Tag: chemicals
Intersex Fish Found In 3 Pennsylvania River Basins

Intersex Fish Found In 3 Pennsylvania River Basins

By Maya Srikrishnan, Los Angeles Times

Male fish carrying eggs — intersex fish — have been found in Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna, Delaware, and Ohio river basins, a sign that the water may be tainted with chemicals, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The research found that two fish species, smallmouth bass and white sucker, were exhibiting the effects of exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Intersex characteristics caused by hormones and hormone-mimicking compounds include immature eggs in male fish, the USGS said.

“The sources of estrogenic chemicals are most likely complex mixtures from both agricultural sources, such as animal wastes, pesticides, and herbicides, and human sources from wastewater treatment plant effluent and other sewage discharges,” Vicki Blazer, a research fish biologist and lead author of a study, said in a statement.

Blazer told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday that any of these chemicals could affect humans, particularly those that come from human excretion and have hormones from things such as birth control. However, she said, the real danger for the fish is that they spend all of their time in the water and are continuously saturated in them.

The fish had to have been born with these defects, she said.

Estrogenic chemicals disrupt the endocrine system, which regulates the release of hormones like estrogen and testosterone. This interferes with the fish’s ability to reproduce.

Blazer and colleagues collected fish from 16 sites in the Susquehanna, Delaware, and Ohio river basins. Intersex males were found at every site where smallmouth bass were collected, and the severity of their condition was generally worse in places just downstream from wastewater treatment plants, the researchers found.

Bass seem to be especially prone to becoming intersex when exposed to estrogenic compounds, Blazer and colleagues said in the study.

The researchers also sampled white suckers and redhorse suckers. Redhorse suckers didn’t have any intersex characteristics, but the team found an egg cell precursor, or stem cells that could potentially develop into eggs, in the blood of some white suckers.

The most common hormone found in water and soil samples was estrone, a potent endocrine-disrupting chemical often found in sewage from wastewater plants and the manure of animals such as cows, chickens, and pigs, the researchers said.

“We weren’t expecting the issue to be as widespread as it was,” Blazer said. “The number of fish affected and the severity was surprising.”

Northern Virginia Rep. James P. Moran (D), issued a statement and called the findings “troubling” and “yet another example of the adverse effects on water pollution in this country and another reminder that lawmakers need to take chemical waste regulation more seriously.”

“We need to be conscious of the substances flowing into our water sources,” Moran said. “Our rivers and the wildlife living there are among our country’s most precious resources. It’s a shame to see them deteriorated at the hands of irresponsible human behavior.”

Blazer said reducing the use of pharmaceutical drugs and personal care products, such as fragrances, could help with the issue. She also said upgrading wastewater plant technology and fencing rivers so animals, such as cows, won’t excrete directly into the water would help.

Photo via WikiCommons

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Study Lists Dangerous Chemicals Linked To Breast Cancer

Study Lists Dangerous Chemicals Linked To Breast Cancer

Washington (AFP) – Certain chemicals that are common in everyday life have been shown to cause breast cancer in lab rats and are likely to do the same in women, U.S. researchers said Monday.

The paper in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives lists 17 chemicals to avoid and offers women advice on how to minimize their exposure.

They include chemicals in gasoline, diesel and other vehicle exhaust, flame retardants, stain-resistant textiles, paint removers, and disinfection byproducts in drinking water.

“The study provides a road map for breast cancer prevention by identifying high-priority chemicals that women are most commonly exposed to and demonstrates how to measure exposure,” said study author Ruthann Rudel, research director of the Silent Spring Institute.

“This information will guide efforts to reduce exposure to chemicals linked to breast cancer, and help researchers study how women are being affected,” she said.

Some of the biggest sources of mammary carcinogens in the environment are benzene and butadiene, which can come from vehicle exhaust, lawn equipment, tobacco smoke and charred food.

