offs and are the focus of increasing scientific scrutiny," said NRDC Senior Attorney Aaron Colangelo. "EPA should be evaluating the risks to bees before approving new pesticides, but now refuses to tell the public what it knows. Pesticide restrictions might be at the heart of the solution to this growing crisis, so why hide the information they should be using to make those decisions?"
In 2003, EPA granted a registration to a new pesticide manufactured by BAYOR CropScience under the condition that BAYOR submit studies about its product's impact on bees. EPA has refused to disclose the results of these studies, or if the studies have even been submitted. The pesticide in question, clothianidin, recently was banned in Germany due to concerns about its impact on bees. A similar insecticide was banned in France for the same reason a couple of years before. In the United States, these chemicals still are in use despite a growing consensus among bee specialists that pesticides, including clothianidin and its chemical cousins, may contribute to CCD.
In the past two years, some American beekeepers have reported unexplained losses of 30-90% of the bees in their hives. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), bees pollinate $15 billion worth of crops grown in America. USDA also claims that one out of every three mouthfuls of food in the typical American diet has a connection to bee pollination. As the die-offs worsen, Americans will see their food costs increase.
Despite bees' critical role for farmers, consumers, and the environment, the federal government has been slow to address the die-off since the alarm bells started in 2006. In recent Congressional hearings, USDA was unable to account for the $20 million that Congress has allocated to the department for fighting CCD in the last two years.
"This is a real mystery right now," said Dr. Gabriela Chavarria, director of NRDC's Science Center. "EPA needs to help shed some light so that researchers can get to work on this problem. This isn't just an issue for farmers -- this is an issue that concerns us all. Just try to imagine a pizza without the contribution of bees! No tomatoes. No cheese. No peppers. If you eat apples, cucumbers, broccoli, onions, squash, carrots, avocados, or cherries, you need to be concerned."
Chavarria has spent more than 20 years studying bees, and has published a number of academic papers on the taxonomy, behavior and distribution of native bees.
NRDC filed the lawsuit today in federal court in Washington DC. In documents to be filed next month, NRDC will ask for a court order directing EPA to disclose its information about pesticides and bee toxicity.
More information on CCD can be found at NRDC's www.BeeSafe.org web site. EPA Buzz Kill: Is the Agency Hiding Colony Collapse Disorder Information? {Natural Resources Defense Council, Via Common Dreams} ... more -
Honey bee crisis & Ice Cream
What causes honeybee colonies to collapse?
Why do 36 states have honeybees with this disorder and not other states?
Are pesticides part of the problem?
What role does hybridized corn seed created by Monsanto have on honey bee colonies?
What do we know about the genetic makeup of honeybees and how they are affected by pesticides and other toxic chemicals such as pest control products?
These are all questions that were discussed on on KQED just today. It was a great discussion but answering these questions was almost impossible.
These are the facts.
Honeybees, which pollinate everything from almonds to apples to avocados, began abandoning their colonies in 2006, destroying about a third of their hives.
Since then, their numbers have not improved. A survey of beekeepers in the fall and winter 2007 by the Bee Research Lab and the Apiary Inspectors of America showed that beekeepers lost about 35 percent of their hives compared with 31 percent in 2006.
Scientists have not pinpointed the cause.
In 2007, Congress recognized colony collapse disorder as a threat and gave the U.S. Department of Agriculture emergency funds to study honeybee disappearances. In addition, the 2008 Farm Bill grants the USDA $20 million each year to support bee research and related work. And earlier this year, ice cream maker Haagen-Dazs, who relies on honeybees for 40 percent of its flavors, awarded a $250,000 research grant to UC Davis and Pennsylvania State University to research honeybees.
Recently
Published on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 by the San Francisco Chronicle
Lawsuit Seeks EPA Pesticide Data
by Jane Kay
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is refusing to disclose records about a new class of pesticides that could be playing a role in the disappearance of millions of honeybees in the United States, a lawsuit filed Monday charges.
The Natural Resources Defense Council wants to see the studies that the EPA required when it approved a pesticide made by Bayer CropScience five years ago.
The environmental group filed the suit as part of an effort to find out how diligently the EPA is protecting honeybees from dangerous pesticides, said Aaron Colangelo, a lawyer for the group in Washington.
In the last two years, beekeepers have reported unexplained losses of hives - 30 percent and upward - leading to a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder. Scientists believe that the decline in bees is linked to an onslaught of pesticides, mites, parasites and viruses, as well as a loss of habitat and food.
please go to this link for more...
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/19/11070/
Also recommended is this book
Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis by Rowan Jacobsen
Talking and learning what is going on around us will help change this crisis.
