Are the beverages you drink acidic?

The other day in class we discussed some of the issues surrounding pH and its effects on water.  Clearly, a slightly lower or higher pH in an environment can have huge effects on the natural world.  This fact got me to thinking about the liquids we consume on a daily basis, and whether or not the acidity of these beverages affects our bodies in harmful ways.  Although I could not find out this specific information, I did come across this interesting article and table with pH levels of different commercial drinks.  

According to the author, "alkalizing" your body is one of the best things you can do for your health!  Your body wants to have a pH of around 7.3, which is slightly alkaline.  Because your body is 70% water, it is very important to not only keep hydrated, but also to drink alkaline beverages.    

Check the table out! Does any of this surprise you?

See the full article here: http://www.justgoodenergy.com/2009/09/11/is-your-bottled-water-acidic/

Raiding the Bread Basket: Use and Abuse of the Mississippi River Basin

As a society, we always think about our carbon footprint, but what about our "water footprint"?  The Mississippi River basin and watershed in the U.S. is one of the most productive farming regions in the world: indeed, almost 40% of corn grown in the world comes from this area.  Also grown are soy, wheat, cotton, and others.  Think about how often you use these products. In the morning, you eat cereal made from midwestern corn, and you put on cotton clothes.  Your car is partly fueled by ethanol, and your dinner of chicken and rice is also from this area.  The problem is that pollution is affecting the water so bad, if current trends continue, the future looks grim.  

Phosphorous fertilizer costs next to nothing for farmers, but just one speck per gallon can cost society millions in lost recreational value and cleanup costs.  Rice in Arkansas has depleted the groundwater, dropping the local aquifer by  90ft.  A "dead zone" the size of Connecticut served as a study that found that oxygen-deprived female fish developed testes.  

Solutions to this pressing issue are not simple.  For example, if winter rye was planted after harvesting corn or soybeans, the rye would absorb nitrogen so it wouldn't leach into the soil and end up polluting the Gulf of Mexico.  When the rye is tilled, it would provide nitrogen for the soil.  But heavy nitrogen fertilizers are cheaper.  One man believes economic incentives need to kick in before changes are feasible.  What do you think?  

Also, check out this link to calculate your own water footprint: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/water-footprint-calculator/  

You can find the full article here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/01/120123-mississippi-river-basin/

Does Fracking Lead to Groundwater Contamination?

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the process of extracting natural grass from rock layers deep within the earth. According to a recent article, this process very commonly causes earthquakes and also may be linked to increasing groundwater contamination and air pollution. The 2010 documentary, Gasland,  illuminated many of the problems associated with the fracking process and its effect on groundwater. Near the end of the trailer for the documentary (at 2:23), you can even see a man set his tap water on fire! An increase in air pollution may also be seen due to more methane being released into the environment. Although fracking has been a very successful method to obtain natural gas and oil from the Earth, I feel that the negative effects that this process may have on the environment and human health must be reconsidered, despite the claims made from industries that fracking has no adverse affects.

Methane Contamination of Groundwater

In Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, she discussed the negative impacts of pesticides leaching into groundwater.  The negative impacts were mainly seen by their effects on biological systems in the 1960s.  However, currently there is a rising controversy lately over the natural gas industry.  This article describes the recent litigation arising from claims that "fracking" or the extraction of natural gas has led to an increase in methane contamination of groundwater.  As this groundwater is used for drinking, and other daily needs, the controversy has risen over whether this can be proven for a fact or not.

Is Sewage Water the New Solution?

This week in Silent Spring we read about the harmful effects of pesticides in water and how this is creating a shortage of clean water for use. According to some people, one way to try solve this water shortage is to recycle waste water from such places like sinks, showers, and toilets. Recycling these waste waters is believed to be one of the better options available right now because it is cheaper than some other possibilities. Obviously one main issue is that, even though the recycled water would clean enough to drink, people do not want to use recycled waste water, whether it is to water their plants or to take a shower in.

