Salem-News.com Environment articles

Report: Rural Children Exposed to Pesticides Demonstrate Significant DNA Damage

Assessing DNA damage in children environmentally exposed to pesticides through using the comet assay and the micronucleus test

(LONDON) - Subjects exposed to pesticides had significantly higher AChE and PChE activities than controls, although average levels were well below the biological exposure limit. In addition, those exposed to pesticides had significantly higher levels of steady-state FPG sites and SSB levels (p < 0.001), as well as MN levels.

In conclusion, despite the relatively low pesticide exposures in the test group of children, significant biological/developmental effects were detected.

Threatened Listing Proposal Not Enough to Conserve Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Aggressive Habitat Protection, Ending Threats from Tower Collisions and Pesticides Urgently Needed

(WASHINGTON, DC) - American Bird Conservancy (ABC), one of the nation's leading bird conservation groups, says that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) proposal to list the western population of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act falls short of providing the necessary protections for the imperiled bird species whose numbers have plummeted in recent decades.

New Report: Unregulated Contaminants Common in Drinking Water

Eighteen of the chemicals are not regulated under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act so utilities do not have to meet any limit or even monitor for them.

(WASHINGTON, DC ) - Traces of 18 unregulated chemicals were found in drinking water from more than one-third of U.S. water utilities in a nationwide sampling, according to new, unpublished research by federal scientists.

Included are 11 perfluorinated chemicals, an herbicide, two solvents, caffeine, an antibacterial compound, a metal and an antidepressant.

California Will Add Trichloroethylene To Proposition 65 Reproductive Toxicity List

Trichloroethylene meets the criteria for listing as known to the State to cause reproductive toxicity under Proposition 65, based on the findings of U.S. EPA (U. S. EPA, 2011a), as outlined below.

(IRVINE) - The California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) intends to list the chemical trichloroethylene (TCE) as known to the State to cause reproductive toxicity under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986.

Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, was enacted as a ballot initiative in November 1986.

Navy Cleanup Forces Dozens to Move on Treasure Island

The affected residents of the six targeted buildings will meet with Treasure Island officials Tuesday night to learn details of the relocation plan and to express concerns about the effort.

(SAN FRANCISCO) - About two dozen families are being forced from their Treasure Island homes so the Navy can clean up toxic material buried in the old waste disposal site beneath the townhouse units.

"A letter we got last week was the first we heard of it," said Paris Hayes, who has lived in his Bayside Drive unit for more than 10 years. The residents will be moved out in stages, with the first group leaving in April and the last gone by July.

Baja Mega-Resorts Under International Scrutiny

The mega-resorts in question include Entre Mares, Paraiso del Mar, Playa Espiritu and Cabo Cortes, the latter of which was cancelled during the administration of former President Felipe Calderon.

(LAS CRUCES, NM) - Mexican and international environmental organizations are praising the decision of the Montreal-based Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) to move forward in an investigation of large tourist developments on the Gulf of California.

In response to a citizen petition filed by 11 Mexican and international green groups, the CEC has requested that the Pena Nieto administration respond to complaints that Mexican and international environmental laws were not followed in the approval of four tourist developments by the Secretariat for the Environment and Natural Resources.

Radon - Is Your Home Raising Your Lung Cancer Risk?

Radon, a radioactive gas from the soil and rock beneath many homes, keeps itself well hidden.

(WASHINGTON, DC) - Mention radon to most people, and you’ll get a blank stare. But mention lung cancer, and you’ve got their attention! Most people don’t know that exposure to radon, an invisible odorless gas, is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers.

Oregon is recognized as having a very high risk of radon, so we at the American Lung Association want you to know how to protect your family.

Volcanic Eruption Sends Rocks Raining Down on Italy

Some rocks and ash can also fall from the sky much like rain, as they are sent into the atmosphere and can collect on clouds to be rained down with later precipitation.

(AccuWeather Global Weather Center) - AccuWeather.com reports Italy's Mt. Etna, the most active volcano in europe, erupted twice in less than a week earlier this month. The first eruption took place on Nov. 16, the second on Nov. 23.

Lava flows were reportedly shot 700-800 meters in the air. Lightning was also present during the explosion, as well as plumes of gas, smoke and ash.

The Toxic Apocalypse, We are all in this Together!

If any family understands toxic exposure, it is my family. We have endured it through multiple generations of military service.

(WAYNESBURG, Pa.) - When I was a child, my father had a photo album from WWII that was full of pictures of nothing but a city in rubble. We were sworn to secrecy and were not permitted to discuss these photos with anyone.

I always remembered this one photo of an arch doorway of a church still standing with the rest of the building just gone. Later in life I learned that there was the impression of little girl’s charred remains on that doorway. I never noticed this detail until it was explained to me by my father. The story of his personal experience of this little girl at the church, I will never forget. As it turned out these were his one of kind personal photos of the devastation after the atomic bomb blast in Nagasaki.

2014 Harvesting Clean Energy Conference: Early Conference Registration is Open

The 2014 Harvesting Clean Energy Conference is set for February 4-6 at the Red Lion Colonial Inn in Helena, Montana.

(BUTTE, NM.) - Businesses and landowners who register early can learn about strategies to maximize the local job creation and economic benefits that can come from developing our clean energy resources later – and save money now.

The conference will bring in leading clean-energy experts and practitioners to talk about what’s involved in creating successful clean-energy projects that can cut a farm’s energy costs and produce power or feedstocks to market.