X What causes honeybee colonies to collapse? Why do 36 states have honeybees with this disorder and not other states? ... more -
Agent Orange Used in the U.S.A
Proof that Agent Orange was tested in the US and veterans exposed to it here were and still are being denied VA benefits. In this video one soldier exposed to Agent Orange tells his story. This is an outrage and a travesty.This is what the government thinks about our veterans, as well as what they think of the environment and the people who live here to test this toxic crap here. Monsanto, Dow, and all other companies that perpetuated the suffering caused by this for profit, may you rot. Proof that Agent Orange was tested in the US and veterans exposed to it here were and still are being denied VA benefits. In this vide... more
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Study shows air pollution doing serious harm to ecosystems
If you are living in the eastern United States, the environment around you is being harmed by air pollution. From Adirondack forests and Shenandoah streams to Appalachian wetlands and the Chesapeake Bay, a new report by the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and The Nature Conservancy has found that air pollution is degrading every major ecosystem type in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic United States.
The report, Threats From Above: Air Pollution Impacts on Ecosystems and Biological Diversity in the Eastern United States, is the first to analyze the large-scale effects that four air pollutants are having across a broad range of habitat types (see inset). The majority of recent studies focus on one individual pollutant. Over 32 experts contributed to the effort; the prognosis is not good.
"Everywhere we looked, we found evidence of air pollution harming natural resources," comments Dr. Gary M. Lovett, an ecologist at the Cary Institute and the lead author of the report. "Decisive action is needed if we plan on preserving functioning ecosystems for future generations."
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This is the world our younger generation will inherit. They must begin to get serious about working to preserve it and to hold this generation accountable for leaving it sustainable. I have always been baffled at how we humans can know doing something is dangerous and toxic to the future and to the present regarding the quality of our air, water, and land, and yet we continue to do it. We cannot continue on this path. This is one of the most important challenges our younger generation will have to face, and I truly wish there was more of an urgency about it. Pollution is not a 'natural' occurence of nature, we are doing it, and only we can make it right. If you are living in the eastern United States, the environment around you is being harmed by air pollution. From Adirondack forests a... more -
Persistant Man-Made Chemical Pollutants Found In Deep-Sea Species
New evidence that chemical contaminants are finding their way into the deep-sea food web has been found in deep-sea squids and octopods, including the strange-looking "vampire squid". These species are food for deep-diving toothed whales and other predators. In a study to be published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, Michael Vecchione of NOAA Fisheries' National Systematics Laboratory and colleagues Michael Unger, Ellen Harvey and George Vadas at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science of The College of William and Mary report finding a variety of chemical contaminants in nine species of cephalopods, a class of organisms that includes octopods, squids, cuttlefishes and nautiluses.
"It was surprising to find measurable and sometimes high amounts of toxic pollutants in such a deep and remote environment," Vecchione said. Among the chemicals detected were tributyltin (TBT), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), brominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs), and dichlorodiphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT).
They are known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) because they don't degrade and persist in the environment for a very long time.
snip
Other chemical contaminants found in the specimens include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), found in all the samples, diphenyl ether (DPE), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and brominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs). The researchers also detected DDT, a pesticide banned in the U.S. in the 1970s but still used on a limited basis in some parts of the world to control diseases like malaria.
The fact that we detected a variety of pollutants in specimens collected from more than 3,000 feet deep is evidence that human-produced chemicals are reaching remote areas of the open ocean, accumulating in prey species, and therefore available to higher levels of marine life. Contamination of the deep-sea food web is happening, and it is a real concern."
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We humans are poisoning the very environment that sustains us. And that is not 'natural.' New evidence that chemical contaminants are finding their way into the deep-sea food web has been found in deep-sea squids and octopod... more -
Canada likely to become first country to label plastic ingredient toxic
In Ottawa, the federal government has declared that the controversial substance chemical bisphenol-A or BPA as toxic. Health Minister Tony Clement has announced that a draft report identifies that BPA poses a risk to infants, people and the environment. The federal government in Ottawa has offered a 60-day period for public comment on the draft report. BPA is found in hard plastics like Nalgene bottles, and Nalge Nunc International, the company that manufactures Nalgene bottles will be removing them from the retail market in the coming months. Studies have revealed that BPA affects hormonal changes in animals, and a draft report produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' National Toxicology Program have supported scientific claims that identify behavioral and neural changes in people who consume BPA.
