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Report Raises Concern Over U.S. Response to Animal Borne Diseases WASHINGTON, DC, August 5, 2003 (ENS) - Despite the recent surge of animal borne diseases threatening the health of Americans, the United States lacks a concerted national approach to prevent and control these illnesses, according to a report released today by Trust for America's Health (TFAH).The national non profit public health organization examined the public health response to five animal borne diseases: monkeypox, West Nile virus, mad cow disease, Lyme disease, and chronic wasting disease. Its study found that as many as seven cabinet-level agencies, hundreds of state and local public health and environmental organizations, and thousands of health workers played crucial roles in managing recent outbreaks of animal borne diseases. Policy changes to better coordinate this patchwork of efforts are needed, the report says, and Congress should conduct hearings to examine the best way to build an effective national approach to ensure that the public health response to animal borne diseases is unified, coherent, and proactive. "Our national policy toward animal borne diseases is the equivalent of trying to run a zoo without a zookeeper," said Shelley Hearne, executive director of TFAH. "How many wake-up calls do we need before we take action?" The report details how a range of factors - such as increased human and animal contact, altered animal and bird migration routes, a thriving exotic pet trade, and high-speed inter-continental travel - have all been contributing to the rise in these diseases. It also supports a call for a truly comprehensive nationwide health tracking network to allow officials to better identify a disease's origin, facilitate diagnosis and treatment, and contain its spread. "With West Nile virus back stronger than ever this year, the detection of mad cow disease in Canada in May, and the emergence of monkeypox and SARS, you would think we would get it," Hearne says. "We need a strong, proactive approach to deal with these diseases."
EPA Settles With U.S. Army Over VX Nerve Agent Release SAN FRANCISCO, California, August 5, 2003 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Monday that is has settled its case with the U.S. Army for the December 2000 release of VX nerve agent at the Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System facility.The EPA says the Army has corrected the conditions that led to the violations and will spend $182,500 to restore native plants on portions of the Johnston Atoll wildlife refuge, approximately 800 miles southwest of Hawaii. In addition, the Army will pay a fine of $91,125. "The Army's planned re-vegetation project goes beyond violations and paying a penalty," said Amy Zimpfer, acting director for the EPA Pacific Southwest Region's Waste Management Division. "The project will help restore fragile bird habitat and mitigate the negative environmental effects of decades of past military activity on this remote Pacific island." A required monthly sampling of incinerator ash at the facility found a bin of ash that contained an unknown quantity of VX nerve agent. Personnel at the facility were instructed to re-sample the ash, and to later wrap the bin and move it to the proper hazardous waste storage area. The EPA found that the workers did not have the proper protective gear; the facility's emergency procedures were not complied with; hazardous waste was stored in a non-permitted area; and the Army failed to timely notify the agency of the release of nerve agent. The settlement resolves the EPA's complaint against the Army, which neither admits nor denies the allegations. The facility was designed to incinerate military weapons containing blister agents and the chemical nerve agents GB (sarin) and VX. Beginning in 1990, the facility has now destroyed four million pounds of chemical agents and chemical weapons originally stored on Johnston Island. Death from inhalation or exposure to very small amounts of VX on the skin can occur within minutes. The Army is in the process of closing the facility and is required to do a complete clean-up of the area. The project to be funded by the Army is "intended to help restore native vegetation on Johnston Island and should run concurrently with the demolition of much of that island's infrastructure," said Lindsey Hayes, refuge manager for the Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. "The types of vegetation to be planted provide valuable nesting habitat to numerous species of seabirds breeding at Johnston Atoll." Johnston Atoll supports a rich and varied ecosystem for thousands of nesting seabirds, corals and marine life. It consists of some 50 square miles of shallow coral reef surrounding four islands, the largest of these being Johnston Island.
Critics Question Cost of Forest Service Outsourcing Studies WASHINGTON, DC, August 5, 2003 (ENS) - The U.S. Forest Service is spending some $70 million to $100 million on consultants and studies to prepare for possible outsourcing of its staff, according to a review released today by the Forest Service Council of the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).The agency's current estimate of the cost of the outsourcing is $10 million, according to a July 8, 2003 memo to agency leadership from Thomas Mills, Deputy Chief for Business Operations released by NFFE and PEER. But Mills writes in the memo that "because recent information leads us to think it might be higher, because of increased Congressional interest in our costs, and in order to improve the effectiveness of our competitive sourcing efforts in fiscal year (FY) 2004, we need to develop a more refined estimate of our FY 2003 competitive sourcing efforts." The review by NFFE and PEER finds that costs already incurred by the Forest Service indicates that the agency is likely spending $10 million just in California on meetings, consultants and studies. According to the review, the national costs will range between $70 and $100 million for the current fiscal year, ending this October. Internal memos released by NFFE and PEER detail that the Forest Service has directed that its offices "should not respond" to data requests from outside parties, "including the most recent competitive sourcing inquiry made by the National Federation of Federal Employees." Outsourcing costs are being absorbed out of existing operations, as Congress has yet to appropriate funds to conduct competitive sourcing studies comparing contractor bids with costs of existing operations. "We are very concerned whether the agency is going to be able to continue to provide wildfire suppression at an appropriate staffing level and level of expertise if our fire workforce ends up being contracted out," said Bill Dougan, president of the Forest Service Council of NFFE. The government watchdog groups say the Forest Service is planning to look at replacing more than 10,000 of its 34,000 person workforce with corporate employees by the end of FY 2007 in order to meet President Bush's mandate that all federal agencies review at least half of all positions classified as potentially commercial under new streamlined contracting rules. The administration appears to be scaling back this plan and says it will look at each agency individually, but criticism of the outsourcing plan is growing. Last month the House included a provision in the fiscal 2004 funding bill for the Interior Department - and the Forest Service - that halts the outsourcing plan until Congress can determine the costs and implications to national parks and forests. "The competitive sourcing program is supposed to increase the efficiency of public agencies, not disrupt them," said PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. "The rush to meet outsourcing quotas is costing taxpayers millions of dollars that should be devoted to protecting our national forests."