Chemical Analysis of Sediments in Tecolote Canyon

Starting in the beginning of the World War Two period, many organochlorine pesticides were created to replace inorganic pesticides to reduce the amount of pesticide sprayed and to target specific pests as the specificity of these new pesticides increased.  Thus, as less total pesticide was sprayed, it was thought that these organochlorine pesticides would have a lesser negative on the environment and ecological systems as a whole.  Here is just one example of how these new organochlorine pesticides were used.  However, these organochlorine pesticides were found to have high persistence levels and would take extremely long to breakdown.  While these pesticides remained in the environment they continued to induce negative effects to humans and the environment, such as being known carcinogens, contaminating ground water, and bioaccumulating to toxic levels in the fatty tissues of organisms.  Some examples of these persistent organochlorine pesticides are DDT, heptachlor, aldrin, dieldrin, mirex, and chlordane. 


Chlordane was used in San Diego, California until it was banned in 1988, and was primarily used to eliminate termites.  Thus, “today, people receive the highest exposure to chlordane from living in home that were treated with chlordane for termites” (Chlordane).  Also recent findings have shown that it remains to be present in Tecolote Canyon sediments.  Due to chlordane’s low polarity, it is found in highest concentrations in organic soil and sediments.  Testing of these sediments in 2005, 2007, and 2010 have illustrated the presence of chlordane within sediments in the canyon and Mission Bay, where Tecolote Creek empties.  Due to the historical presence of chlordane in sediments in Tecolote Canyon, University of San Diego students enrolled in Environmental Chemistry under the guidance of Dr. David O. De Haan sampled and tested sediments this year for the presence of chlordane.  Chlordane was spatially variable between all of the sampling sites, with the highest values found within Mission Bay.  However, as the chlordane was found in the sediment, other physical and chemical properties (water content, organic matter content, calcium carbonate content, pH level, and sediment particle size) of the sediments were analyzed to determine any potential correlations these factors might have with the retention of chlordane at these sampling sites. 

Overall chlordane concentration levels at all sampling sites did not appear to show any definitive correlations with any of the physical and chemical parameters analyzed, as positive and negative correlations were found between chlordane concentrations and each physical and chemical factor (See Table).  Thus, it could not be said with much certainty from the analysis if any of these physical or chemical factors were a factor in the retention of chlordane in Tecolote sediments.  While these results were inconclusive and indicate the need for repeated sampling and testing to achieve the goal of this experimental design, other sources of error could have led to these inconclusive results, such as other minerals being present in the sediment, as well as the oxidation of samples from their open-air storage.  Therefore, from these inconsistent results, the physical and chemical factors are not likely to be the primary factors in the retention of chlordane in the sediments in Tecolote Canyon.

Margin of Exposure

In Western Australia, the margin of exposure for various heavy metals and other pollutants that have been banned for over 40 years has been found to be lower in mothers-to-be.  Many pregnant mothers have been found with elevated levels of cadmium, mercury, and uranium in their blood.  This is especially disturbing as the direct effects on the unborn fetuses are reportedly unknown at this time.  High concentrations of these toxins can affect child mental development, as well as potentially increase the cancer risk in these newborns.  This article describes these recent findings in Western Australia.

Ban on Cosmetic Pesticides

The Canadian Cancer Society is calling for a ban on cosmetic pesticides due to the possible health effects, mainly cancer, that they cause. Cosmetic pesticides are not necessary to use, they are simply used for beautification. The research for these cosmetic pesticides is still in its early stages, but it has been known for awhile now that other pesticides have been the causes of certain types of cancers. If it is found that these cosmetic pesticides do cause cancer they will not only have harmed adults but also children who played in the grass and animals.

Hexavalent Chromium Toxic in Drinking Water?

