Category: Environmental

What Whole Foods meant by ‘non-organic’

~ odd man out ~ 1 Comment

Swamp Rabbit was complaining about the weather, a pointless and self-defeating exercise. “This here winter is like a roller coaster ride, with temps up to fifty-something one week and a blizzard the next. How we gonna eat if you can’t get out the swamp to rob no supermarkets? Ain’t nothin’ but cold cuts in this shack, and they’s even worse than wieners.”

“Things are tough all over,” I said, trying to warm up by the wood stove. Then I grabbed the laptop and read for him the headline from a PRWatch story — “Whole Foods Agrees to Stop Selling Produce Grown in Sewage Sludge” — and some of the text:

The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) broke the story that the $12.9 billion-a-year natural and organic foods retailer Whole Foods Market had a policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” when it comes to “conventional” — or non-organic — produce being grown in fields spread with sewage sludge, euphemistically called “biosolids.” Certified organic produce cannot be fertilized with sewage sludge, which is the industrial and hospital waste and human excrement flushed down the drains and later — in some cases — spread on some crops.

Since this story broke, nearly 8,000 activists and PRWatch readers have sent emails to Whole Foods executives asking the company to require its suppliers to disclose this information and to label produce grown in sewage sludge so that customers can make informed decisions.

Mario Ciasulli, a semi-retired engineer and home cook living in North Carolina whom CMD profiled in December 2012, blew the whistle on Whole Foods’ don’t-ask, don’t-tell policy. As soon as he found out that shopping at Whole Foods was no protection against this potential contamination unless he could afford to buy only certified organic produce, he worked extensively to engage Whole Foods on this issue…

“You mean they was growin’ my carrots in hospital doo-doo?” Swamp Rabbit said.

I explained to him that it’s the same all over. You don’t even want to know where your food comes from unless you’re well off enough to buy ‘certified organic’ at farmers’ markets or places like Whole Foods, which is run by ultra-rich right-wing vegan John Mackey and frequented by many liberals who probably didn’t know that “non-organic” or “conventional” produce at Whole Foods often was “grown in sewage sludge.”

“Damn,” the rodent said. “Make sure you steal organic this time, and if you don’t, don’t tell me.”

We are damned lucky

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

The whole mess didn’t ignite, like the previous train wrecks carrying crude:

A CSX train carrying crude oil and sand derailed on a bridge over the Schuylkill River in University City overnight.

The Coast Guard said the incident happened at about 1 a.m. on the Schuylkill Arsenal Bridge, which crosses over the river from University City to Grays Ferry south of the South Street Bridge.

The two-locomotive, 101-freight-car train was traveling from Chicago to Philadelphia, according to CSX. Seven freight cars — six containing crude oil and one containing sand — derailed, the company said.

There’s no indication any materials are leaking from the derailed cars, the Coast Guard said.

This month’s national guinea pigs in W. Virginia

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

Site of Charleston, WV Spill

One of the things Deborah Blum doesn’t mention in her story is the effect of 35 years of further cutting government spending and gutting government regulatory agencies. Yes, I know she’s a science writer. But she’s railing against the government’s refusal to do its job and these things in W. Virginia didn’t happen in a vacuum:

Oh and one other thing. The limited data used by CDC? It wasn’t government research on the compound because as we all know that doesn’t exist. It wasn’t based on independent testing. No, the government relied  on the 15-year-old studies done by Eastman Chemical. Or to be precise one of the studies, a kind of superficial analysis  that infuriated environmental advocacy groups like the Environmental Defense Fund. In fact – again as reported by the Gazette – the agency had so depended on that one study, which was done with “pure MCHM” that its own river testing looked only for that and ignored the six other chemicals found in the messier “crude MCHM” that actually spilled into the river.

Still, those of us desperate for information will accept any data, any data at all. To that end, let’s look at the Eastman studies, shall we?

The first thing you’ll notice is that there is no human toxicity data. These are studies in species ranging from fathead minnows to rabbits. The study that the CDC used to calculate the safe level of MCHM –this one, in fact – involved 95 rats (45 male, 50 female) force-fed pure MCHM in corn oil for four weeks. The poison concentrations ranged from the 200 to 800 milligram/kilogram level. This is considered roughly equivalent to an exposure in the 200 to 800 part per million range but to be consistent about what these tests say, I’m going to mostly stick with mg/kg. In the mid-range (400 mg/kg) the scientists found a small but consistent pattern of liver and kidney damage, which appeared to be slightly worse in females. They calculated at one-fourth the dose, they would see no effect at all – and its this calculation of zero-effect of 100 mg/kg or 100 ppm in rats that CDC used to set a far more conservative level of zero-effect in humans at 1 ppm. But what the CDC advisory doesn’t tell you is that Eastman made at least one important assumption in this study. It assumed that the damage was transient – “the effects were most likely reversible” to quote from the abstract – and it didn’t track the animals long enough to find out.

To be fair, the Eastman chemists were just trying to figure out how poisonous the compound was. They’d run another more lethal experiment using 30 rats (half male, half female) looking at a higher doses. In that study, they divided the animals into three test groups and three doses. Ten  of the rats received oil containing  2000 mg/kg of the compound. All were dead in a day. At half that dose, 3 of the 5 male rats and 4 of the 5 female rats died in less than 24 hours. At half that dose (500 mg/kg) the survival rate went up dramatically – just one female had to be euthanized on the second day. Another study at the 500 ppm level recorded zero mortality. The Eastman researchers calculated that the LD50 (Lethal Dose- 50 percent,  a standard toxicity measure of the dose that will kill half of a test population) should be set at 825 mg/kg.
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The EPA still doesn’t know the scope

~ susie ~ 5 Comments

Hope -January 13, 2014

These poor people. I wonder if they’ll ever be safe again:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Government investigators are still trying to determine exactly how much of a toxic chemical that spilled at the Freedom Industries tank farm along the Elk River soaked into the ground and could later leach into the river, a top U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official said Wednesday evening.

