- Dear Christopher,
-
- Thank you, again, for writing. I am always elated to
receive your emails. It is just disgusting reading about the rape of the
planet. Frankly, I am at a loss to explain why corporations,. politicians
and the general public act in such manner. Even the man in the street
who tosses away motor oil or soda bottles into the water or environment
is amazing to me. I guess they don't really give a thought to themselves
or their children. This planet is our ONLY INHERITANCE and the ONLY thing
we really have to hand our children when we pass on. We are only caretakers
of the planet and its animals. No more.
-
- I had been to the gulf of Florida for the first time
in my life and it was so beautiful to behold. Knowing that there is a
large section from shore to 20 miles out from Tarpon Springs to Sarasota
is devestating to me. Don't people undertand that when marine life cannot
live in our oceans we are NEXT. Stupid humanity. I often think, if there
are aliens i.e. intelligent life elsewhere in the universe would they really
want to visit planet earth? Think not. I guess we all just hang the "gone
fishin' sign and stick our heads in the sands.
-
- Thank God for people, like yourself, who do give a damn.
-
- Patricia Doyle
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD
Please visit my "Emerging
Diseases" message board.
-
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
-
- From Christopher Blau
ebe612@netzero.com
8-22-5
-
- The level of dioxin found in the food chain, in people,
and in mother's milk in many areas of the country is above the level found
to cause serious harm to animals in studies, and Florida appears to have
some of the highest emission rates in the country.
-
- "The science is clear - our Gulf/oceans are in trouble,"
said Buffy Baumann, Oceans Advocate for Florida PIRG. "Congress and
the Bush Administration should heed this wake up call and implement the
Commission's recommendations to protect our fragile and valuable oceans."
-
- accumulating highly toxic and carcinogenic polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and toxic metals like mercury, cadmium, lead,
and copper, from air emissions, urban runoff, industrial effluent, and
sewage.
-
- * Every day, FL West Coast is generating millions of
pounds of toxics with no legal place to dispose of them in Florida
-
- * 379 major facilities were in Significant Non-Compliance
with their water pollution permits during the entire 15 month period.
-
- * There have been over 53,000 beach closings and advisories
since 1988, and in 1999, 48 states issued fish consumption advisories because
of high levels of dangerous chemicals.
-
- Water pollution can be toxic to fish and the animals
that eat them - including humans
-
- Hence we are now seeing rapid declines in the state of
the Florida environment: in fish, seafood, birds, and other wildlife, and
in the quality of life and health of many Floridians. Florida is experiencing
increased congestion, water shortages in coastal and urban areas, as well
as contamination to thousands of wells, lakes, rivers, and bays due to
toxics and pollution from air emissions, waste effluent and runoff, causing
serious declines in fish and wildlife, and also now affecting the food
chain and the health of large numbers of Floridians, especially children.
-
- Pesticide runoff from farms, lawns, and from spraying
to control exotic weeds and mosquitoes, is affecting fish and wildlife
throughout Florida. Catastrophic collapses have occurred in populations
of amphibians, fish, turtles, alligators, etc., due to organochlorine pesticide-induced
reproductive system abnormalities that are resulting in the inability to
reproduce. This has resulted in an over 90% decline in such populations
of Lake Apopka. Likewise, die-off of lobsters, clams, amphibians, etc.
is occurring in coastal areas. Similarly, fish, seafood, and other wildlife
of St. Josephs Bay, Perdido Bay, and many rivers and lakes of Florida are
contaminated by dioxin, which has similar effects as the other organochlorine
compounds, but has also been found to be the most toxic and carcinogenic
compound ever tested.
-
- Marine mammals at the top of the food chain, like dolphins,
are experiencing die-offs in Florida and world-wide, due to the accumulation
of organochlorine compounds in fish and marine mammals.
-
- (3) The food chain and seafood in several bays have been
contaminated by radioactive elements like radium from phosphate mining
wastes and coal or ash pile runoff. Likewise, bays, lakes, and drainage
ponds are accumulating highly toxic and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs) and toxic metals like mercury, cadmium, lead, and copper,
from air emissions, urban runoff, industrial effluent, and sewage.
-
- (4) Toxic metals, like mercury, lead, and cadmium, as
well as endocrine system-disrupting chemicals, like dioxin and PAHs, are
getting into the food chain from emissions of incinerators and fossil fuel
combustion. This has resulted in over half the rivers and lakes in Florida
having health warnings regarding dangerous levels of mercury or other toxics
in the fish and widespread fish disease and fish cancer. Dangerous levels
of mercury and other toxics are also commonly being found in shellfish
and saltwater fish such as tuna, swordfish, bluefish, sharks and many other
commercial and recreational species at the top of the food chain. The level
of mercury in people eating such seafood has been found to commonly exceed
dangerous levels as well, and to result in levels in about 10% of women
of childbearing age high enough to cause developmental effects on infants.
-
- The level of dioxin found in the food chain, in people,
and in mother's milk in many areas of the country is above the level found
to cause serious harm to animals in studies, and Florida appears to have
some of the highest emission rates in the country.