Tap water contaminated with hexavalent chromium 

Although it is suspected that hexavalent chromium (chromium VI) is toxic in drinking water at certain levels, the EPA has recently said that more experimentation is needed before a drinking water standard can be established. Currently, the EPA has only set standards for total chromium, but when it was discovered that chromium VI may be carcinogenic to humans, things were reevaluated. While the EPA claims that they are following this procedure in order to collect enough sound scientific evidence to be more certain that chromium VI is in fact toxic to humans, environmentalists fear that the EPA is waiting for an industry-funded study. Sadly, I would not be too surprised if this was the truth, for the EPA has put money before public heath in the past. Read the entire article here.

Arsenic in the Water: How Much Are We to Blame

A study by Delhi University showed that arsenic is present in the waters of the Yamuna floodplains at five times the limit set by the World Health Organization. The study established the source as coal-based thermal power plants. Samples collected before and after a large monsoon in 2007 found the highest arsenic content in post monsoon water samples. While these high arsenic concentrations are caused by anthropogenic sources, they were certainly exacerbated by the monsoon in 2007. It's interesting now to think about how that monsoon, and other "extreme weather" natural disasters, are possibly affected by man-made global warming. With that in mind you could argue that humans are responsible for the arsenic contaminated water from all approaches.

Chlordane in Tecolote Canyon

Chlordane is a pesticide that was commonly used to control various insect populations in the United States from 1948 to 1988. However, when it was discovered that this pesticide is highly toxic to humans, all approved uses of chlordane were cancelled. Although it is doubtful that new chlordane-contaminating sources are emerging, it is very likely that chlordane is still present in our environment due to it degrading at a very slow rate, allowing for it to remain in soil for over 20 years. Currently, humans can be exposed to chlordane by living in homes that were treated with chlordane in the past to exterminate termites or by digging in soil where chlordane was applied. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides much more information regarding the sources and potential means of human of exposure to chlordane, which can be found here. Also, here is a very interesting and amusing video clip from the 1959 film, “Goodbye, Mrs. Ant,” which instructs how chlordane was to be used as a pesticide before being banned. According to the EPA, the acute effects of chlordane consist of gastrointestinal distress and neurological symptoms, such as tremors and convulsions. Also, chronic inhalation of chlordane can results in serious effects on the nervous system. It is clear that chlordane pollution can be a serious issue to human health if not properly controlled.

In 2010, it was found that chlordane levels in the Tecolote Canyon area in San Diego, California have been declining since 2007. This year, Environmental Chemistry students attending the University of San Diego have conducted a study to see if this trend continues by revisiting many of the sites previously tested in the Tecolote Canyon and measuring the chlordane concentration in collected sediment samples. Furthermore, soil was characterized by particle size distribution, pH level, and the percentage of water, calcium carbonate, and organic matter to see if any of these sediment properties correlate with chlordane concentration. The sampling locations included the river near the YMCA, Tecolote Creek, the creek near the transformer station, Mission Bay, and Fiesta Island. From the data that was collected, it was determined that chlordane was present in all sediment samples with concentrations ranging from 46.5 to 450.4 ppb. The order of highest to lowest average chlordane concentration was determined to be as follows: Mission Bay (357 ppb), Fiesta Island (316 ppb), the creek near transformer station (224 ppb), the creek near YMCA (189 ppb), and Tecolote Creek (132 ppb). When compared to concentrations measured in past years, it was difficult to determine whether or not chlordane levels have continued to decrease due to the fact that some sites contained more chlordane currently while others contained less. Based on these results, more investigation is needed in order to more accurately determine how chlordane concentrations have changed over time. 

High chlordane levels did not seem to correlate with any of the sediment properties measured (particle size distribution, pH, % water, % calcium carbonate, or % organic matter); however, a trend was asserted based on the geographical location of the sediment samples and their respective chlordane concentration. Due to the fact that the samples collected from Mission Bay and Fiesta Island had the highest average chlordane concentrations, it was postulated that the ocean, which drains directly into these two locations, might serve as a chlordane source. Also, with Mission Bay and Fiesta Island being much more residential areas than the other sites tested, it is possible that residential runoff is another source of this toxic pesticide. Overall, this study supports that chlordane continues to wash through the Tecolote Canyon area.

