Second Life Forums Archive - Environmental indicator....hmmm

Isis Becquerel

Ferine Strumpet

Join date: 1 Sep 2004

Posts: 971

12-21-2004 15:52

Maybe bans on smoking should be the least of govco's worries but this would require a thinking government:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041221/ap_on_sc/intersex_fish

SHARPSBURG, Md. - Male fish that are growing eggs have been found in the Potomac River near Sharpsburg, a sign that a little-understood type of pollution is spreading downstream from West Virginia, a federal scientist says.

The so-called intersex abnormality may be caused by pollutants from sewage plants, feedlots and factories that can interfere with animals' hormone systems, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

Nine male smallmouth bass taken from the Potomac near Sharpsburg, about 60 miles upstream from Washington, were found to have developed eggs inside their sex organs, said Vicki S. Blazer, a scientist overseeing the research for the U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites).

Authorities say the problems are likely related to a class of pollutants called endocrine disruptors, which short-circuit animals' natural systems of hormone chemical messages.

Officials are awaiting the results of water-quality testing that might point to a specific chemical behind the fish problems, Blazer said.

"It certainly indicates something's going on," Blazer said of the new findings in Maryland. "But what, we don't know."

The Potomac River is the main source of drinking water for the Washington metropolitan area and many upstream communities. It provides about 75 percent of the water supply to the 3.6 million residents of Washington and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs.

Blazer, who works at a federal fish lab in Leetown, W.Va., said she found the latest abnormalities last week while examining tissues from fish taken from the river near Sharpsburg.

The same symptoms had previously been found about 170 miles upstream, in the South Branch of the Potomac in Hardy County, W.Va. Blazer and other scientists discovered the problem there last year while investigating a rash of mass fish deaths.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service researchers are seeking money for a much larger study across the Potomac watershed.

Endocrine disruptors comprise a vast universe of pollutants capable of driving a hormone system haywire. Some are hormones themselves — such as human estrogen from women taking birth-control pills or animal hormones washed downstream with manure — that can pass through sewage plants untouched.

In Hardy County, officials were especially concerned about chicken waste from poultry farms.

Other endocrine disruptors are hormone "mimics" — industrial chemicals or factory byproducts which confuse the body because they are chemically similar to natural hormones.

These pollutants are often found in very low concentrations, so until recently no equipment could detect them. But the first nationwide survey, in 1999 and 2000, found hormones in about 37 percent of streams tested.

Many scientists are concerned that people, as well as other animals, might be affected. "It's not good news that there's something that feminizes male fish in your water," said Gina Solomon, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

But the Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) has not set standards for many of these pollutants. Because of this, many drinking-water plants make no special efforts to remove them.

Authorities in West Virginia are investigating whether there is a link to higher rates of certain cancers in people there.

A recent survey of cancer in Hardy County, where some residents get drinking water from the South Branch, found rates of cancer of the liver, gallbladder, ovaries and uterus that were higher than the state average. All four cancers can in some cases grow faster in the presence of estrogen or chemicals that mimic it, cancer experts said.

"It is at least theoretically possible that those two concepts are worth thinking about side-by-side," said Alan Ducatman, chairman of the Department of Community Medicine at West Virginia University.

___

On the Net:

U.S. Geological Survey: http://www.usgs.gov/

___

_____________________

One of the most fashionable notions of our times is that social problems like poverty and oppression breed wars. Most wars, however, are started by well-fed people with time on their hands to dream up half-baked ideologies or grandiose ambitions, and to nurse real or imagined grievances.
Thomas Sowell

As long as the bottle of wine costs more than 50 bucks, I'm not an alcoholic...even if I did drink 3 of them.

Chip Midnight

ate my baby!

Join date: 1 May 2003

Posts: 10,231

12-21-2004 16:03

Ack! Time to get new filters for my purifier. That's the water system my tap water comes from.