Energy Department Touts New Mercury Reduction Technology WASHINGTON, DC, August 5, 2003 (ENS) - The Energy Department announced today that a new technology to remove mercury from coal-fired power plants has been developed and is currently being tested at the department's National Energy Technology Laboratory.The newly patented technology, dubbed the "GP-254 Process," enhances mercury removal by using ultraviolet light to induce power plant stack gas to react with the mercury, changing the composition of the toxic metal into a form that can be removed easily and economically, according to the Energy Department. The process is designed to work with existing pollution-control devices and Energy Department Secretary Spencer Abrahams says it is good news for the coal industry. With a 250 year supply of coal, the nation must improve its ability to "make use of this resource in a manner that is both environmentally sound and economically feasible," Abraham said. "The GP-254 Process is an exciting technology that could provide an elegantly simple solution to a complex problem." Abraham says the process uses equipment similar to that used in water treatment plants to kill microbes. "A preliminary cost analysis, based on our small-scale lab tests, indicates that operating costs for the GP-254 Process will be lower than those for other methods," the Energy Secretary said. "Our next step will be to test and optimize the process at pilot scale using emissions from NETL's onsite combustor." The current Mercury Control Technology Research and Development Program is conducting full scale field testing of mercury control technologies, and continuing bench- and pilot-scale development of a number of novel control concepts, including the GP-254 Process. The program's plans include developing technologies that are ready for commercial demonstration by 2005 and that reduce emissions 50 percent to 70 percent and by 2010 to reduce emissions by 90 percent - all at costs 25 percent to 50 percent less than current estimates. Successful tests of the new process could add a new wrinkle to the debate over how to reduce emissions of mercury from the nation's coal fired plants. The EPA is developing a "maximum achievable control technology" (MACT) standard that may require as much as 90 percent mercury control - that final regulation is to be issued by December 2004, with expected compliance by December 2007. But the Bush administration's Clear Skies initiative would alter this, replacing the MACT standard with a cap and trade program to reduce mercury emissions some 70 percent within 15 years. This proposal has been criticized by environmentalists as a roll back of existing law and questioned by the industry and some Republicans in Congress for being too aggressive.
Marine Groups Blast Federal Mismanagement of Oceans BALTIMORE, Maryland, August 5, 2003 (ENS) - A coalition of marine conservation, environmental and fishing groups held a press briefing today to detail the concerns over how the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is managing the oceans. The coalition contends that NOAA's fishery management council system is in dire need of reform."Our fish are disappearing at an alarming rate under the current management system," said Matt Rand, director of the Marine Fish Campaign. "The U.S. needs a management system for the 20th century - a major overhaul the current management system - if we are going to have a healthy oceans for our children." The coalition says conflicts of interest continue to hamper proper fisheries management. It calls for broader representation in the fisheries management system and strong changes that need to be made to prevent the collapse of U.S. fisheries. "Our oceans are in crisis," Rand said. "The rockfish fishery off the coast of California has been shut down, there is a dead zone caused by pollution in the Gulf of Mexico the size of New Jersey, and in Georges Bank off the coast of New England the waters that once teemed with cod fish has seen those numbers dwindle." The coalition, which delivered its comments to Dr. William Hogarth, assistant administrator for the NOAA Fisheries, noted recent scientific evidence that indicates overfishing, bycatch, pollution, habitat destruction and mismanagement of ocean resources has decimated fish populations and harmed the health of the oceans. Many fishing groups bristle at such criticism of the U.S. fishery management system and contend that the United States is far ahead of other nations in facilitating the sustainability of its fish stocks. These critics reject the findings of a 144 page report released in June by the Pew Oceans Commission that recommended an overhaul of U.S. ocean policy and its management framework. The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy will release its report on ocean policy sometime this fall. GAINESVILLE, Florida, August 5, 2003 (ENS) - Dogwood trees up and down the East Coast have fallen victim to a fungal disease in recent years, but researchers say fire could be the key to stemming the tide. The research looked at a recent study of Great Smoky Mountains National Park - where between 70 percent and 94 percent of the dogwoods have died from the disease since it hit the park in the late 1980s. But in three spots in the park dogwoods have increased some 200 percent since the late 1970s, when a forest fire burned the area. Park ecologist Mark Jenkins acknowledges that "three plots do not give you an awful lot of power," but he and University of Florida professor Shibu Jose are testing the hypothesis. If the hypothesis proves correct, it could offer land managers and ecologists a new tool for fighting the disease. Dogwood anthracnose, which is caused by a fungus, has killed more than 90 percent of the dogwoods in some eastern hardwood stands and it threatens the species from Maine to