Perodic Table of Vidoes – DDT
A bit of a backstory about this chemical and the problems it poses.
Toxins
Conium maculatum (Poison Hemlock) – Wikipedia
A short time after ingestion, the alkaloids produce potentially fatal neuromuscular dysfunction due to failure of the respiratory muscles. Acute toxicity, if not lethal, may resolve in spontaneous recovery, provided further exposure is avoided.
The onset of symptoms is similar to that caused by curare, with an ascending muscular paralysis leading to paralysis of the respiratory muscles, causing death from oxygen deprivation. Death can be prevented by artificial ventilation until the effects have worn off 48–72 hours later. For an adult, the ingestion of more than 100mg (0.1 gram) of coniine (about six to eight fresh leaves, or a smaller dose of the seeds or root) may be fatal.
New efforts to put the genie back in the bottle | Waste Dive
Because PFAS variants are found in a variety of common products, which can end up in landfills when disposed, low concentrations are consistently appearing in leachate as chemicals are released from naturally degrading material. Landfill leachate is collected and treated to remove regulated contaminants, but most wastewater treatment plants do not remove PFAS. Wastewater biosolids are often testing positive for PFAS, prompting changes in their use as a soil amendment, so continued landfilling remains one of the primary options. Additionally, U.S. compost facilities have found PFAS in soil products due to contamination in the material stream. MRFs are also sorting through materials containing PFAS on a daily basis – including paper, plastics and other coated products.
I wonder if Six Mile Waterworks has PFAS in it? I bet that is question that City of Albany hopes is never asked. They really should think about banning PFAS in all uses -- because if you put that chemical in products, it's going to be out there in environment.
Shots – Health News : NPR
Lead-based paint was extremely popular in the early and mid-20th century — used in an estimated 38 million homes across the U.S. before it was banned for residential use in 1978.
The risk didn't stop with the ban. Today, when older homes are renovated or repaired, contractors are required to take special precautions to avoid exposing residents to lead-laden dust and paint chips that are dangerous, especially to children and pregnant women. It's part of a broader set of environmental regulations meant to protect young people from lead exposure.
But an internal investigation by the federal watchdog for the Environmental Protection Agency finds that the EPA is not enforcing many of those requirements adequately.
NPR
PFAS chemicals could be making their way into food from Pennsylvania farms – EHN
PFAS contamination of food is an emerging threat. In addition to being detected in dairy milk in several states, a recently-released study revealed the Food and Drug Administration has found PFAS compounds in everything from sweet potatoes, leafy greens and pineapples to seafood, meat, and chocolate cake, and experts say the use of contaminated biosolids on farm fields is likely a primary source of food contamination. Produce grown in soil contaminated with PFAS uptake the chemicals into their roots, fruit, and leaves, which humans and animals eat.
PFAS can find their way into biosolids through contaminated water used in sewage treatment plants, contaminated waste entering sewage treatment plants from industrial sites that use the chemicals in their operations, or from contaminated feces and urine that have been excreted by people drinking contaminated water or eating contaminated food.
I have a lot of questions about this -- what kind of levels are we talking about and what is the actual harm? Or are we taking the precautionary principal too far? You can definitely see the benefits of using biosolids -- keeping organic waste out of landfills -- and turning it back into dirt, because a lot of sewage solids do end up in landfills, with the nutrient value from farms forever lost.
More Research Needed : Shots – Health News : NPR
Perhaps no question about cancer is more contentious than its causes. People wonder, and scientists debate, if most malignancies stem from random DNA mutations and other chance events or from exposure to carcinogens, or from behaviors that might be avoided. At the conference in Charlotte, N.C., scientists pressed for a reassessment of the role of environmental exposures by applying modern molecular techniques to toxicology. They called for more aggressive collection of examples of human pathology and environmental samples, including water and air, so that cellular responses to chemicals can be elucidated.