-
- Toxics in the food chain in Florida have been documented
to be causing serious harm to wildlife populations like panthers, alligators,
and fish eating birds, and also appear to be seriously affecting people
in Florida, causing increased reproductive problems and reproductive system
abnormalities and cancer.
-
- (5) We are generating millions of pounds of toxics with
no legal place to dispose of them in Florida, and running out of places
to dispose of the growing volumes of garbage, sewage, and industrial effluent,
which is often contaminated with toxics. Most landfills and sewers are
documented to have dangerous levels of toxics, resulting in contamnation
of groundwater, lakes, rivers, bays, fish, crops(where sewer sludge in
used), and rainfall(high levels of mercury in rain outgased from these
sources). There have been high levels of toxic metals, dioxin, and acid
pollutants deposited throughout Florida''s lakes, streams, bays, ecosystem,
and food chain by emissions from incinerators and power plants. This is
resulting not only in serious environmental degradation and damage to groundwater,
surface water, wildlife, sea grasses, and coral reefs, but also in adverse
health effects and ever-increasing costs to dispose of these wastes in
a manner without doing serious environmental damage.
-
- (6) There has been a very large increase in birth defects,
neurologically damaged children with conditions such as autism, ADHD, etc.
and allergic conditions such as allergies, asthma, systemic eczema, etc.
due to increased exposure to toxic substances. The National Academy of
Sciences recently found that almost 50% of births result in birth defects,
neurologically damaged infants, or other chronic developmental health problems-mostly
related to toxic exposures.
-
- Likewise there is a large increase in chronic autoimmune
conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis,
lupus, multiple chemical sensitivities, etc. among the adult population
due to exposure to toxic substances.
-
- (7) Florida is almost totally energy dependent and imports
over $25 billion dollars of fuel each year. This constitutes a huge capital
drain on the state economy, not to mention a significant portion of the
national trade deficit each year. North Florida areas have also been found
to have high lung cancer rates that appear to be related to air emissions
of acid pollutants and toxic metals; and Central Florida has high lung
cancer rates related to phosphate mine wastes.
-
- U.S. PIRG obtained the data under the Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA).
-
- The major findings of the report include:
-
- a.. More than 42 percent of the 2,675 major facilities
examined were in Significant Non-Compliance with their Clean Water Act
permits for at least one quarter during the 15 month period. a.. 379 major
facilities were in Significant Non-Compliance with their water pollution
permits during the entire 15 month period.
-
- b.. Of the 42 industrial facilities in Significant Non-Compliance
for the entire 15 month period, EPA records indicate only one received
a fine over the past five years.
-
- c.. The 10 states with the greatest number of major facilities
in Significant Non-Compliance were Texas, Ohio, New York, Alabama, Tennessee,
Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Florida, Missouri and Indiana.
-
- d.. The 10 states with the highest percentage of major
facilities in Significant Non-Compliance were Utah, Tennessee, Ohio, Vermont,
Missouri, Oklahoma, Alabama, Rhode Island, Nebraska and Indiana. The continued
dumping of hundreds of millions of pounds of toxic chemicals into waterways
and the significant violation of the Clean Water Act by almost 1,700 large
facilities stems from several specific policy failures, U.S. PIRG argues.
Governments, both state and federal, have do not pursue and punish polluters.
-
- A quarter of the nation's refining capacity and almost
65 percent of its petrochemical capacity are located along 367 miles of
Texas shoreline. In 1989 more than 115,000 tanker and barge transports
carried some 1.6 billion barrels of crude oil, fuels, and other petroleum
products across Texas gulf waters
-
- Source: Oil Spill and Clean-Up Division
Texas General Land Office
September 11, 2003.
-
- Recent toxic release inventory data showed that the Gulf
states of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas were 4 of the top
10 states in the country in total surface water discharge of toxic chemicals.
A total of 460 municipalities and large industries pipe discharges directly
into the Gulf. Farmers spread more than 21 million pounds of chemical fertilizers
and pesticides on croplands in the Mississippi River region each year.
Industries in the same area annually release 2.3 billion pounds of toxins
into the marine environment. Offshore oil and gas operations have released
an estimated 14 million gallons of oil into the Gulf as a result of well
blowouts and explosions on drilling platforms. Tankers and barges moving
petrochemicals, petroleum, and other hazardous waste contribute to the
problem.
-
- New Orleans - Western Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease
Sale 196, held today in New Orleans by the U.S. Department of the Interior's
Minerals Management Service, attracted $285,192,865 in high bids. 56 companies
participated in the lease sale, which offered 3,762 tracts comprising approximately
20.3 million acres offshore Texas and Louisiana. The MMS received 422
bids on 346 tracts. Bids totaled $335,628,130.
-
- http://www.cruisejunkie.com/envirofines.html - Pollution
from cruise ships, tankers and other vessels are among the rising threats
to health and wealth
-
- The region, with around 50,000 ships visiting annually
and 14.5 million tourists a year, has some of the most intensive maritime
traffic in the world.
-
- Other concerns center around the rising tide of household
and industrial wastes contaminating the land, underground freshwater supplies
and coastal waters
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