Read related story in The Globe and Mail (18 April 2008):
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.2008... In Ottawa, the federal government has declared that the controversial substance chemical bisphenol-A or BPA as toxic. Health Minister ... more -
Chemical warfare survival
Sure, it's most likely NOT going to happen in our day... but still, doesn't hurt to know a thing or two about what to do in case it does. Besides that, like it says in the article, stuff happens - what if a chlorine truck bites the biscuit on the expressway in front of your house? Good stuff here... Sure, it's most likely NOT going to happen in our day... but still, doesn't hurt to know a thing or two about what to do in ... more
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Popular restaurant maybe selling tainted food. So says California Proposition 65
I just ate today at PF Changs in Santa Monica, Ca.today. I first heard about this restaurant in my home town of Eugene, Oregon. I have eaten at this restaurant a total of 6 times and I must say that I have really enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. The service is excellent and the staff is very friendly.
However, until today I have never before noticed this sign that I saw at the Santa Monica location that absolute made my jaw drop to the floor. I am terribly disappointed by what I have learned because I really loved the flavors in the food.
The sign just above the door had the following statement:
"Warning, this restaurant sells food and drinks that contain chemicals known by the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, and reproductive harm."
Does anybody know what chemicals these might be?
This is very alarming considering all the tainted food that has been coming out of China into America.
Thank you California for having Proposition 65.
Consider yourselves warned!!! I just ate today at PF Changs in Santa Monica, Ca.today. I first heard about this restaurant in my home town of Eugene, Oregon. I have... more -
China's Seafood Industry: Dirty Water, Dangerous Fish
FUQING, China - Here in southern China, beneath the looming mountains of Fujian Province, lie dozens of enormous ponds filled with murky brown water and teeming with eels, shrimp and tilapia, much of it destined for markets in Japan and the West.
Fuqing is one of the centers of a booming industry that over two decades has transformed this country into the biggest producer and exporter of seafood in the world, and the fastest-growing supplier to the United States.
This is Part VIII of "CHOKING ON GROWTH"
A series of articles and multimedia examining the human toll, global impact and political challenge of China's epic pollution crisis by The New York Times.
Link to complete coverage: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/12/15/world/asi...
This might be worse than toxic toys! FUQING, China - Here in southern China, beneath the looming mountains of Fujian Province, lie dozens of enormous ponds filled with mur... more -
On This Day:1984: Hundreds Die In Bhopal Chemical Accident
Another tragedy caused by an American company sacrificing human rights, our environment, and life for profit. To this day these people have not gotten justice for the horrors of that day. Another tragedy caused by an American company sacrificing human rights, our environment, and life for profit. To this day these people... more
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Everyday Products Could Be Poisoning You
Investigative reporter Mark Schapiro explains in his new book "Exposed
The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's At Stake for American Power" how toxic chemicals exist in many of the products we handle every day agents that can cause cancer, genetic damage and birth defects, lacing everything from our gadgets to our toys to our beauty products.
The European Union has banned many of the ingredients used to produce these products. Items that violate these regulations are barred from entering the EU and are redirected to the American Market and the FDA does nothing to stop it. Investigative reporter Mark Schapiro explains in his new book "Exposed ... more -
Don't Eat Your iPod
"After conducting its own "independent lab tests," the Center for Environmental Health (CEH), a non-profit consumer watchdog group, has concluded that the headphone cords for both the iPhone and iPod do indeed contain high levels of phthalates."
"Under CA law, products that expose consumers to the phthalates found in the iPhone and iPod cords are required to be accompanied by a warning. This does not mean that it is not "the phthalates themselves" that are a problem -- the phthalates are in fact a health problem, and since Apple does not provide a health warning to consumers, they are selling the products illegally in the state." "After conducting its own "independent lab tests," the Center for Environmental Health (CEH), a non-profit consumer wat... more -
River of Excrement
More than half of all industrial and municipal facilities across the country dumped more sewage and other pollutants into the nation's waterways than allowed under the Clean Water Act. More than half of all industrial and municipal facilities across the country dumped more sewage and other pollutants into the nation&#... more
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Coal Clouded Contamination
China mined a record 2.4 billion tons of coal in 2006, up 8.1 percent from a year earlier. This year there are plans for a coal-fired power plant to go on line nearly every week. Emissions from these plants alone could nullify the cuts made by Europe, Japan and other rich nations under the Kyoto Protocol treaty, according to a report from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. China mined a record 2.4 billion tons of coal in 2006, up 8.1 percent from a year earlier. This year there are plans for a coal-fired ... more
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NO NEW NUKES
We have to stop the push for nuclear power, Greenpeace can help play a big part.
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The iPhone looks cool, but....
Makes me wonder about the headphones on my iPod, wouldn't they be the same as the iPhone? PVC in those famous white ear buds, uh oh.
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/iphone-s-hazardous-c... Makes me wonder about the headphones on my iPod, wouldn't they be the same as the iPhone? PVC in those famous white ear buds, uh... more
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Toxic Chemicals
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Toxic Chemicals
