The Pollution Thread

[China]

Shocking study says chemicals found in shampoo, makeup may kill 100k Americans prematurely each year

 

Exposure to a synthetic group of chemicals called phthalates may contribute to about 100,000 premature deaths each year among older Americans, according to a new study published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Pollution.

 

Phthalates are used to make plastics more flexible and can be found in hundreds of products such as cosmetics, detergents, food packing, soaps, shampoos and others. 

 

The chemicals are known to interfere with the human body's hormonal system. Disruptions of the endocrine system have been linked to "developmental, reproductive, brain, immune, and other problems," according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. 

 

The agency, however, notes assessing the potential health problems in humans related to phthalates has been difficult as people are exposed to multiple endocrine disruptors at the same time. 

 

But a new study led by researchers at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine estimates phthalates may be associated with somewhere between 91,000 and 107,000 premature deaths in the U.S. among adults ages 55 to 64. The study estimates the deaths could cost the country between $40 billion and $47 billion annually. 

 

Click on the link for the full article

Edited October 19, 2021 by China

[mammajamma]

not really "shocking" since this has been known for a while. that's why there's been such a push for shampoos that put " No Phthalates!" on the bottle for years

[Califan007 The Constipated]

6 minutes ago, China said:

But a new study led by researchers at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine

 

School's motto: "**** it, I'm publishing a study."

[skinsmarydu]

"Our findings reveal that increased phthalate exposure is linked to early death, particularly due to heart disease," Leonardo Trasande, the study's lead author, said in a statement. 

"Until now, we have understood that the chemicals connect to heart disease, and heart disease in turn is a leading cause of death, but we had not yet tied the chemicals themselves to death," Trasande said. 

 

Am I misunderstanding?  Don't these two quotes contradict each other? 

[Fan since a Fetus]

56 minutes ago, skinsmarydu said:

"Our findings reveal that increased phthalate exposure is linked to early death, particularly due to heart disease," Leonardo Trasande, the study's lead author, said in a statement. 

"Until now, we have understood that the chemicals connect to heart disease, and heart disease in turn is a leading cause of death, but we had not yet tied the chemicals themselves to death," Trasande said. 

 

Am I misunderstanding?  Don't these two quotes contradict each other? 

I think what they are saying is there is a correlation, but they don’t know for sure that it is the cause.

[Destino]

If endocrine disrupters are bad, why do we still allow their widespread use?  Is the answer anything other than money?  It’s probably money.  

[PeterMP]

37 minutes ago, Destino said:

If endocrine disrupters are bad, why do we still allow their widespread use?  Is the answer anything other than money?  It’s probably money.  

 

@skinsmarydu

 

It is tied to deaths through correlations and even a reasonable biological mechanisms (correlation doesn't prove causation but correlation + a viable mechanism supported by evidence comes darn close).  But they haven't proven that any one person has been killed due phthalates.  Which is hard if not essentially impossible to do.  How do you prove that if somebody hadn't been exposed to phthalates that they wouldn't have died?

 

As part of that, historically it is very hard to get chemicals out of the consumer products.  (It is interesting how differently we treat pharmaceutical medicines vs. just general consumer products).  Historically, you had to prove the economic gain for removing the chemical was greater than the costs of replacing it with something else.  Which is hard to do because (as I addressed above).

 

And other than in those cases, the EPA had limited ability to force companies to remove chemicals from products (from the link below):

 

"Companies didn't have to clear even a basic safety review before using a chemical in consumer products, and the Environmental Protection Agency had little power to remove hazardous chemicals already in the marketplace."

 

In 2016 ,the law was changed BUT:

 

"How did Trump's EPA block progress?

 

The law had only recently passed when President Trump took office; his administration was able to write the main rules that set up how the law would work.

For four years, the EPA under Trump stymied and reversed progress that could have made chemicals safer.

 

For example, in December 2016, the EPA proposed banning certain uses of trichloroethylene, which dry cleaners often apply to grease stains. You, too, might be using the chemical — known to cause cancer and other diseases — in products that remove grease from parts in cars, bikes, guns and the like.

