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Majority of States Wary of Bush Clean Air Plans WASHINGTON, DC, February 9, 2004 (ENS) - A majority of state officials say the Bush administration's revisions to permitting requirements under the Clean Air Act's New Source Review program will increase emissions of harmful air pollutants, according to a report released Friday by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO).The report by the GAO, which is the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress, analyzed the responses of state air officials from 44 states to December 2002 changes to pollution control program. Twenty-nine of 44 state officials responding to the GAO's survey agreed that the rule revisions give the industry greater flexibility to make some facility changes without having to obtain New Source Review permits or install pollution controls. But 27 said the rules would increase emissions, thereby hindering areas' efforts to meet federal air quality standards and potentially creating or increasing public health risks. "This concern contrasts with EPA's assessment that the rule will decrease emissions and maintain the current level of environmental protection," the GAO wrote. Officials from five states said the new rules would cut emissions - the other 12 were unsure or said emissions would not change. Thirty officials each expect their agency's workload would increase as they implement the new rules, and almost all said they would like EPA assistance with implementation. The New Source Review program forces power plants to upgrade air pollution controls when facilities are upgraded or modified to provide more power. Industry groups support the Bush administration revisions of the program, which they contend are needed to establish regulatory certainty and will not slow the pace of pollution reduction. But new rules relax the program too far for many and have drawn legal challenges from environmentalists and some 13 states. Industry representatives said the GAO's report, requested by Senate Democrats and its lone Independent, Jim Jeffords of Vermont, got the answers it sought and is not a fair assessment of the changes to the program. "Staunch opponents of New Source Review clarification and Clean Air Act innovation requested a survey of certain state attitudes on air policy change," said Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council. "Not surprisingly, the result reflects the bias of the questioners."
Mercury Levels Too High in One in Six Pregnant Women WASHINGTON, DC, February 9, 2004 (ENS) - Last week scientists with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated that one in six pregnant women has enough mercury in her blood to pose a risk of brain damage to her developing child.This new estimate is double that of a previous assessment, which had said about eight percent of U.S. women of childbearing age had elevated blood mercury levels. It means some 630,000 children born each year are at risk for lowered intelligence and learning problems due to the effects of mercury on their developing brains. In the wake of the new estimate, two papers published this week in the "Journal of Pediatrics" added to warnings about the long term effects of mercury exposure. A long term study of a population with a high fish diet in the Faroe Islands found that damage to infant nervous systems persisted in 14 year olds. The damage was associated with relatively higher mercury exposure in the womb and was documented in studies of the same individuals at ages younger than 14. Researchers say this indicates that these developmental toxic effects are irreversible. In a second paper, the same investigators found an association between mercury exposure and less effective control by the nervous system of heart rate, which suggests a link between mercury exposure in the womb or in childhood, and the risk of cardiovascular problems later in life. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is on course to release new dietary advice on mercury in fish this spring, but the federal agency has been criticized for proposing a standard many believe is too lax. The FDA's latest "draft dietary advisory," was tested in late January in a focus group in San Diego. Critics say the new advisory is primarily aimed at women of childbearing age and does not include specific fish consumption recommendations for children, who weigh less than adults and who can therefore safely consume much smaller amounts of mercury containing fish. "New findings from the Faroe Islands study and EPA research show clearly that better dietary advice specifically for children is critically needed," said Michael Bender of the Mercury Policy Project. "The FDA must recognize that kids are not little adults, but are uniquely at risk from the mercury in their diet."
Mercury Based Vaccine Preservative Linked to Autism, Hyperactivity BOSTON, Massachusetts, February 9, 2004 (ENS) - Scientists have found evidence linking exposure to certain neurodevelopmental toxins - including a child vaccine preservative - to neurological disorders such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).The research is the first to offer an explanation for possible causes of the two increasingly common childhood neurological disorders. Scientists and practitioners have identified an increase in diagnoses of autism and ADHD in particular, though the reasons why are largely unknown. The finding bolsters the claim that thimerosal - a mercury based preservative once commonly used in childhood vaccines - can cause such disorders. The researchers found that exposure to some neurotoxins interrupts growth factor signaling. This affects a process that plays a significant role in regulating normal DNA function and gene expression, which is critical to proper neurological development in infants and children. "Scientists certainly acknowledge that exposure to neurotoxins like ethanol and heavy metals can cause developmental disorders, but until now, the precise mechanisms underlying their toxicity have not been known," said study coauthor Richard Deth, a Northeastern University pharmacy professor. "The recent increase in the incidence of autism led us to speculate that environmental exposures, including vaccine additives might contribute to the triggering of this disorder." Although largely phased out in Europe and the United States, the preservative was used in vaccines for diseases like hepatitis, whooping cough, tetanus and diphtheria. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, all routinely recommended licensed vaccines that are currently being manufactured for children in the United States - except influenza - contain no thimerosal or only trace amounts. A flu shot recommended in Canada this winter includes the preservative, and multi-dose flu vaccines shipped to Third World countries still contain thimerosal. The findings by Deth and his colleagues from the University of Nebraska, Tufts, and Johns Hopkins University will be published in the April 2004 issue of the journal "Molecular Psychiatry."
