Organophosphorus Toxics We Know and Love

BBC News photo

After the awful and sad incident at a school in Bihar, India this week, where “at least 23 children” have died and many were more hospitalized due to organophosphate poison in their school lunches, I decided to learn more about that kind of toxic exposure.  What does it do? When did we start using such toxic chemicals on our foods, anyway?

Wikipedia has a great introductory discussion. Organophosphate pesticides, I learned, were developed in this country when the recipe for pesticide/nerve gas was found in post- World War II Nazi Germany.  Someone decided it might be a worthwhile idea to massively produce and market that nerve gas, and Wikipedia further explained that ” Parathion was among the first marketed, followed by malathion and azinphosmethyl. The popularity of these insecticides increased after many of the organochlorine insecticides like DDT, dieldrin, and heptachlor were banned in the 1970s.”

These chemicals are acutely toxic to bees, animals, humans, and yet they are used more and more today as insecticides in agriculture and landscaping in schools, parks, and businesses, as solvents, plasticizers, and lubricants.

The New York State Department of Health information about the neurologic damage, the life-threatening criticality these agents cause is truly daunting, and yet, “According to a 2008 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in a representative sample of produce tested by the agency, 28 percent of frozen blueberries, 20 percent of celery, 27 percent of green beans, 17 percent of peaches, 8 percent of broccoli and 25 percent of strawberries contained traces of organophosphate.^“

And we wonder why we see a rise in neurological disabilities?

And the Beat Goes on….

Dan Fagin recently detailed some of the history of dye manufacturing companies , their polluting the Rhine River, the Ohio River, and the Toms River, the environmental havoc, and the associated cancer clusters in Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation

Now it seems many industries have followed the lure of cheap labor and lax environmental regulation to pollute and sicken in Bangladesh and China

Where does it end?

 

 

How Does a Flood Turn a Baby Blue?

 

Houston Chronicle photo image by Charlie Niebergall

The Houston Chronicle today reported a surge in nitrates in the state of Iowa’s drinking water following a very soggy spring, during which the heavy rains washed nitrogenous fertilizers and manure into drinking water supplies.

One might not think to draw a connection between a baby’s skin color and the weather, but high exposures to nitrates in water supplies causes a condition called Methemaglobinemia, which, especially in infants, affects oxygenation of the central nervous system, and can result in the skin looking a cyanotic, grey-blue color.

Blue Baby Syndrome, as it is called, is an illness that can lead to death if exposures continue.

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Triclosan in the News As Under FDA Scrutiny

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Sandra Steingraber is a Heroine of Mine

Biologist, ecologist, poet, author. Sandra Steingraber “explores the links between human rights and the environment.”

 

Superfund Sites Near You

I recently heard of a young cancer patient whose sisters, parents, and grandparents all have had cancer, too. They live near a Superfund site, a place so polluted the federal government took over the huge clean-up project, and I had to wonder….  Do you ever wonder what lurks in your neighborhood? This web site by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency helps you find out what you likely don’t want to know.

Superfund Regions Cleanup Sites

http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/

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BIG HEADLINES ~ Big Questions Follow :

                               FRACKING HEALTH STUDY ANNOUNCED IN PA

Environmental Working Group Has Excellent Resources!

Environmental Working Group is an organization which impresses me no end with its environmental health research, and its easy-to-access resources for the public to use!

Here’s an example of some of the excellence:

Murky Waters

http://www.ewg.org/research/murky-waters

A Fine Idea!

One common type of post-hydraulic fracturing dispute between landowners and gas companies occurs over the landowners’ conviction that the “fracking” ruined the quality of their water, and, because baseline data documenting the quality of the water before fracking occurred was not obtained, the landowners are at a disadvantage to prove their point. Sometimes gas companies do pre-test the water, but the results are not made public.

Gov. Mead of Wyoming is considering making water quality testing prior to hydraulic fracturing mandatory, and this article suggests that there also be requirements that the data obtained be made public on an easily-accessed web site. A fine idea!

http://trib.com/opinion/editorial/wyoming-can-lead-by-example/article_c68f3b67-7d71-5053-8364-aafde6ae385b.html

 

Why Do Natural Gas Companies Need “Gag Rules”?

“Gag” rules, quietly placed in government legislation, and in agreements citizens have with gas companies when their water becomes polluted, that prevent physicians and the citizens affected from talking about the health effects resulting from hydraulic fracturing, are wrong!

Five Things Your Doctor Should Tell You, But Won’t

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/02/5-things-your-doctor-should-tell-you