Other concerns are cleaning solvents like methylene chloride, pharmaceuticals used in hormone replacement therapy, some flame retardants, chemicals in stain-resistant textiles and nonstick coatings, and styrene which comes from tobacco smoke and is also used to make Styrofoam, the study said.

Carcinogens can also be found in drinking water, researchers said.

“Every woman in America has been exposed to chemicals that may increase her risk of getting breast cancer,” said co-author Julia Brody. “Unfortunately, the link between toxic chemicals and breast cancer has largely been ignored. Reducing chemical exposures could save many, many women’s lives.”

Brody described the paper as the first to comprehensively list potential breast carcinogens and detail ways for experts to measure them in women’s blood and urine.

The study also recommends seven ways for women to avoid these chemicals:

– Limit exposure to exhaust from vehicles or generators, don’t idle your car, and use electric lawn mowers, leaf blowers and weed whackers instead of gas-powered ones.

– Use a ventilation fan while cooking and limit how much burned or charred food you eat.

– Do not buy furniture with polyurethane foam, or ask for furniture that has not been treated with flame retardants.

– Avoid stain-resistant rugs, furniture and fabrics.

– If you use a dry-cleaner, find one who does not use PERC (perchloroethylene) or other solvents. Ask for “wet cleaning.”

– Use a solid carbon block drinking water filter.

– Keep chemicals out of the house by taking off your shoes at the door, using a vacuum with a HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter, and cleaning with wet rags and mops.

The research was funded by the Avon Foundation. The Silent Spring Institute is a 20-year-old organization made up of scientists who focus on the environment and women’s health.

It is named after the best selling environmental book The Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, who died of breast cancer in 1964, two years after the book was published.

Dale Sandler, chief of epidemiology at the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, described the paper as a “terrific” resource for epidemiologists who study environmental causes of breast cancer.

“This paper is a thorough review of toxicology data and biomarkers relevant to breast cancer in humans,” he said.

AFP Photo/Philippe Huguen
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Study: Blacks, Latinos, Low-Income Live Closest To Dangerous Chemical Plants

Study: Blacks, Latinos, Low-Income Live Closest To Dangerous Chemical Plants

by David Halperin, Republic Report

new study released Thursday finds that the Americans who live near hazardous chemical industrial facilities are disproportionately African American or Latino, are more likely to live in poverty, and have lower incomes and education levels than the national average.  These trends accelerate rapidly as one gets closer to the “fenceline” areas nearest dangerous chemical plants.

More than 134 million people live in danger zones created by about 3,400 U.S. facilities that manufacture chemicals, produce paper, treat water, generate electric power, refine petroleum, or otherwise use or store hazardous materials. Millions more people work in or visit these areas.

The study examined the people living close to chemical plants and found:

  • The poverty rate for the fenceline zones is 50 percent higher than for the U.S. as a whole.
  • Average household incomes in the fenceline zones are 22 percent below the national average.
  • The percentage of adults in the fenceline zones with less than a high school degree is 46 percent greater than for the U.S. as a whole.
  • The percentage of Blacks in the fenceline zones is 75 percent greater than for the U.S. as a whole.
  • The percentage of Latinos in the fenceline zones is 60 percent greater than for the U.S. as a whole.

The study was produced by The Environmental Justice and Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform, a group of organizations connected to the Coalition for Chemical Safety (in which I participate as an advisor to Greenpeace).

In the wake of the April 2103 West, Texas, chemical plant explosion, which killed 15 people and injured 160 more, President Obama issued an executive order directing federal agencies to improve the safety of our industrial chemical plants. The Obama administration is now conducting a review of these issues.

There are serious risks that today’s chemical plants could unleash a catastrophic accident, like the 1984 pesticide plant disaster at Bhopal, India, which caused 20,000 deaths. In an average year, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board reviews some 250 high-consequence chemical incidents involving death, injury, evacuation, or serious environmental or property damage.

There is also the possibility that terrorists could trigger a chemical plant attack in our country. In 2003, a government panel warned that chemical plants in the U.S. could be al Qaeda targets. Media investigations have highlighted weak or nonexistent security at these facilities, with gates unlocked and chemical tanks unguarded. As a senator, Barack Obama referred to chemical plants as “stationary weapons of mass destruction spread all across the country.”

