May 26, 2008
Lead Poisoning in Australian Children
ELEVEN per cent of Mount Isa children have lead poisoning, a Queensland Health study has confirmed.
The results, released today in Mt Isa, confirm stories in The Australian in recent weeks and years.
The study shows that of 400 children aged one to four in the mining town, 45 had blood levels higher than 10 micrograms per decilitre.
Read more here: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23741342-601,00.html
story via: Stephen T. Thanks.
Posted by jennifer at 07:37 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
October 16, 2007
Inconvenient Chemicals in Apple's iPhone?
According to a new report by Greenpeace, Apple's iPhone may contain potentially hazardous chemicals. Read the full report entitled 'Missed Call: iPhone's hazardous chemicals'
Article here in Accountancy Age.
Something else for Apple Board member Al Gore to tackle?
Apple's environmental policy is here.
Posted by Paul at 05:39 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 14, 2007
Eco-Freaks: A New Book by John Berlau (Part 1, DDT)
I occasionally get emails from the other side of the world with a query about something environmental that is uniquely Australian.
It was not so many years ago that John Berlau emailed me about the Murray River and also bushfires. He was writing a book. It’s now published. Called ‘Eco-Freaks: Environmentalism is Hazardous to Your Health’ the book includes chapters on DDT, Asbestos and Hurricane Katrina.
I’ve only read the first three chapters. There could be something in the following few about the Murray River and Australia or he may be saving that for another book.
Anyway, while the focus in 'Eco-Freaks' is on America, the issues Berlau chooses to explore are relevant to the whole world.
The second chapter on DDT, and entitled ‘Rachel Carson Kills Birds’, will have Tim Lambert in a spin. In fact Berlau references Lambert’s blog ‘Deltoid’ (footnote number 128). But it’s not complementary.
I have read a lot about DDT, Rachel Carson and environmentalism, but I still learnt a lot from that chapter.
And I was amused by the anecdotal. In particular, that Joseph Jacobs, a chemist who worked to mass-produce DDT to protect American troops during World War II, ended up with DDT poured over him when the valve at the bottom of a large vessel was accidentally opened. In his autobiography, Jacobs wrote:
“When it dried, I had DDT an inch thick all over me. In my hair, in my ears, and in my mouth and nose. I took off my clothes, showered, and scrubbed, but probably ingested more DDT during that one incident than is today considered safe to absorb over any years.”
Berlau goes on to comment about the fate of Joseph Jacobs:
“After all, in the years after Silent Spring, DDT was called ‘double death twice’. One touch could kill you. And sadly, after being exposed, Jacobs did die – more than sixty years later in 2004, at the tender young age of eighty-eight.”
‘Eco-Freaks’ is available from Amazons.com.
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October 08, 2006
The Montreal Protocol Hasn’t Stopped Ozone Depletion
There was a crash in the production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) following the signing of the Montreal Protocol in 1987.
By 1999 atmpospheric levels of manmade ozone destroying chemicals had leveled off and since 2003 there has been a 7 percent drop in the amount of chlorine and bromine in the lower stratosphere (10-25 km). This is apparently where most ozone loss occurs.
Given its original objectives, the Montreal Protocol has been a huge success and reduced concentrations of ozone-depleting gases.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been predicting for some time that the reduction in concentrations of ozone-depleting gases will result in a recovery in the ozone layer and also the Antarctic ozone hole.
So what happened this year?
Over the last few weeks we have heard report after report that the ozone hole over the Antarctic has expanded to a near-record size despite the successful global ban on chlorofluorocarbons.
An incredible 40 million tonnes of ozone had been lost over Antarctica this year, exceeding the record 39 million tonne loss in 2000 with the depth of the ozone hole now rivaling the record low ozone values of 1998.
Discussion, including at this blog, has focused not on chlorofluorcarbons as the cause of the now growing ozone hole, but on atmospheric temperatures and other phenomena.
It is interesting to reflect on what some skeptics were writing 10 years ago.
At that time S. Fred Singer was sounding something like a global warming skeptic with his piece entitled 'Ozone politics With a Nobel imprimatur' in the Washington Post.
He wrote: "Further research will likely prove the CFC-ozone issue to have been a minor environmental problem. In the meantime, hasty policies to ban CFC production by the end of 1995, though a financial windfall for chemical companies and appliance manufacturers, will impose substantial economic costs -- up to $100 billion -- on U.S. consumers and make life worse for the poorest everywhere -- especially in developing nations."
There is even mention of hurricanes and Al Gore in the article.
Anyway, it is interesting to ponder why, given the success of the Montreal Protocol, there has not been a reduction in the hole over the Antarctic?
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Thanks to Bob Foster for sending me the S. Fred Singer paper.
A note to commentators, I am interested in better understanding this issue and I'm interested in your opinion. But comments that don’t add new information and/or that are disrespectful may be edited and /or deleted.
Posted by jennifer at 04:56 PM | Comments (50) | TrackBack
August 01, 2006
DDT returns to battle malaria in Africa: Reuters
"Controlled indoor spraying of the infamous pesticide DDT is poised to make a comeback in countries that have tried and failed to do without it in the battle against malaria," reports news service Reuters.
The Institute of Public Affairs* has published several proponents of DDT, including Roger Bate in an article titled 'The Ban on DDT is Killing Millions in the Third World'.
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*I'm a Senior Fellow at the IPA.
Posted by jennifer at 10:42 PM | Comments (63)