Next Level Green Companies

Currently, one of the main sources of lead and cadmium in our environment is from zinc-rich paints.  This article describes how wind turbine companies, which are one of the main forms of renewable energy, used these zinc-rich paints to coat their turbines with different categories of paints dependent on different types of turbines being created.  Within these paints, there are zinc powders that release into the atmosphere when the turbines erode and decay.  These paints are even more dangerous as they also contain lead and cadmium powders, which are also dangerous heavy metals that can leach into sediments and contaminate fresh water supplies.  However, while low lead and cadmium concentration paints are available many industries continue to use high lead and cadmium containing paints.  Turbine companies are beginning to create a "green standard" that would require suppliers to create low heavy metal paints for their turbines. New meaning to green companies?

Arsenic Discovered in Baby Food

I was rather disturbed to learn about the lack of US regulations of arsenic in food, especially as a recent study conducted by researchers at Dartmouth University has indicated that some brands of baby food, specifically baby formula where 'organic brown rice syrup' (OBRS) is one of the main ingredients, may contain arsenic. As rice is a plant cultivated in soil, and furthermore, a plant that is efficient in taking arsenic form the soil, researchers are concerned about foods containing OBRS, which is often used as a sweetener in organic foods as an alternative to high fructose corn syrup. During the study, one of the organic toddler milk formulas tested was found to contain As concentrations up to six times the EPA safe drinking water limit. While there are currently regulations denoted by the EPA in regards to a "safe drinking water limit," there are no regulatory limits on As in food. I find it sad to think that parents who are feeding their children what they perceive to be wholesome, organic baby food, could possibly be doing quite a bit of harm. This is especially concerning as babies are especially vulnerable to arsenic's toxic effects.

Can Bottled Water be Trusted Everywhere in the World?

With global population growth increasing at an alarming rate, scarcity of the world's resources has become a growing issue with local, regional, and global implications.  The availability of safe drinking water is the most important issue to humans in the majority of this world.  In most developing and third world countries, freshwater contamination is ever present.  Fresh drinking water has become privatized and bottled water boasts the reputation of the safest drinking water in most countries.  However, this article reports that recent tests have shown unsafe levels of arsenic, which is a carcinogen, have been found in many of Pakistan's bottled water.  If bottled water is not always the safest bet, what is? 

Chinese Officials Falsifying Lead Poisoning Level Results

According to this article, some government officials in China are abusing human rights when it comes to lead poisoning, especially in children.  Children are particularly susceptible to lead poisoning because a child's rapidly developing brain is particularly sensitive.  The following is just a short list of the possible damaging effects of lead toxicity: intellectual and developmental disabilities, behavioral problems, hearing loss, attention problems, and decreased visual and motor functioning.  A watchdog organization called Human Rights Watch published a news release last summer that claims China is restricting access to testing, falsifying test results, and denying treatment to those who have been found with traceable levels of lead in their bodies.  Recently, officials from the Chinese Environmental Protection Ministry have begun to crackdown on those who violate environmental restrictions; however, the Chinese government has yet to address the health consequences of the possibly millions of children who are affected.  This reminds me of something Rachel Carson said in Silent Spring about insecticides: "Although [it] is a matter of concern in agriculture and forestry, it is in the field of public health that the most serious apprehensions have been felt" (Chapter 16).  I feel like this is a matter of international concern, the offenders need to be brought to justice, and this blatant abuse of human rights needs to be stopped.  What do you think?


Full article here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/228647.php           

Lead in Lipstick: FDA Not Concerned

The FDA recently tested lipsticks for lead content and found that all 400 lipsticks tested (all of which are sold in the US) contained lead. The FDA assured that the levels of lead present were safe if used as intended, but people are angry, claiming that there is no safe level.
The levels found in the lipsticks were much higher than the limit for lead in candy. While people don't eat lipstick like they eat candy, it certainly adds up over a lifetime of lipstick applications. And although the 4 pounds of lipstick consumed throughout a lifetime seems to be a myth, I imagine that number is not far from the truth.

