Biodiversity loss ranks with climate change and pollution in terms of impacts to environment

A recent study published by an international research team working at UC Santa Barbara's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) has found that loss of biodiversity impacts the environment as significantly as climate change and pollution. The study, titled, "A global synthesis reveals biodiversity loss as a major driver of ecosystem change," was published May 2 in the journal Nature.

"For the past 15 years, ecologists have built a rich understanding of the consequences of humans driving species extinct. What we didn't know before this paper is whether those impacts of species loss rank up there with those from the major drivers of environmental change," said Jarrett Byrnes, a postdoctoral fellow with NCEAS.

Led by Western Washington University biologist David Hooper, the scientists, including those from institutions in the U.S., Canada, and Sweden, examined the effects of various environmental stressors on plant growth and decomposition, two crucial processes in any ecosystem. With data synthesized from almost 200 published studies, they measured the rate of species loss in different ecosystems, and found that the greater the plant species loss, the higher the negative impact on plant growth. The effects of biodiversity loss on biomass were similar to the effects from other environmental stressors, including global warming and pollution.

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http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-05/uoc--blr050912.php

Roundup Linked to Animal Shape Changes

The world’s most popular weed killer can induce morphological changes in vertebrate animals, U.S. biologists studying its effect on amphibians say. University of Pittsburgh researchers have found that the weed killer Roundup, in sub-lethal and environmentally relevant concentrations, causes two species of amphibians to change their shape by interfering with the hormones of tadpoles and potentially many other animals.

The study, New effects of Roundup on amphibians: Predators reduce herbicide mortality; herbicides induce antipredator morphology is the first to show that a pesticide can induce morphological changes in a vertebrate animal, biological sciences Professor Rick Relyea, PhD, said in a university release. The study was undertaken using simple created wetlands and introducing tadpoles from three species of amphibians—the leopard frog, American toad and wood frogs. After three weeks, the tadpoles were examined. The impact of Roundup on the shape of tadpole tails was most noticeable in both the wood frog and leopard frog tadpoles.

According to the study, “In wood frog and leopard frog tadpoles, Roundup induced relatively deeper tails in the same direction and of the same magnitude as the adaptive changes induced by dragonfly cues… [T]his is the first study to show that a pesticide can induce morphological changes in a vertebrate. Moreover, the data suggest that the herbicide might be activating the tadpoles’ developmental pathways used for antipredator responses. Collectively, these discoveries suggest that the world’s most widely applied herbicide may have much further-reaching effects on nontarget species than previous considered.”

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http://ecowatch.org/2012/roundup-linked-to-animal-shape-changes/

Non-Stick Coatings—Chemical Linked to Cancer Found in 99 Percent of Americans

An independent scientific panel approved by the DuPont company as part of a class action lawsuit has linked an industrial chemical known as C-8 or PFOA to kidney and testicular cancer in humans.

“Widespread pollution by PFOA should be a wake-up call that our chemical regulation system is severely broken,” said Olga V. Naidenko, Ph.D., a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group (EWG). “It is particularly urgent for the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a legal limit for drinking water pollution by PFOA, which is currently unregulated and never should have come to market.”

EWG has campaigned for nine years to curb the use of PFOA, a toxic perfluorinated chemical whose full name is perfluorooctanoic acid, and to impose a strict cap on its presence in drinking water. As well, EWG has advocated reforms to the federal Toxic Substances Control Act that would require pre-market safety testing of all chemicals.

Emissions of PFOA, once manufactured by DuPont to produce non-stick coatings, have polluted the water of at least nine states and the District of Columbia. As a result of widespread pollution, PFOA and related chemicals are now found in the bodies of more than 99 percent of Americans. Pollution has been particularly pronounced around Parkersburg, W.Va., where a DuPont plant emitted PFOA into the air and Ohio River from the 1950s until recently. Emissions from the plant have been largely eliminated over the past several years under a phase-out agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency and DuPont.

