Plastic debris in ocean may be greater than current estimates
“Almost every tow we did contained plastic regardless of the depth.”
So says Giora Proskurowski, an oceangrapher from the University of Washington, who recently commented on his findings from a 2010 North Atlantic expedition. During his trip, he and his team collected samples at the surface, plus an additional three or four depths down as far as 100 feet.
And on a more recent expedition in the Pacific Ocean, Proskurowski noticed something new: The water was littered with confetti-size pieces of plastic debris, until the moment the wind picked up and most of the particles disappeared.
The discovery that wind that was pushing the lightweight plastic particles below the surface meant that years of research that estimated the quantity of plastic debris in the world’s oceans was far below the true amount.
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Campbell’s Soup to stop adding BPA to its soup cans
Listening to consumers who have aired their concerns regarding the detrimental effects of the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA), the Campbell’s Soup company has decided to stop using the controversial chemical in the lining of its soup cans.
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MRSA Bacteria in Your Grocery Store’s Meat Products
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (MRSA), which can cause serious, life-threatening infections of the bloodstream, skin, lungs, and other organs, and is resistant to a number of antibiotics, has been found to be more prevalent in grocery store raw pork products than previously thought.
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Gulf of Mexico dead zone predicted to be the largest ever recorded due to Mississippi River flooding
The dead zone area in the Gulf of Mexico is forecasted to grow to the size of New Hampshire, approximately 8,500 to 9,421 square miles, due to major flooding on the Mississippi river this spring. If this happens, it will be the largest recorded dead (hypoxic) zone in the Gulf of Mexico since it was first measured in 1985, according to NOAA scientists.
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EarthTalk: Farm raised fish: Not necessarily free of mercury, PCBs or dioxin; and lead in reusable grocery bags
Dear EarthTalk: I thought “farm raised” was the way to go when buying fish, to avoid mercury contamination. But are there other concerns about farm raised that make some fish a poor choice for good health? What are the safest fish to buy and which should be avoided? And what about those frozen blocks of fish I get at Trader Joe’s? Are they safe to eat?
– Tim Jeffries, Springfield, MA
Mercury is a neurotoxin that settles into the ocean in large concentrations after we spew it out of industrial smokestacks when burning fossil fuels like coal and oil. It is then taken up by smaller sea life such as plankton and then spread up through the food chain as larger fish eat smaller ones. We humans then eat the mercury-laced seafood—wild salmon, tuna, swordfish and other fish—and breathe it in our air. Repeated exposure to mercury pollution can cause brain, kidney and developmental problems for people.
Farm-raised fish can still absorb mercury, since most
fish farms are located in the ocean, close to or
abutting the shoreline. They can also absorb PCBs and
dioxins, as the near-shore waters they occupy are the
first stop for run-off from land-based sources of
pollution. Pictured: A fish farm in Shanghai.
Photo credit: Ivan Walsh, courtesy Flickr.
Farm-raised fish may have somewhat less exposure to mercury than their wild free-foraging cousins because they are usually fed a controlled diet, often consisting of more grains and soy, a cheaper and more abundant source of calories, than fishmeal. But they can still absorb mercury, since most fish farms are themselves located in the ocean, just close to or abutting the shoreline.
Farmed fish can also absorb PCBs and dioxins, as the near-shore waters they occupy are the first stop for run-off from land-based sources of pollution. And the fact that their primary feed source comes from conventionally grown terrestrial crops means that their diets can include trace amounts of pesticides and herbicides as well. Also, most farmed fish are exposed to dose after dose of antibiotics to keep diseases and pests at bay in their crowded underwater pens, much in the way “factory farmed” land animals are drugged to help them cope with cramped, unsanitary conditions. In fact, studies have shown that farm-raised fish have more toxins overall than their wild-caught cousins, though exceptions of course do exist.
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EarthTalk: Cleaning up the dirtiest coal-fired power plants; and wolf protection in the Northern Rocky Mountains
– Frank Pearson, Wichita, KS
Our nation’s coal-fired power plants are increasingly being retrofitted with technologies to mitigate the output of various forms of pollution. But a number of bad apples do continue to cause more than their fair share of mercury emissions. This past March the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a leading non-profit, released a report showing that the top 25 emitters of mercury, a potent neurotoxin and a nasty by-product of coal-fired electricity generation, contribute only eight percent of the U.S. electric supply. At the same time, these power plants, which have failed to install readily available pollution controls already widely in use by other plants, account for nearly a third of all mercury emissions by the American electricity sector overall.
The Environmental Defense Fund reports that the top
25 emitters of mercury, a potent neurotoxin and a
nasty by-product of coal-fired electricity generation,
contribute only eight percent of the U.S. electric
supply but account for nearly a third of all mercury
emissions by the U.S. electricity sector overall.
Photo credit: Thinkstock
The report, “Mercury Alert: Cleaning up Coal Plants for Healthier Lives,” factors in emissions of mercury at power plants across the country in 2009. According to EDF, 20 of the top 25 mercury emitters are located within 50-100 miles of some of the largest metropolitan areas in the nation, including Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, St. Louis and Austin. EDF found that Texas produces the most pollution from coal-fired electricity generation of all the U.S. states. Besides listing the worst mercury polluters, the report also details recent cases of mercury contamination and fish consumption advisories across the country, as well as reported new installations of mercury controls and recently enacted state regulations driving their implementation.
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New discovery of green tea’s health benefits
One of green tea’s beneficial compounds has been found to increase the number of “regulatory T cells” that play a key role in immune function and suppression of autoimmune disease.
Green tea is known to have anti-inflammatory properties, boost immunity, and prevent cancer. Researchers who are currently studying its healing powers now believe this newly discovered mechanism — caused by the compound in green tea, a polyphenol called EGCG — is responsible for much of the tea leaves’ health benefits. While pharmaceutical drugs may provide some of the same benefits, the use of a natural substance such as green tea avoids toxicity issues associated with synthetic chemicals.
“This appears to be a natural, plant-derived compound that can affect the number of regulatory T cells, and in the process improve immune function,” said Emily Ho, a Linus Pauling Institute principal investigator and associate professor in the Oregon State University Department of Nutrition and Exercise Sciences.
“When fully understood, this could provide an easy and safe way to help control autoimmune problems and address various diseases,” Ho said.