Fungi May Aid in Reducing Lead Pollution

Recent research had found that some species of fungi are able to transform the molecular structure of lead to its most stable form, which could have big implications for how lead-polluted sites are treated in the future. Specifically, the lead-containing mineral that forms is called pyromorphite, which can sequester lead contaminants in soil. Researches found this to be quite unexpected due to the fact that lead is usually regarded as a pretty stable substance. However, in the this study, lead in the presence of fungi began to show evidence of pyromorphite formation after a month, with mineral formation increasing in abundance with time. This is truly an amazing of nature. I find the ability of fungi to treat toxic lead in this manner to be truly amazing and am delighted that it has finally been discovered. 

Why Do People Still Use Soft Water Even Though it Contains More Lead?

Based off of the reading for this week we learned that soft water contains more lead in it than hard water, and that got me thinking why do people spend more money to soften their water when it could be harming them? This article weighs the pros and cons of both hard water and soft water. Soft water is desired over hard water for certain things like washing clothes, dishes, and taking showers, but should not be used for drinking. The reason that soft water is preferred over hard water for washing clothes and appliances is because of the calcium and magnesium found in hard water, limescale buildup occurs when you wash these things with hard water and can cause appliances to not be as energy efficient or issues with the pipes to arise. The lead found in soft water cannot cause as much harm to humans if it is only being used to wash items, so that is why soft water is used to wash items. Hard water is used for drinking water because it does not contain as much lead in it as soft water and contains minerals in it that have health benefits. The diagram shows how water is softened by exchanging hard calcium and magnesium ions for soft sodium ions.

The Increasing Dead-Zone in the Gulf of Mexico

As the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico continues to expand, environmental groups are suing the EPA to curb pollution of the Mississippi River from pollution such as fertilizers and pesticides, which are blamed to be the ultimate source of the dead zone that is presently the size of Massachusetts. While Mississippi states monitor the water quality standards of the river, the Mississippi River extends from the Rocky Mountains to the state of New York, and sources of runoff such as nitrogen and phosphate, two of the largest contributors to "dead zones," are neither being regulated nor monitored to the extent that they need to be. While the EPA has stated in the past that the monitoring of the wastewater treatment standards in regards to the Mississippi River would not be the most effective way to "address the significant water problems facing our nation," they have yet to respond to the current petition to update wastewater standards. If standards are not modified, then the extent of the pollution which enters the Mississippi River will only continue to worsen, thereby increasing the size and intensity of the dead zone in the south.

Watch and learn more about the dead zone associated with the Mississippi River at minute 1:30 here!

Worried by shifting climate change, some are calling attention to the resulting dangers to certain species

Scientists are trying to determine the extent of the effect of climate change on various parts of the world by looking at the changes in their seasons. Is spring arriving earlier? Is winter arriving later? The study of this timing is known as phenology. Biologist Arnold van Vliet from Wageningen University warns that many species are in danger if our climate continues to shift because they will no longer be adapted to their environments.



An example of such a species is pictured here, the Willow Warbler, whose migratory patterns may be severely affected by shifting seasons.

Companies receive flak for Greenpeace-published report on their pesticide use

As an update to this blog entry from a couple weeks ago, Bayer, along with several other companies, is now being labeled as the 'bad guy' company, largely responsibly for the bee population decline. The company is fighting against the banning of pesticides blamed for reducing the bee population. The emergency petition is in response to studies that suggest that the bee population may be irreparably damaged by the estimated conclusions time of the EPA's investigation into the matter. The world's economy is dependent on pollinators, and honey prices are now up in California due to the decrease in bees.