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http://ecowatch.org/2012/chemical-linked-to-cancer-found-in-99-percent-of-americans/

Pesticide exposure linked to brain changes: study

When pregnant women are exposed to moderate levels of a common pesticide, their children may experience lasting changes in brain structure linked to lower intelligence, a US study said Monday.

The study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examined New York City pregnant mothers who were tested for exposure to chlorpyrifos, or CPF, which is widely used for pest control in farms and public spaces.

The women in the study, which included 369 subjects total, took part prior to 2001 when CPF was banned from household use in the United States, though the chemical continues to be used worldwide in agriculture.

Researchers compared 20 children -- age five to 11 -- whose mothers tested highest for levels of CPF and found "significant abnormalities" in brain structure compared to 20 children whose mothers showed lower exposures.

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http://www.seeddaily.com/reports/Pesticide_exposure_linked_to_brain_changes_study_999.html

Forty-Nine Coal Plants Acknowledge Groundwater Contamination

At least 49 power plants have acknowledged groundwater contamination at levels that exceed federal or state standards, according to data submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Water and obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). At least 28 of those have come to light only recently, including five in West Virginia, three in Iowa, North Carolina, and Texas, and two each in Colorado and South Carolina (see analysis).

Plants reported exceeding federal or state groundwater standards for at least multiple pollutants that are subject to Safe Drinking Water Act or federal Health Advisory standards, including:

• Arsenic (a potent carcinogen) at no fewer than 22 plants
• Manganese (a metal that can damage the nervous system in high concentrations) at 22
• Boron (a pollutant that can cause damage to the stomach, intestines, liver, kidney and brain when ingested in large amounts) at 12
• Selenium (a toxic pollutant that causes adverse health effects at high exposures) at 13
• Cadmium (a toxic pollutant that can damage the kidneys, lungs, and bones) at 10

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http://ecowatch.org/2012/forty-nine-coal-plants-acknowledge-groundwater-contamination/

Consumers Ingesting Mystery Meat Treated with Poisonous Gas

As a method of passing off decayed meat as fresh, meat industries in many countries are treating meat with highly toxic gas. In fact, 70 percent of all beef and chicken within the United States and Canada are subject to the treatment of the poisonous gas known as carbon monoxide. Add this knowledge to the recently exposed ammonia-tainted ‘pink slime’ used in meat being served to millions of people and schoolchildren, and you may be reluctant to ever eat meat again.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a toxic colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas which essentially replaces oxygen in the blood. When individuals are exposed to higher levels of CO, it begins to cause detrimental effects after binding to a molecule in the blood that normally carries oxygen, known as hemoglobin. Lower levels of exposure results in headaches, confusion, fatigue, and nausea, while higher levels of exposure could result in unconsciousness, death, or long-term negative neurological effects.

In order for meat to stay fresh, it must be below a certain temperature before being consumed. Even a few degrees above the recommended temperature can result in bacterial growth and hastened spoilage. In addition, grocery retailers face a challenge in knowing the actual temperature of the meat since UV radiation from the display case penetrates the packaging. As a solution, the meat industry decided to use utilize carbon monoxide for atmospheric packaging to extend shelf life. It is also for this reason that meat exhibits a bright red color, even when it has spoiled.

Read More:

http://naturalsociety.com/consumers-ingesting-mystery-meat-treated-with-poisonous-gas/#ixzz1pqcvnQvL

Eric Sorensen - Variety of toxicants can harm subsequent generations

A Washington State University researcher has demonstrated that a variety of environmental toxicants can have negative effects on not just an exposed animal but the next three generations of its offspring.

The animal's DNA sequence remains unchanged, but the compounds change the way genes turn on and off - the epigenetic effect studied at length by WSU molecular biologist Michael Skinner and expanded on in the current issue of the online journal PLoS ONE.

While Skinner's earlier research has shown similar effects from a pesticide and fungicide, this is the first to show a greater variety of toxicants - including jet fuel, dioxin, plastics and the pesticides DEET and permethrin - promoting epigenetic disease across generations.