I just finished reading the sci-fi novel "Timescape" by Gregory Benford a few days ago. It's about scientists in the then fictional late 1990's (it was written in 1980) who desperately try to use tachyons to send morse code to scientists in the early 60's. The ecosystem of the Earth was in collapse due to unforseen consequences from chemical contamination of the oceans that set off an unstoppable chain reaction. Fantastic book, and frighteningly plausible.

_____________________

My other hobby:
www.live365.com/stations/chip_midnight

Echo Dragonfly

Surely You Jest

Join date: 22 Aug 2004

Posts: 325

12-21-2004 16:06

Oh god, now I'm gonna grow eggs!!!

_____________________

Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence.
Norman Podhoretz
......................
If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?

............................
Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?

Isis Becquerel

Ferine Strumpet

Join date: 1 Sep 2004

Posts: 971

12-21-2004 16:11

From: Echo Dragonfly

Oh god, now I'm gonna grow eggs!!!

If you do you could always inseminate them and create the perfect race

_____________________

One of the most fashionable notions of our times is that social problems like poverty and oppression breed wars. Most wars, however, are started by well-fed people with time on their hands to dream up half-baked ideologies or grandiose ambitions, and to nurse real or imagined grievances.
Thomas Sowell

As long as the bottle of wine costs more than 50 bucks, I'm not an alcoholic...even if I did drink 3 of them.

Echo Dragonfly

Surely You Jest

Join date: 22 Aug 2004

Posts: 325

12-21-2004 16:24

From: Isis Becquerel

If you do you could always inseminate them and create the perfect race

LMAO, Made me spew my coke all over the monitor. *looks for windex and a paper towel*

_____________________

Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence.
Norman Podhoretz
......................
If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?

............................
Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?

Lianne Marten

Cheese Baron

Join date: 6 May 2004

Posts: 2,192

12-21-2004 18:49

Too bad that those Brita filters don't work. The rate of water going through them from your sink isn't slow enough for them to catch everything. And some smaller contaminants can't be filtered at all...

The largest source of water contaminants comes from residential runoff. Pesticides, herbicides... things like Diazinon, which is unregulated by the EPA under the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations, and is an endocrine disruptor.