For years, our coalition has  urged the government to take action to move chemical plants toward safer chemicals and processes. Now, Christine Todd Whitman, head of the EPA under President George W. Bush, and Lisa Jackson, who held the same job under President Obama, have each called for government to mandate safer chemicals.  But wealthy chemical companies, like the ones owned by the Koch brothers, and their lobbyists have long used campaign contributions as weapons to block reforms, and they are still doing so today. Again, it was Senator Obama who said it best: “We cannot allow chemical industry lobbyists to dictate the terms of this debate. We cannot allow our security to be hijacked” by special interests.

Today’s study defines this struggle: on the one hand, some of the wealthiest Americans, like the Koch brothers, pressing Washington to stop reforms to make chemical plants safer; and on the other, the poorest, least powerful people in society at greatest risk of harm or death from these facilities.

President Obama needs to make the right choice to protect all Americans and our national security.

This article originally appeared on Republic Report.

This article also appears on Huffington Post

Photo: Eric Allix Rogers via Flickr

Removal Of Syrian Chemical Weapons Almost 90 Percent Complete, Monitor Says

Removal Of Syrian Chemical Weapons Almost 90 Percent Complete, Monitor Says

By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times

BEIRUT — The Syrian government has shipped out almost 90 percent of its chemical weapons material, raising hopes that the war-ravaged nation can meet a Sunday deadline to comply with a disarmament accord, an international regulator said Tuesday.

The latest shipment on Tuesday to the Mediterranean port of Latakia means that 86.5 percent of the weapons material has been removed, according to a statement from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is overseeing destruction of Syria’s toxic chemical stockpile.

That amount includes 88.7 percent of the 700 metric tons of the most toxic, “priority 1” chemicals, among them mustard gas and precursor materials for the nerve agents sarin and VX.

“This latest consignment is encouraging,” Ahmet Uzumcu, director-general of the OPCW, said in a statement. “We hope that the remaining two or three consignments are delivered quickly.”

Upon arrival in Latakia, the chemicals are placed on cargo ships for removal, said Michael Luhan, an OPCW spokesman.

In a deal approved by the United Nations, Syrian President Bashar Assad agreed last year to surrender his nation’s decades-old chemical weapons arsenal to avert U.S. airstrikes, which had been threatened in response to poison gas attacks outside Damascus.

Washington and its allies blamed Assad’s forces for the Aug. 21, 2013, chemical strikes. Assad and Russia alleged that U.S.-backed rebels mounted the lethal assault in a covert bid to frame Damascus and spur U.S. strikes.

A U.N. investigation confirmed mass casualties from sarin gas but did not assign blame.

After Syria missed two earlier deadlines to turn over its toxic stockpiles, Washington accused Damascus of stalling.

Syria blamed the delay in part on rebel attacks targeting chemical convoys. Rebel rocket strikes on Latakia were meant to disrupt the process, the Syrian government charged.

Under a revised plan, Syria has promised to remove all of its chemical weapons material by April 27. In the last two weeks, Syria has shipped out six batches, “marking a significant acceleration in the pace of deliveries,” the OPCW said. Russia provided armored vehicles and other equipment to assist the chemical convoys, which sometimes traversed roads near contested zones where rebels were present.

The U.N. set June 30 as a deadline for destruction of the chemicals. But getting the toxic materials out of Syria amid a raging civil war has been a considerable obstacle.

“We continue to say that if the Syrians meet their deadline of April 27, that keeps us within striking distance of completing the destruction of the chemicals by mid-year,” Luhan, spokesman for the Hague-based OPCW, said in a telephone interview.

Various nations are participating in the complex effort to ship the chemical materials from Latakia for disposal outside of Syria. The most hazardous agents are to be neutralized at sea aboard a specially equipped U.S. ship, the MV Cape Ray.

Photo via AFP