Central Georgia, and from British Columbia to Washington and Oregon. The leaves of infected trees develop large holes and often fall off. "If it turns out that fire can prevent anthracnose or reduce its impact, it would give parks and other large landowners a method for fighting the disease - prescribed burning," said Erich Holzmueller, a doctoral student working on the project. The team presented the research and preliminary findings at the 2003 Ecological Society of America annual meeting, which began Monday. Preliminary findings by Holzmueller appear to indicate that previously burned plots in areas dominated by oaks and hickories appear to support more and healthier dogwoods than unburned plots. "Fire basically opens up the forest and dries it out, and there may also be a short term impact of fire killing the fungus," Jenkins said. Jose and Jenkins are planning to team up with researchers from the University of Tennessee, Yale University and the Forest Service to examine the role of fire in controlling dogwood anthracnose in a regional study that includes several states and federal and private forests across the eastern United States.
Foreign Earthworms Changing North American Forests MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL, Minnesota, August 5, 2003 (ENS) - Ecologists say North American forests are being invaded by animals that never lived there - earthworms. Although the European species is a boon to gardeners, earthworms can take a heavy toll on the leaf litter than supports tree seedlings, salamanders, spiders, mice, voles and other species."Earthworms are ecological engineers," said Lee Frelich, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Hardwood Ecology and head of a team of researchers studying European earthworms. "They change the leaf litter and the seed bed, and everything else will change, too, from plants to insects, birds and mammals." A new survey by Frelich and colleagues at the university finds that humans are to blame for the spread of European earthworms, which include nightcrawlers and other common earthworms found in the northern and eastern United States and adjacent Canadian provinces. They surveyed the understory plant communities, earthworms, soils and tree composition in mature hardwood stands within the Chippewa National Forest in Minnesota and Chequamegon National Forest in Wisconsin. In both places, they found that exotic earthworms tended to be found near cabins, resorts, boat landings, roads and campsites. The study found that plots of land with three types of earthworms - those that prefer leaf litter, upper soil and deep soil - had an average of 50 percent less sugar maple seedling cover and between 10 percent and 20 percent lower plant species richness when compared to plots with few or no earthworms. Where earthworms had invaded, a sedge had proliferated. "The sedge can become overabundant and hard to get rid of," said Frelich. "We think it likely that after earthworms become established, the new community will be less diverse. For example, ovenbirds nest in leaf litter, so I expect them to decline." Earthworms are native to much of the western United States and Canada and the southeast quadrant of the United States. But Frelich says it is uncertain seen whether those native earthworms will resist invasion from the European species.
Scientists Uncover Secret of Cold Stressed Manatees FORT PIERCE, Florida, August 5, 2003 (ENS) - Scientists say they have discovered why manatees succumb in water cooled to just 68 degrees Fahrenheit.During cold spells, sick, sometimes emaciated manatees at times wash up along the coast of Florida afflicted with a puzzling combination of skin sores and infections that clinicians historically treated as separate ailments. The large, blubbery marine mammals fall victim to "cold stress syndrome" because of a range of physiological events and diseases initiated by cold water and the species' inability to adapt to low temperature extreme, according to research published in the current edition of the journal Aquatic Mammals. The study suggests that cool temperatures slow the animal's metabolism, leading to digestion problems, decreased appetite, and associated weight loss. In addition the syndrome "opens up the manatees to the long-term pathologic effects that can predispose the population to many other problems," says Dr. Bossart, Director of the Division of Marine Mammal Research and Conservation at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. In the study, investigators performed necropsies on 12 manatees thought to have died from cold stress syndrome during the colder than normal winter months between November 2000 and April 2001. Researchers found that each manatee showed signs of starvation, including a thinned blubber layer and an overall sunken appearance. In addition, at least 75 percent of the animals had an abnormally low number of disease-fighting white blood cells called lymphocytes, various skin and intestinal lesions, heart degeneration and pneumonia. This progression and its results are surprising given that manatees are known for their outstanding immune systems, Bossart says. The West Indian manatee, which is the species found in Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, Mexico and the Caribbean, have been considered endangered since 1967. The species is protected under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, the 1973 Endangered Species Act and the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act of 1978. Estimates find some 3,000 of the animals remaining within the United States. Although habitat loss is the most serious threat to the species, these large, slow moving mammals are susceptible to fast moving boats. A record 95 manatee deaths were linked to boating accidents in 2002.
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