 

But the Trump EPA withdrew these proposals after the chemical industry complained. And this is just one of the many ways the agency undermined progress in the early stages of the law’s implementation."

 

https://www.edf.org/health/toxic-chemicals-law-should-now-better-protect-us

 

(And this is just one reason why people that say both parties are the same are dumb.)

Edited October 13, 2021 by PeterMP

[Larry]

 

[China]

Opinion: The global reason behind Chicago's 'garbage juice'

 

We want to advise our listeners and readers: some of what follows might be...yucky.

 

I did a story years ago in which I worked alongside a Streets and Sanitation crew in Chicago's 45th Ward. The dedicated professionals in heavy protective vests, gloves and boots spoke of something called "The Gravy" the way sailors speak of The Kraken.

 

The Gravy is distilled when rainwater and dew dribble on all the stuff that people consign to the garbage: chicken bones, globs of mayonnaise, clumps of used-up tissues, discarded batteries, saturated cat litter—I told you this would be yucky—gnawed apples, full diapers and not-quite-empty plastic bottles of glass cleaner, cooking oil and Sprite.

 

When the crew hoisted a can-load into the back of our truck and...something...sloshed all over me, they clapped me on the back and said, "Congratulations! You're a real Garbage Man now! You got The Gravy on you!"

 

This year some residents of Chicago's 35th Ward are seeing—and smelling—something they call The Goo, or Garbage Juice, in alleys and streets. According to a report by Block Club Chicago, The Goo seems be what happens when The Gravy leaks out of a truck's hopper, leaving a slimy trail through the neighborhood.

 

"It smells worse than sewage," a resident named Michael Waechter is quoted as saying. "It's got a stench you wouldn't believe," although, having been seasoned with The Gravy...I would.

"It's gross," adds the local alderman, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, who worries that such leaks could be hazardous as well as foul. Garbage Juice is not aloe vera gel.

 

The office of the Acting Commissioner of the Department of Streets and Sanitation told us the cause of this viscous scourge is....delays in the global supply chain.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[EmirOfShmo]

I can remember that stench when we would visit my grandparents in downtown Philly (not too far from K&A). Residents would put the trash out front & the garbage in cans out back that were buried in the ground. Garbage was essentially all the gross stuff mentioned in the above article. When they collected the garbage (driving down the alley behind the rowhouses) "The Gravy" would leak out of the trucks into the alley & smell for days. This was in the 60s when people slept with the windows open because there was no AC in those old radiator buildings. 

[China]

Urine trouble: High nitrogen levels in Puget Sound cause ecological worry

 

Among its many environmental challenges, Puget Sound has a water quality problem caused in part from too much pee from the 4.5 million people living in the region.

 

This problem, known euphemistically as “nutrient waste,” has caused Puget Sound to run afoul of the federal Clean Water Act. Now the Washington Department of Ecology is poised to finalize new regulations for wastewater treatment plants that seek to cut down how much they concentrate and dump nutrient waste into the sound. Most of the sewage plants in the region don’t filter out nutrients before discharging their treated water. The new “nutrient general permit” that the Ecology Department is proposing would apply to 58 wastewater treatment plants around the sound.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

They pulled 63,000 pounds of trash from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but that's just the start

 

A fridge, toilet seats, and more than 63,000 pounds of trash. 

 

That's what a cleanup team recovered in a monthslong effort to chip away at the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a massive collection of marine debris plaguing the Pacific Ocean.

 

A half-mile long trash-trapping system named "Jenny" was sent out in late July to collect waste, pulling out many items that came from humans like toothbrushes, VHS tapes, golf balls, shoes and fishing gear. 

 

Jenny made nine trash extractions over the 12-week cleanup phase, with one extraction netting nearly 20,000 pounds of debris by itself. 

 

The mountain of recovered waste arrived in British Columbia, Canada, this month, with much of it set to be recycled. 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

 

[skinsmarydu]

IIRC, we (USN) could dump anything off the ship once we were 10 miles offshore.  OMG.  I watched filing cabinets, office chairs, machinery scraps, paint buckets...you name it, it went over the side.  Sometimes, 2nd Division (cranes) were used.  My ship chased a couple hurricanes and changed home port, so I saw this happen at least 3 times.  I didn't feel good about it then, and feel even worse about it now. 