“An investigation is going on to figure out where there might be any materials in the ground, and so far that investigation is still going on,” EPA regional administrator Shawn Garvin told The Charleston Gazette.

Asked if that meant officials simply don’t know how much of the “Crude MCHM” is still in the soil and could reach the river without proper containment and cleanup measures, Garvin said, “I think that’s probably … we’re still investigating to ensure we have a complete answer to that.”

Those kids with asthma weren’t really using those lungs

~ susie

So it won’t actually matter how much pollution this little project will dump into the air — in an area already famous for poor area quality. But since the elite on the Jersey side are complaining, perhaps it will be sidelined:

Toxic chemical particles could begin swirling around areas of Mercer and Burlington counties if a hazardous waste incinerator — estimated to burn 25,000 pounds of waste per day — comes to Bristol, Pa., opponents of the project say.

Route 13 Bridge Partners of King of Prussia, Pa., is seeking approval tonight from Bristol Township officials to build a 50,392-square-foot industrial waste burner on the now-defunct Rohm & Haas chemical manufacturing plant on Route 13, officials said.

The plan also calls for a 3,749-square-foot office on George Patterson Boulevard in the Bridge Business Center.

But environmentalists and area officials, concerned about its possible far-reaching health impacts, said they are doing all they can to prevent the project from coming to fruition.

“This is one of the most ludicrous proposals you could have along the riverfront. When you burn hazardous waste, you don’t get rid of it; it’s changing forms,” said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club, a nonprofit that promotes environmental conservation. “People in New Jersey need to fight this.”

US ‘superweeds’ epidemic shines spotlight on GMOs

~ susie ~ 4 Comments

They blinded us with science!

US ‘superweeds’ epidemic shines spotlight on GMOs (via AFP)

The United States is facing an epidemic of herbicide-resistant “superweeds” that some activists and researchers are blaming on GMOs, an accusation rejected by industry giants. According to a recent study, the situation is such that American farmers…

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West Virginians risk non-stop vomiting if they drink or touch water after chemical spill

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

Another disaster brought to you by the fine people who brought you carcinogenic coal ash!

West Virginians risk non-stop vomiting if they drink or touch water after chemical spill (via Raw Story )

Residents of nine West Virginia counties have been warned not to drink or even touch tap water after a chemical spill. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency Thursday in Boone, Cabell, Clay, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Putnam and…

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Soda can furnaces

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

Awesome:

Brown, who teaches mechanical engineering at Metro State, is working with students, as well as a local nonprofit organization, Revision International, to build solar powered furnaces for homes in the neighborhood. With empty soda cans as one of the main parts of the design, the furnaces cost around $30 to make and are expected to save about the same amount in monthly energy costs.

In November, the group installed two of the heaters in homes, with more installations scheduled for later this month. And while it’s possible to “upgrade” the units — spending another $20 for an acrylic cover, $2 for a thermostat or $2.50 for a shower curtain to drape around it — that almost defeats the purpose of providing reliable and inexpensive energy, Brown said.

An initial effort, undertaken with graduate students at the University of Colorado Boulder, yielded a furnace that cost about $60. But Brown thought the price could be lowered. That was the challenge he posed to his students at Metro State, tasking them with making the units faster, cheaper and more efficient and reliable.

“You have to be really creative,” said Richard Anderson, a Metro State senior who’s part of the project team. “Right now, the unit will last for about a winter without any maintenance. If you bumped up the cost to about $100, it would last three or four times longer. But you’re talking about soda cans and computer fans that you can buy six for $10 on eBay and you’re supplying heat to an entire house.”

Anderson said the electricity used by the fans costs about two cents a day. Cool air is drawn into the unit’s base and then heated as it travels up through drilled holes in the 144 aluminum cans, which have been heated by the sun. The air then exits through ventilation holes at the top of the unit. While there has to be a supplemental source for heat at night, the units can reach about 170 degrees during the day. In one of the units installed in November, Anderson said, a room that was about 60 degrees increased to 90 degrees within 20 minutes.

“There was a little boy who was going to be sleeping there. He was going, ‘I’m going to be so warm tonight,'” Anderson said. “That was just so cool — it’s really exceeded my expectations.”

Another reason to hate Disney

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

San Diego Parade of Lights 2013
This is really disgusting:

An educational program funded by Ohio’s oil and gas industry and sponsored by Radio Disney has environmental activists – and some parents – up in arms over what they say is a hijacking of public education by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) interests, in a state sitting on billions of dollars’ worth of gas-rich shale.

The program, called Rocking in Ohio, went on a 26-stop tour of elementary schools and science centers across the state last month. It involves interactive demonstrations of how oil and gas pipelines work, and is led by three staffers from Radio Disney’s Cleveland branch. It is entirely funded by the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP), which gets its money from oil and gas companies.

Radio Disney, a nationwide network of radio stations aimed at kids, has said it will take the tour to other states if it deems the program successful. The company could not be reached for comment in time for the publication of this story.

Environmental activists and parents have called the program “propaganda” for promoting a controversial industry. Fracking – a process in which thousands of gallons of water and chemicals are injected into deep wells in order to break up rocks that contain natural gas or oil – has been a boon to Ohio’s economy, but has caused myriad environmental issues in the state.

H/t Nicole Naum.