Bayer has been targeted by Greenpeace as the company whose pesticide practices result in the most damage to humans and the environment. This report is the "first-ever ranking of the world's leading agrochemical companies based on the hazards and risks of their pesticides on human health and the environment". Bayer is sure to have problems from various environmental groups, like BeeCharmers.org, or an anonymous group identifying themselves as "Published by a group of concerned individuals who will not stand by and let Bayer, Monsanto, Syngenta or other corporate criminals destroy our planet" rallying against them in response to this report.

FDA and Antibiotics

As the FDA regulates drugs and medical devices, in addition to food, in this particular case their line of work has intersected environmental and public health concerns.  Previously, prescriptions and veterinary consultations were not required in the livestock industry, but through recent lawsuits and studies these may become necessary.  The main concern, paralleling with issues with insecticides and pesticides, is that the overloading of antibiotics for livestock has led (and will further lead) to the dominance of antibiotic resistant bacteria, such as MRSA.  This article discusses the reasoning and implications that this new regulation will have and how it may be implemented.

The FDA has, for some time now, insisted that mercury dental fillings pose no health threat whatsoever to children. This is still after numerous studies showing a link between mercury amalgam fillings ("silver fillings") and neurological effects in the human body, the FDA has yet to recognize the full extent of the harmful side effeccts of mercury of dental fillings but has recently put out a warning of the toxicity of mercury in some cosmetic products.
 In the attached atricle it talks of federal health officials warning to consumers not to use skin creams, beauty and antiseptic soaps, or lotions that might contain mercury.

http://www.naturalnews.com/035229_cosmetic_products_mercury_toxicity.html

Halloween Face Paint May be Hazardous to Your Health !!

Halloween Face Paint May be Hazardous to Your Health !!

Evidence from the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan have linked novelty face paint to cancer-causing agents.  Every single one of the 31 types of face paint that were tested at the center were found to contain some type of heavy metal.  More than half of the products contained cadmium, which has been found to cause cancer, birth defects, and brain damage.  Other toxic heavy metals like mercury and lead were also detected.  Even more disturbing is the fact that the popularity of these products is mostly centered among the younger population.  Children are especially at risk because their developing brains and bodies are particularly susceptible to heavy metal poisoning.  The paint manufacturers have assured the public that the heavy metal contents are within legal limits, but health advocates claim that these limits are far too high anyway.  More testing on how permeable the skin barrier is to paint is needed.  So next time you want to dress up as a blood-sucking vampire or courageous lion for Halloween, consider the consequences and perhaps choose a mask instead of face paint!  

Full article can be found at: http://www.naturalnews.com/034003_face_paint_heavy_metals.html 

Paraíso de Dios

Over spring break I went to the Dominican Republic for one of my classes and visited Paraíso de Dios. The area previously had a battery factory, and the company there practiced illegal disposal of the lead waste. This waste led to contamination of the surrounding neighborhood resulting in sickness and birth defects of the children there. Many children received a nutritional supplement to help eliminate the lead from their bodies, but some children did not receive proper treatment in time. It sadly led to decreased neural development and now prevents some children from being able to go to school. Once the factory was closed, the land was turned into a park. The led contamination remained until recent years when a proper clean-up was instilled. This article discusses in more detail what occurred in the neighborhood. 

Toxic Mercury Found to in California Fog

According to an article recently posted in the New York Times, scientific research has shown that a highly toxic form of mercury, namely methylmercury, is present in the moist air along the California Coast. Although methylmercury levels in fog are very low, what researchers fear is that methylmercury can be deposited in large quantities along the coastline. Being water soluble, methylmercury can drip down into soil from fog, where it can then be taken up by plants and animals, and therefore enter into the food web. This is a serious issue that must be addressed, for when exposed to humans, methylmercury primarily impairs neurological development. Currently, research teams are studying how methylmercury makes its way into fog and also measuring the levels of this neurotoxin in insects. Read more about this study here!