Fruit Thinners Face Elevated Pesticide Risk SEATTLE, Washington, February 9, 2004 (ENS) - A new study finds agricultural workers who perform thinning - removing young buds from orchard trees to increase the size of the remaining fruit - face a greater likelihood of pesticide exposure than other farm workers.The researchers found that workers who thinned orchards were more likely to have detectable levels of pesticides in their house and vehicle dust as compared to agricultural workers who did not perform orchard thinning. The study also found that children of thinners were more likely to have detectable levels of pesticide metabolites in their urine than children of non-thinners. These findings support the theory that agricultural workers may track pesticides home on their clothing and shoes. "Most previous pesticide exposure research on farm workers has focused on pesticide handlers, such as pesticide mixers, loaders and sprayers, but this study suggests that more research is needed regarding exposure patterns among other types of farm workers as well," said Dr. Gloria Coronado, lead author of the study and a scientist in Fred Hutchinson's Cancer Prevention Program in Seattle. Orchard thinners are thought to be at higher risk for pesticide exposure because thinning usually takes place in the spring, when crops are being sprayed to prevent pests. Such workers also have substantial physical contact with fruits, leaves, twigs and branches that may contain pesticide residues. In addition, unlike pesticide handlers, thinners are not required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to use protective equipment or undergo safety training. The project, conducted in Eastern Washington's Lower Yakima Valley, involved 571 farm workers in 24 communities and labor camps who were interviewed about their pesticide exposure patterns. It revealed some 20 percent more thinners had pesticide residue in their home and vehicle dust as compared to non-thinners. The researchers also found that the presence of a dimethyl urinary pesticide metabolite called DMTP was present in children of thinners 10 percent more than in children of non-thinners. "Unfortunately, we do not know the extent to which ongoing, low level exposure to pesticides leads to adverse health consequences," said project leader Dr. Beti Thompson of Fred Hutchinson's Public Health Sciences Division. "However, knowing exposure pathways helps us plan interventions to reduce exposure risk, which is particularly important for young children." The study appears in the February issue of the journal "Environmental Health Perspectives," a publication of the National Institutes of Health.
Appeals Court Blocks Hemp Foods Ban SAN FRANCISCO, California, February 9, 2004 (ENS) - The U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) agency does not have the authority to ban the sale of foods containing hemp, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.The three judge panel unanimously agreed that the DEA's attempted ban ignored a provision in the Controlled Substances Act that excludes hemp seed from the law. Congress exempted hemp seed from the law because it only contains trace amounts of the active ingredient in marijuana, known as THC. Poppy seeds, which have trace amounts of opiates, are similarly exempted. "We find unambiguous Congress' intent with regard to the regulation of non-psychoactive hemp," the panel ruled. The DEA, which could appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, has been trying to ban hemp foods for more than two years. The appeals court blocked implementation of an October 2001 ban at the request of the Hemp Industry Association, which challenged the legality of the rule. In March 2003, the DEA issued another rule banning hemp foods, a move federal officials said was driven by the concern that a flourishing hemp industry could provide cover for illegal cultivation of marijuana. The appeals court blocked that rule and has now discarded the 2001 rule. "The decision ... is a huge boost to the hemp food market, and we expect to see many more hemp food products on store shelves," said David Bronner, chair of the association's food and oil committee. Hemp seeds are a source of protein and have the highest content of essential fatty acids of any oil in nature. Hemp foods include waffles, bread, granola and chips - the industry estimates some $7 million in annual retail sales. According to the industry, North American hemp food companies voluntarily observe reasonable THC limits similar to those adopted by European nations as well as Canada and Australia. These limits protect consumers with a wide margin of safety from any psychoactive effects or workplace drug testing interference. The United States is the only major industrialized nation to prohibit the growing of industrial hemp.