[PleaseBlitz]

The youtube guy stole his design from Baltimore’s Mr. Trash Wheel. 
 

 

 

 

 

[TheGreatBuzz]

2 hours ago, skinsmarydu said:

IIRC, we (USN) could dump anything off the ship once we were 10 miles offshore.  OMG.  I watched filing cabinets, office chairs, machinery scraps, paint buckets...you name it, it went over the side.  Sometimes, 2nd Division (cranes) were used.  My ship chased a couple hurricanes and changed home port, so I saw this happen at least 3 times.  I didn't feel good about it then, and feel even worse about it now. 

There are more rules on what you’re “allowed” to throw overboard now but yea, it is still a shameful practice.

 

edit:  and I believe it is 25 miles offshore now.

Edited October 30, 2021 by TheGreatBuzz

[China]

That giant trash patch in the middle of the ocean is getting bigger. Here's what's happening

 

In the Pacific Ocean, two massive floating islands of trash extend for hundreds of miles, together making up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The pervasive vortices of human-made garbage damage marine life, as well as the environment, and can even exacerbate human-caused climate change.

 

In August, the environmental nonprofit Ocean Cleanup deployed Jenny, its first large-scale cleaning system, which has since removed more than 63,000 pounds of trash. In October, Ocean Cleanup called that work the "beginning of the end of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch." It's a start. But the clumps of human-made trash are getting larger.

 

Ocean trash is only one area of focus as world leaders continue to meet for COP26 this week, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which lasts through Nov. 12. At the summit, roughly 200 nations are meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, to negotiate an updated agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in an attempt to keep temperatures from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

On 10/30/2021 at 8:05 AM, PleaseBlitz said:

The youtube guy stole his design from Baltimore’s Mr. Trash Wheel. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Not really.  Mr. Trash Wheel was deployed in 2014.   Ocean Cleanup in the YouTube video was founded in 2013.  Although frankly, who cares as long as the trash is getting removed.  And Mr. Trash Wheel is just one small thing in Baltimore, whereas Ocean Cleanup is much larger vessels being deployed across the globe.  Mr. Trash Wheel seems to have missed an opportunity to expand.

[PleaseBlitz]

7 hours ago, China said:

Mr. Trash Wheel seems to have missed an opportunity to expand.

 

This is an insult to Professor Trash Wheel, Captain Trash Wheel and Gwynnda the Good Wheel of the West.

 

[China]

A mountain of unsold clothing from fast-fashion retailers is piling up in the Chilean desert

 

Heaps of unworn clothes are being discarded in the Chilean desert, adding to a swiftly swelling graveyard of fast-fashion lines past.

 

According to a report from Agence France-Presse, the massive mound of clothes consists of garments made in China and Bangladesh that make their way to stores in the US, Europe, and Asia. When the garments are not purchased, they are brought to Chile's Iquique port to be resold to other Latin American countries.

 

AFP found that about 59,000 tons of clothing end up at the port in Chile every year. Of that, at least 39,000 tons are moved into landfills in the desert.

 

Alex Carreno, a former employee at the Iquique port's import section, told AFP the clothing "arrives from all over the world." Carreno added that most of the clothes are later disposed of when the shipments can't be resold across Latin America.

 

The clothes brought to the desert heaps for disposal now blanket an entire swathe of land in the Atacama desert in Alto Hospicio, Chile.

 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Rampant Sex on the Beach Is Destroying Fragile Sand Dunes in Canary Islands, Researchers Say

 

Lizards choking to death on condoms and trampled vegetation are just some of the hazards that rampant sex on Spain’s Canary Island beaches has caused. Researchers pinpointed 298 “sex spots” on the island’s famous Maspalomas nature reserve sand dunes that have attracted “cruisers” who know they can meet up for anonymous encounters. A study published in the Journal of Environmental Management called “Sand, Sun, Sea and Sex with Strangers” explains the danger. “The direct impacts generated around the sex spots can be observed in several ways, such as the impacts on the vegetation, the abandonment of waste or the presence of urinal and defecation locations,” the study said. “The most representative (in proportional order) are cigarette butts, torn/cut vegetation, toilet paper and wipes, condoms, fruit peel, cans and feces.”