Lead Killing the U.S.'s National Bird

As we already know, lead is a dangerous chemical that has been removed from many objects the average human uses. Unfortunately, lead is still harming and killing other animals, including the United States's national bird the bald eagle. The bald eagles, along with other birds, are not directly being targeted, but because many hunters still use lead bullets for hunting the birds ingest fragments of lead while eating the dead carcasses of other animals killed from these lead bullets.

EPA Denies Ban On 2,4-D

The EPA just denied the petition by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) for the ban of 2,4-D. This herbicide is most well known as one of the ingredients in Agent Orange, and is one of the most widely used weed killers in the world today. In its petition the NRDC cited studies that had shown that 2,4-D could cause cancer, hormone disruption, genetic mutations and neurotoxicity, however the conclusions of scientific studies were largely contradictory. Additionally, it is difficult to tell if health problems (for example non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) plaguing the farmers who use 2,4-D actually originate from that herbicide, or from any number of other chemicals with which they come into contact.
As it stands the registration of 2,4-D is still valid, and manufacturers of the herbicide are working on genetically engineering corn seeds that are resistant to 2,4-D. It will be interesting to see if any more conclusive evidence concerning the effects of 2,4-D are released in the next few years.

Hidden Sources of Mercury Poisoning

Mercury, a common heavy metal in various consumer and commercial products, has been evaluated as a toxic substance in our environment to all organisms including human beings.  It is linked to problems within various human systems, such as the nervous and endocrine system.  In a recent evaluation, the FDA (food and drug administration) found that while the United States has banned many consumer products with toxic levels of mercury present, other consumer products have made their way into the United States, via immigration.  In particular, this article explains how certain skin lotions have immigrated onto shelves of markets in California, and what to watch out for when purchasing lotions.

Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Harmful at Low-Dosages?

Recent research has found that low doses of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) have a profound impact on disease development in humans. In this study "low doses" of EDCs are comparable to the average person's environmental exposure to these chemicals, which the EPA has not fully taken into account when setting its standards. The problem stems from current testing methods that are failing to measure these low yet harmful levels of EDCs. Scientists say that safety testing for EDCs must undergo fundamental changes in order for human health to be protected. 

Present pollutants and future generations

Today an article was published discussing the high levels of pollutants US rivers, specifically those in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Many of these pollutants target fetal development, possibly causing neurological problems that don’t manifest until years later. In addition to these one chemical found in high concentrations was brominated flame retardants from industrial runoff. Brominated flame retardants have shown up in breast milk, and women in the US have the highest concentrations of it in the world. While it’s clear that our exposure to toxic chemicals is hazardous to our health it appears that, like climate change issues, we are leaving even more problems for future generations.

Average temperatures alarm some scientists who say we're reaching a point of no return

This February was marked down as the 22nd warmest February on record since 1880 (when records started being kept on the matter). February 2012 also marks the 324th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th century average.

The increasing temperatures and the damage being done by emissions has Reuters alarmed that global warming may be reaching an irreversible point.

As students who are currently being educated on the science behind climate change, do you think that we indeed can reaching a point of no return?

Beekeepers and environmentalists abuzz with news that pesticides harm the bee population.

The bee population has been dropping. This has worried the scientific community greatly, as bees as essential to the ecology of our world. It is estimated by the UN in a 2011 study that bees and other pollinators do the equivalent to about $203 billion of work for the human economy.
The effects of pesticides were analyzed in a study at the University of Stirling by comparing a bee colony exposed to a low dose of pesticide to a control bee colony group.
Another study, done at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research in Avignon tested the effects of low doses of pesticides on bees homing systems. The bees that were exposed were 2 or 3x more likely to die away from their nest, an effect that is claimed to be due to their inability to find their way back to their nest.

In March, a group of beekeepers teamed up with environmental organizations to file an emergency petition that the federal government ban certain pesticides for the benefit of the bee population. The EPA stated that is has found no evidence that pesticides are harming bees, but will accelerate a current study being done so that it can publish its findings by 2018.