Court Rules EPA Must Keep Power Plants From Killing Fish NEW YORK, New York, February 9, 2004 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) exceeded its authority by allowing industrial facilities to opt for restoration of aquatic resources in lieu of installing technology to prevent fish kills, a federal appeals court ruled last week.U.S. power plants and factories withdraw more than 279 billion gallons of water daily from reservoirs, rivers and lakes to cool their turbines - a practice that can take a heavy toll on aquatic environments. EPA rules finalized in 2002 call on new systems that draw 10 million gallons of water or more a day from natural water bodies to use cooling systems with recirculated water, known as "closed cycle cooling." The agency's regulations permitted the use of other technologies in lieu of closed cycle cooling if they resulted in the same or less environmental impact, but this included "restoration measures." Environmentalists argued this provision violated the Clean Water Act because the law requires the use of technology that does not kill fish or degrade the environment. The three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit agreed and ruled "the EPA exceeded its authority by allowing compliance with [Clean Water Act] section 316(b) through restoration methods, and we remand that aspect of the rule." It rejected all eight claims against the regulation asserted by the electric generating and manufacturing industries. "This is a tremendous victory for our nation's waters, and one that will protect billions of fish from the needless slaughter by power plants," said Reed Super, Riverkeeper senior attorney and lead attorney for the environmental coalition in the litigation. "EPA recognized, and the federal court has now confirmed, that virtually every new plant can and must install closed cycle cooling technology to protect aquatic organisms." Although closed cycle cooling has become the industry standard over the past two decades, some 500 power plants still use once through cooling. While the ruling was handed down in New York, it has application across the country. Within days of the ruling, Southern California Edison notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that it had removed about six tons of sardines from the Units 2 and 3 water intake structure of its San Onofre Nuclear Power plant on the Pacific coast. While the NRC has not specified a reporting limit for an unusual fish kill, the company has internally defined this quantity as 4,500 pounds. Southern California Edison believes the unusual influx of sardines may be related to winter storm conditions. Sardines are food for a large variety of marine birds, fishes, and mammals, but a widely acknowledged crash of the Pacific sardine spawning biomass from three million tons in the early 1930s down to 130,000 tons in 1990 shows susceptibility not only to overfishing but also to changes in environmental conditions, scientists say. Riverkeeper and other groups will now ask EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt to reconsider the agency's plans to include "restoration measures" as a compliance option in its cooling water regulation for existing facilities, due to be signed by February 16, 2004. "[This] decision makes clear that Congress has prohibited the precise action the agency is on the verge of taking again," said Super.
Lawsuit Aims to Shoot Down Federal Cormorant Plan NEW YORK, New York, February 9, 2004 (ENS) - A coalition of animal rights groups and conservationists filed suit in federal court last week challenging the federal government's plan to kill tens of thousands of double-crested cormorants.The migratory bird species is protected by federal law and international treaty. The management plan for the species will allow state fish and wildlife agencies, Indian tribes, and federal agriculture officials to kill unlimited numbers of cormorants in 37 states. Federal officials say this is needed because the birds are depleting fish stocks for sport fishing in 24 of the sates and are impacting commercial fish farms in the 13 other states. The plan makes little sense, says Michael Markarian, president of The Fund for Animals, one of the plaintiffs in the suit. "Cormorants, like many other birds, eat fish to survive, and should not be punished for doing what comes naturally," he said. "Writing a blank check to kill tens of thousands of protected birds at any time and any place is an extreme knee-jerk reaction to placate the sport fishing and commercial fish farming industries." The organizations filing joining The Fund for Animals in the legal challenge are The Humane Society of the United States, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida. The plan allows the killing of cormorants at the birds' winter nesting sites and the destruction of their nests and eggs. Critics say the plan has no restrictions on time of year or location of the killings, and does not require the showing any specific, localized harm caused by the birds. The groups fear that the killing of cormorants could also harm other migratory birds that are easily mistaken for double-crested cormorants and caution the federal plan sets a dangerous precedent for the management of other naturally fish eating birds such as egrets, herons, and pelicans. "The scientific evidence clearly indicates that double-crested cormorants are, by and large, not responsible for declining sport fish populations," said Dr. Bette Stallman, a wildlife scientist at The Humane Society. "Those declines are due to factors such as habitat degradation and overfishing." Researchers in the United States and abroad are making "great strides in developing effective means of minimizing cormorant damage at aquaculture facilities," Stallman said. "There is simply no justification for large scale lethal control."
Climate Change Could Ravage Andean Biodiversity MELBOURNE, Florida, February 9, 2004 (ENS) - The Andes region of Peru is one of the most biologically diverse areas on the planet, but researchers say it appears to be more vulnerable than other areas to climate change. Global warming could push hundreds of plant and animal species from the Andes region into extinction during the next century, according a new study published Friday in the journal "Science."Florida researchers say their analysis of the Andean climate record from the past 48,000 years shows the rapid pace of climate change many predict for the new century is unnatural. "According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we can expect a minimum of one to two degrees Celsius increase in temperature in the Andes by the end of this century," said lead researcher Mark Bush, a paleo-ecologist with the Florida Institute of Technology. "Our record shows that climate change of this kind has never happened in the past 48,000 years. It is not a natural phenomenon." A comparison of the climate record of North and South America offers reason for the region's remarkable biodiversity, the researchers say. At the end of the ice age, North America and the northern hemisphere experienced an abrupt warming of five degrees Celsius over two centuries. The researchers expected to find the same results in South America, but discovered a much more gradual warming of five degrees over several millennia. This discovery may explain why there was less extinction in the Andes coming out of the last ice age, as well as why the area may be particularly susceptible to global warming, Bush explained. The researchers say species that migrate easily - such as birds and butterflies - may be the least affected, whereas species that are less mobile will be more vulnerable to extinction. But humans will play a large part in the equation, Bush said, as global warming allows farmers to extend their agricultural activities further upslope into what is now cloud forest. He cautions the result could be an increasingly fragmented landscape that presents barriers to the dispersal of wildlife, trapping them in increasingly inhospitable climatic conditions.
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