[About the Project] [About the ApocaDocs] [About Equal Share] [TwitterFollow: apocadocs] SEARCH More than 6,000 stories! OUR BOOK IS NOW IN PRINT! Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies 94 color pages $24.99 Read FREE online! Explore: Play: It's weekly, funny, and free! Play: Click for paper-free fun! Ads for potentially microfunding this site: Apocadocument Weekly Archives: Sep 26 - Dec 31, 1969 Sep 19 - Sep 26, 2011 Sep 12 - Sep 19, 2011 Sep 5 - Sep 12, 2011 Aug 29 - Sep 5, 2011 Aug 22 - Aug 29, 2011 Aug 15 - Aug 22, 2011 Aug 8 - Aug 15, 2011 Aug 1 - Aug 8, 2011 Jul 25 - Aug 1, 2011 Jul 18 - Jul 25, 2011 Jul 11 - Jul 18, 2011 Jul 4 - Jul 11, 2011 Jun 27 - Jul 4, 2011 Jun 20 - Jun 27, 2011 Jun 13 - Jun 20, 2011 Jun 6 - Jun 13, 2011 May 30 - Jun 6, 2011 May 23 - May 30, 2011 May 16 - May 23, 2011 May 9 - May 16, 2011 May 2 - May 9, 2011 Apr 25 - May 2, 2011 Apr 18 - Apr 25, 2011 Apr 11 - Apr 18, 2011 Apr 4 - Apr 11, 2011 Mar 28 - Apr 4, 2011 Mar 21 - Mar 28, 2011 Mar 14 - Mar 21, 2011 Mar 6 - Mar 14, 2011 Feb 27 - Mar 6, 2011 Feb 20 - Feb 27, 2011 Feb 13 - Feb 20, 2011 Feb 6 - Feb 13, 2011 Jan 30 - Feb 6, 2011 Jan 23 - Jan 30, 2011 Jan 16 - Jan 23, 2011 Jan 9 - Jan 16, 2011 Jan 2 - Jan 9, 2011 Dec 26 - Jan 2, 2011 Dec 19 - Dec 26, 2010 Dec 12 - Dec 19, 2010 Dec 5 - Dec 12, 2010 Nov 28 - Dec 5, 2010 Nov 21 - Nov 28, 2010 Nov 14 - Nov 21, 2010 Nov 7 - Nov 14, 2010 Nov 1 - Nov 7, 2010 Oct 25 - Nov 1, 2010 Oct 18 - Oct 25, 2010 Oct 11 - Oct 18, 2010 Oct 4 - Oct 11, 2010 Sep 27 - Oct 4, 2010 Sep 20 - Sep 27, 2010 Sep 13 - Sep 20, 2010 Sep 6 - Sep 13, 2010 Aug 30 - Sep 6, 2010 Aug 23 - Aug 30, 2010 Aug 16 - Aug 23, 2010 Aug 9 - Aug 16, 2010 Aug 2 - Aug 9, 2010 Jul 26 - Aug 2, 2010 Jul 19 - Jul 26, 2010 Jul 12 - Jul 19, 2010 Jul 5 - Jul 12, 2010 Jun 28 - Jul 5, 2010 Jun 21 - Jun 28, 2010 Jun 14 - Jun 21, 2010 Jun 7 - Jun 14, 2010 May 31 - Jun 7, 2010 May 24 - May 31, 2010 May 17 - May 24, 2010 May 10 - May 17, 2010 May 3 - May 10, 2010 Apr 26 - May 3, 2010 Apr 19 - Apr 26, 2010 Apr 12 - Apr 19, 2010 Apr 5 - Apr 12, 2010 Mar 29 - Apr 5, 2010 Mar 22 - Mar 29, 2010 Mar 15 - Mar 22, 2010 Mar 7 - Mar 15, 2010 Feb 28 - Mar 7, 2010 Feb 21 - Feb 28, 2010 Feb 14 - Feb 21, 2010 Feb 7 - Feb 14, 2010 Jan 31 - Feb 7, 2010 Jan 24 - Jan 31, 2010 Jan 17 - Jan 24, 2010 Jan 10 - Jan 17, 2010 Jan 3 - Jan 10, 2010 Dec 27 - Jan 3, 2010 Dec 20 - Dec 27, 2009 Dec 13 - Dec 20, 2009 Dec 6 - Dec 13, 2009 Nov 29 - Dec 6, 2009 Nov 22 - Nov 29, 2009 Nov 15 - Nov 22, 2009 Nov 8 - Nov 15, 2009 Nov 1 - Nov 8, 2009 Oct 26 - Nov 1, 2009 Oct 19 - Oct 26, 2009 Oct 12 - Oct 19, 2009 Oct 5 - Oct 12, 2009 Sep 28 - Oct 5, 2009 Sep 21 - Sep 28, 2009 Sep 14 - Sep 21, 2009 Sep 7 - Sep 14, 2009 Aug 31 - Sep 7, 2009 Aug 24 - Aug 31, 2009 Aug 17 - Aug 24, 2009 Aug 10 - Aug 17, 2009 Aug 3 - Aug 10, 2009 Jul 27 - Aug 3, 2009 Jul 20 - Jul 27, 2009 Jul 13 - Jul 20, 2009 Jul 6 - Jul 13, 2009 Jun 29 - Jul 6, 2009 Jun 22 - Jun 29, 2009 Jun 15 - Jun 22, 2009 Jun 8 - Jun 15, 2009 Jun 1 - Jun 8, 2009 May 25 - Jun 1, 2009 May 18 - May 25, 2009 May 11 - May 18, 2009 May 4 - May 11, 2009 Apr 27 - May 4, 2009 Apr 20 - Apr 27, 2009 Apr 13 - Apr 20, 2009 Apr 6 - Apr 13, 2009 Mar 30 - Apr 6, 2009 Mar 23 - Mar 30, 2009 Mar 16 - Mar 23, 2009 Mar 9 - Mar 16, 2009 Mar 1 - Mar 9, 2009 Feb 22 - Mar 1, 2009 Feb 15 - Feb 22, 2009 Feb 8 - Feb 15, 2009 Feb 1 - Feb 8, 2009 Jan 25 - Feb 1, 2009 Jan 18 - Jan 25, 2009 Jan 11 - Jan 18, 2009 Jan 4 - Jan 11, 2009 Dec 28 - Jan 4, 2009 Dec 21 - Dec 28, 2008 Dec 14 - Dec 21, 2008 Dec 7 - Dec 14, 2008 Nov 30 - Dec 7, 2008 Nov 23 - Nov 30, 2008 Nov 16 - Nov 23, 2008 Nov 9 - Nov 16, 2008 Nov 2 - Nov 9, 2008 Oct 27 - Nov 2, 2008 Oct 20 - Oct 27, 2008 Oct 13 - Oct 20, 2008 Oct 6 - Oct 13, 2008 Sep 29 - Oct 6, 2008 Sep 22 - Sep 29, 2008 Sep 15 - Sep 22, 2008 Sep 8 - Sep 15, 2008 Sep 1 - Sep 8, 2008 Aug 25 - Sep 1, 2008 Aug 18 - Aug 25, 2008 Aug 11 - Aug 18, 2008 Aug 4 - Aug 11, 2008 Jul 28 - Aug 4, 2008 Jul 21 - Jul 28, 2008 Jul 14 - Jul 21, 2008 Jul 7 - Jul 14, 2008 Jun 30 - Jul 7, 2008 Jun 23 - Jun 30, 2008 Jun 16 - Jun 23, 2008 Jun 9 - Jun 16, 2008 Jun 2 - Jun 9, 2008 May 26 - Jun 2, 2008 May 19 - May 26, 2008 May 12 - May 19, 2008 May 5 - May 12, 2008 Apr 28 - May 5, 2008 Apr 21 - Apr 28, 2008 Apr 14 - Apr 21, 2008 Apr 7 - Apr 14, 2008 Mar 31 - Apr 7, 2008 Mar 24 - Mar 31, 2008 Mar 17 - Mar 24, 2008 Mar 10 - Mar 17, 2008 Mar 2 - Mar 10, 2008 Feb 24 - Mar 2, 2008 Feb 17 - Feb 24, 2008 Feb 10 - Feb 17, 2008 Feb 3 - Feb 10, 2008 Jan 27 - Feb 3, 2008 Jan 20 - Jan 27, 2008 Jan 13 - Jan 20, 2008 Jan 6 - Jan 13, 2008 Dec 30 - Jan 6, 2008 Dec 23 - Dec 30, 2007 Dec 16 - Dec 23, 2007 Dec 9 - Dec 16, 2007 Dec 2 - Dec 9, 2007

DocWatch heavy metals Twitterit? News stories about "heavy metals," with punchlines: http://apocadocs.com/d.pl?heavy+metals Related Scary Tags: contamination  ~ health impacts  ~ toxic buildup  ~ coal issues  ~ toxic water  ~ ecosystem interrelationships  ~ airborne pollutants  ~ climate impacts  ~ toxic sludge  ~ governmental idiocy  ~ toxic leak   Thu, Aug 7, 2014 from CBC: Tailings pond breach in BC threatens pristine deepwater lake system, sockeye salmon; state of emergency declared A local state of emergency has been declared in an area where a B.C. tailings pond wall collapsed, sending millions of cubic metres of mine waste water and metals-laden sand into local waterways.... The breach sent 10 million cubic metres of water and 4.5 million cubic metres of metals-laden sand out into local waterways, scouring away the banks of Hazeltine Creek and sending debris flowing into Quesnel Lake and Polley Lake, which rose 1.5 metres.... A summary of the material dumped into the tailings pond last year was filed with Environment Canada. It said there was 326 tonnes of nickel, over 400,000 kilograms of arsenic, 177,000 kilograms of lead and 18,400 tonnes of copper and its compounds placed in the pond last year. ... That was last year. Old news. What's done is done, so let's just move forward in trying to reestablish trust. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 24, 2014 from Associated Press: Big climate report: Warming is big risk for people If you think of climate change as a hazard for some far-off polar bears years from now, you're mistaken. That's the message from top climate scientists gathering in Japan this week to assess the impact of global warming. In fact, they will say, the dangers of a warming Earth are immediate and very human. "The polar bear is us," says Patricia Romero Lankao of the federally financed National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., referring to the first species to be listed as threatened by global warming due to melting sea ice. ... Today is a good day to panic. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jan 3, 2014 from Huffington Post: Mercury Levels In Alberta Oilsands 16 Times Higher Than Normal: Environment Canada Scientists Mercury levels around the Alberta oilsands are 16 times higher than background loads, with contamination taking on the shape of a 'bull's-eye' over the region, say Environment Canada scientists. Speaking at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry conference in Nashville, Environment Canada researchers Jane Kirk and Derek Muir said mercury levels are at their highest concentration in the immediate area of oilsands operations but extend out to cover a 19,000-square-kilometre area, Postmedia reports. "Here we have a direct source of methyl mercury being emitted in this region and deposited to the landscapes and water bodies," Kirk told Postmedia. "So come snowmelt that methyl mercury is now going to enter lakes and rivers where potentially it could be taken up directly by organisms and then bioaccumulated and biomagnified though food webs." ... Now we know how the Tar Sands folks found that sweet spot! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Dec 31, 2013 from Al Jazeera: Researchers find 7,300-sq-mile ring of mercury around tar sands in Canada Scientists have found a more than 7,300-square-mile ring of land and water contaminated by mercury surrounding the tar sands in Alberta, where energy companies are producing oil and shipping it throughout Canada and the U.S. Government scientists are preparing to publish a report that found levels of mercury are up to 16 times higher around the tar-sand operations -- principally due to the excavation and transportation of bitumen in the sands by oil and gas companies... Kirk and her colleagues' research shows that the development of the tar sands may be responsible for spreading mercury -- which can cause nervous-system damage -- far beyond the areas where drilling and transportation are taking place. ... I'd be nervous about this if my nervous system functioned properly. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Dec 30, 2013 from San Francisco Chronicle: Breast milk harbors environmental pollutants It's advice that doctors impart to mothers over and over: Breast milk is the most nutritious, fortifying food they can feed their babies. But women may not be aware of the strong possibility that their milk is also less than pure, an unintended consequence of living in a developed nation. That's because their bodies are exposed to chemicals like pesticides, flame retardants, additives and other chemicals from household products, air, water and food. Breast milk's high fat and protein content tends to attract heavy metals and other contaminants that make their way into a woman's body from the environment, and are then passed on to newborns, albeit usually in minuscule amounts. ... Udderly busted. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Dec 30, 2013 from Huffington Post: Millions Of Acres Of Chinese Farmland Too Polluted To Grow Food, Highlighting Growing Threat More than 8 million acres of China's farmland is too polluted with heavy metals and other chemicals to use for growing food, a Cabinet official said Monday, highlighting a problem that is causing growing public concern. The threat from pollution to China's food supply has been overshadowed by public alarm at smog and water contamination but is gaining attention following scandals over tainted rice and other crops. The government triggered complaints in February when it refused to release results of a nationwide survey of soil pollution, declaring them a state secret. The figure given at a news conference by Wang Shiyuan, a deputy minister of the Ministry of Land and Resources, would be about 2 percent of China's 337 million acres of arable land. Some scientists have given higher estimates of as much as 60 million acres, or one-fifth of the total, though it is unclear how much of that would be too badly contaminated for farming. ... Why don't we build factories on that otherwise useless farmland. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Oct 17, 2013 from Washington Post: Study links warmer water temperatures to greater levels of mercury in fish In a lab experiment, researchers adjusted temperatures in tanks, tainted the killifish's food with traces of methylmercury and watched as the fish stored high concentrations of the metal in their tissue. In a field experiment in nearby salt pools, they observed as killifish in warmer pools ate their natural food and stored metal in even higher concentrations, like some toxic condiment for larger fish that would later prey on them. The observation was part of a study showing how killifish at the bottom of the food chain will probably absorb higher levels of methylmercury in an era of global warming and pass it on to larger predator fish, such as the tuna stacked in shiny little cans in the cupboards of Americans and other people the world over. "The implication is this could play out in larger fish . . . because their metabolic rate is also increasing," said Celia Chen, a professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and one of six authors of the study. "Methylmercury isn't easily excreted, so it stays. It suggests that there will be higher methylmercury concentrations in the fish humans eat as well." ... Finally! Something to solve the problem of overfishing! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 14, 2013 from Washington Post: Study links warmer water temperatures to greater levels of mercury in fish ...In a lab experiment, researchers adjusted temperatures in tanks, tainted the killifish's food with traces of methylmercury and watched as the fish stored high concentrations of the metal in their tissue. In a field experiment in nearby salt pools, they observed as killifish in warmer pools ate their natural food and stored metal in even higher concentrations, like some toxic condiment for larger fish that would later prey on them. The observation was part of a study showing how killifish at the bottom of the food chain will probably absorb higher levels of methylmercury in an era of global warming and pass it on to larger predator fish, such as the tuna stacked in shiny little cans in the cupboards of Americans and other people the world over. ... It would seem our energy system exists solely to serve mercury. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Aug 26, 2013 from University of Hawaii, via EurekAlert: Ocean fish acquire more mercury at depth Mercury--a common industrial toxin--is carried through the atmosphere before settling on the ocean and entering the marine food web.... predatory fish that feed at deeper depths in the open ocean, like opah and swordfish, have higher mercury concentrations than those that feed in waters near the surface, like mahi-mahi and yellowfin tuna... Bacteria in the oceans change atmospheric mercury into the organic monomethylmercury form that can accumulate in animal tissue. Large predatory fish contain high levels of methylmercury in part because they eat lots of smaller, mercury-containing fish. In 2009, researchers at UH Manoa determined that the depths at which a species feeds is nearly as important as its position in the food chain in determining how much methylmercury it contains.... The finding that mercury is being converted to its toxic, bioavailable form at depth is important in part because scientists expect mercury levels at intermediate depths in the North Pacific to rise in coming decades. "The implication is that predictions for increased mercury in deeper water will result in higher levels in fish," said Joel Blum of the University of Michigan, the lead author on the new paper and a professor in the department of earth and environmental sciences. "If we're going to effectively reduce the mercury concentrations in open-ocean fish, we're going to have to reduce global emissions of mercury, including emissions from places like China and India." ... At least there's one place where the mercury is dropping! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 27, 2013 from The Daily Climate: Opinion: Stop the decay of our planet's life-support systems ...A statement released today and signed by more than 500 scientists from 44 countries who study the interactions of people with our planet is unequivocal: "Based on the best scientific information available, human quality of life will suffer substantial degradation by the year 2050 if we continue on our current path."... "By the time today's children reach middle age," the scientists warn, "it is extremely likely that Earth's life-support systems, critical for human prosperity and existence, will be irretrievably damaged by the magnitude, global extent, and combination of these human-caused environmental stressors, unless we take concrete, immediate actions to ensure a sustainable, high-quality future." ... As if middle age doesn't suck regardless. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, May 7, 2013 from Science News: Toxic waste sites may cause health problems for millions Living near a toxic waste site may represent as much of a health threat as some infectious diseases, a study in three developing countries finds. Researchers analyzed 373 toxic waste sites in India, Indonesia and the Philippines, where an estimated 8.6 million people are at risk of exposure to lead, asbestos, hexavalent chromium and other hazardous materials. Among those people at risk, the exposures could cause a loss of around 829,000 years of good health as a result of disease, disability or early death, the team reports May 4 in Environmental Health Perspectives. ... What doesn't kill you ... really kills you. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 19, 2013 from Environmental Health News: Fish lose sense of smell in polluted waters Fish in lakes tainted with metals are losing their sense of smell, stoking concern among experts that the problem could devastate populations. But if the fish can just get into cleaner water -- even if they've been exposed to pollutants their whole life -- they start sniffing things properly again, according to new research out of Canada. Fish use their sense of smell to find mates and food, and to avoid getting eaten. It helps them navigate their often murky world, and it is necessary for their growth and survival. But when metals contact fish nostrils, the neurons shut down to protect the brain. "We've tested everything from leeches to water fleas to several species of fish,” said Canadian scientist Greg Pyle. "Every species and every metal we've observed has had effects at low, environmentally relevant concentrations.” ... Bet their eyesight becomes super acute. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Feb 2, 2013 from Yale Environment 300: Mercury's Silent Toll On the World's Wildlife This month, delegates from over 140 countries gathered in Geneva and finalized the first international treaty to reduce emissions of mercury. The treaty -- four years in the works and scheduled for signing in October -- aims to protect human health from this very serious neurotoxin. But barely considered during the long deliberations, according to those involved in the treaty process, was the harm that mercury inflicts on wildlife ... Lately, though, Hopkins and others have uncovered mercury in reptiles, amphibians, insects, spiders, terrestrial songbirds, and a wider variety of mammals than expected.. ... Newsflash: Earth to be renamed Mercury2. ApocaDoc permalink Want more context? Try reading our book FREE online: Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! More fun than a barrel of jellyfish! Mon, Mar 19, 2012 from CTV: Melting Arctic ice could poison ecosystem, experts say Arctic sea ice that's been melting at a dramatic rate in the last few decades is releasing a chemical soup that could poison the food chain with mercury and other dangerous chemicals, a new study suggests.... Over the last 30 years, the amount ice that survives the summer melt and grows again in the winter is becoming significantly smaller (12 per cent per decade), resulting in a much thinner and more salty form of ice. When the "new" ice melts, it releases a higher concentration of the chemicals into the air that create the mercury, the study found.... Mercury is a toxic substance that can enter the food chain and eventually be ingested by humans through food consumption. "This is being concentrated in things like fish and it's working it way up the food chain," geochemist Norman Halden said in the report. ... In the Arctic, the mercury is literally rising. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Mar 16, 2012 from Los Angeles Times: Cadmium in diet is linked to higher breast cancer risk In a finding that strengthens the link between environmental pollutants and rising rates of breast cancer, new research finds that women whose diets contain higher levels of cadmium are at greater risk of developing breast cancer than those who ingest less of the industrial chemical in their food. Cadmium, a heavy metal long identified as a carcinogen, leaches into crops from fertilizers and when rainfall or sewage sludge deposit it onto farmland. Whole grains, potatoes, other vegetables and shellfish are key dietary sources of cadmium, which also becomes airborne as a pollutant when fossil fuels are burned, and is likely inhaled as well as ingested. ... When it comes to breasts there's almost always a cad involved. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 12, 2012 from Bergen County Record: Exotic grass could help clean lead from soild A subtropical grass might one day be grown in yards across North Jersey as an affordable way to deal with a lingering childhood health concern -- lead contamination. Dibs Sarkar, a local scientist, is studying how the long roots of the grass can absorb lead from the soil and store it. Tests in a greenhouse have so far been successful; the lead contamination was consumed by the plant so fast that the soil met federal standards in about two years. "We're confident this will work fantastically," said Sarkar, a researcher at Montclair State University. ... Exotic, invasive grass: What could go wrong?? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 8, 2012 from New York Daily News: Mercury found in lotions and cosmetics, says FDA Women are being warned to stay away from beauty products that contain a toxic ingredient -- mercury. The ingredient has been found in skin-care products, soaps and cosmetics in stores that tend to cater to Latino, African-American, Asian and Middle Eastern communities. The FDA has counted 35 potentially poisonous products, which include goods made by the brands Diana, Stillman's, Lusco and Crema Aguamary, that are manufactured abroad and sold illegally in the U.S. They may claim to lighten skin, cure acne and reduce wrinkles. Exposure to mercury can cause real bodily harm, say doctors. ... I guess a caucasian beauty like me needn't worry her pretty little head. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 27, 2012 from Knoxville News Sentinel: Elevated mercury found in fish in Poplar Creek, Clinch River East Fork Poplar Creek has been posted as a hazard for decades because of mercury discharges from the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, where the creek originates.... Sampling by Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists and environmental staff has documented the elevated presence of mercury in fish in Poplar Creek -- downstream of the point where East Fork enters it -- and into the Clinch River and the upper part of Watts Bar Reservoir. ... Beware of floating mercury bombs! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Feb 10, 2012 from The Hill: Religious right bashes green evangelicals for supporting EPA rules Religious-right leaders are slamming a green evangelical group for casting support for Environmental Protection Agency rules to cut power plant mercury emissions as a "pro-life" position. In a lengthy statement, religious leaders including Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser, officials with Focus on the Family and other groups that oppose abortion rights take aim at the Evangelical Environmental Network's ad campaign in favor of EPA's rules. ... Dontcha just love a good, juicy holy war? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 9, 2012 from DesdemonaDespair: Map of All Mercury Emissions from U.S. Coal-fired Power Plants, November 2011 Number of U.S. water bodies impaired by mercury, a particularly toxic component of coal plant pollution: 3,781 Of the 50 U.S. states, number that have fish consumption advisories due to unsafe mercury pollution levels: 50 Factor by which one study found mercury concentrations in fish have increased from the 1930s to today: 10 Portion of U.S. women of childbearing age who have enough mercury in their bloodstream to put their offspring at risk of health effects: 1 in 6 Percentage of U.S. women of childbearing age that had inorganic mercury in their blood in 1999: 2 That percentage in 2006: 30... Amount of mercury released by U.S. coal-fired power plants in 2009: 134,365 pounds ... Um... that mercury will biodegrade, right? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jan 27, 2012 from Charlotte Observer: Toxic metals found in water near coal plants As the Environmental Protection Agency mulled the first federal ash-handling rules, which are still on hold, utilities and state agencies began looking for local problems. Duke Energy and Progress Energy sank test wells around their ash ponds several years ago and found tainted groundwater. N.C. officials told them in 2010 to sink more wells, farther from the ponds. That led to results the N.C. Division of Water Quality is now reporting. Iron, manganese and low pH, all in excess of what the state says is allowable, were found at all 14 plants. Duke and Progress each own seven. Sulfate, dissolved solids and chromium were found at seven plants. Boron was found at six, arsenic at three, and selenium, thallium and antimony at two. Chloride and nickel were each detected at one plant.... Techniques exist to "fingerprint" the source of elements that occur both in ash and naturally, said Avner Vengosh, a Duke University geochemist. While iron and manganese are commonly detected, he said, elements such as boron and strontium are more closely associated with ash. Power plant ash ponds also drain into the rivers and lakes the power plants use for cooling water. The three Duke power plants closest to Charlotte, Riverbend overlooking Mountain Island Lake, Allen on Lake Wylie and Marshall on Lake Norman, discharge 23 million gallons a day from their ponds. ... (time + capital) x (desire + ignorance) = (bioaccumulation + extinction). We're kicking ass! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jan 24, 2012 from New York Times: Mercury's Harmful Reach Has Grown, Study Suggests The strict new federal standards limiting pollution from power plants are meant to safeguard human health. But they should have an important side benefit, according to a study being released on Tuesday: protecting a broad array of wildlife that has been harmed by mercury emissions.... Methylmercury, the most toxic form of the heavy metal, was found to be widespread throughout the Northeast -- not just in lakes and rivers, as had already been known, but also in forests, on mountaintops and in bogs and marshes that are home to birds long thought to be at minimal risk. ... I'll bring the pitchfork. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 23, 2012 from Environmental Health News: Pessimistically, lead may taint your outlook Lead exposure over a lifetime may lead to a darker outlook, which can in turn increase risk of depression, reports a study on aging men. The lead levels in the men were associated with increased pessimism even after the researchers considered the low socioeconomic factors that also are linked to pessimism. The results are published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Previous studies had shown that lead exposure may be associated with pessimism, but these studies were limited in their ability to consider important factors such as socioeconomic factors in childhood and adulthood. ... Encouraging old men to "get the lead out" takes on new meaning. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 9, 2012 from Australia ABC News: High mercury levels in Antarctic waters Think Antarctica, think pristine but a new study has again found that's not exactly so. A team of oceanographers have discovered the sea birds in the Southern Ocean have four times the mercury levels of aquatic birds elsewhere. The toxic element has come from both man-made and naturally occurring sources and while the birds seem to be coping, the same can't be said for the region's fish. ... Antarctick! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Dec 23, 2011 from Wall Street Journal: The Coal Age Is Nearer to Its End After burning coal to light up Cincinnati for six decades, the Walter C. Beckjord Generating Station will go dark soon -- a fate that will be shared by dozens of aging coal-fired power plants across the U.S. in coming years. Their owners cite a raft of new air-pollution regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency, including a rule released Wednesday that limits mercury and other emissions, for the shut-downs. But energy experts say there is an even bigger reason coal plants are losing out: cheap and abundant natural gas, which is booming thanks to a surge in production from shale-rock formations... ... RIP: Rest In Particulates ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Dec 21, 2011 from National Journal: EPA Unveils Long-Awaited Mercury Rule Appearing at Washington's Children's Hospital with public health leaders at her side, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson on Wednesday unveiled the nation's first-ever national standards for mercury and other toxic air pollution from power plants. The sweeping regulations -- mandated by Congress in 1990 and delayed by prolonged litigation, lobbying, and legislative battles --will require utilities to cut at least 90 percent of their emissions of mercury, a neurotoxin known to cause brain damage and other health problems, particularly in developing fetuses and young children...EPA says the rule will prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths and prevent thousands of respiratory illnesses, which could translate into $90 billion in health and economic benefits a year. ... What will we do with all this extra health and money!? Squander it, mindlessly, I suppose... ApocaDoc permalink You're still reading! Good for you! You really should read our short, funny, frightening book FREE online (or buy a print copy): Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! We've been quipping this stuff for more than 30 months! Every day! Which might explain why we don't get invited to parties anymore. Tue, Dec 20, 2011 from Press Asociation: Stray showers of mercury getting into food chain Earth is being showered with mercury that can land anywhere and enter the food chain, a study has shown. The poisonous metal is released as a vapour by burning fuel then falls back to Earth and is easily absorbed by the aquatic ecosystem. Thousands of tonnes of mercury vapour are pumped into the air each year. Scientists discovered that in time mercury is oxidised it can then be deposited back on Earth, either in rain or snow. Bacteria transform the oxidised mercury into methyl mercury, which easily enters the food chain. US scientist Dr Seth Lyman, who led the research while at the University of Washington Bothell, said: "Much of the emitted mercury is deposited far from its original sources.["] ... Mercury... ubiquitous messenger of doom. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Dec 19, 2011 from Brown University via ScienceDaily: Novel Device Removes Heavy Metals from Water Engineers at Brown University have developed a system that cleanly and efficiently removes trace heavy metals from water. In experiments, the researchers showed the system reduced cadmium, copper, and nickel concentrations, returning contaminated water to near or below federally acceptable standards. The technique is scalable and has viable commercial applications, especially in the environmental remediation and metal recovery fields. ... Bet it can't remove smoke on the water. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Oct 26, 2011 from The Daily Climate: Yukon delivers a plug of mercury in response to a changing climate The Yukon River is delivering upwards of five tons of mercury a year to the Arctic environment, likely in response to a warming climate, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey announced Tuesday... Permafrost in the Yukon basin has been absorbing naturally occurring mercury - chiefly from volcanoes - since the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago. Now those soils, as a result of changing climate conditions, are thawing at increased rates. That could be releasing a substantial reservoir of the metal into the marshes and streams feeding the Yukon River, the world's 19th largest river. More recently, industrial pollution has coated the basin. Prevailing winds from Europe and Asia funnel industrial pollution, including mercury, directly to interior Alaska and the Yukon River drainage, [USGS hydrologist Paul] Schuster said. "If we had funding, we could prove this. We could determine whether this comes from coal or volcanoes. But that's very expensive," he said. ... Maybe they can raise the money by selling the mercury. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jul 13, 2011 from Telegraph.co.uk: Nike, Adidas, Puma 'using suppliers pouring toxic chemicals into China's rivers' In a year-long investigation, undercover activists collected water samples from discharge pipes at factories belonging to two of China's largest textile manufacturers which tested positive for dangerous chemicals, including hormone-disrupting alkylphenols that are banned in Europe.... The samples of filthy water were sent for testing in Exeter and the Netherlands which found a cocktail of chemicals, including hormone-distruptors, heavy metals and perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) that are heavily restricted in Europe. Greenpeace said the brands named in the report had confirmed they did have business relationships with one or other of the two investigated suppliers, but said they made no use of the "wet" processes which had caused the pollution.... "We take the problem which Greenpeace raised seriously and we will work with Greenpeace to find a solution." ... Impossible is nothing. Just do it. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 13, 2011 from PNAS, via EnvironmentalResearchWeb: Mercury rising in endangered Pacific seabirds Using 120 years of feathers from natural history museums in the US, Harvard University researchers have been able to track increases in the neurotoxin methylmercury in the black-footed albatross (Phoebastria nigripes), an endangered seabird that forages extensively throughout the Pacific. The study shows that the observed increase in methylmercury levels, most likely from human-generated emissions, can be observed and tracked over broad time periods in organisms that live in the Pacific Ocean.... "Given both the high levels of methylmercury that we measured in our most recent samples and regional levels of emissions, mercury bioaccumulation and toxicity may undermine reproductive effort in this species and other long-lived, endangered seabirds."... "Methylmercury has no benefit to animal life and we are starting to find high levels in endangered and sensitive species across marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems, indicating that mercury pollution and its subsequent chemical reactions in the environment may be important factors in species population declines," says study co-author Michael Bank of Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). ... What do feathers have to do with my thermometer? ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jun 12, 2011 from AP, via PhysOrg: More than 600 sickened by lead poisoning in China More than 600 people, including 103 children, have been sickened in China's latest case of mass lead poisoning, state media reported Sunday. China has suffered widespread problems in recent years from heavy metal contamination, with thousands of children affected by lead poisoning in several provinces in 2009 and 2010 because they lived near metal smelters or battery factories. The victims in the latest case were workers and their children in 25 family-run tinfoil processing workshops in Yangxunqiao town in Zhejiang province in eastern China, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.... Last month, 74 people were detained and production was suspended at hundreds of battery factories in the same province after dozens of people were sickened by lead and cadmium poisoning. ... The free market works in mysterious ways. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, May 14, 2011 from Sydney Morning Herald: Deadly diet of marine plastic kills seabirds Seabirds which forage in the Tasman Sea are mistaking plastic for food, eating it and perishing on Lord Howe Island. "The problem is here - in our backyard," a zoologist, Jennifer Lavers, said. Large amounts of plastic are being recovered from flesh-footed shearwaters on Lord Howe. In the latest survey, one bird's stomach contained more than 200 pieces and others held more than 50. The sharp-edged fragments tear internal organs and toxic substances bind to the plastic. Mercury, which is toxic to birds at four parts per million, was found in the shearwaters at up to 30,000 ppm, according to Dr Lavers. The bird's numbers are plummeting on Lord Howe, once an Australian stronghold. Dr Lavers, of the Tasmanian Museum, said in last month's survey 95 per cent of nesting shearwaters had some plastic in their stomachs and it was hard to find living chicks.... The shearwater population on Lord Howe has at least halved since the 1970s. Even so, in a good year 50 per cent of burrows contained chicks. "This year we checked more than 200 nests and we found six chicks - one of them dead," Dr Lavers said. "We have to ask: 'is this just a bad year, or is this population tanking?'." ... Our society's challenge: How do we make plastic more nutritious? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, May 12, 2011 from Toronto Globe and Mail: Fraser River sockeye face chemical soup of 200 contaminants Sockeye salmon are exposed to a soup of chemicals in the Fraser River, and some of the ingredients are accumulating to potentially lethal levels in eggs, while others may be disrupting the sexual function of fish, according to a scientific review conducted for the Cohen Commission... While it is unlikely that contaminants are "the sole cause" of sockeye population declines, the report says there is "a strong possibility that exposure to contaminants of concern, endocrine disrupting chemicals, and/or contaminants of emerging concern has contributed to the decline of sockeye salmon." ... Coldcocking the sockeye! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 28, 2011 from Houston Chronicle: Congress puts limits on lead in cross hairs Aiming squarely at guarding the rights of sportsmen and America's ammo, bait and tackle shops, a powerful group of congressmen is pushing back against environmentalists and any federal regulation that would restrict the use of lead in outdoor gear... The bill's sponsors have drawn support from the nearly 300-strong Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus, created to serve as "the sportsmen's ally and first line of defense in Washington promoting and protecting the rights of hunters, trappers and anglers." Environmentalists see it differently; they say residual deposits of lead left by hunters and fisherman are being ingested by waterfowl, raptors and mammals, killing eagles, swans, cranes, endangered California condors and countless other wild animals. ... Animals dying before you have a chance to shoot 'em just kinda takes the sport out of hunting. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Apr 20, 2011 from Discovery News: As Gold Prices Go Up, Forests Are Coming Down A worldwide growth in the price of gold has accelerated the pace of deforestation in some of the most pristine parts of the Peruvian Amazon, where miners are cutting down trees in order to extract the valuable natural resource. From 2003 to 2009, found a new study, the rate of deforestation in two gold-mining areas increased six-fold alongside record-setting leaps in the international price of gold. During one two-year period, as gold prices climbed steadily, forests disappeared at a rate of 4.5 American football fields a day from one of the two sites. Alongside the accelerating paces of both mining and deforestation, the study found, there has also been an exponential rise in the use of mercury, which helps miners extract gold from the Earth. ... Someday soon we'll realize these trees were worth their weight in gold. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Apr 19, 2011 from PNAS, vai ScienceDaily: Methylmercury on the Rise in Endangered Pacific Seabirds Using 120 years of feathers from natural history museums in the United States, Harvard University researchers have been able to track increases in the neurotoxin methylmercury in the black-footed albatross (Phoebastria nigripes), an endangered seabird that forages extensively throughout the Pacific. The study shows that the observed increase in methylmercury levels, most likely from human-generated emissions, can be observed and tracked over broad time periods in organisms that live in the Pacific Ocean.... "Given both the high levels of methylmercury that we measured in our most recent samples and regional levels of emissions, mercury bioaccumulation and toxicity may undermine reproductive effort in this species and other long-lived, endangered seabirds." They found increasing levels of methylmercury that were generally consistent with historical global and recent regional increases in anthropogenic mercury emissions. ... That's the Kool kind of mercury. I'm just Salem'. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 7, 2011 from Chemical & Engineering News: Trade Secret Anxiety The chemical industry is on edge over the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to make public some of the information companies claim as proprietary in submissions on commercial chemicals to EPA. That nervousness was a significant theme running through the industry's annual global chemical regulation conference, which was held last month in Baltimore. Companies are anxious about the agency revealing to the public the identity of proprietary chemicals, components of secret formulations, or the name of the business that makes them. This confidential business information is included in submissions required by the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). ... Can't the chemical industry just create a chemical that makes us stop caring? OH... they already did! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 31, 2011 from American Chemical Society, via EurekAlert: US troops exposed to polluted air in Iraq, researchers report Military personnel and contractors stationed in Iraq risk not only enemy gunfire, suicide bombers, and roadside bombs, but the very air they breathe often is polluted with dust and other particles of a size and composition that could pose immediate and long-term health threats, scientists reported today at the 241st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.... "Our preliminary results show that the fine particulate matter concentrations frequently exceed military exposure guidelines and those individual constituents, such as lead, exceed U.S. ambient air quality standards designed to protect human health," said Jennifer M. Bell, a member of the research team. In some instances, military personnel breathe in fine particulates at levels almost 10 times higher than the desirable levels in U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards.... "We are especially concerned about fine airborne particles that originate from motor vehicles, factories, open burning of trash in pits, and other sources," Bell said. Iraq does not enforce air pollution controls, and domestic motor vehicles burn the leaded gasoline was phased out in the United States in the mid-1990s. Those particulates contain potentially toxic heavy metals like lead, arsenic, mercury, and cadmium, she noted. ... I love the smell of heavy metals in the morning. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 24, 2011 from The Spokesman-Review: Flooding spiked lead levels in Lake Coeur d'Alene An estimated 352,000 pounds of lead washed into Lake Coeur d'Alene on Jan. 18 after flooding related to a rain-on-snow event. That's the weight equivalent of 70 Dodge Ram 1500 pickups - and the highest volume of lead recorded in a 24-hour period since major flooding in February 1996. Greg Clark, a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist, attributed high lead concentrations to a rapid rise in the Coeur d'Alene River caused by pounding rains and melting snow. ... Could you please translate that into how many Mini Coopers? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 24, 2011 from Forbes: Salazar opens 750M tons of Wyo. coal to mining nterior Secretary Ken Salazar announced plans Tuesday to auction off vast coal reserves in Wyoming over the next five months, unleashing a significant but controversial power source amid uncertainty about clean and safe energy development. ... Salazar = Salaczar ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 15, 2011 from Science News: Better by Design ...Many of today's chemicals -- in packaging, cleaning products, furniture and elsewhere -- go where they should not go and do more than they were designed to do. Bisphenol A, a common ingredient in polycarbonate plastics, has made headlines for getting into the body and interfering with tissue development and function (SN: 7/18/09, p. 5). Flame retardants new and old persist in the environment, contaminating soil, waterways and wildlife (SN: 4/24/10, p. 12). And a new analysis, reported online January 14 in Environmental Health Perspectives, finds that the blood and urine of 99 percent of pregnant American women tested contain a laundry list of chemical interlopers, including various PCBs, pesticides, PFCs, PBDEs, phthalates and the rocket-fuel ingredient perchlorate. Unless there is a fundamental shift in the way that chemicals are created from the outset, the next generation of compounds will probably be just as meddlesome... Currently more than 30 million metric tons of chemicals are produced in or imported to the United States each day, a quantity that would fill a line of tanker trucks 10,000 miles long. And industrial chemical production is expected to double in the next quarter century, outpacing population growth. ... This is why my wife and I are gonna buy an android child! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Mar 12, 2011 from National Geographic News: Is That a Banana in Your Water? Banana peels are no longer just for composting or comedy shows: New science shows they can pull heavy metal contamination from river water. Metals such as lead and copper are introduced to waterways from a variety of sources, including agricultural runoff and industrial wastes. Once there, heavy metals can contaminate soils and pose health risks to humans and other species. Lead is known to affect the brain and nervous system... ... Just so the fish don't slip on 'em. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 17, 2011 from FreeSpeechAtRisk, via BoingBoing: Using lawsuits to squelch free speech about environmental destruction In spring of 2008, multinationals Barrick Gold and Banro Corporation filed lawsuits against authors Alain Deneault, Delphine Abadie, and William Sacher, as well as against their Montreal-based publishing house Ecosociete over the book Noir Canada. Pillage, corruption et criminalit� en Afrique (Black Canada. Pillage, corruption and criminality in Africa). The multinationals allege that the book contains false statements about their activities that amount to libel. Despite the well-sourced nature of the material, including reports from the UN, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International, they have accused those involved of publishing defamatory statements and are pursuing them for a combined sum of $11 million ($5 million to Banro in an Ontario-based suit, and $6 million to Barrick, filed in Montreal). Our Academic Petition contains further details on the case, as well as the signatures of academic professors from around the world who are pledging their support for the authors and publishing house. Then in February of 2010 Barrick Gold issued a threat of legal action against Vancouver-based publishing house Talonbooks, author Alain Deneault, and the book's translators over their notice of intent to publish a book entitled Imperial Canada Inc. Legal Haven of Choice for the World's Mining Industries. With access to nothing beyond a short description of the material available on the Talonbooks website-with no mention of Barrick-the multinational has threatened further legal action if the book is published and has demanded access to the material prior to its publication. ... You think you can get away with the truth? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 17, 2011 from Harvard, via FastCompany: Coal Costs the U.S. $500 Billion Annually in Health, Economic, Environmental Impacts A report from Harvard researchers in this month's Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences will reveal that coal use costs the U.S. between a third and over half a trillion dollars each year in health, economic, and environmental impacts.... The report, written by Dr. Paul Epstein, associate director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, examines the life cycle of coal production to find "hidden costs," or costs that occur "when the activity of one agent affects the well-being of another agent outside of any type of market mechanism." These costs include damages from climate change (like weather events and rising seas, public health damages from toxins released during electricity generation, deaths from rail accidents during coal transport, public health problems in coal-mining regions (in Appalachia, mountaintop removal contaminates surface and groundwater with carcinogens and heavy metals), government subsidies, and lost value of abandoned mine areas. In Appalachian communities alone, public health burdens from coal mining cost $74.6 billion each year. Air pollutant emissions cost $187.5 billion, mercury emission impacts reach $29.3 billion, and greenhouse gas emissions (and accompanying climate change effects) from coal-fired plants costs between between $61.7 and $205.8 billion. And then there are the smaller costs--between $2.2 and $10 billion in impacts from land disturbances, and impacts from toxic spills, declines in property values, tourism loss, and crop damage. ... Well, sure, but think of the jobs! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Feb 16, 2011 from PhysOrg: China rice laced with heavy metals: report Up to 10 percent of rice grown in China is contaminated with harmful heavy metals but little has been done to highlight the possible public health risks, a report said. This week's edition of the New Century magazine cited studies showing that large amounts of Chinese rice have been tainted with heavy metals like cadmium due to years of pollution stemming from the nation's rapid economic growth. "During China's fast-paced industrialisation, activities such as mining have sprung up everywhere, releasing into the environment chemical elements like cadmium, arsenic, mercury and other harmful heavy metals," the report said. "These harmful heavy metals have spread through the air and water, polluting a rather large area of China's land... a complete chain of food contamination has existed for years."... Most at risk from high cadmium levels were subsistence farmers in polluted areas who mainly live on the rice they grow, Pan said. ... Could that be why they're all moving to the cities? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jan 21, 2011 from Chicago Tribune: Seeking permission to pollute A monitor at George Washington High School on the Southeast Side shows that air in the neighborhood has the distinction of containing the state's highest levels of toxic heavy metals, chromium and cadmium, as well as sulfates, which can trigger asthma attacks and increase the risk of heart disease. The school sits across from a long-shuttered industrial site where Leucadia National Corp. plans to build a $3 billion coal-to-gas plant that would add even more pollution to one of the nation's most polluted areas. Two hurdles remain for the plant to become reality. Gov. Pat Quinn only needs to sign a bill that muscled its way through the General Assembly during the recent lame-duck session. And the state Pollution Control Board must decide whether the owners of the industrial site can sell their permission to pollute to New York-based Leucadia. ... You certainly have my permission to let rich people get richer while ruining the environment. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jan 20, 2011 from GOOD: Undercover Fish Testing Reveals Mercury at Three Times Federal Limits California sushi eaters, watch out: San Francisco-based public awareness campaign Got Mercury? released the results from its most recent undercover fish testing operation earlier today. The data are pretty scary, and they're making news. But it's a little unclear whether the alarm is totally warranted, and--more importantly--what we should be doing about it. The campaign explains that they "randomly selected 41 grocery stores in California to purchase fresh and frozen samples of swordfish, ahi tuna or yellowfin tuna, and salmon," which they then submitted to laboratory analysis. Their findings include the startling fact that more than a third of the grocery store fish studied had levels of methylmercury in excess of the the FDA do-not-sell limit of 1 part per million, with swordfish being by far the worst offender. In fact, only 6 of the 32 swordfish samples analyzed came in below 1 part per million, and one fish, purchased at a Ralph's in Los Angeles, had 3 parts per million.... "The FDA's benchmark [...] was calculated with a significant buffer zone. That is, mercury levels are not harmful until they reach 10 parts per million--10 times the 1 part per million guideline." ... ... Bioaccumulation seems to be on the rise, and sticking around. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Dec 31, 2010 from Earth Institute: 'Erin Brockovich' Hexavalent Chromium Found in Tap Water of 31 U.S. Cities The carcinogenic chemical chromium-6 (or hexavalent chromium) has been found in the drinking water of 31 of 35 U.S. cities analyzed by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) which released results of its tests on December 20. Chromium-6 is the chemical made infamous in the movie "Erin Brockovich," about the residents of Hinkley, California, who won $333 million in damages in 1996 from Pacific Gas and Electric for polluting their drinking water with chromium-6. Chromium-6 is highly toxic and has been found to cause allergic dermatitis, and stomach and gastrointestinal cancer in animals and humans. Used in the manufacture of stainless steel, textiles, anticorrosion coatings, and in leather tanning, it gets into drinking water through industrial pollution. It is also present naturally in some minerals.... In its tests, EWG found that 25 of the cities tested had levels of chromium-6 higher than California's proposed limit. Norman, OK's level at 12.9 ppb was 200 times the California limit; Honolulu, HA's chromium-6 measured 2.00 ppb; Riverside, CA's was 1.69 ppb; Madison, WI's was 1.58 ppb; and San Jose, CA had 1.34 ppb. The utilities that service the 31 cities whose tap water contained chromium-6 provide water to over 26 million people. ... All that chromium makes my insides so bright and shiny! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Dec 22, 2010 from AolNews: Risky Business: EPA Builds List of Potentially Dangerous Chemicals As the rates of learning disabilities, autism and related conditions rise, the Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to release a roster of the pollutants likely to contribute to these or other neurological disorders. In an ongoing, three-year effort, an EPA team has determined which developmental neurotoxicants -- chemicals that damage a fetal and infant brain -- may pose the biggest risk to the American public. Some compounds on the EPA's list are ubiquitous in household products, drinking water, medicine, and within the environment. They range from cadmium, used to etch colorful cartoons onto children's glasses, to flame retardants used to fireproof upholstered furniture. ... I'd rather not know! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Dec 8, 2010 from Consumers Union, through Mother Jones: Mercury Tuna: Are the FDA's Recommendations Too High? From the department of #butilovetunamelts comes this depressing news: The Consumers Union recently analyzed 42 samples of packaged tuna, and found that about half a can of white (albacore) tuna (which tends to have more mercury than light tuna) contains more mercury than the EPA's recommended daily limit for women of childbearing age. A few other nuggets from the study: * Every sample contained measurable levels of mercury, ranging from 0.018 to 0.774 parts per million. The FDA can take legal action to pull products containing 1 ppm or more from the market. (It never has, according to an FDA spokesman.) * Samples of light tuna had 0.018 to 0.176 ppm and averaged 0.071 ppm. At that average, a woman of childbearing age eating 2.5 ounces would get less than the EPA's limit, but for about half the tested samples, eating 5 ounces (about one can) would exceed the limit. ... I think I'm sticking with the dolphin steak. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Dec 3, 2010 from New Scientist: Toxic heavy metals reach top of the world Dangerous levels of arsenic and cadmium have been found in snow samples from mount Everest. Both heavy metals were found at levels higher than those the US Environmental Protection Agency considers acceptable, says Samantha Langley-Turnbaugh of the University of Southern Maine in Gorham.... Mountaineers rely on melted snow for drinking water, so the toxic metals "could be a concern", says Langley-Turnbaugh. It is not clear how much of the pollution makes its way into rivers further down the mountain, where it might enter the local drinking water.... Air pollution from Asian industry is probably to blame. Concentrations of both arsenic and cadmium were higher in the soil further up the mountain, as would be expected if high-altitude winds were depositing them. ... Would "Into Heavy Air" have made the bestseller list? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Dec 1, 2010 from BBC: Mercury 'turns' wetland birds such as ibises homosexual Mercury affects the behaviour of white ibises by "turning them homosexual", with higher doses resulting in males being more likely to pair with males. Scientists in Florida and Sri Lanka studied the effect of mercury in the birds' diet. Their aim was to find out why it reduced the ibises' breeding. Mercury pollution can come from burning coal and waste, and run-off from mines. The report, in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, shows that wetland birds are particularly badly affected by it. Although the researchers already knew that eating mercury-contaminated food could affect an animal's development, they were surprised by the "strange" results of this experiment. "We knew mercury could depress their testosterone (male sex hormone) levels," explained Dr Peter Frederick from the University of Florida, who led the study. "But we didn't expect this." The team fed white ibises on food pellets that contained concentrations of mercury equivalent to those measured in the shrimp and crayfish that make up the birds' wetland diet. The higher the dose of mercury in their food pellets, the more likely a male bird was to pair with another male. Dr Frederick and his colleagues say the study shows that mercury could dramatically reduce the breeding rates of birds and possibly of other wildlife. ... Society, I'm afraid, is still working under the "don't ask, don't tell" regime. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 22, 2010 from Associated Press: AP IMPACT: Cadmium, lead found in drinking glasses Drinking glasses depicting comic book and movie characters such as Superman, Wonder Woman and the Tin Man from "The Wizard of Oz" exceed federal limits for lead in children's products by up to 1,000 times, according to laboratory testing commissioned by The Associated Press. The decorative enamel on the superhero and Oz sets -- made in China and purchased at a Warner Brothers Studios store in Burbank -- contained between 16 percent and 30.2 percent lead. The federal limit on children's products is 0.03 percent. The same glasses also contained relatively high levels of the even-more-dangerous cadmium, though there are no federal limits on that toxic metal in design surfaces. ... Everybody knows lead protects you from Kryptonite. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Nov 18, 2010 from Environmental Health News: Wind whisks lead across the Pacific Ocean to California A new study finds lead from Asia in California air samples, providing evidence that wind can transport airborne pollutants across continents and oceans. This new research is further proof that air pollution is a global issue and needs international cooperation to reduce environmental and health impacts. Approximately one-third of the lead found in the air samples taken from sites in the San Francisco Bay area originated in Asia, but the fraction varied by season and weather patterns. It is likely that other contaminants originating in Asia may reach the U.S. in the same way. ... Beware ... the whisking wind. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Nov 14, 2010 from The Tampa Tribune: Investigation shows elevated levels of lead in grocery bags Publix officials will revamp their lineup of re-usable grocery bags sold in their stores after a Tampa Tribune investigation found elevated levels of lead in material of some bags. Tribune tests showed certain bags from Winn-Dixie and Publix stores had levels of lead that concerned health officials. And some bags had enough lead that they could be considered hazardous waste if residents put them in their household trash. This follows a similar issue that led the Northern grocer Wegmans to voluntarily exchange thousands of their bags. Publix officials stress that their bags comply with current federal laws regarding lead content. But given the Tribune findings, and lower thresholds due next year, Publix is asking bag suppliers to find ways to make bags with less lead...over time lab experts note the bags wear down and paint can flake off, and eventually re-usable bags would accumulate in landfills, presenting another ecological issue.. ... Worst of all the lead makes the bags a lot heavier! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 1, 2010 from Cape Cod Times: Report links mercury on Cape Cod to global pollution Unlike many other states, Massachusetts significantly reduced mercury emissions coming from electric power plants and incinerators in recent years. According to a study by the Environmental Integrity Project, mercury emissions in the state dropped from 292 pounds in 2000 to 97 pounds in 2008. Now, Massachusetts is about to embark on a second phase to bring mercury emissions down by 95 percent from 1999 levels by 2012, but it could have little impact on the Cape and Islands. A combination of low-mercury coal, technological improvements that remove mercury from the smokestack and use of other fuels, has had an immediate effect lowering mercury levels in fish in the northeast portion of the state, said Michael Hutcheson, head of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection long-term mercury monitoring program. But there is evidence that the mercury affecting ponds here on the Cape could come from as far away as China, said John Colman, a water quality scientist with the United States Geological Survey in Northboro. ... It's a small world after all! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Oct 31, 2010 from The Missoulian: Milltown sediment spread near Opportunity won't grow grass OPPORTUNITY - Milltown Reservoir's exiled dirt won't behave in its new home. The 2.5 million cubic yards of fine-grained sediment dredged from the former reservoir east of Missoula has been spread 2 feet thick over more than 600 acres of wasteland between Anaconda and its satellite community of Opportunity. But it won't grow grass. "This would have been the first year we wanted to see vegetation everywhere," said Charlie Coleman, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Anaconda site project manager. "But the vegetation never took off." ... How will we geo-engineer our way out of global warming if we can't even grow grass in dirt? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Oct 28, 2010 from Huffington Post: Greenhouse Gases Database: Companies Fight To Keep Global Warming Data Secret Some of the country's largest emitters of heat-trapping gases, including businesses that publicly support efforts to curb global warming, don't want the public knowing exactly how much they pollute. Oil producers and refiners, along with manufacturers of steel, aluminum and even home appliances, are fighting a proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency that would make the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that companies release - and the underlying data businesses use to calculate the amounts - available online. While gross estimates exist for such emissions from transportation and electricity production and manufacturing as a whole, the EPA is requiring companies for the first time to submit information for each individual facility. The companies say that disclosing details beyond a facility's total emissions to the public would reveal company secrets by letting competitors know what happens inside their factories. More importantly, they argue, when it comes to understanding global warming, the public doesn't need to know anything more than what goes into the air. "There is no need for the public to have information beyond what is entering the atmosphere," Steven H. Bernhardt, global director for regulatory affairs for Honeywell International Inc., said in comments filed with the agency earlier this year. The Morristown, N.J.-based company is a leading manufacturer of hydrofluorocarbons, a potent greenhouse gas used in a variety of consumer products. Honeywell wants the EPA to reconsider its proposal, which the company said would damage its business.... Aluminum smelters want 11 of the 15 data fields the EPA intends to make public kept confidential, according to comments filed by the Aluminum Association. Koch Nitrogen Co. LLC, a fertilizer producer, questions the EPA's desire to make unit-specific or facility-specific emissions available, calling it "misguided" since a change in pollution from a single factory is unlikely to influence policy on a global problem. ... Good thing these corporations are now free to buy any election anonymously! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Oct 27, 2010 from CNN: Everyday chemicals may be harming kids, panel told Of the 84,000 chemicals on the market today -- many of which are in objects that people come into contact with every day -- only about 1 percent of them have been studied for safety, Sen. Frank Lautenberg said Tuesday. Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, told a hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health that such little oversight means that children in the United States are virtual "guinea pigs in an uncontrolled experiment."... Lautenberg has introduced legislation that would require chemical manufacturers to prove the safety of their products before they're released into the market. He said the current law -- the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 -- is too lax, resulting in the banning of five chemicals in the past 34 years. ... I'm gonna name my next kid, Petri. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Oct 27, 2010 from ScienceDaily: Uranium in Groundwater? 'Fracking' Mobilizes Uranium in Marcellus Shale Scientific and political disputes over drilling Marcellus shale for natural gas have focused primarily on the environmental effects of pumping millions of gallons of water and chemicals deep underground to blast through rocks to release the natural gas. But University at Buffalo researchers have now found that that process -- called hydraulic fracturing or "fracking"-- also causes uranium that is naturally trapped inside Marcellus shale to be released, raising additional environmental concerns.... "Marcellus shale naturally traps metals such as uranium and at levels higher than usually found naturally, but lower than manmade contamination levels," says Tracy Bank, PhD, assistant professor of geology in UB's College of Arts and Sciences and lead researcher. "My question was, if they start drilling and pumping millions of gallons of water into these underground rocks, will that force the uranium into the soluble phase and mobilize it? Will uranium then show up in groundwater?" ... Oh, Cassandra, will you fracking shut up? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 26, 2010 from BBC: Heavy smokers 'at increased risk of dementia' Heavy smokers with a 40-a-day habit face a much higher risk of two common forms of dementia, a large study shows. The risk of Alzheimer's is more than doubled in people smoking at least two packs of cigarettes a day in their mid-life. The risk of vascular dementia, linked to problems in blood vessels supplying the brain, also rose significantly. The US study, looking at over 21,000 people's records, is published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. ... You have to be pretty demented to smoke that much anyway. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Oct 22, 2010 from Scientific American: Sequencing the "Exposome": Researchers Take a Cue from Genomics to Decipher Environmental Exposure's Links to Disease Anxious about BPA? Petrified of pesticides? Plenty of scientific literature shows that concerns about certain chemicals' potential to up the risk for chronic disease are justified. And although genetics can predispose a person to many ills, more than half of disease risk -- and possibly as much as 90 percent -- likely stem from environmental factors, according to recent epidemiological research. Hard data -- of the quality now gleaned from genetic studies -- however, has been lacking in the environmental field. And if there is to be any hope of untangling the complex web of risks behind chronic diseases, many scientists argue, researchers need to develop an "exposome," a highly detailed map of environmental exposures that might occur throughout a lifetime, which can be mapped onto the etiology (the study of causes) of major illnesses, including cancer, diabetes and heart disease. ... But I don't want to know! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 12, 2010 from Associated Press: A toxic legacy: Eastern Europe dotted with disasters in waiting Abandoned mines in Romania leach waters contaminated by heavy metals into rivers. A Hungarian chemical plant produces more than 100,000 tons of toxic substances a year. Soil in eastern Slovakia is contaminated with cancer-producing PCBs. The flood of toxic sludge in Hungary is but one of the ecological horrors that lurk in Eastern Europe 20 years after the collapse of the Iron Curtain, serving as a reminder that the region is dotted with disasters waiting to happen. ... Sounds JUST like my body. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Oct 7, 2010 from Associated Press: Hungary: Toxic red sludge has reached the Danube The toxic red sludge that burst out of a Hungarian factory's reservoir reached the mighty Danube on Thursday after wreaking havoc on smaller rivers and creeks, and downstream nations rushed to test their waters. The European Union and environmental officials fear an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminates the Danube, Europe's second-longest river. ... I just lost my appetite. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Oct 6, 2010 from AP, via HuffingtonPost: Hungary Flood Of Toxic Sludge An 'Ecological Disaster' Hungary declared a state of emergency in three counties Tuesday after a flood of toxic red sludge from an alumina plant engulfed several towns and burned people through their clothes. One official called it "an ecological disaster" that may threaten the Danube and other key rivers.... Several hundred tons of plaster were being poured into the Marcal River to bind the toxic sludge and prevent it from flowing on, the National Disaster Management Directorate said. So far, about 35.3 million cubic feet (1 million cubic meters) of sludge has leaked from the reservoir, affecting an estimated 15.4 square miles (40 square kilometers), Environmental Affairs State Secretary Zoltan Illes told the state news wire MTI.... The sludge, a waste product in aluminum production, contains heavy metals and is toxic if ingested. Many of the injured sustained burns as the sludge seeped through their clothes, and two faced life-threatening conditions.... The company also denied that it should have taken more precautions to shore up the reservoir. "According to the current evaluation, company management could not have noticed the signs of the natural catastrophe nor done anything to prevent it even while carefully respecting technological procedures," MAL said in a statement. ... 35 million cubic feet of toxic sludge: natural variation. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Sep 2, 2010 from Mother Jones: 12 Most Toxic Fish (For Humans and the Planet) 1. King crab: Even though crab is abundant in some parts of the US, imports from Russia -- which aren't well regulated -- are much cheaper and more common. 2. Caviar, especially from beluga and other wild-caught sturgeon: Overfishing and poaching of this coveted species is very common. 3. Atlantic bluefin tuna: Extreme overfishing, plus concerns about mercury and PCB contamination. 4. Orange roughy: May contain mercury and "is particularly vulnerable to overfishing due to its long lifespan and slow maturation." 5. Atlantic flatfish (e.g. flounder, sole and halibut): Seriously overfished. 6. American eel: Concerns about mercury and PCBs. 7. Atlantic Cod: Overfished, and also has major bycatch problems. 8. Imported catfish: Much of it comes from Southeast Asia, "where use of chemicals and antibiotics is barely regulated." 9. Chilean seabass: Concerns about mercury, plus illegal fishing in Chile damages marine life and seabirds. 10. Shark: May contain mercury, also overfished. 11. Atlantic and farmed salmon: Concerns about contamination with PCB, pesticides, and antibiotics. Also, waste and germs from salmon farms often leaches out of the cages and can harm the surrounding marine life. 12. Imported shrimp: About 90 percent of it comes from countries where the seafood industry (waste control, chemical use, and labor) isn't well regulated. ... What about FishStix�? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Aug 30, 2010 from Globe and Mail: Elevated levels of toxins found in Oil Sands' Athabasca River A study set to be published on Monday has found elevated levels of mercury, lead and eleven other toxic elements in the oil sands' main fresh water source, the Athabasca River, refuting long-standing government and industry claims that water quality there hasn't been affected by oil sands development. The author of the study, University of Alberta biological scientist David Schindler, criticized the province and industry for an "absurd" system that obfuscates or fails to discover essential data about the river. "I think they [the findings] are significant enough that they should trigger some interest in a better monitoring program than we have," he said.... The study, to be published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found the oil industry "releases" all 13 of the United States' Environmental Protection Agency's so-called priority pollutants, including mercury and lead, into the Athabasca at concentrations that are higher near industry during the summer. In winter, before a melt, only levels of mercury, nickel and thallium were elevated near industry Overall levels of seven elements - mercury, lead, cadmium, copper, nickel, silver and zinc - exceed those recommended by Alberta or Canada for the protection of aquatic life, it said, concluding the "oil sands industry substantially increases loadings" of toxins into the river. ... Good thing that water goes away somewhere! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Aug 15, 2010 from Miami Herald: Tiny toxic town takes on a corporate Goliath A Florida hamlet where parts for nuclear weapons were made is fighting both an environmental calamity and a major defense contractor... Environmental contamination threatens to destroy this historic black town and its heritage. In one of the nation's most emotional environmental divides, the residents find themselves pitted against giant defense contractor Lockheed Martin, Manatee County, and the state of Florida. The divide takes root at the former American Beryllium Company plant, anchoring five acres at 1600 Tallevast Road across from a community church. Opened in 1961 and shuttered in 1996, the plant manufactured machine parts for nuclear weapons using beryllium-containing metals. Workers inhaled hazardous dust and handled a toxic degreaser that cleaned machine parts. ... They better have some bad-ass slingshots. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Aug 11, 2010 from New York Times: Russian Fires Raise Fears of Radioactivity As if things in Russia were not looking sufficiently apocalyptic already, with 100-degree temperatures and noxious fumes rolling in from burning peat bogs and forests, there is growing alarm here that fires in regions coated with fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster 24 years ago could now be emitting plumes of radioactive smoke. Several fires have been documented in the contaminated areas of western Russia, including three heavily irradiated sites in the Bryansk region, the environmental group Greenpeace Russia said in a statement released Tuesday. Bryansk borders Belarus and Ukraine. ... Where there's radioactive smoke there's radioactive fire! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 10, 2010 from McClatchy Newspapers: EPA requires cleanup of mercury from cement plants The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday announced the nation's first limits on mercury emissions from cement plants. The decision also will require reductions of other harmful pollutants from cement plants, including soot, also known as particle pollution, which is linked to asthma, heart attacks and premature deaths for people with heart and lung diseases. The rules are part of a broader EPA air-cleanup plan. Next year the agency will put the first nationwide controls on mercury and other hazardous air pollutants from a much larger source, coal-fired power plants. The federal government presently doesn't require power plants to control mercury and other toxics. Coal-fired power plants are the source of 51 percent of the manmade mercury emissions in the U.S, followed by industrial and other boilers, at 15 percent. Cement kilns are third, with 7 percent, according to the EPA. ... If they ain't careful, the EPA might find themselves wearing some cement shoes. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 27, 2010 from Detroit News: Report: Children's exposure to toxic chemicals costs Michigan billions Michigan could save billions annually by protecting children from exposure to environmental hazards, according to a study released today. The report released by an Ann Arbor-based coalition of health and environmental groups examined direct and indirect costs of four childhood diseases linked to environmental toxicants: lead poisoning, asthma, pediatric cancer and neurodevelopmental disorders. The study found treating those disorders costs Michigan an average of $5.85 billion each year. If all diseases with an environmental link were included, the number would be higher. ... Well... I guess to save money ... we can help out the little brats. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 27, 2010 from Reuters: Toxic fish could help Obama hit 2020 climate goal A proposed rule on mercury, a pollutant bad for fish and the people who eat too many of them, could help the Obama administration get near its short-term climate goal -- even if Congress fails this year or next to pass a bill tackling greenhouse gases directly... The EPA has begun to take steps on regulating greenhouse gases from autos, power plants and factories. But it is the agency's looming rules on mainstream pollutants, those that can cause diseases, that may limit carbon dioxide emissions the most. ... This is sure something to cheer about! Isn't it? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jul 23, 2010 from Christian Science Monitor: As Iraq war winds down, US military cleans up hazardous waste American commanders in Iraq are working to demonstrate that they are clearing the country of tens of millions of pounds of US-made hazardous waste, rebutting claims that they are leaving behind a toxic legacy as US troops withdraw. Hundreds of barrels of all types and all colors -- filled with everything from discarded lithium batteries and oil filters to powerful chemicals like hydrochloric acid -- are stacked in a dusty purpose-built compound on a US base at Tikrit, north of Baghdad. This and a sister facility on another base have so far processed 32 million pounds of "regulated" waste -- more than half of that soil contaminated with petroleum products. The material has been decontaminated, crushed or shredded, and then sold as scrap in Iraq, or recycled and shipped abroad. ... War may be hell, but at least parts of it are recyclable! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jul 17, 2010 from China Daily: Contaminated waters that kill Fishermen, residents reel from toxic waste that leaked into river. Wei Tian, Hu Meidong and Zhu Xingxin in Fujian, and He Na in Beijing report. Qiu Yonglu knew something was wrong when his fish refused to eat and kept circling their pool. Ten days later, they began dying. On July 12, almost a month later, he finally discovered what had poisoned his fishery when environmental authorities in Fujian province confirmed that toxic waste from Zijinshan Copper Mine had leaked into the Tingjiang River. By that time, Qiu and his neighboring farmers in Shanghang county lost at least 1,890 tons of fish. ... Bet heads will roll on this one. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jul 14, 2010 from Associated Press: Another cadmium jewelry recall _ 137K Tween pieces About 137,000 pieces of imported children's jewelry sold at two stores popular with preteen girls -- Justice and Limited Too -- were recalled Tuesday for high levels of cadmium, the latest in a series of recalls involving the toxic metal. The voluntary recall, announced by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, was the sixth callback since The Associated Press first released findings of an investigation into cadmium in children's jewelry. The recalls, which started in January with children's jewelry sold at Walmart stores, have included about 12 million "Shrek" movie-themed drinking glasses distributed by McDonald's restaurants. The other recalls targeted at least 200,000 pieces of jewelry, mostly for children. ... Yet another ding for the bling. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jun 29, 2010 from Mount Sinai Hospital, via EurekAlert: Lead poisoning among children living near Ugandan landfill 20X higher than US children Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that children living near the Kiteezi landfill in Kampala, Uganda, have blood lead levels nearly 20 times as high as the typical lead level found in U.S. children.... Led by Leonardo Trasande, MD, Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine and Pediatrics and Co-Director of the Children's Environmental Health Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, researchers evaluated 163 children ages four to eight from nine schools located near the Kiteezi landfill, a site known to contain high levels of lead and other heavy metals. They found that 20.5 percent of the children had elevated blood lead levels (EBLL) greater than 10 micrograms, the level believed to cause developmental and intellectual impairment. "Exposure to such high levels of lead can seriously hinder brain development," said Dr. Trasande. "While the developing world has made great strides in reducing exposure by phasing out lead in gasoline and paint, our study shows that it is still pervasive in the environment."... "The results of our study are disturbing to say the least, and emphasize the importance of effective waste management strategies to curb the prevalence of lead in this population," said Dr. Trasande. "We hope to study this issue further, especially as it relates to the contamination of the water supply." ... Pb Pb Pb Pb Pb Pb Pb Pb Pb Pb Pb Pb Pb Pb Pb Pb Pb Pb Pb Pb ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 28, 2010 from AP: Report: Toxins found in whales bode ill for humans Sperm whales feeding even in the most remote reaches of Earth's oceans have built up stunningly high levels of toxic and heavy metals, according to American scientists who say the findings spell danger not only for marine life but for the millions of humans who depend on seafood. A report released Thursday noted high levels of cadmium, aluminum, chromium, lead, silver, mercury and titanium in tissue samples taken by dart gun from nearly 1,000 whales over five years. From polar areas to equatorial waters, the whales ingested pollutants that may have been produced by humans thousands of miles away, the researchers said.... The researchers found mercury as high as 16 parts per million in the whales. Fish high in mercury such as shark and swordfish -- the types health experts warn children and pregnant women to avoid -- typically have levels of about 1 part per million.... "The entire ocean life is just loaded with a series of contaminants, most of which have been released by human beings," Payne said in an interview on the sidelines of the International Whaling Commission's annual meeting. ... Who would have expected toxin bioaccumulation to become an evolutionary force? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 28, 2010 from Duke University, via EurekAlert: Why mercury is more dangerous in oceans Even though freshwater concentrations of mercury are far greater than those found in seawater, it's the saltwater fish like tuna, mackerel and shark that end up posing a more serious health threat to humans who eat them. The answer, according to Duke University researchers, is in the seawater itself. ... "The most common ways nature turns methylmercury into a less toxic form is through sunlight," Hsu-Kim said. "When it is attached to dissolved organic matter, like decayed plants or animal matter, sunlight more readily breaks down the methylmercury. However, in seawater, the methlymercury remains tightly bonded to the chloride, where sunlight does not degrade it as easily. In this form, methylmercury can then be ingested by marine animals." ... Mercury enters the environment through many routes, but the primary sources are coal combustion, the refinement of gold and other non-ferrous metals, and volcanic eruptions. The air-borne mercury from these sources eventually lands on lakes or oceans and can remain in the water or sediments. ... When the ocean's warming, y'gotta expect the mercury to rise. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jun 16, 2010 from CanWest News Service: Arctic bird poop loaded with environmental poisons, biologists say High Arctic seabirds carry a "cocktail" of contaminants, confirms new research, which analyzed the excrement of Arctic terns and eiders nesting on a small island north of Resolute Bay. The seabirds' cocktail is not a particularly healthy mix for the birds or the land they nest on, a team of biologists from the Canadian Wildlife Service and Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., determined. That's because, in addition to pesticides, the seabirds are loaded with heavy metals such as cadmium and lead, which they pick up from the foods they eat. ... The sky (crap) is falling! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 7, 2010 from Akron Beacon Journal: EPA and Goodyear on Toxic Dump: Plan is to let nature clean up It has taken 16 years, but the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. are inching closer to finalizing a remedy for a decades-old toxic waste dump in Springfield Township.... A small part of that tract is contaminated with low levels of industrial solvents, cyanide, heavy metals and polychlorinated biphenyls. The EPA is reviewing the latest plan by Goodyear and its consultants to deal with the pollution in the soil and groundwater on a portion of the 94 acres where Summit County later built a sewage treatment plant.... The remedy is called natural attenuation and relies on naturally occurring bacteria to destroy the contamination.... The 7.5-acre dump site was first used in 1943 as a toxic waste dump by Goodyear Aircraft Corp. (later Goodyear Aerospace). Goodyear disposed of waste solvents, heavy metals, plating and polishing wastes, and cyanides at the site until 1966. The EPA is unsure how much or exactly what was dumped at the site. ... "Natural attenuation" of heavy metals and PCBs. The solution to pollution is dilution! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jun 4, 2010 from Associated Press: McDonald's pulls cadmium-tainted 'Shrek' glasses Cadmium has been discovered in the painted design on "Shrek"-themed drinking glasses being sold nationwide at McDonald's, forcing the burger giant to recall 12 million of the cheap U.S.-made collectibles while dramatically expanding contamination concerns about the toxic metal beyond imported children's jewelry. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which announced the voluntary recall early Friday, warned consumers to immediately stop using the glasses; McDonald's said it would post instructions on its website next week regarding refunds.... The CPSC noted in its recall notice that "long-term exposure to cadmium can cause adverse health effects." Cadmium is a known carcinogen that research shows also can cause bone softening and severe kidney problems. ... Gee, I hope my Iron Man 2 endocrine-disrupting deodorant is safe. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, May 8, 2010 from New York Times: EPA Backed Off 'Hazardous' Label for Coal Ash After White House Review U.S. EPA's proposed regulation of coal ash as a hazardous waste was changed at the White House to give equal standing to an alternative favored by the coal industry and coal-burning electric utilities. The Obama administration is now considering two competing rules for regulating the ash that contains toxins that include arsenic, lead and mercury. The first would set binding federal disposal requirements for the ash, and the second would label the ash nonhazardous and leave enforcement to the states (E&ENews PM, May 4). EPA released the two-headed proposal Tuesday for public comments.... What changed in the six months that the proposal was in OMB's hands? Says EPA: Its administrator, Lisa Jackson, changed her mind about the hazardous-waste designation. "After extensive discussions, the Administrator decided that both the [hazardous and nonhazardous] options merited consideration for addressing the formidable challenge of safely managing coal ash disposal," EPA said in a statement. ... I had no idea Obama's middle initial was "W." ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Apr 21, 2010 from CBC: Tuna mercury levels vary by species Despite their findings about grocery store tuna, the researchers say their study shows that all species exceed or approach levels permissible by Canada, the EU, Japan, the U.S., and the World Health Organization. Mercury is a naturally occurring element and a serious health hazard. Chronic exposure can damage the brain, spinal cord, kidneys, liver and developing fetus. Exposure in the womb can lead to neuro-developmental problems in children. In general, mercury levels are significantly higher in lean fish because it has an affinity for muscle and not fatty tissue. That means higher levels in bluefin akami (sushi from lean, dark red tuna) and all bigeye tuna than in bluefin toro (sushi from fatty tuna) and yellowfin tuna akami. The researchers caution that there seem to be other factors involved. Although yellowfin tuna is very lean, it tends to have less mercury, likely because the fish are typically smaller than other tuna and are harvested at a younger age. In addition, yellowfin are tropical and don't need to eat as much as warm-blooded bigeye tuna and bluefin tuna to maintain their energy level. That could mean yellowfin tuna don't increase their level of toxins as quickly as other species. ... When did heavy metals in our food become the new normal? ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Apr 17, 2010 from Science: Mercury surprise: Rice can be risky Ask toxicologists how best to avoid mercury poisoning and they'll almost certainly advise against eating too much of the wrong types of fish. (Never mind that there's considerable confusion about what the wrong types are.) But a new study out of China shows that for millions of people at risk of eating toxic amounts of mercury-laced food, fish isn't the problem. Rice is. And that's bad news because in their part of the world rice is the dietary staple... the researchers report that although mercury exposures for these communities varied dramatically, in every one of them -- rice accounted for 94 to 96 percent of the probable daily intake of methylmercury -- the most neurotoxic and readily absorbed form of mercury. ... And here we thought rice was nice. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Apr 14, 2010 from Associated Press: Chicago Lawmakers Propose Tougher Coal-Plant Rules Chicago lawmakers proposed new clean air regulations Tuesday that they say would be among the toughest in the nation and curb emissions from the city's two coal-burning power plants. Advocates say the two large plants, set in heavily populated South Side neighborhoods, long have been among the city's worst polluters, pumping out thousands of tons of soot and millions of tons of gases linked to global warming. The ordinance would require the Fish and Crawford plants to cut particulate emissions by 90 percent from existing levels by installing modern pollution controls. ... Now that's my kind of town! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Apr 12, 2010 from The Times of India: Burnt e-waste raises health alarm for locals The plastic scrap market in Mundka which caught fire early morning on Sunday was a big dumping ground for electronic waste items. Several tonnes of hazardous e-waste -- discarded television sets, computers, photocopying machines and inverter batteries -- were burnt in the fire, posing a serious health concern for people living in the vicinity. "Toxic metals like mercury, lead and cadmium -- which are present in electronic items -- are dangerous for health. Large scale burning of these materials can cause heavy damage to the lungs. It can precipitate respiratory problems like bronchitis and asthma," said Dr Bir Singh, head of the community medicine department of AIIMS. When e-waste burns in open air, said experts, highly toxic elements are emitted and these can cause respiratory problems and skin diseases not just among the workers but also residents who live close to the scrap yard. ... We call that a good ol' fashioned conflagration. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Apr 5, 2010 from Post-Tribune: IDEM shuts down mercury monitors In its latest cost-cutting move, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management has shut down mercury monitors across the state, including at the Indiana Dunes. The cut would save the agency about $285,000 annually. But critics say it would impact the state's ability to assess whether regulation to reduce mercury pollution is working. The Indiana Dunes monitoring station has periodically registered one of the 10 highest mercury concentrations in the nation, said Martin Risch, a hydrologist and project chief with the U.S. Geological Survey in Indianapolis. Kim Ferraro, an attorney with the Legal Environmental Aid Foundation of Indiana, called removal of the mercury monitoring stations "devastating" to the state's ability to track mercury deposition. ... How will I know if I can use a fish as a thermometer or not? ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Apr 3, 2010 from Political Economy Research Institute via Truthout: Meet the Toxic 100 Corporate Air Polluters Researchers at the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst today released the Toxic 100 Air Polluters, an updated list of the top corporate air polluters in the United States.... The Toxic 100 Air Polluters index is based on air releases of hundreds of chemicals from industrial facilities across the United States. The rankings take into account not only the quantity of releases, but also the toxicity of chemicals, transport factors such as prevailing winds and height of smokestacks, and the number of people exposed. The top five air polluters among large corporations are the Bayer Group, ExxonMobil, Sunoco, DuPont, and Arcelor Mittal. ... We're gonna need, like, a whole extra planet to detox from all this poison. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Apr 3, 2010 from Scientific American: Are cadmium-contaminated insects killing endangered carnivorous plants? Around the world carnivorous plants are on the decline, the victims of habitat loss, illegal poaching and pollution. But now a new factor has come to light: The very insects the plants rely on for food may be poisoning them. According to new research by Christopher Moody and Iain Green of Bournemouth University in England, prey insects could be contaminated with toxic metals such as cadmium that, when ingested by meat-eating flora, affect the plants' growth.... Cadmium is widely used in fertilizers, metal coatings, electronics, batteries and other products. Both metals can accumulate in the environment, and thus in insects, through improper waste disposal. ... It's tough, going vegan. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 1, 2010 from NUVO Newsweekly: Waste in our water: The coal ash problem For the past thirty years Jeff Stant has gained a reputation around Indiana as a relentless and tenacious environmental defender. "I grew up in the woods in Zionville, springing animals from traps before trappers got them, I was in love with nature," he says. His current battle is to get coal ash, the by product of burning coal for power, deemed as a hazardous waste by the federal government, "It could be an epic move," says Stant. The push to regulate coal ash comes from those like Stant, who believe it to be harmful. Because coal contains traces of heavy metals, so will the ash that is left behind after coal is burned to produce electricity. Arsenic, lead, copper, mercury, nickel, selenium, zinc and many other metals are commonly left behind in coal ash....The EPA has waffled on the subject for 30 years, meandering through missed deadlines and lawsuits. But the coal ash problem is one that has lingered, refusing to go away. The EPA is now poised to make another ruling on the byproduct of burning coal. ... Environmental Poised Agency ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Mar 24, 2010 from Laura Bassett, via HuffingtonPost: Even The Cows Have Cancer: EPA Weighs Tougher Regulation of Toxic Coal Ash Young has no doubt about what she believes is causing all the cancer: coal. For the past 10 years she's lived in Meigs County, Ohio, home to four coal-fired power plants within an 11-mile radius, and has become an environmental activist. "There isn't a house on this road that hasn't been touched by cancer... I had melanoma and I currently have two more precancerous conditions for breast and thyroid cancer, none of which are in my family," said Young, 47. "My dog died of cancer, my best friend died of cancer and her dog died of lymphoma. I just gave up a dog because I couldn't afford to take him into the vet. He was getting lumps on him."... John Wathen, an environmental investigator and clean water advocate for Perry County, says the toxic ash is being very sloppily handled at its new site. "Literally within 100 feet of people's homes, they're dumping coal ash on the ground, allowing it to blow around," Wathen said.... Wathen said that anyone who claims that coal waste is non-hazardous hasn't had to stand near it. "I'm a healthy man and I literally break down and throw up every time I'm exposed to it," he said. ... But it's only poor people who live near coal ash, right? Do they count as much? ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Mar 14, 2010 from Post-Tribune: Toxicity of pile remains undetermined at site More than a year and a half after ArcelorMittal first applied for a landfill in Burns Harbor, the company has not disclosed the toxics in all the waste to be landfilled. The waste -- also known as Easterly's Pile -- has been dumped in piles up to three stories tall on open ground a couple hundred feet from Lake Michigan and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore for more than a decade. What is certain is that some of the waste destined for the landfill is more toxic than ArcelorMittal first indicated. New test results obtained by the Post-Tribune show the waste is one step short of being considered hazardous because of high contents of lead and cadmium. ... This pile is looking more and more like a pile of crap! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Mar 12, 2010 from Associated Press: Feds recall more children jewelry in cadmium probe Federal safety regulators recalled a line of Christmas-themed bracelets Thursday, expanding their effort to purge children's jewelry boxes and store shelves of items containing high levels of the toxic metal cadmium. The latest action by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission targeted "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" charm bracelets that released alarmingly high levels of cadmium in government lab tests, suggesting children could be exposed to a carcinogen that also can damage kidneys and bones. The chain-link bracelets were sold at dollar-type stores between 2006 and March 2009 and feature characters from the classic holiday movie, including Rudolph... ... Turns out Rudolph shoulda been been left out of the reindeer games, after all. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Mar 6, 2010 from Associated Press: Disposal of spilled coal ash a long, winding trip More than a year after a Tennessee coal ash spill created one of the worst environmental disasters of its kind in U.S. history, the problem is seeping into several other states...After the spill, the TVA started sending as many as 17,000 rail carloads of ash almost 350 miles south to the landfill in Uniontown, Ala. At least 160 rail shipments have gone out from the cleanup site... The landfill operators first sent it to wastewater treatment plants -- a common way that landfills deal with excess liquid -- in two nearby Alabama cities, Marion and Demopolis. After what the EPA calls unrelated problems with ammonia in Marion, the landfill in January started using a commercial wastewater treatment plant in Mobile, Ala., 500 miles from the original spill. ... Spreadin' the love... ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Feb 26, 2010 from Oregon Environmental News: Warning: Fish from Columbia Slough tainted with PCBs, heavy metals A swarm of fish inhabit the body of water from the mouth of Fairview Lake to the Willamette River and many of them are tainted with toxins, said Ken Kauffman, an environmental health specialist. Tests have turned up pesticide residuals, chlordane, mercury and heavy metals in the fish that live in the slough, including carp, black crappie, bluegill, largemouth bass and sunfish. But the biggest threat comes from polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, which are long-lasting chemicals that can harm a baby�s brain or nervous system. Health officials are most concerned about children and infants, along with pregnant women and women who could become pregnant. ... I love that special "chlordane tang" flavor. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 23, 2010 from TIME Magazine: What's in Household Dust? You Don't Want to Know ...The specific dust mix in any household differs according to climate, age of the house and the number of people who live in it — not to mention the occupants' cooking, cleaning and smoking habits. But nearly everywhere, dust consists of some combination of shed bits of human skin, animal fur, decomposing insects, food debris, lint and organic fibers from clothes, bedding and other fabrics, tracked-in soil, soot, particulate matter from smoking and cooking, and, disturbingly, lead, arsenic and even DDT... There's not much to fret about in simple particles of dirt or organic materials such as pollen (although they can trigger allergies), but lead, arsenic and DDT can be a more serious matter. ... Plus, all we ARE is... dust in the wind... ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Feb 17, 2010 from Omaha World-Herald: Coal ash intentionally scattered over frozen Platte A crop duster will drop about 86 tons of ash over about 10 spots along the river on Thursday, Berndt said. The ash comes from the Nebraska Public Power District coal plant near Hallam. The hope is that the dark ash will absorb the sun's energy and help "rot" the ice so it breaks up into smaller chunks and washes downstream, Berndt said. Larger ice chunks can jam together like a dam and send floodwaters washing over levees.... Marlin Petermann, assistant general manager of the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District, said ice on the Platte is averaging about 16.7 inches thick. That's in the range that can pose problems, he said. The cost of the dusting is expected to be less than $100,000 Berndt said. Petermann, who has spent much of his 35-year career watching the river, said it's money well spent. ... Something tells me that they didn't buy the more expensive heavy-metal-free coal ash. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Feb 12, 2010 from Telegraph.co.uk: China considering green tax as extent of pollution is revealed The national survey, which took 570,000 staff two years to complete, also revealed China's intensive farming practices were almost equally to blame for pollution as its many factories and coal-fired power stations. Announcing the results of China's first official nationwide pollution survey China's vice minister of environmental protection, Zhang Lijun, said that ministries were now studying the possibility of environmental taxes on polluters.... Pollution has become a major source of discontent and social unrest in China with almost daily protests about lead and other chemical pollution, fumes from rubbish incinerators and run-off from landfill sites. ... Clearly, there's no Chinese Tea Party. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Feb 7, 2010 from NUVO Newsweekly: The Ohio Valley's toxic kids Robert Owen would rise up from his grave in righteous indignation if he knew what has happened to the kids in his adopted Indiana home of New Harmony. The 19th-century visionary established a utopian settlement there in 1825, to establish “a model community where education and social equality would flourish,” as the University of Southern Indiana’s Historic New Harmony Web page puts it. But the type of education that has blossomed on the banks of the Wabash can’t possibly be what Owen envisioned. At a disturbingly high rate, students categorized as needing special education services are directly downwind of mercury-emitting, major power plants that have gone essentially uncontrolled for decades. ... Now it's more like a pew-topian settlement. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jan 24, 2010 from Agence France-Presse: Indians keep faith with Ganges despite pollution For India's devout Hindus, the sacred River Ganges is always clean and always pure -- even if its waters are a toxic stew of human sewage, discarded garbage and factory waste. The belief that the Ganges washes away sin entices millions of Hindus into the river each year, and huge crowds of pilgrims are currently passing through the town of Haridwar for the three-month Kumbh Mela bathing festival. But concern over pollution along the length of the 2,500 kilometre (1,500 mile) river is growing, and the city of Kanpur -- 800 kilometres downstream of Haridwar -- is the site of one of the worst stretches of all... Worshippers like Ram Sharma, who regularly wades in the water for an early morning bath with only a cloth tied around his waist, are proof that for many Indians faith outweighs science. "How can you call this water dirty?" asked Sharma incredulously. "For us it is holy water," he said as he dipped his cupped hands in the river and took a slurp. ... Just like me in Indiana, breathing its sacred, coal-plant polluted air... every day. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jan 23, 2010 from ABC News: Lead Found in Women's Handbags A landmark agreement involving two big retail chains establishes, for the first time, limits on lead in women's handbags and wallets. The Center for Environmental Health went to 100 of the nation's top retailers -- including Target, Macy's, Wal-Mart and Kohl's -- and bought purses. The group had the bags tested for lead at an independent lab. Two separate tests were conducted. Some bags were wiped to see how much, if any, lead would simply rub off the material. The bags also were tested for the total lead content of the products. The tests came back showing disturbingly high levels of lead, the Center for Environmental Health said. ... So THAT'S why it's so heavy! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jan 17, 2010 from The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio lets power plants, factories ignore federal mercury limits Since 2004, the state has allowed 42 treatment facilities, power plants and factories to ignore federal limits on dumping mercury into lakes, rivers and streams. This year, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is considering more than 30 new requests for variances from companies that argue that the cost of keeping mercury out of the water far exceeds any benefits to wildlife and human health. Some argue that the technology needed to meet the limits set in 1995 does not exist. "There is no treatment technology available to get to these low levels," said Pat Hemlepp, a spokesman for Columbus-based American Electric Power. But critics say governments are doing little, if anything, to make businesses develop cheap, reliable filters to remove mercury. ... Government + business versus you + me. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jan 14, 2010 from BBC (UK): Arctic polar bears imperilled by man-made pollution The long term survival of polar bears is being threatened by man-made pollution that is reaching the Arctic. This conclusion comes from a major review of research into how industrial chemicals such as mercury and organochlorines affect the bears. The review suggests that such chemicals have a range of subclinical effects. When added together, these can have a dramatic and potentially fatal impact on the bears' bones, organs and reproductive and immune systems. The review, an analysis of more than a decade's research into the effect of pollution on bears, is published in the journal Environment International.... These include toxic metals such as mercury, organohalogen contaminants (OHCs) including organochlorines, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and perflourinated compounds (PFCs), which are used industrially in insulating fluids, as coolants, in foams and electronics and as pest control agents. Such chemicals are often fat-soluble and accumulate in the fat of many animals, which are then eaten by top predators such as polar bears. ... The invisible hand has a long, long reach. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jan 8, 2010 from Scientific American: Monkeys Are Canaries in Lead Mine You've heard about the canary in the coal mine. And frogs as signals of environmental degradation. The latest animal to serve as a harbinger of toxic exposures to humans may be: monkeys. That's according to research in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Macaques live in close quarters with people in parts of Nepal. So scientists thought that the monkeys might be "sentinels" for human lead exposure. Lead can have multiple deleterious health effects, from impairing neurological development to kidney, liver, and circulatory and respiratory problems. The research team wanted to avoid stressing the animals, so they took a few strands of hair from individuals living around a temple in Katmandu. It's in a densely populated area that contains old lead batteries, flaking lead-based paint, and lead-contaminated soil, a by-product of leaded gas. Lead levels varied in the macaques, but the highest concentrations were in the young -- like human children, young macaques tend to pick up objects and stick them in their mouths. Scientists say they'll next try to nail down whether macaque lead levels are indeed predictive of lead poisoning in humans. The hope is that monitoring macaque lead can improve conditions for humans and monkeys alike. ... You trying to make a monkey outta me? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Dec 21, 2009 from Environmental Health News: Sharp rise in metals in Mount Everest ice mirrors growth in Central Asia. Ice core samples from Mount Everest that represent 800 years of atmospheric history contain much higher levels of certain metals in the last three decades than in the previous seven centuries. The metals are linked to the rising use of fossil fuels in Asia during that same time period. Economic growth and more burning of fossil fuels by industries and cars in central Asia since the 1970s has resulted in higher levels of metals deposited in recent layers of ice collected from Mount Everest. Data from a recent study that examined the cores from the Himalayan Mountains are the first to show that levels of arsenic, molybdenum, tin and antimony in the ice samples have sharply increased during the last 30 years when compared to the previous 700 years. During those centuries, the metal levels varied but were fairly stable. ... Magnetize those pitons and hooks for added stability! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Dec 9, 2009 from Knoxville News Sentinel: Report: Spill released huge load of heavy metals Last year's Kingston fly ash spill dumped more heavy metals into the Emory River than all the power plants discharged into all the nation's waters the year before, an environmental group said in a report issued Tuesday. The Environmental Integrity Project report states the spill - at 5.4 million cubic yards - released roughly 4 1/2 times more lead and 2 1/2 times more arsenic than the entire power industry released in 2007. The project based its conclusions on data that industry supplied to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In all, the report states the Kingston spill discharged 2.66 million pounds worth of 10 heavy metals that are present in coal ash. In 2007, the power industry discharged 2.04 million pounds nationwide....The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency already has announced it would propose new standards this month for coal ash, possibly classifying it as hazardous waste. ... Or... we could classify it as "sweet soup that spilleth out of its bowl." ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Dec 9, 2009 from University of Michigan, via EurekAlert: Study reveals how Arctic food webs affect mercury in polar bears Mercury is a naturally occurring element, but some 150 tons of it enter the environment each year from human-generated sources such as coal-burning power plants, incinerators and chlorine-producing plants. Deposited onto land or into water, mercury is picked up by microorganisms, which convert some of it to methylmercury, a highly toxic form that builds up in fish and the animals that eat them. As bigger animals eat smaller ones, the methylmercury is concentrated -- a process known as bioaccumulation. Sitting at the top of the food chain, polar bears amass high concentrations of the contaminant.... The study showed that polar bears that get most of their nutrition from phytoplankton-based food webs have greater mercury concentrations than those that participate primarily in ice algae-based webs. While it's tempting to speculate that declining sea ice, due to global warming, may force polar bears to depend more on phytoplankton-based webs, thus increasing their mercury exposure, the study doesn't directly address that issue. ... Why, it's as if everything was interconnected! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Dec 6, 2009 from CBS News: Zhu Zhu Hamsters May Pose Health Risk A consumer group in California says one of the hottest-selling toys this holiday season may not be safe for youngsters, reports CBS Station KPIX correspondent Kiet Do. When it debuted, the Zhu Zhu pet hamster was one of the top 15 hottest toys of the holiday season. But the consumer watchdog group Good Guide, based in the Bay Area, says that if you have one, keep the receipt. In rating the product goodguide.com says it found a chemical called antimony, which is a metal with potential health hazards. ... Only thing worse than antimony is antimoney. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 30, 2009 from McClatchy Newspapers: Effects of using ash remain unknown Millions of pounds of Duke Energy's coal ash, a byproduct of power plants that can contaminate water, lies underground in the Charlotte region as regulators increase their scrutiny of the waste. Nobody knows whether it poses a threat. North Carolina requires no permits, protective liners or checks of groundwater when ash is used to fill gullies or prepare roadbeds and building foundations. Duke deposited 2.7 million tons of ash for those uses between 1992 and 2003... Duke's Belews Creek power plant in Stokes County proves the value of monitoring ash deposits. Duke had to shut down an ash landfill at the plant in 2008 after repeatedly exceeding state groundwater safety standards... Coal ash contains metals that can be toxic in high concentrations, and Duke Energy has recently detected tainted groundwater near its basins. ... I'm gonna make a wild guess and say ... yes, it's a threat. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 23, 2009 from Fort Worth Star-Telegram: State is asking Barnett Shale drillers to voluntarily cut air pollution State environmental regulators want natural gas companies to voluntarily emit less air pollution after tests showed high levels of a cancer-causing chemical near wells in the Barnett Shale gas field....Air samples showed significant levels of benzene in several locations. One sample taken downwind from a tank seven miles west of DISH showed a level of 1,000 parts per billion, which is more than five times the commission's short-term exposure limit of 180 parts per billion. That level is the equivalent of a person sniffing a can of gasoline, and it shows the need for more tests, including long-term sampling, Honeycutt said. A sample at another site found benzene at 500 parts per billion. Long-term exposure to benzene -- a year or more -- can lead to health problems including anemia, immune disorders and leukemia. ... Sounds like a plan! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Nov 20, 2009 from Sydney Morning Herald: Falluja's birth defect battles "It was almost impossible during the '80s," he says. "Now, every day in my clinic or elsewhere in the hospital there are large numbers of congenital abnormalities or cases of chronic tumours." He pauses, his thoughts seemingly interrupted by the gravity of his words, then slowly continues. "Now, believe me, it's like we are treating patients immediately after Hiroshima."... After two years of anecdotal reports suggesting a rise in birth defects, more precise data is painting a picture of a deeply disturbing phenomenon.... The potentially toxic residue of precision munitions that rained on the city for up to two months in 2004 has left many medical professionals questioning the long-term impact of modern weaponry, although few are willing, so far, to directly blame the war. Doctors point to many factors that could contribute to the birth defects: malnutrition, the psychological status of the parents, drug use, chemicals or radiation. Even preliminary treatment for the most common defect requires life-threatening surgery -- a price too high for many parents. ... It's all Saddam's fault. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Nov 13, 2009 from University of Granada, via EurekAlert: Consumption of mercury-laden fish associated with poorer cognitive performance Children who eat fish more than 3 times per week show a worse performance in the general cognitive, executive and perceptual-manipulative areas. Those with higher levels of exposure to mercury show a generalised delay in cognitive, memory and verbal areas. Mercury is a contaminant found especially in oily fish and canned fish and to a lesser extent in white fish.... Researchers warn that although environmental exposure levels found in children are low enough not to cause any obvious concern, they could have an impact on child development in the long-term, only appearing as symptoms many years after first exposure. Consequently, they explain, "whatever the extent of involvement of environmental exposures in the etiology of the disease, the simple fact of acting very early in life opens the door to a transcendental field in public health: the possibility of applying early prevention measures to minimize problems." ... I not stupid. I only have heavy metal. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Nov 11, 2009 from St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Plan for coal ash landfill draws fire in Labadie Ginger Gambaro's book club was slated to dissect "The Hummingbird's Daughter" by Louis Alberto Urrea one night in late September. But the novel didn't end up dominating the conversation. Instead, the book club's members seized on a local hot topic: Ameren UE's plan to construct a 400-acre coal-combustion waste landfill at the nearby power plant located in the Missouri River bottomlands....they decided to organize. Less than two months later, the Labadie Environmental Organization formed and more than 65 people turned out for their first public meeting. Their mission? "Save Our Bottoms." ... An opposition group has formed, called Kiss Your Ass Goodbye. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 9, 2009 from Las Vegas Sun: Quagga mussels a toxic threat to Lake Mead ...Years before they showed up in Southern Nevada, the little mollusks colonized the Great Lakes, and researchers there have found that the rise in their quagga populations correlates with increases in dangerous toxins. There are two reasons for this: poop and algae. Quaggas can poop poison pellets and can turn swaths of open lake into algae-filled dead zones. The scoop on the poop is this: Each mussel works like a tiny liver, absorbing toxins and heavy metals such as mercury, selenium, polychlorinated biphenyls (known as PCBs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (or PAHs) from the lake water in a process called bioaccumulation. But quaggas are not content to do a good deed. They later expel those chemicals and metals -- in the form of a highly concentrated pellet. Those toxic pellets sink to the lake floor. ... Can we introduce some little portajohns for them? ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Nov 7, 2009 from Catskill Daily Mail: Lafarge permit would allow 176 lb. of mercury a year The state Department of Environmental Conservation has made Lafarge Cement Plant's Title V Operating Air Permit available for public comment. The permit, which is up for renewal, would limit mercury emissions at the plant to 176 pounds a year -- more than the company's own estimated emissions for 2008, which were 146 pounds....In September, state Wildlife Pathologist Ward Stone released his findings on mercury levels in the area around the Lafarge plant. He said that in parts per million, there was much more than the average level of mercury to be found and he also reported that he found mercury in everything he tested in the food chain, from grasshoppers to larger animals. The plant is located in close proximity to both the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk junior and senior high schools. ... That's getting tough with 'em! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Nov 7, 2009 from Los Angeles Times: Are store-bought soils safe for growing vegetables? In September I wrote about an unsettling incident in which I'd found high levels of lead in the chard I'd grown in a backyard planter box filled with store-bought soil. According to the head of the lab that did the testing, I shouldn't have eaten more than one-quarter pound of the leaves a day or I'd risk lead poisoning.... I decided to do some testing... The findings: None of the soils contained toxic levels of lead, zinc or arsenic. The bad news: All contained at least some contaminants... ... At least we can depend on our store-bought food being safe. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 2, 2009 from Parkersburg News and Sentinel: Ohio River leads nation in toxic discharge A national environmental group has released a study indicating two area rivers are among the top 10 waterways for total toxic discharge... The bulk of the New River's 14 million pounds of toxic discharge is largely the result of the U.S. Army Radford Army Ammunition plant in Radford, Va. The study claims the plant is responsible for more than 13.6 million pounds of toxic pollutants into the New River. Calls to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection office in Parkersburg were referred to Charleston. After several days of leaving messages, officials in Charleston referred questions to Melyssa Savage, Title III program manager for the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. Savage was out of the office. ... Maybe everybody's gone fishing. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Nov 1, 2009 from Greenpeace, via Mongabay: China's Pearl River suffers from 'almost impossible to remove' pollution A new study by Greenpeace has found high volumes of heavy metals and organic chemicals in China's Pearl River, which provides drinking water for 47 million people. In June 2009, Greenpeace took 25 samples from manufacturing facilities' discharge points into the river. They found heavy metals like beryllium, a known carcinogen; manganese which has been linked to brain damage; alkyl phenols which disrupts hormones; and a number of hazardous organic chemicals.... While many of the hazardous pollutants found in the river are not regulated by China, samples from the discharge sites of Kingboard Fogang facility contained beryllium at 25 times the levels allowed by local Chinese regulation, while samples from Wing Fung Printed Circuit Board Ltd. contained 12 times the level of allowed copper. Both companies produce printed circuit boards for the global market. ... It's just consumer capitalism's way of dealing with overpopulation. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Oct 28, 2009 from The Tennessean: Coal ash poses significant risk: EPA report says A new EPA report says that the potentially toxic pollutants in coal ash – from mercury to arsenic - are of particular concern because they can concentrate in large amounts that are discharged to waterways or seep into groundwater... EPA officials have said they would decide by the end of this year whether coal ash should be regulated as a hazardous waste. Coal ash industry officials have advocated for leaving coal ash regulations up to individual states. The EPA report documents cases of fish and other aquatic wildlife kills, as well as contaminated wells and the sublethal affects to wildlife, including damage to reproductive organs and developmental problems. The cause has been coal ash wastewater released accidentally and also routinely discharged into the environment as part of normal coal-fired plant operations. ... What's the decision? Whether to name it a "hazardous waste" or an "apocalyptic cesspool"? ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Oct 25, 2009 from McClatchy Newspapers: EPA to limit mercury emissions from power plants by 2011 The Environmental Protection Agency will put controls on the emissions of hazardous pollutants such as mercury from coal-fired power plants for the first time by November 2011 , according to an agreement announced Friday to settle a lawsuit against the agency. Many other polluters were forced to reduce emissions of toxic material such as mercury, arsenic and lead after the Clean Air Act was strengthened in 1990. Power plants, however, the largest source of mercury pollution, aren't subject to nationwide rules. The tougher rules will clean up more than just heavy metals because some kinds of pollution controls -- scrubbers, for example -- also remove other pollutants, such as soot. ... I propose coal fired plants be fired, period! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 20, 2009 from Associated Press: Michigan limits mercury emissions from coal-fired plants, requires 90 percent cutback by 2015 Michigan's coal-fired power plants will be required to make drastic cuts in mercury emissions under regulations announced Monday. The rules developed by the Department of Environmental Quality are designed to implement a policy Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced three years ago to slash the generators' mercury output 90 percent by 2015. Coal-fired plants produce 60 percent of Michigan's electricity. "Mercury is a serious health concern, and Michigan is eager to see a major reduction in mercury air emissions," DEQ Director Steven Chester said. A powerful toxin, mercury can damage the human nervous system and cause learning disabilities in fetuses and young children. Coal-fired electric plants are the nation's leading source of mercury pollution. ... Michigan: Becoming more amenable every day. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 12, 2009 from Great Falls Tribune: Toxic coal ash piling up in ponds in 32 states, analysis shows An Associated Press analysis of the most recent Energy Department data found that 156 coal-fired power plants store ash in surface ponds similar to one that ruptured last month in Tennessee. On Friday, a pond at a northeastern Alabama power plant spilled a different material. Records indicate that states storing the most coal ash in ponds are Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama.... AP's analysis found that in 2005, the most recent year data is available, 721 power plants generating at least 100 megawatts of electricity produced 95.8 million tons of coal ash. About 20 percent --or nearly 20 million tons -- ended up in surface ponds. The remainder ends up in landfills or is sold for use in concrete, among other uses.... "There has been zero done by the EPA," said Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W. Va., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. ... That was the past. Now we have clean coal. Right? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 5, 2009 from The Salt Lake Tribune: Condor advocates ask hunters to ditch lead bullets Many of the 75 rare California condors that inhabit northern Arizona and southern Utah forage on the remains of deer and elk left by hunters. But some of the carrion contains fragments of lead bullets so toxic that at least 12 condors have died in recent years from lead poisoning. "Being intelligent birds like ravens and turkey vultures, they have figured out when the hunting season is," said Kathy Sullivan, condor program coordinator for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, which has begun a voluntary program to get big game hunters to use non-lead ammunition. "They key in on fall hunting season because they know there will be gut piles in the field from these deer hunts." ... Hunters: Get the lead out! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Sep 28, 2009 from Environmental Health News: Eating venison, other game raises lead exposure An avid hunter, Cornatzer was listening to a presentation on the lead poisoning of California condors when an x-ray of a mule deer flashed on an overhead screen. The deer had been shot in the chest with a high-powered rifle. Cornatzer was shocked that the deer's entire carcass was riddled with dozens of tiny lead-shot fragments. "My first thought had nothing to do with California condors; it had to do with what I had been doing as a hunter myself, and what I had been feeding our kids," said Cornatzer, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences. "I knew good and well after seeing that image that I had been eating a lot of lead fragments over the years," he said. That realization led Cornatzer and a radiologist last year to X-ray 100 packages of venison that had been donated by a sportsmen group to a food bank. About 60 percent of the packages contained lead-shot fragments, even though it's common practice among hunters to remove meat around the wound. ... The food chain is made of lead. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Sep 25, 2009 from Associated Press: Study finds school drinking water tainted CUTLER, Calif. - Over the last decade, the drinking water at thousands of schools across the country has been found to contain unsafe levels of lead, pesticides and dozens of other toxins. An Associated Press investigation found that contaminants have surfaced at public and private schools in all 50 states - in small towns and inner cities alike. But the problem has gone largely unmonitored by the federal government, even as the number of water safety violations has multiplied. ... Might as well get the little buggers used to it. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Sep 23, 2009 from The Japan Times: Mercury danger in dolphin meat ...Dolphin and whale meat is high in mercury, and [Tetsuya Endo, a professor at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido], one of the world's foremost authorities on mercury levels in dolphins and whales caught off Japan's coastal waters, has discovered Taiji residents who eat the meat sold in local stores have extremely high concentrations in their bodies. "Between December 2007 and July 2008, myself and a team of scientists and researchers took hair samples from 30 male and 20 female residents of the Taiji area. In three cases, the levels of mercury present were more than 50 parts per million, high enough that it was possible nerve damage, like that seen in victims of Minamata disease, could occur," Endo told The Japan Times in an interview last week. ... It would be rather ironic if these beasts are so toxic they are saved from the dinner table. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Sep 19, 2009 from The Denver Post: Chemicals fuel ailment debate Meggan Smoler buries her face in her hands and collapses into the back seat of the Subaru she has called home for the past four months... Smoler is crippled, she says, by encounters with routine chemicals such as pesticides, perfume, paint, air fresheners and car exhaust. She is joined by as much as 16 percent of the U.S. population who describe ailments that remain a medical mystery. Sufferers call their disease multiple chemical sensitivity, or MCS. While many doctors and scientists call their physical symptoms an eruption of psychological stress, some research is uncovering scientific underpinnings to MCS. Japan, Germany, Canada, Austria and Great Britain have acknowledged the disease as real and eligible for insurance coverage. Colorado has even given MCS its own special month. "I literally exist to prove to the world how toxic it is getting," says Smoler, who thinks her big problems started five years ago in a moldy house. "I am the canary in the coal mine." ... Multiple ComPLAINer Syndrome, more like. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Sep 16, 2009 from New York Times: Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering Tests show that their tap water contains arsenic, barium, lead, manganese and other chemicals at concentrations federal regulators say could contribute to cancer and damage the kidneys and nervous system. "How can we get digital cable and Internet in our homes, but not clean water?" said Mrs. Hall-Massey, a senior accountant at one of the state's largest banks.... When Mrs. Hall-Massey and 264 neighbors sued nine nearby coal companies, accusing them of putting dangerous waste into local water supplies, their lawyer did not have to look far for evidence. As required by state law, some of the companies had disclosed in reports to regulators that they were pumping into the ground illegal concentrations of chemicals -- the same pollutants that flowed from residents' taps. But state regulators never fined or punished those companies for breaking those pollution laws. ... What's a few heavy metals, between friends? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Sep 14, 2009 from The Columbus Dispatch: Poisons found in debris landfills Ohio's 55 debris landfills offer a cheap, final resting place for the millions of tons of waste created at construction and demolition sites each year. But there's a price. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency found a lot more than old concrete, bricks and lumber at 30 landfills it inspected. The EPA says arsenic, benzene and vinyl chloride -- all suspected carcinogens -- and lead, which can damage the brain and nervous system, all are found in the water trickling through the rubble... At each of the surveyed landfills, including two in central Ohio, officials found as many as 29 pollutants at levels that exceed drinking-water health limits, pollution standards for streams, or both. ... It's getting so a person can't even throw something away without somebody bitching! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Sep 9, 2009 from EcoWorldly: Japanese Dolphin Slaughter to Continue Despite Current Suspension "It has been an exciting morning and the people here are very hostile, but as long as this goes on and we keep the pressure on, they cannot hunt the dolphins." Sadly, O'Barry admits solemnly, this is only temporary. O'Barry keeping a watchful eye on the dolphin fishermen, has managed to disrupt the first two days of the annual dolphin hunt in the Japanese town of Taiji, but accepts that as soon as he leaves the fishermen will resume the killing.... According to the Japan Fisheries Agency, around 20,000 dolphins will be killed all around Japan this season. The documentary revealed that dolphin meat is often sold illegally to the Japanese school system, and that school children often have no idea that what they are eating is dolphin meat. Dolphin meat has been shown to have high levels of mercury, which can be a huge problem for developing children. ... Some stories you just can't get out of your head. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Sep 6, 2009 from Cebu Daily News (Philippines): Moratorium on coal ash dumping declared A moratorium on coal ash dumping in Naga City, Cebu was declared last month by a regional environment official pending test findings of chemical and air pollution tests. With this, Salcon Power Corp. and Korean Power Corp. are supposed to halt all indiscriminate disposal of coal ash waste from their power-generating plants.... In recent months, trucks have been unloading black soil-like material in open spaces, including a private subdivision, of Naga. Some residents welcomed the ash as filling materials for vacant property, unaware of warnings that coal ash was a pollutant and may contain heavy metals and toxic substances that endanger health. ... But it's so much cheaper to dump it willy-nilly. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 1, 2009 from Louisville Courier-Journal: Ky., Ind. lead nation in coal ash ponds Indiana and Kentucky are the nation's top two states for coal ash ponds -- and many of the holding basins for the toxic mess were built without the guidance of trained engineers, according to new information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The accounting, which found nearly 600 ash ponds across the U.S. -- 53 in Indiana and 44 in Kentucky -- is based on a survey of the nation's electric utilities that the EPA conducted after a massive December coal ash spill in Tennessee.... The EPA reported numerous ponds that had not been designed by an engineer, including three at Duke Energy's Gibson County, Ind., plant, seven Kentucky Utilities ponds scattered around Kentucky, and LG&E's 10 ponds at its Cane Run and Mill Creek plants in Louisville. Some also weren't overseen by a professional engineer during construction. ... I play an engineer on television! I'll help! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Aug 24, 2009 from St. Paul Pioneer Press: Massive cleanup of Washington County Landfill in Lake Elmo for PFCs is under way Call it Lake Elmo's Big Dig. Beginning this summer, enough garbage will be removed from the Washington County Landfill to fill the Metrodome five times. "Look at this -- it's the size of a football stadium," shouted Jeffrey Lewis over the racket of bulldozers as he pointed to an enormous pit this month. "And this is only one-eighth of it." Lewis, who manages landfill cleanups for the state, is chasing an environmental bogeyman -- PFCs, or perfluorochemicals -- made by 3M Co. The clear, odorless PFCs are seeping into the soil from 2.5 million cubic yards of garbage. So Lewis is overseeing the effort to dig up the entire 60-acre site, install liners and replace the garbage. At $21 million, it easily will be the most expensive landfill cleanup in state history. ... It's potty time for Lake Elmo! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Aug 20, 2009 from BBC (UK): 'Hundreds ill' near China smelter Authorities in China have closed a second metal smelter after more than 1,300 children fell sick with lead poisoning, state media have reported. The children were living near a manganese plant near Wugang, in Hunan province, Xinhua news agency said.... An official in Wenping, part of Wugang city in Hunan, said that 1,354 children living in four villages near the Wugang Manganese Smeltering Plant had excessive levels of lead in their blood, Xinhua said. All the children are under 14 years old.... ... Big deal -- they've got hundreds of millions more children. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Aug 19, 2009 from Associated Press: New gov't study shows mercury in fish widespread No fish can escape mercury pollution. That's the take-home message from a federal study of mercury contamination released Wednesday that tested fish from nearly 300 streams across the country. The toxic substance was found in every fish sampled, a finding that underscores how widespread mercury pollution has become.... Mercury consumed by eating fish can damage the nervous system and cause learning disabilities in developing fetuses and young children. The main source of mercury to most of the streams tested, according to the researchers, is emissions from coal-fired power plants. The mercury released from smokestacks here and abroad rains down into waterways, where natural processes convert it into methylmercury � a form that allows the toxin to wind its way up the food chain into fish. ... ...and keep on winding its way up to us! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 18, 2009 from New York Times: Lead Poisoning of Children in China Leads to Disturbance The police clashed with residents of two villages near a smelting plant in northern China that is blamed for the lead poisoning of nearly all the children in the villages, reports said Monday. It was another sign of growing anger over China's rampant industrial pollution. Several hundred villagers tore down fences and blocked traffic outside the Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Company in Shaanxi Province after news of the poisoning emerged last week, state news media and villagers said. Fighting between angry parents and scores of police officers broke out Sunday, and trucks delivering coal to the plant were stoned.... At least 615 out of 731 children in the two villages have tested positive for lead poisoning, which can damage the nervous and reproductive systems and cause high blood pressure, anemia and memory loss. Lead levels in the children were more than 10 times the level China considers safe. Air quality tests near the smelting plant found unusually high lead levels, according to the official Xinhua News Agency, although officials say groundwater, surface water, soil and company waste discharge all meet national standards.... Local officials plan to relocate all 581 households living within 1,600 feet of the factory in the next two years, according to Xinhua. It was unclear whether the plant had been closed. ... Even if we won't stand up for ourselves, we'll fight for our children. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Aug 17, 2009 from GreenerComputing, from Slashdot: Developing Nations May Reuse More Electronics Than Thought What the researchers found suggests that, at least in one country, imported electronics are not immediately destined for meltdown or other polluting and poisonous dismantling practices, as has been shown in China and other countries: In Peru, Williams said in an article from ACS, "At least 85 percent of discarded computers imported to Peru are reused, as opposed to going directly to recycling. [... Thus,] the image of the trade in e-waste as mainly being about dumping unusable junk is, at least for Peru, inaccurate."... This informal reuse and recycling sector is valuable for generating employment in the country and in making computing technology more accessible to low-income families and small businesses, the paper contends. While many responsible recycling groups want to put an end to exporting electronic waste, this study finds that there are practical benefits to exporting low-cost (but still functioning or salvageable) electronics to the developing world. One option presented involves requiring that all exported electronics be tested to ensure they work, although Williams says that such a requirement would raise the price of these electronics and could "kill off" most of the reuse industry in a country like Peru. ... Dammit! Another easy meme wounded by evidence. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Aug 15, 2009 from Telegraph.co.uk: Chinese villagers dying from chemical factory's illegal pollution Underfoot, the earth has been poisoned to a depth of 20cm (8in). The water in the wells is undrinkable. The plight of Shuangqiao ... where three people have died and 509 are sick from poisoning by the heavy metals cadmium and indium, produced by a nearby factory, has drawn widespread attention since residents took to the internet to air their grievances. "We wouldn't be here today if the Government had paid attention to us in 2006 when we first told them the factory in our village was spreading pollution," said one villager, who gave his name only as Li, for fear of official retribution. "Now it's the responsibility of the factory and the Government that ignored us to help us." ... Waste water and earth from the processing of the heavy metals have been dumped into a narrow valley at the back of the plant. The stream runs into a river 500m away that feeds into the main Xiang River, which provides drinking water for 20 million people. The factory was supposed to produce the feed additive zinc sulphate. Instead, it illegally processed ore from zinc production to extract cadmium and rare indium, a key material in liquid crystal display screens and solar panels. The price of indium soared from less than $600 (�360) a kilogram in 2003 to $1,000 by 2006. China now meets 30 per cent of world demand and at its peak the Xianghe factory produced 300kg of indium a month. ... LALALALALA... I need to go watch that Discovery special on solar panels, on my hi-def TV. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Aug 12, 2009 from New York Times: China's Incinerators Loom as a Global Hazard After surpassing the United States as the world's largest producer of household garbage, China has embarked on a vast program to build incinerators as landfills run out of space. But these incinerators have become a growing source of toxic emissions, from dioxin to mercury, that can damage the body�s nervous system. And these pollutants, particularly long-lasting substances like dioxin and mercury, are dangerous not only in China, a growing body of atmospheric research based on satellite observations suggests. They float on air currents across the Pacific to American shores.... [However, at] the other end of Shenzhen from Longgang, no smoke is visible from the towering smokestack of the Baoan incinerator... Government tests show that it emits virtually no dioxin and other pollutants. But the Baoan incinerator cost 10 times as much as the Longgang incinerators, per ton of trash-burning capacity. The difference between the Baoan and Longgang incinerators lies at the center of a growing controversy in China. ... As if heavy metals could float on air! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Aug 8, 2009 from Mother Jones: Corn Syrup's Mercury Surprise In 2004, Renee Dufault, an environmental health researcher at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), stumbled upon an obscure Environmental Protection Agency report on chemical plants' mercury emissions. Some chemical companies, she learned, make lye by pumping salt through large vats of mercury. Since lye is a key ingredient in making HFCS (it's used to separate corn starch from the kernel), Dufault wondered if mercury might be getting into the ubiquitous sweetener that makes up 1 out of every 10 calories Americans eat.... The corn-syrup industry claims that no HFCS manufacturers currently use mercury-grade lye, though it concedes some used to. (According to the EPA, four plants still use the technology.) It says that its own tests found no traces of mercury in HFCS samples from US manufacturers, including a number of samples from some of the same sources Dufault tested. But hundreds of foreign plants still use mercury to make lye -- which may then be used to make foods for export. Already, 11 percent of the sweeteners and candy on the US market are imported.... [A] report issued by the Minnesota-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy ... found low levels of mercury in 16 common food products, including certain brands of kid-favored foods, like grape jelly and chocolate milk. ... Coke! It's the heavy thing! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jul 19, 2009 from Newsweek: Toxic Tsunami ...the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant had experienced a catastrophic failure... The largest industrial spill in U.S. history, it has created an environmental and engineering nightmare. The cleanup effort, which the Environmental Protection Agency is overseeing, could cost as much as $1 billion (though estimates continue to climb) and take years to complete. Meanwhile, the released ash -- which is packed with toxins like arsenic, lead, and selenium -- threatens to poison the air and water. Congressional committees are investigating the failure, some lawmakers are calling for greater regulation of utilities, and the EPA is probing about 400 other facilities across the country that store ash in similar ways. Yet the debacle has had another, potentially more far-reaching, impact: it has displayed in the most graphic manner imaginable just how dirty coal is. At a time when seemingly everyone from President Barack Obama on down is talking about "clean coal," the spill showed it's anything but. "Kingston opened people's eyes," says Lisa Evans of Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental-law firm. "Clean coal is an impossibility." ... You had me... at "tsunami"... ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 14, 2009 from CNN: Months after ash spill, Tennessee town still choking Pamela Hampton stands at the kitchen sink, her gaze trained out of the window of her family's small hillside home. The disaster site is not visible from where she stands, but she knows it is there, down the hill, around a short stretch of highway, less than a mile away. Six months after the largest industrial spill in U.S. history, Hampton, her husband, Charles, and their three young children say they still do not feel comfortable going outside... "It's like dumping the periodic table into everyone's drinking water," said Anna George, a scientist with the Tennessee Aquarium Research Institute who has for months been testing the waters and fish near the spill site. ... That, my friend, is how you wield a metaphor! ApocaDoc permalink 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. ... Maybe all that mercury will make the melting Arctic reflective. ApocaDoc permalink 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. ... In the old days, there mighta been LSD in the wastewater! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jun 13, 2009 from Newark Star-Ledger: High levels of lead found in mussels, clams, bait fish in Raritan Bay Tests on mussels, clams and foraging fish near the Laurence Harbor Sea Wall in Old Bridge, have revealed high levels of lead, the Environmental Protection Agency reported today. The amount of lead found in ribbed mussels ranged from 3 to 8.6 parts per million. In softshell clams the amount ranged from 3.4 to 17 parts per million and hardshell clams from 1.7 to 3.1 parts per million. In foraging fish or bait fish the amount of lead found ranged from 0.49 to 0.92 parts per million. "This is very dangerous," said Peter Defur, a biologist and environmental consultant for Environmental Stewardship Concepts based in Richmond, Va., who works on contaminated sites. "I've never seen such high numbers in the 30 years I've been doing this." ... Now I go fishing with magnets. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, May 15, 2009 from Inter Press Service: West Bank Becomes Waste Land Israel has found a cheap and easy way to get rid of its waste, much of it hazardous: dump it into the West Bank. A few Palestinians can be bought, the rest are in no position to complain... "Israel has been dumping waste, including hazardous and toxic waste, into the West Bank for years as a cheaper and easier alternative to processing it properly in Israel at appropriate hazardous waste management sites," Palestinian Environmental Authority (PEA) deputy director Jamil Mtoor told IPS. Shuqbah, a village of 5,000, lies near the border of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, not far from Ramallah. Israeli companies have been using land owned by a Palestinian middleman in the village to dump tonnes of garbage for as little as 30 dollars per tonne, significantly cheaper than dumping it at Israeli waste sites. ... Great. Let's just call it the Waste Bank. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, May 13, 2009 from London Daily Mail: Gender-bending chemical timebomb fear for boys' fertility Chemicals in food, cosmetics and cleaning products are 'feminising' unborn boys and raising their risk of cancer and infertility later in life, an expert warns today. Professor Richard Sharpe, one of Britain's leading reproductive biologists, says everyday substances are linked to soaring rates of birth defects and testicular cancer, and to falling sperm counts. The government adviser's report published today is the most detailed yet into the threat posed to baby boys by chemicals that block the action of the male sex hormone testosterone, or mimic the female sex hormone oestrogen...In repeated experiments, testosterone-disrupting chemicals found in pesticides, drugs, plastics and household products created symptoms of TDS [Testicular Dysgenesis Syndrome] in laboratory animals. Some of the experiments showed that the chemicals work in combination - causing problems at doses where the individual chemicals should be harmless. ... Like the old song says: I enJOY being a girl!!! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, May 13, 2009 from The Nation: Tennessee Spill: The Dredge Report The Tennessee Valley Authority's efforts to clean tons of toxic coal ash are set to cause a "major toxic event" that could kill entire fish species and send a human health threat slinking up the food chain, according to scientists... A handful of scientists are saying that the river-clearing operation will unleash a deadly pulse of selenium, an element found in coal ash that's good for humans in small doses but toxic to people, fish and wildlife at high levels... The EPA's hazard summary cites long-term studies showing that exposure to high levels of selenium in food and water have led to discoloration of the skin, loss of nails and hair, excessive tooth decay and discoloration, listlessness and lack of mental alertness. ... Given my listlessness and lack of mental alertness I have nothing useful to say! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, May 9, 2009 from The New York Times: UN: Treaty Expanded by 9 More Dangerous Chemicals A U.N.-sponsored treaty to combat highly dangerous chemicals has been expanded to include nine more substances that are used in pesticides, electronics and other products, U.N. officials said Saturday. The additions include one called PFOS worth billions of dollars in a wide range of uses from making semiconductor chips to fighting fires. Another is lindane, a pesticide widely used in combatting head lice. "These chemicals transit boundaries. They are found everywhere in the world," Donald Cooper, [executive secretary to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, or POPs] said. "They don't go away. They persist in the atmosphere, they persist in the soil, in the water for extremely long periods of time." ... And, quite often, these chemicals have way too many syllables!! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, May 8, 2009 from Syracuse Post-Standard: Syracuse's community gardens are tainted with lead and arsenic A dedicated band of gardeners have been tilling Syracuse's soil as a way of building community and providing fresh fruits and vegetables to their families. But the plots they have been eating from and others they have been working to develop are contaminated with toxic metals. In at least some cases, Syracuse city workers were likely the ones who laid down the polluted dirt. A recent study of six local community gardens by scientists at the State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry showed that all but one of the plots contained elevated levels of lead, according to preliminary results. Samples from one garden in development -- the Isabella Street Community Garden -- exceeded health standards set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The normal level of lead in soil is between 40 and 50 parts per million. The Syracuse gardens have lead levels that range from 46 to 820 parts per million. Moreover, arsenic levels in all of the plots except for one were off the charts, said ESF professor Venera Jouraeva, who led the study. ... I wondered why my carrots seem soooo heavy... ApocaDoc permalink Sat, May 2, 2009 from Environmental Health News: Big increase in ocean mercury found; study predicts more human threat from fish Mercury levels in the Pacific Ocean will rise by 50 percent within the next few decades as emissions from coal-fired power plants and other sources increase, scientists reported Friday. The researchers, led by scientists from Harvard University and the U.S. Geological Survey, found that the ocean's mercury levels have already risen about 30 percent over the last 20 years. Combined, the findings mean the Pacific Ocean will be twice as contaminated with mercury in 2050 as it was in 1995 if the emission rates continue. As a result, people around the globe will be increasingly exposed to mercury from eating fish and other seafood. Methylmercury, a neurotoxin, can alter brain development of fetuses and has been linked with learning problems and reduced IQs in some children. ... The stupider these kids, the less chance they'll figure out we're to blame for ruining their earth. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Apr 4, 2009 from Scientific American: Are some chemicals more dangerous at low doses? There are some 82,000 chemicals used commercially in the U.S., but only a fraction have been tested to make sure they're safe and just five are regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to congressional investigators. But a government scientist says there's no guarantee testing actually rules out health risks anyway. The basic premise of safety testing for chemicals is that anything can kill you in high enough doses (even too much water too fast can be lethal). The goal is to find safe levels that cause no harm. But new research suggests that some chemicals may be more dangerous than previously believed at low levels when acting in concert with other chemicals. ... Is it just me... or is it time to find a new, pristine planet! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Apr 1, 2009 from Helsingen Sanomat: Russian burial ground for toxic waste seen as an environmental time bomb Toxic waste from St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region have been taken to Krasnyi bor since 1969. About 1.5 million tonnes of chemicals, oil, and heavy metals have been buried in dozens of pits in an area of 70 hectares. Some of the waste is incinerated. Russia does not have a single modern facility for processing problem waste. Furthermore, in St. Petersburg, poisons are often left out in the open, or are disposed of in illegal dumping areas. According to Dmitri Artamonov, the director of Greenpeace in St. Petersburg, not all pits have been covered up, and more waste is being transported to the area. Some of the pits have been sealed with clay. "Poisons evaporate into the air from liquid waste. In the rain, the pits can overflow, which means that all the makings of a disaster are ready", Artamonov says. ... Maybe it's time for central planning? Wait, that's what started the problem.... ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 10, 2009 from Mobile Press-Register: EPA: Leave mercury in north Mobile County swamp Federal scientists were unsparing in their criticism of a new EPA plan to leave high levels of mercury on the bottom of Cold Creek Swamp and hope the Mobile River covers it over with a layer of mud as the years go by. Those scientists said the mercury from the north Mobile County swamp may have been spreading to fish and wildlife in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta and Mobile Bay for decades. In 1993, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved a plan to remove or contain the bulk of the contamination at the Stauffer Chemical Superfund site. The company released mercury into the swamp between 1966 and 1974 as a waste product from chlorine production. But the plan was never implemented. Now the EPA has proposed a much more limited cleanup that calls for leaving most of the mercury in the swamp and monitoring it "long term." ...The latest plan ... calls for covering up the mercury in the most contaminated 25-acre area with a layer of clay and monitoring mercury levels in the rest of the swamp. ... I know when I ignore MY problems, they go away! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 5, 2009 from LA Weekly: San Fernando Valley's Galaxy of Chemical Goo West Hills resident Bonnie Klea is vivacious and no-nonsense. She won a battle over a rare bladder cancer diagnosed in 1995, and has long suspected the toxins that taint a big piece of land near her home -- land on which, if Los Angeles planners get their way, more building will soon be allowed. "I had surgery and was in the hospital nine times in nine months," Klea says. Of the cancer itself, Klea says, "It�s in the neighborhood. On my little street alone, I have two neighbors who have had bladder cancer." Sixteen cancers have afflicted residents in 15 homes on Klea�s block. A 1990 state health department survey of cancer records showed elevated levels of bladder cancer in west San Fernando Valley census tracts, including tract 1132, where Klea lives. Klea is in a fight that she began 14 years ago, battling Los Angeles city planners and state Department of Toxic Substances Control bureaucrats over a proposed development at "Corporate Pointe at West Hills" in Canoga Park, where a well-known West Valley landmark, the former DeVry University, stands. The expanse of land is riddled with heavy metal, chemical and radiological contamination. ... Call it the San Fernandodo Valley. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Mar 4, 2009 from Environmental Health News: Migrating vultures succumb to lead An increasingly rare species of vulture that migrates from Mongolia to overwintering grounds in South Korea can pick up enough lead along the way to poison and kill them. Lead poisoning may be the reason a globally threatened species of vulture is frequently found dead in the wild. The vulture is native to Europe and Asia. One large population overwinters in South Korea near the demilitarized zone (DMZ). Researchers examined 20 dead birds found in the area. They analyzed the animals' kidneys, liver and bones for lead and other metals. They found very high levels of lead in these birds. Fourteen individuals had potentially toxic levels in their liver and kidneys.... The results also highlight that wildlife can transport toxic chemicals to new locations where it can then enter different food webs. The authors suggest that the birds may pick up the poisonous lead during their migration by feeding on other animals that are contaminated with the heavy metal. The lead might come from ammunition used for hunting. ... And who, prey tell, will feed on the vulture? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 26, 2009 from Edinburgh Scotsman: RIP -- rest in (freeze-dried) pieces BODIES could be freeze-dried and shattered into dust to save space and help the environment, under plans being considered by a Scottish local authority. East Lothian Council thinks the technique, invented in Sweden, could help ease cemetery congestion, while cutting emissions from cremations. The process would involve freezing the dead body to -18C before submerging it in liquid nitrogen. This would make the body so brittle it would disintegrate into dust when a vibration was passed through it... The process, known as promession, is considered more environmentally friendly than cremation, largely because it avoids the mercury pollution created by burning fillings in teeth and other metal objects in the body, such as replacement joints or surgical implants. ... RIS: Rest in Smithereens... ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 23, 2009 from The Louisville Courier-Journal: Indiana ash ponds pollute bird habitat, drinking water The ash ponds at the nation's third-largest coal plant near here have contaminated a new wildlife sanctuary for endangered birds and the drinking water of a neighboring community. And while a federal agency and the company that owns the Gibson plant, Duke Energy, have taken steps to alleviate both problems, advocates say the situation underscores the need for a fresh look at the hazards of coal combustion waste. Congress and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency promised such a review following the 1.1billion-gallon ash slide in Tennessee in December that smothered several hundred acres. The House Natural Resources Committee is weighing national standards for ash impoundments, and the new EPA administrator, Lisa Jackson, has promised to study whether national standards are needed to prevent toxic contaminants in ash from polluting water. ... They are nothing but a bunch of ash-holes! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Feb 22, 2009 from The Center for Public Integrity: Coal Ash: The Hidden Story ...For decades, the dangers of coal ash had largely been hidden from public view. That all changed in December 2008, when an earthen dam holding a billion gallons of coal ash in a pond collapsed in eastern Tennessee, deluging 300 acres in gray muck, destroying houses and water supplies, and dirtying a river. But what happened in the Volunteer State represents just a small slice of the potential threat from coal ash. In many states -- at ponds, landfills, and pits where coal ash gets dumped -- a slow seepage of the ash's metals has poisoned water supplies, damaged ecosystems, and jeopardized citizens' health. In July 2007, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identified 63 "proven or potential damage cases" in 23 states where coal ash has tarnished groundwater and harmed ecology. Additional cases of contamination have since surfaced in states as far-flung as Maryland, New Mexico, Indiana, and Virginia. And in some locations, like Colstrip, the contamination has resulted in multimillion-dollar payouts to residents enduring the devastation. Despite the litany of damage, there's no meaningful federal regulation of coal ash on the books; indeed, oversight of ash disposal -- much of it stunningly casual -- is largely left to the states. ... Looks like we all got coal ash in our Christmas stockings. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Feb 13, 2009 from Latin America Press: Farming chemicals cause kidney failure More than 3,000 workers at a sugar plant owned by Nicaragua's most powerful company have died from chronic renal failure since 1990 and a victims' group says another 5,000 workers have since developed the condition for the company's use of agrochemicals. The San Antonio Refinery is owned by the Nicaragua Sugar Estates Limited, a part of Grupo Pellas, which produces Flor de Cana rum as well as ethanol and runs an electricity generator in Chichigalpa in the northern Le�n department... Grupo Pellas denies any wrongdoing, accuses the sick workers of being alcoholics or drug addicts, and says that the illness is provoked by other causes. But a 2006 study by the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, cited by Artoni, found that 95 percent of the 26 wells that serve the northwest of the country and close to 96 percent of the small family-only use wells are contaminated with feces, herbicides, bacteria and agrochemicals. According to a recent investigation by the university, there is a possible cause-effect relation between the laborers' work and kidney failure. Dr. Cecilia Torres, an occupational health researcher at the university told the Latin American Regional Office of the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations that environmental neurotoxins, such as heavy metals -- arsenic, cadmium and lead -- and agrochemicals such as aldrin, chlorothalonil, maneb, copper sulfate, endrin and Nemagon, are major causes of chronic kidney failure in Nicaragua. ... Maybe they're "alcoholics and drug addicts" because their kidneys are failing! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 9, 2009 from Agence France-Presse: Pollution preferable to unemployment for Romanian town COPSA MICA, Romania (AFP)-- For the residents of Copsa Mica, a tiny town in central Romania, the closure of its local smelting plant is a worse catastrophe than having a reputation as the most polluted place in Europe. "I know the plant was a threat to our health, but at least people had a job," said Diana Roman, a 22-year-old woman who sells potatoes and carrots on the market square of Copsa Mica, which has a population of 5,500 and is situated 250 kilometres (155 miles) northwest of Bucharest. Roman's husband is one of the 820 workers being laid off -- out of a total workforce of 1,050 -- at the Sometra smelting plant, Copsa Mica's biggest employer... [Copsa Mica's mayor, Tudor] Mihalache acknowledged the heavy pollution caused by Sometra, making the air "unbreathable", despite investments to curb the emissions of sulphur dioxide and heavy metals such as lead, zinc and cadmium. ... Maybe it's time to rename this town CORPSE Mica. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 3, 2009 from CBC News (Canada): Mercury levels rising in caribou, contaminants program finds Caribou in Canada's North are showing increasing levels of mercury, a contaminant that has drifted into the Arctic from other parts of the world, researchers have found. Mercury is one of two contaminants found in northern environments that are of great concern to scientists, said Mary Gamberg, project co-ordinator with federal Northern Contaminants Program in the Yukon. Gamberg said mercury "seems to be increasing in some [wildlife] populations all across the Arctic," she told CBC News in an interview Monday. "In marine mammals, in some populations, it's increasing. And in caribou, in some populations -- and particularly in female caribou -- it seems to be increasing, which is really interesting," she added. ... Golly. Interesting. Even fascinating. How unexpected. Of scientific note only, no need to worry about implications, move along. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jan 27, 2009 from Chicago Tribune: Mercury in corn syrup? A swig of soda or a bite of a candy bar might be sweet, but a new study suggests that food made with corn syrup also could be delivering tiny doses of toxic mercury. For the first time, researchers say they have detected traces of the silvery metal in samples of high-fructose corn syrup, a widely used sweetener that has replaced sugar in many processed foods. The study was published Monday in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health. Eating high-mercury fish is the chief source of exposure for most people. The new study raises concerns about a previously unknown dietary source of mercury, which has been linked to learning disabilities in children and heart disease in adults. The source of the metal appears to be caustic soda and hydrochloric acid, which manufacturers of corn syrup use to help convert corn kernels into the food additive. ... Aw jeez... And here I thought corn syrup was good for me! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jan 24, 2009 from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: EPA a failure on chemicals, audit finds The Environmental Protection Agency's ability to assess toxic chemicals is as broken as the nation's financial markets and needs a total overhaul, a congressional audit has found. The Government Accountability Office has released a report saying the EPA lacks even basic information to say whether chemicals pose substantial health risks to the public. It says actions are needed to streamline and increase the transparency of the EPA's registry of chemicals. And it calls for measures to enhance the agency's ability to obtain health and safety information from the chemical industry...."This just shows that the EPA is not any better able to protect Americans from risky chemicals than FEMA was to save New Orleans or the SEC was to cope with the financial collapse," said John Peterson Myers, a scientist and author who has been writing about chemical risks to human health for more than three decades. For the EPA to be compared to the collapsed financial markets dramatically underscores the need for a complete overhaul of the regulation of toxic chemicals, said Richard Wiles, executive director of Environmental Working Group, a health watchdog organization based in Washington, D.C. "The EPA joins the hall of shame of failed government programs," Wiles said. ... Yeah, I know things are bad, but don't be hatin'! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jan 20, 2009 from Business Mirror: Dumping of banned toys from US feared A waste and pollution watchdog on Monday called on the government, particularly the Bureau of Customs, to prevent the entry of banned toys from the United States which may be dumped into the country. At the same time, the group urged lawmakers to enact a law, and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), to come up with ways to guarantee consumer safety in the country, particularly against toxic contamination in various local and imported products. EcoWaste Coalition made the call saying the impending implementation of far-reaching safety regulations for toys and other children�s products in the US might result in the massive recall of proscribed items that could find their way to the Philippines, which has less stringent requirements. ... I've heard of the Island of Misfit Toys, but the Country of Banned Toys is something different! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jan 18, 2009 from Kingston Daily Freeman: MERCURY RISING: Bald eagles in region face new threat AFTER BEING pushed by humans to the brink of extinction and then re-establishing habitats in the Hudson River Valley and Catskill Mountains, bald eagles are again facing a manmade threat to their existence. A Maine-based environmental organization has found an alarming accumulation of mercury in the blood and feathers of both juvenile and adult bald eagles in the Catskills. While environmentalists say there is not yet conclusive scientific data to indicate the eagles are being harmed by the mercury levels in their systems, the study has found mercury levels in Catskills eagles to be close to those associated with neurological and reproductive problems in the common loon in the Adirondack Mountains and in Maine. The study also seems to support the belief that the Catskill Mountains region is a likely �hot spot� for methylmercury. ... Another bad rap for the raptors. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jan 16, 2009 from LA Times: Mercury levels higher in women in Northeast, coastal areas Health officials have warned consumers for several years to avoid consuming too much of any type of fish that tends to be high in mercury. High blood mercury levels can cause serious health problems and are particularly dangerous for pregnant women because the toxin may harm the fetus. ... Researchers used data from a large, national nutrition survey collected from 1999 to 2004 and found that women in the Northeast were the most likely to have blood mercury concentrations above 3.5 micrograms per liter. Almost 1 in 5 women in the Northeast had levels that are considered too high. More than 16 percent of women living in counties that bordered an ocean or the Gulf of Mexico had levels that are considered too high. Nationwide, about 10 percent of women had levels at or greater than 3.5 micrograms per liter. ... Maybe fish will become so toxic that we'll let them survive. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 12, 2009 from Chicago Tribune: Studies show SE. Ind. site high in mercury levels INDIANAPOLIS - Rain and snow that fall near a cluster of coal-burning power plants in southeastern Indiana are laced with some of the highest concentrations of atmospheric mercury in the nation, a new federal study has found. The U.S. Geological Survey research found the elevated levels of the toxic metal near Madison, Ind., adding to evidence that mercury spewed by power plants can end up in high concentrations in rain and snow that falls nearby. The findings, along with a study that found the most toxic form of the metal in more than 80 percent of samples taken from streams statewide, document the legacy of one pollutant from modern industry, the researchers say. "Everywhere we looked in Indiana we found mercury, and it's not the same everywhere, nor is it the same year to year or season to season," said Martin Risch, a USGS scientist who authored both papers. ... Turns out it's not just yellow snow that's off limits for eating... ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jan 11, 2009 from Associated Press: Nation's largest utility grapples with 2 spills STEVENSON, Ala. (AP) � Standing on a porch near the Widows Creek power plant Saturday, Charlie Cookston took a drag off a cigarette and ticked off the reasons he distrusts the Tennessee Valley Authority. Dead mussels in the mighty, meandering Tennessee River. Dwindling numbers of fish. Big, black piles of coal ash that seem to get larger every day. As nearby residents await lab tests on the safety of drinking water, tempers are unsettled. Electric rates at the nation's largest utility have soared. A dike burst in Tennessee destroyed several homes, and on Friday, as much as 10,000 gallons of waste spilled into Widows Creek in northwestern Alabama. The nation's largest utility, once was viewed as a savior to the region, bringing lights, thousands of jobs and progress since its creation as a New Deal program in 1933, has had a rocky few months. ... When it rains it pours, and when it spills it floods! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jan 8, 2009 from Associated Press: TVA ratepayers may be stuck with ash cleanup bill KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The tab for a toxin-laden ash flood at a coal-fired power plant in Tennessee could reach hundreds of millions of dollars, and ratepayers for the nation's largest public utility will probably be stuck with the bill. The total cost of cleaning up last month's accident isn't yet clear, but the bill will be staggering. Extra workers, overtime, heavy machinery, housing and supplies for families chased from their homes and lawsuits are among the costs that are piling up. And with few other places for the Tennessee Valley Authority to turn to cover the costs, the utility's 9 million customers in Tennessee and six surrounding states will bear the brunt in higher electricity rate hikes in the future, TVA Chairman Bill Sansom told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "This is going to get into (electric) rates sooner or later," Sansom said. "We haven't even thought about going to Washington for it." When a dike broke Dec. 22 at the Kingston Fossil Plant, some 1.1 billion gallons of sludge was released from a 40-acre settlement pond, blanketing nearly 300 acres in a rural neighborhood up to 9 feet deep in grayish muck and spilling into the Emory River threatening drinking water. ... So... I see ... we get crapped on twice. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jan 7, 2009 from New York Times: Hundreds of Coal Ash Dumps Lack Regulation The coal ash pond that ruptured and sent a billion gallons of toxic sludge across 300 acres of East Tennessee last month was only one of more than 1,300 similar dumps across the United States � most of them unregulated and unmonitored � that contain billions more gallons of fly ash and other byproducts of burning coal. Like the one in Tennessee, most of these dumps, which reach up to 1,500 acres, contain heavy metals like arsenic, lead, mercury and selenium, which are considered by the Environmental Protection Agency to be a threat to water supplies and human health. Yet they are not subject to any federal regulation, which experts say could have prevented the spill, and there is little monitoring of their effects on the surrounding environment. ... Maybe Obama better appoint an Ash Czar! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jan 6, 2009 from Environmental Health News: Mercury-laden whale meat may foster heart disease Eating mercury contaminated seafood increases the risk of heart disease in men, reports this unique study that examined Faroese whalers. The risk of heart disease increases in men who eat mercury contaminated seafood -- in this case whale meat. The results support previous findings with other human populations that show higher exposures to methylmercury can promote heart disease. Methylmercury is an environmental pollutant found in fish and seafood. It is at particularly high levels in some top level predators that eat smaller prey, such as tuna and other large fish and marine mammals. People who eat enough mercury-laden food to increase their body levels may suffer from well known and adverse health effects, including reproductive and neurological problems and an increased risk of death from heart attacks. This unique study looked at a group of 42 Faroese whalingmen aged 30-70 years old. More than half (26 (or 63 percent of the men) ate "3 or more whale meals per month." The researchers investigated if long-term exposure to mercury by eating pilot whale meat led to adverse heart related health effects, such as heart attacks....The researchers found a clearly significant correlation of increased blood pressure and arterial thickness with higher mercury levels found in their bodies. ... Sounds like nothing but a bunch of blubber to me! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 5, 2009 from London Daily Mail: Orange drinks with 300 times more pesticide than tap water Fizzy drinks sold by Coca-Cola in Britain have been found to contain pesticides at up to 300 times the level allowed in tap or bottled water. A worldwide study found pesticide levels in orange and lemon drinks sold under the Fanta brand, which is popular with children, were at their highest in the UK. The research team called on the Government, the industry and the company to act to remove the chemicals and called for new safety standards to regulate the soft drinks market. The industry denies children are at risk and insists that the levels found by researchers based at the University of Jaen in southern Spain are not harmful... The chemicals detected included carbendazim, thiabendazole, imazalil, prochloraz, malathion and iprodione. ... Things go better.... with imazalil! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jan 4, 2009 from Associated Press: Lead for car batteries poisons an African town THIAROYE SUR MER, Senegal -- First, it took the animals. Goats fell silent and refused to stand up. Chickens died in handfuls, then en masse. Street dogs disappeared. Then it took the children. Toddlers stopped talking and their legs gave out. Women birthed stillborns. Infants withered and died. Some said the houses were cursed. Others said the families were cursed. The mysterious illness killed 18 children in this town on the fringes of Dakar, Senegal's capital, before anyone in the outside world noticed. When they did - when the TV news aired parents' angry pleas for an investigation, when the doctors ordered more tests, when the West sent health experts - they did not find malaria, or polio or AIDS, or any of the diseases that kill the poor of Africa. They found lead. The dirt here is laced with lead left over from years of extracting it from old car batteries. So when the price of lead quadrupled over five years, residents started digging up the earth to get at it. ... Another heart-breaking symptom of our global illness of over-consumption. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jan 4, 2009 from Huffington Post: Tennessee's Toxic Nightmare: Arsenic Levels 35 to 300 Times EPA Standard for Drinking Water Just-released independent water sampling data from the Tennessee coal ash disaster has shown alarmingly high levels of arsenic and seven other heavy metals, including cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury and thallium. "I've never seen levels this high," said Dr. Shea Tuberty, Assistant Professor of Biology at the Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Lab at Appalachian State University. "These levels would knock out fish reproduction ... the ecosystems around Kingston and Harriman are going to be in trouble ... maybe for generations." ... This is the Exxon Valdez of 2008. But who's the drunken sailor? ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jan 3, 2009 from Guardian (UK): Paradise lost on Maldives' rubbish island It may be known as a tropical paradise, an archipelago of 1,200 coral islands in the Indian Ocean. But the traditional image of the Maldives hides a dirty secret: the world's biggest rubbish island. A few miles and a short boat ride from the Maldivian capital, Mal�, Thilafushi began life as a reclamation project in 1992. The artificial island was built to solve Mal�'s refuse problem. But today, with more than 10,000 tourists a week in the Maldives adding their waste, the rubbish island now covers 50 hectares (124 acres).... Environmentalists say that more than 330 tonnes of rubbish is brought to Thilafushi a day. Most of it comes from Mal�, which is one of the world's most densely populated towns: 100,000 people cram into 2 square kilometres. Brought on ships, the rubbish is taken onshore and sifted by hand. Some of the waste is incinerated but most is buried in landfill sites. There is, say environmental campaigners, also an alarming rise in batteries and electronic waste being dumped in Thilafushi's lagoon. "We are seeing used batteries, asbestos, lead and other potentially hazardous waste mixed with the municipal solid wastes being put into the water...." ... Actually, the continent of plastic in the Pacific likely holds that dubious prize. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Dec 16, 2008 from Forbes, via CBC: Inside the world's superdumps The largest garbage dump in the world is roughly twice the size of the continental U.S. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a continent-sized constellation of discarded shoes, bottles, bags, pacifiers, plastic wrappers, toothbrushes and every other type of trash imaginable, floating in the Pacific Ocean about halfway between Hawaii and San Francisco.... Truckloads of printers, fax machines, hard drives and all kinds of defunct electronics arrive daily in Guiyu from warehouses in the port of Nanhai, where the imported waste comes ashore in sea-going containers. Roughly half these computers and electronic components are recycled; the rest are dumped. Nobody knows for sure, but evidence suggests most of the discarded components are dumped locally, despite the substantial risk that the waste, laden with toxic lead, mercury and cadmium, will contaminate local soil and water supplies.... Old ships are, more often than not, chock full of toxic chemicals, like insulation with asbestos and polychlorinated biphenyls in hoses, foam insulation and paint. In addition, most ships contain huge quantities of heavy metals like lead, mercury and cadmium. If ships are not properly dismantled, they contaminate the area where they are broken down. ... Garbage? It's out of sight, out of mind, for me. Just toss it and forget it! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Dec 14, 2008 from Chicago Tribune: Mercury-tainted fish on FDA menu In the waning days of the Bush presidency, the Food and Drug Administration is pushing to scuttle the government's advice about mercury-contaminated seafood, a dramatic policy change that would encourage women and children to eat more fish despite growing concerns about the toxic metal. The FDA's recommendations, sent recently to the White House Office of Management and Budget for approval, prompted a sharp rebuke from scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency who, in memos circulated earlier this month, described them as "scientifically flawed and inadequate." A joint advisory issued by the two agencies in 2004 cautions women of childbearing age, nursing mothers and young children to limit seafood consumption to 12 ounces a week. But in a draft version of the FDA's new report, the agency says its own modeling shows that children can benefit from eating more fish, not less. ... More mercury will make it easier for mom to take her kid's temperature! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Nov 14, 2008 from Chicago Tribune: U.S. undercuts clean-air rule Looking to bolster the fight against childhood lead poisoning, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last month approved a tough new rule aimed at clearing the nation's air of the toxic metal. A key part of the initiative is a new network of monitors that will track lead emissions from factories. But the Bush administration quietly weakened that provision at the last minute by exempting dozens of polluters from scrutiny, federal documents show. ... Apparently, the Bush administration doesn't have lungs! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 27, 2008 from Charleston Post and Courier: Effects on wildlife studied Frogs and other amphibians are experiencing a mysterious and dramatic decline across the world. Pollution is one suspect, he said. Climate change and disease are others. But his particular interest is coal-combustion waste, which he said is a complex brew of arsenic, selenium, chromium, mercury and other contaminants. More and more research is showing that these wastes are affecting wildlife. ... Bubble, bubble / frogs in trouble / no eyes of newt / just heavy metal. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 27, 2008 from Independent Online (South Africa): Locals ignorant of mercury threat People are still eating fish from Inanda Dam, despite a precautionary warning from government officials that aquatic life in one of Durban's biggest drinking water reservoirs may be contaminated with poisonous levels of mercury pollution.... Medical council researchers also collected hair samples from more than 80 people living close to the dam. Nearly 20 percent had remnants of mercury pollution above WHO guidelines, suggesting they might be at risk from eating contaminated fish or vegetables. ... Take your temperature by measuring your hair. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Oct 26, 2008 from Science News: Book Review: Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault On Our Children The authors capture community efforts to connect clusters of disease to chemicals -- including TCE, phthalates, chromium 5 and Teflon -- and illuminate the underlying policy reasons for gaps in governmental oversight.... More than a hundred interviews with corporate researchers, public health leaders, government insiders and affected families support this cautionary tale of collusion that falls short of being alarmist. The authors ask readers to demand accountability and public health scrutiny for the benefit of future generations. ... Like "you can't build a waste dump by a school" but you can build a school by an an existing waste dump. Go figure. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Oct 24, 2008 from McClatchy Newspapers: EPA weakens new lead rule after White House objects After the White House intervened, the Environmental Protection Agency last week weakened a rule on airborne lead standards at the last minute so that fewer known polluters would have their emissions monitored. The EPA on Oct. 16 announced that it would dramatically reduce the highest acceptable amount of airborne lead from 1.5 micrograms of lead per cubic meter to 0.15 micrograms. It was the first revision of the standard since EPA set it 30 years ago. However, a close look at documents publicly available, including e-mails from the EPA to the White House Office of Management and Budget, reveal that the OMB objected to the way the EPA had determined which lead-emitting battery recycling plants and other facilities would have to be monitored. EPA documents show that until the afternoon of Oct. 15, a court-imposed deadline for issuing the revised standard, the EPA proposed to require a monitor for any facility that emitted half a ton of lead or more a year. The e-mails indicate that the White House objected, and in the early evening of Oct. 15 the EPA set the level at 1 ton a year instead. ... Even in a lame duck administration, it's business as usual, and more than just ducks are suffering! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Oct 18, 2008 from New York Times: E.P.A. Toughens Standard on Lead Emissions; Change Is the First in 3 Decades The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday set stringent new standards for airborne lead particles, following the recommendations of its science advisers and cutting the maximum allowable concentrations to a tenth of the previous standard. It was the first change in federal lead standards in three decades. But the cleanup of areas with excessive lead levels is not required for more than eight years, and the system of monitors that detect the toxic contaminant is frayed. Currently, 133 monitors are in operation nationwide, down from about 800 in 1980, an E.P.A. spokeswoman, Cathy Milbourn, said. The agency is working on rebuilding this network, to include more than 300 monitors, Ms. Milbourn said. ... Eight years?! Get the lead out! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Oct 9, 2008 from National Geographic News: Heavy Metal-Eating "Superworms" Unearthed in U.K. Newly evolved "superworms" that feast on toxic waste could help cleanse polluted industrial land, a new study says. These hardcore heavy metal fans, unearthed at disused mining sites in England and Wales, devour lead, zinc, arsenic, and copper. The earthworms excrete a slightly different version of the metals, making them easier for plants to suck up. Harvesting the plants would leave cleaner soil behind. ... Plus... think what great bait these superworms will make. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Sep 24, 2008 from Environmental Health News: Northeastern, West Coast women have high mercury levels Women in the Northeast are contaminated with the highest concentrations of mercury in the United States, with one of every five exceeding levels considered safe for fetuses, according to a new national study... Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that accumulates in fish and seafood. When babies are exposed to high concentrations of mercury in the womb, their brains may develop abnormally, impairing learning abilities and reducing IQ. ... And if mom is on the cellphone complaining to the EPA, that's even worse for the fetus. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Aug 30, 2008 from NaturalNews.com: Broken Compact Fluorescent Lights Release Mercury Into the Air: Over 100 Times the EPA Limit "Compact fluorescent light bulbs can release dangerous amounts of mercury into the air when they break and must be disposed of very carefully, according to a report by the state of Maine. Compact fluorescent bulbs, which consume only about a quarter as much energy as traditional incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer, all use mercury to produce light." ... It seemed like a good idea. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Aug 25, 2008 from University of New South Wales, via EurekAlert: Heavy metal link to mutations, low growth and fertility among crustaceans in Sydney Harbor tributary Heavy metal pollutants are linked to genetic mutations, stunted growth and declining fertility among small crustaceans in the Parramatta River, the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, new research shows. The finding adds to mounting evidence that toxic sediments and seaweeds in Sydney Harbour are a deadly diet for many sea creatures.... Earlier this year, UNSW scientists revealed that copper-contaminated seaweeds in Sydney Harbour were killing 75 percent of the offspring of small crustaceans that feed on a common brown seaweed. ... Golly! Who would have imagined that toxic sediment could affect sea life? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Aug 22, 2008 from New Scientist: Penguins dumping arsenic in Antarctica "Penguin guano isn't usually considered an environmental hazard. Yet, according to new research, it is the main source of arsenic accumulation in Antarctic soil. Zhouqing Xie of the Institute of Polar Environment at the University of Science and Technology of China and colleagues looked at how much arsenic was found in the droppings of three bird species and two seal species that live on Ardley Island, off the Antarctic peninsular. The droppings of the gentoo penguin contained far more than those of the other species - nearly twice as much as the droppings of the southern giant petrel and up to three times more than the local seals." ... Just don't step in it with your happy feet! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 19, 2008 from Indiana University, via EurekAlert: Chronic lead poisoning from urban soils While acute lead poisoning from toys and direct ingestion of interior paint has received more publicity, these cases account for only a portion of children with lead poisoning. Many health officials are increasingly concerned with chronic lead poisoning, which occurs at lower levels of lead in the blood and are harder to diagnose. Babies and young children may develop chronic lead poisoning when playing in dirt yards or playgrounds or in areas with blowing dry soil tainted with the lead, which is ubiquitous in older urban areas.... As their neurons develop, the nervous system tries to use lead in place of calcium and the child's neural systems fail to form correctly. This impairs neural function leading to irreversibly decreased IQ and increased attention deficient issues. ... I dont beleeve led is making us stoopid. do you. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Aug 13, 2008 from Blue Ridge Times-News: Files Show Governor Intervened With Court regarding DuPont Judgment When Gov. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia filed a friend-of-the-court brief in June arguing that the State Supreme Court should review a $382 million judgment against the DuPont Company, he said he was not taking sides, but acting in the interest of due process. Documents from the governor's office, however, show that Mr. Manchin had consulted with the company before filing the brief, and DuPont officials say the governor even asked them to provide him with a draft brief. The case involves thousands of residents in and around Spelter, W.Va., where DuPont operated a zinc-smelting plant. Last October, a jury in Harrison County ruled that DuPont deliberately endangered those residents by dumping toxic arsenic, cadmium and lead at the plant... The revelations of Mr. Manchin's involvement in the DuPont case come against a backdrop of larger concerns raised recently about the independence of the state's legal system. In the last year, two Supreme Court justices have come under scrutiny for ties to company executives that had cases pending before the court. ... Corruption, graft, corporate favoritism: It ain't just India. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Aug 11, 2008 from AP, via the Munster Times (Indiana): Researchers study mercury in the Great Salt Lake [F]or reasons scientists cannot explain, [the Great Salt Lake] is heavily laden with toxic mercury.... Three years ago, in an alarming finding, U.S. Geological Survey tests showed the lake had some of the highest mercury readings ever recorded in a body of water in the United States.... Each year, more than 9 million birds stop by, many on their annual treks between Canada or South America and parts between, making the Great Salt Lake "sort of the Delta airplane hub of the West in terms of migration," Aldrich said. ... Guess that Great Salt Lake Waterpark is out, then. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jul 25, 2008 from Natural News: Chemical Causes of Diabetes: Overeating Is Not the Only Problem Medical science has discovered how sensitive the insulin receptor sites are to chemical poisoning. Metals such as cadmium, mercury, arsenic, lead, fluoride and possibly aluminum may play a role in the actual destruction of beta cells through stimulating an auto-immune reaction to them after they have bonded to these cells in the pancreas. ... Great -- gimme another piece of pie. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jul 24, 2008 from Albany Times-Union: Mercury release wasn't stopped Federal environmental officials failed to stop cement plants from releasing unsafe levels of toxic mercury despite repeatedly being sued by environmentalists for disobeying federal law, according to report issued Wednesday. Such lawsuits led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reveal this year that cement plants sent nearly 23,000 pounds of mercury into the air nationwide -- more than double what the agency had reported just two years earlier.... Mercury that drifts back to earth enters the food chain mostly through water.... One-seventieth of a teaspoon of mercury is enough to taint a 25-acre lake. ... What's EPA stand for? Perhaps Environmental Procrastination Agency? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 22, 2008 from Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, via EurekAlert: Study reveals air pollution is causing widespread and serious impacts to ecosystems [A]ir pollution is degrading every major ecosystem type in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic United States.... "Deposited pollutants have tangible human impacts. Mercury contamination results in fish that are unsafe to eat. Acidification kills fish and strips nutrients from soils. Excess nitrogen pollutes estuaries, to the detriment of coastal fisheries. And ground-level ozone reduces plant growth, a threat to forestry and agriculture." ... Take a deep breath... again... again... ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 15, 2008 from Columbia University, via EurekAlert: Closing a coal-burning power plant leads to improved cognitive development in children Closing coal-fired power plants can have a direct, positive impact on children's cognitive development and health... The study allowed researchers to track and compare the development of two groups of children born in Tongliang, a city in China's Chongqing Municipality -- one in utero while a coal-fired power plant was operating in the city and one in utero after the Chinese government had closed the plant. Among the first group of children, prenatal exposure to coal-burning emissions was associated with significantly lower average developmental scores and reduced motor development at age two. In the second unexposed group, these adverse effects were no longer observed; and the frequency of delayed motor developmental was significantly reduced. ... That might explain why we all seem to be getting stupider and stupider. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jul 12, 2008 from KOMO News: Increasingly popular caviar raises health concerns "...As demand for paddlefish caviar has grown, health officials have become as uneasy ... about a variety of toxins found in the eggs, including mercury, chlordane and cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. But advocates say the level of contaminants is below federal safety standards and that most consumers don't eat enough of it to suffer any ill effects... Washington chef and restaurant owner Nora Pouillon said she doesn't serve paddlefish caviar. "I can't with a clear conscience poison my customers," she said. ... Boy, let's just hope all chefs feel like that. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jul 7, 2008 from NineMSN (Australia): Yarra River fish deaths worry protesters The dredging of millions of tonnes of toxic sludge from Melbourne's Yarra River should stop until an investigation determines why fish are dying, protesters say.... "We're talking about exactly the same area and this is where they're dredging up that black toxic stuff which is full of heavy metals and who knows what else".... Almost three million cubic metres of toxic silt is being dredged from the Yarra River area and deposited in a containment "bund" in Port Phillip Bay as part of a $1 billion project to make way for larger ships. ... Can't stop the march of progress, can we? ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jul 6, 2008 from KTLA (California): Fireworks Leave Tons of Pollutants For Months When the rockets and the bombs burst in the air tonight, spectators will experience more than a spectacular show celebrating America's birthday. When their blends of black powder, metals, oxidizers, fuels and other toxic ingredients are ignited, traces wind up in the environment, often spreading long distances and lasting for days, even months. Although pyrotechnic experts are developing environmentally friendly fireworks, Fourth of July revelers this year will be watching essentially the same high-polluting technology that their grandparents experienced decades ago. ... Those rockets' red glare just keep glaring. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jun 28, 2008 from Brown University, via EurekAlert: Brown Researchers Create Mercury-Absorbent Container Linings for Broken CFLs Each [compact fluorescent lamp (CFL)] contains a small amount (3 to 5 milligrams) of mercury, a neurotoxin that can be released as vapor when a bulb is broken. The gas can pose a minor risk to certain groups, such as infants, small children and pregnant women.... The team has created a prototype � a mercury-capturing lining attached to the inside of store-bought CFL packaging. The packaging can be placed over the area where a bulb has been broken to absorb the mercury vapor emanating from the spill, or it can capture the mercury of a bulb broken in the box. The researchers also have created a specially designed lining for plastic bags that soaks up the mercury left over from the CFL shards that are thrown away. ... We are beginning to see the light. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jun 26, 2008 from ABC News: U.N.: Toxic Waste Exports on the Rise Many poor countries accept toxic waste from abroad, such as old computers, rusted ships and pesticides, in a shortsighted bid to lift themselves out of poverty, despite the dangers to human health and the environment, a U.N. rights official said Thursday.... "Is it worth the short term monetary gain? Is it worth people falling sick ... precious water sources contaminated permanently?" he asked. "I believe that we need to think of a better solution to generate income and development." ... The market forces say: Yes. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jun 20, 2008 from Bellevue Intelligencer (Canada): Electronics wasteland: 91,000 tonnes of electronic waste in Ontario each year Lead, flame retardants, mercury, cadmium, chromium, beryllium: many consumers would be surprised to learn that a desktop computer contains all of these potentially toxic substances. But ensuring your unwanted electronics are disposed of safely isn't always an easy task.... This means obsolete and unwanted electronics -- and all the associated toxic substances -- often end up in the dump for lack of an easy alternative. ... All of 12 million people in Ontario. That's about, oh, 2/3 of greater NYC.. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jun 18, 2008 from Intelligencer-Journal, via RedOrbit: Old Landfill Gunk Fouls Trail At Park ... A vegetation-free area extends for about 25 feet across the embankment... [The sign lists] a host of pollutants that might be present at various levels, including iron, nickel, mercury, zinc, arsenic, chloroethane and benzene... Jim Warner, executive director of the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority, said leachates are an old story with old landfills. There were no environmental safeguards, he said. Still, he noted, over many years, the sites do tend to flush themselves clean. ... Flush themselves clean to where, exactly? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jun 10, 2008 from AFP, via Tehran Times (Iran): Recycling boom adds to hazardous life of Cambodian children Cambodia's growing demand for recyclables -- from bottles and cans to cardboard -- has seen a sharp rise in the number of child scavengers trawling through the capital's waste heaps, many of them press-ganged into what advocates say is one of the world's most hazardous forms of labor.... "They use neither gloves nor shoes, they inhale toxic fumes, eat out of garbage bins," he said, listing ailments he sees every day, from headaches and infected wounds to diarrhea and hacking coughs. ... That sound you don't hear? That's the hammer of justice hitting the bell of commerce. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jun 8, 2008 from Detroit Free Press: Mercury fillings are now said to pose risk for some After years of asserting that mercury in fillings was safe, the Food and Drug Administration now says it may be harmful to pregnant women, children, fetuses and people who are sensitive to mercury exposure.... The American Dental Association said the settlement "in no way changes the federal agency's approach to or position on dental amalgam." Amalgam is "a safe, affordable and durable material that has been used in the teeth of more than 100 million Americans," the ADA said in a statement. ... Maybe they should just simplify that list to "anyone with teeth." ApocaDoc permalink Fri, May 30, 2008 from Washington Post (US): Lead Exposure in Childhood Linked to Criminal Behavior Later A study in the May 27 issue of PLoS Medicine is the first empirical evidence that elevated blood lead levels, both in the pregnant mother and in the child, are associated with criminal behavior in young adulthood. "I never would have thought that we would be seeing these effects into the later 20s," said study co-author Kim Dietrich, a professor of environmental health at the University of Cincinnati. "I'm actually quite astounded and quite worried about this. Although lead levels have been going down in this country, a large proportion of the population now in their 20s and 30s had blood levels in this neurotoxic range." ... I wonder what other heavy metals might do -- mercury, cadmium, and the like. Y'know, the stuff we spew out of coal-fired power plants all day long. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, May 8, 2008 from Environmental Science and Technology: Metal pollution is toxic for endangered eels "One of the world's most bizarre creatures is vanishing. Freshwater eel populations began crashing worldwide in the 1980s. The decline has been rapid, and scientists think eels are probably succumbing to a variety of ills, including overfishing, habitat loss, pollution, and eel-chewing hydropower turbines." ... The wh/eels are coming off this species. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, May 4, 2008 from The Baltimore Sun: Marshes produce mercury hazard "...As Maryland and other states look to build thousands of acres of wetlands to fight global warming, the research has significant implications. More wetlands would absorb more carbon dioxide, but they also could make mercury health hazards worse." ... These days, not even the earth itself is on the earth's side. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Apr 20, 2008 from Science Daily (US): Mercury In River Moves Into Terrestrial Food Chain Through Spiders Fed To Baby Birds Songbirds feeding near the contaminated South River are showing high levels of mercury, even though they aren't eating food from the river itself, according to a paper published by William and Mary researchers in the journal Science.... one of the first, if not the first, to offer scientific documentation of the infiltration of mercury from a contaminated body of water into a purely terrestrial ecosystem. "In bodies of water affected by mercury, it's always been assumed that only birds or wildlife that ate fish would be in danger," said Cristol, an associate professor in William and Mary's Department of Biology. "But we�ve now opened up the possibility that mercury levels could be very high in the surrounding terrestrial habitat, as well." ... Drat, no more spider-eating spiders for me. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Apr 5, 2008 from The Free Lance-Star: Tons of toxic substances released by area industry, military bases Across the state, more than 400 entities filed reports based on their size and amounts of toxic materials released. The 2006 figures are the latest information available.... The toxic materials are among 650 on a federal list [of persistent bioaccumulative toxics, such as lead, mercury and dioxin-like compounds,] that can cause cancer or other adverse health effects at significant concentration levels beyond the facility boundaries, cause cancer in humans or harm the environment if found in large quantities.... There are no imminent health threats present in the report, which DEQ officials say is useful to communities, industry and regulators. ... Nothing imminent, since those kinds of toxins gradually accumulate in nature, get passed from prey to predator, and slowly screw life up... ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Apr 2, 2008 from Science Daily (US): Elevated Concentrations Of Toxic Metals In China Ming H. Wong and colleagues collected dust samples from roads adjacent to e-waste processing workshops in Guiya, China, to find that lead levels were 330 and 371 times higher than non e-waste sites located 5 miles and 19 miles away. Copper levels were 106 and 155 times higher. "Currently, there are no guidelines or regulations for heavy metals in dust. It is hoped that the results can serve as a case study for similar e-waste activities in countries such as Africa, India and Vietnam where e-waste is becoming a growing problem, so that the same mistakes could be prevented." ... Yes, it's clear that we learn from our mistakes so very well. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Mar 8, 2008 from Wildlife Conservation Society: Mercury Threatens Next Generation Of Loons "A long-term study by the Wildlife Conservation Society, the BioDiversity Research Institute, and other organizations has found and confirmed that environmental mercury -- much of which comes from human-generated emissions -- is impacting both the health and reproductive success of common loons in the Northeast." ... I feel a new idiom emerging ... "as endangered as a loon." ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Dec 14, 2007 from The Hindu (India), Nov 21, 2007: Urbanisation causing wetland depletion "Experts found that the pollution of wetland ecosystems in the State was considerably high in Vembanad-Kol backwater system following various types of pollution in the upstream areas of the Pampa, Achenkovil and Periyar rivers. Also, salinity intrusion into rivers due to low water level in the summer months makes it unfit for drinking and other uses like irrigation. Heavy metal concentration was observed during the pre-monsoon months. The high metal concentration, observed in Kochi harbour area during the pre-monsoon season, was also attributed to the intrusion of high saline waters and precipitation of particulate matter." ... "... on the verge of total degradation." That term ['total degradation'] was not defined, so we must disregard it. ApocaDoc permalink Copyright 2009 The Apocadocs.com