 

The popularity of cruising by the gay and straight community has added to the problem as those in search of anonymous encounters know they can likely find one in the dunes. The authors make it clear they are not condemning random sex, but warns they must be careful—and they aren’t talking about safe sex. “We’re not calling for an end to public sex,” the authors write. “But we do want people to be aware of the damage it can do.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Invasion of 'dangerous' pebbles on UK beaches that look just like the real thing

 

Beaches up and down the country have been littered with "dangerous" rocks and pebbles.

 

The impostor rocks are missed daily by those walking along the shores as it was revealed that burnt plastic is mimicking the appearance of pebbles and stones.

 

The "fake" plastic pebbles are being washed up from the sea on a daily basis, and being missed by litter pickers due to their pebble like appearance, NorthWalesLive reports.

 

“It’s only when you pick them up, and feel how light they are, that you realise they are not stones at all,” said Hilary Rowlands, a founding member of Tywyn Beach Guardians in Gwynedd.

 

Known as pyroplastics, the “stones” are thought to form when pieces of plastic are melted or burnt and thrown into the sea, where they are slowly weathered grey and smooth as they float on long ocean voyages.

 

What plastic pebbles may look like

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Californian firm touts ‘mushroom leather’ as sustainability gamechanger

 

Vegan alternatives to leather could save more than just animals. The scientists behind fashion’s new latest must-have – the “mushroom leather” handbag – believe that mycelium, a material grown from fungi which can be engineered to look and feel like calfskin or sheepskin, could help save the planet.

 

Grown in trays, mycelium is engineered to look and feel like calfskin or sheepskin

 

Speaking to the Guardian before a talk at the Business of Fashion Voices conference in Oxfordshire, Dr Matt Scullin, CEO of biomaterials company MycoWorks, forecast that mushroom leather could be a sustainability gamechanger, “unlocking a future of design which begins with the material, not with the object”.

 

Fine Mycelium, a patented material which can be grown from fungi in trays in a matter of weeks, replicates the appearance and feel of leather while outperforming it in strength and durability. The material recently made its high fashion debut as an exclusive Hermès handbag.

 

“It can give the same emotional response as an animal leather. It has that hand-feel of rarity,” says Scullin. On a planet of finite natural resources, Scullin believes both the technology and the mindset of carbon-neutral, grown-to-order mushroom leather could be “revolutionary” – and have implications for innovation in manufacture beyond fashion.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Banned for decades, releasing oilsands tailings water is now on the horizon

 

The federal government has begun developing regulations to allow oilsands operators in northern Alberta to begin releasing treated tailings water back into the environment, something that's been prohibited for decades.

 

Currently, companies must store any water used to extract oil during the mining process because it becomes toxic. The massive above-ground lakes are known as tailings ponds, which are harmful to wildlife and have resulted in the death of birds who land on the water, on multiple occasions.

 

For years, local Indigenous groups have raised concerns about contamination from development, and how tailings ponds could further pollute their land and drinking water.

 

But now, industry leaders and some scientists are convinced the water can be treated enough so it can be safely discharged and they say it can reduce the environmental risk of storing an ever-increasing volume of tailings.

 

"The biggest challenge is that we have a massive amount of water that needs to be treated," said Mohamed Gamal El-Din, a University of Alberta professor who specializes in oilsands tailings water treatment.

 

In order to return tailings ponds water to the environment, the water does not need to be clean enough to drink, he said, but safe enough to meet the government's forthcoming standards. It's similar to how towns and cities across the country treat sewage to the point where it can be released to the environment.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Larry]

I can actually see that decision. 
 

I mean, if the choice is between treating it as well as you can, or just hold it forever (or more accurately, as long as you can)?  
 

Obviously, it's also a decision that's really easily demonized.