"We didn't expect them all to have transgenerational effects, but all of them did," Skinner told the technology website Gizmodo. "I thought hydrocarbon would be negative but it was positive too."

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http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Variety_of_toxicants_can_harm_subsequent_generations_999.html

Dr. Arun Shrivastava - Depleted Uranium Contamination: A Crime against Humanity

This article is part of a longer essay on Depleted Uranium weapons, nuclear reactors and their environmental health impacts. 

In this article the long term consequences of radiation contamination from unilateral aggression of the US and NATO countries on South and West Asia are discussed. Afpak region is being bombed daily and the cold blooded murder of nine kids out of the seventeen killed is just a small blip when billions are done in.

The world needs a public trial of political leaders for war crimes and genocide. 

Depleted Uranium or DU [1] encased bombs that have been used since 1991 by US and NATO forces knowing well that the use of DU weapons is illegal being weapons of mass destruction [WMD] and amounts to War Crimes. These weapons were used in Gulf War 1 against Iraq, then in the Balkans and later, after 9/11 events, in Afghanistan, Iraq, North Africa, Libya and now being used in Drone bombings in Pakistan.

“When 20 years ago I stated at the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro that a species was in danger of extinction, I had fewer reasons than today for warning about a danger that I was seeing perhaps 100 years away.” Fidel Castro Ruz - March 21, 2012

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http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29974

Matthew Stein - Four Hundred Chernobyls: Solar Flares, Electromagnetic Pulses and Nuclear Armageddon

There are nearly 450 nuclear reactors in the world, with hundreds more being planned or under construction. There are 104 of these reactors in the United States and 195 in Europe. Imagine what havoc it would wreak on our civilization and the planet's ecosystems if we were to suddenly witness not just one or two nuclear meltdowns, but 400 or more! How likely is it that our world might experience an event that could ultimately cause hundreds of reactors to fail and melt down at approximately the same time? I venture to say that, unless we take significant protective measures, this apocalyptic scenario is not only possible, but probable.

Consider the ongoing problems caused by three reactor core meltdowns, explosions and breached containment vessels at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi facility and the subsequent health and environmental issues. Consider the millions of innocent victims who have already died or continue to suffer from horrific radiation-related health problems ("Chernobyl AIDS," epidemic cancers, chronic fatigue, etcetera) resulting from the Chernobyl reactor explosions, fires and fallout. If just two serious nuclear disasters, spaced 25 years apart, could cause such horrendous environmental catastrophes, it is hard to imagine how we could ever hope to recover from hundreds of similar nuclear incidents occurring simultaneously across the planet. Since more than one-third of all Americans live within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant, this is a serious issue that should be given top priority.[1]

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http://truth-out.org/news/item/7301-400-chernobyls-solar-flares-electromagnetic-pulses-and-nuclear-armageddon

EPA Finds Water Safe to Drink Despite Explosive Levels of Methane and Other Toxins

In the middle of an investigation into water contamination caused by natural gas drilling, with only partial results from less than 20 percent of households being investigated, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Region 3 office issued a press release on March 15 implying that Dimock, Pa.’s water has been given a clean bill of health. In the same statement to the press, EPA admitted that several families still have arsenic and methane in their water, but the news headlines are already proclaiming that the water in Dimock is safe.

Independent testing has found that 11 Dimock families’ water is contaminated with explosive levels of methane, as well as heavy metals, radioactive material and fracking chemicals like ethylene glycol—commonly known as antifreeze. Would partial, preliminary test results convince you that Dimock’s water was safe for your children to drink?

This mismanagement of the crisis in Dimock is just one of a long list of failures to protect citizens from the hazards of gas drilling. And the circumstances of Region 3’s press release raise more questions than answers:

Read More:

http://ecowatch.org/2012/epa-finds-water-safe-to-drink-despite-explose-levels-of-methane-and-other-toxins/