_____________________

Environmental indicator....hmmm
Isis Becquerel Ferine Strumpet Join date: 1 Sep 2004 Posts: 971	12-21-2004 15:52 Maybe bans on smoking should be the least of govco's worries but this would require a thinking government: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041221/ap_on_sc/intersex_fish SHARPSBURG, Md. - Male fish that are growing eggs have been found in the Potomac River near Sharpsburg, a sign that a little-understood type of pollution is spreading downstream from West Virginia, a federal scientist says. The so-called intersex abnormality may be caused by pollutants from sewage plants, feedlots and factories that can interfere with animals' hormone systems, The Washington Post reported Sunday. Nine male smallmouth bass taken from the Potomac near Sharpsburg, about 60 miles upstream from Washington, were found to have developed eggs inside their sex organs, said Vicki S. Blazer, a scientist overseeing the research for the U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites). Authorities say the problems are likely related to a class of pollutants called endocrine disruptors, which short-circuit animals' natural systems of hormone chemical messages. Officials are awaiting the results of water-quality testing that might point to a specific chemical behind the fish problems, Blazer said. "It certainly indicates something's going on," Blazer said of the new findings in Maryland. "But what, we don't know." The Potomac River is the main source of drinking water for the Washington metropolitan area and many upstream communities. It provides about 75 percent of the water supply to the 3.6 million residents of Washington and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs. Blazer, who works at a federal fish lab in Leetown, W.Va., said she found the latest abnormalities last week while examining tissues from fish taken from the river near Sharpsburg. The same symptoms had previously been found about 170 miles upstream, in the South Branch of the Potomac in Hardy County, W.Va. Blazer and other scientists discovered the problem there last year while investigating a rash of mass fish deaths. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service researchers are seeking money for a much larger study across the Potomac watershed. Endocrine disruptors comprise a vast universe of pollutants capable of driving a hormone system haywire. Some are hormones themselves — such as human estrogen from women taking birth-control pills or animal hormones washed downstream with manure — that can pass through sewage plants untouched. In Hardy County, officials were especially concerned about chicken waste from poultry farms. Other endocrine disruptors are hormone "mimics" — industrial chemicals or factory byproducts which confuse the body because they are chemically similar to natural hormones. These pollutants are often found in very low concentrations, so until recently no equipment could detect them. But the first nationwide survey, in 1999 and 2000, found hormones in about 37 percent of streams tested. Many scientists are concerned that people, as well as other animals, might be affected. "It's not good news that there's something that feminizes male fish in your water," said Gina Solomon, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. But the Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) has not set standards for many of these pollutants. Because of this, many drinking-water plants make no special efforts to remove them. Authorities in West Virginia are investigating whether there is a link to higher rates of certain cancers in people there. A recent survey of cancer in Hardy County, where some residents get drinking water from the South Branch, found rates of cancer of the liver, gallbladder, ovaries and uterus that were higher than the state average. All four cancers can in some cases grow faster in the presence of estrogen or chemicals that mimic it, cancer experts said. "It is at least theoretically possible that those two concepts are worth thinking about side-by-side," said Alan Ducatman, chairman of the Department of Community Medicine at West Virginia University. ___ On the Net: U.S. Geological Survey: http://www.usgs.gov/ ___ _____________________ One of the most fashionable notions of our times is that social problems like poverty and oppression breed wars. Most wars, however, are started by well-fed people with time on their hands to dream up half-baked ideologies or grandiose ambitions, and to nurse real or imagined grievances. Thomas Sowell As long as the bottle of wine costs more than 50 bucks, I'm not an alcoholic...even if I did drink 3 of them.
Chip Midnight ate my baby! Join date: 1 May 2003 Posts: 10,231	12-21-2004 16:03 Ack! Time to get new filters for my purifier. That's the water system my tap water comes from. I just finished reading the sci-fi novel "Timescape" by Gregory Benford a few days ago. It's about scientists in the then fictional late 1990's (it was written in 1980) who desperately try to use tachyons to send morse code to scientists in the early 60's. The ecosystem of the Earth was in collapse due to unforseen consequences from chemical contamination of the oceans that set off an unstoppable chain reaction. Fantastic book, and frighteningly plausible. _____________________ My other hobby: www.live365.com/stations/chip_midnight
Echo Dragonfly Surely You Jest Join date: 22 Aug 2004 Posts: 325	12-21-2004 16:06 Oh god, now I'm gonna grow eggs!!! _____________________ Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence. Norman Podhoretz ...................... If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests? ............................ Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?
Isis Becquerel Ferine Strumpet Join date: 1 Sep 2004 Posts: 971	12-21-2004 16:11 From: Echo Dragonfly Oh god, now I'm gonna grow eggs!!! If you do you could always inseminate them and create the perfect race _____________________ One of the most fashionable notions of our times is that social problems like poverty and oppression breed wars. Most wars, however, are started by well-fed people with time on their hands to dream up half-baked ideologies or grandiose ambitions, and to nurse real or imagined grievances. Thomas Sowell As long as the bottle of wine costs more than 50 bucks, I'm not an alcoholic...even if I did drink 3 of them.
Echo Dragonfly Surely You Jest Join date: 22 Aug 2004 Posts: 325	12-21-2004 16:24 From: Isis Becquerel If you do you could always inseminate them and create the perfect race LMAO, Made me spew my coke all over the monitor. looks for windex and a paper towel _____________________ Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence. Norman Podhoretz ...................... If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests? ............................ Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?
Lianne Marten Cheese Baron Join date: 6 May 2004 Posts: 2,192	12-21-2004 18:49 Too bad that those Brita filters don't work. The rate of water going through them from your sink isn't slow enough for them to catch everything. And some smaller contaminants can't be filtered at all... The largest source of water contaminants comes from residential runoff. Pesticides, herbicides... things like Diazinon, which is unregulated by the EPA under the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations, and is an endocrine disruptor. _____________________

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Environmental indicator....hmmm