Revealing the relationship between the natural world and the everyday lives of people
More than 135 sites possibly containing hazardous levels of lead
have been found across the Great Lakes. At least some of those sites
could pose a major health risk for humans. The discovery was announced
at the
annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Diego. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dale Willman has more:
Researchers have discovered more than 135 sites across the Great Lakes that could contain hazardous levels of lead. Many of the sites could pose a substantial risk to humans, because they are located near residential areas in some of the region’s largest cities. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dale Willman reports:
Officials with the U.S. EPA have announced new regulations that willban so-called ”mixing zones” from Great Lakes waters. The Great LakesRadio Consortium’s Dale Willman reports:
Officials with the U.S. EPA have announced new regulations that will ban
so-called “mixing zones” from Great Lakes waters. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Dale Willman reports.
A mixing zone is the area of water around a discharge pipe. It was once
thought that chemicals could be released into these zones at a higher
concentration than normally permitted, because those chemicals would be
quickly diluted in the surrounding water. But scientists now say that isn’t
always what happens. The ban was announced by EPA Assistant Administrator
Chuck Fox.
“This ban will eliminate up to seven hundred thousand toxic pounds of chemicals
pumped into the Great Lakes each year. Mercury discharges alone will be reduced by 90
percent.”
Most of the Great Lakes states will not be affected by the rule, because
they already ban the zones. The three that don’t have such a ban… New York,
Ohio and Pennsylvania will be given 18 months to come into compliance.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Dale Willman.
Environmental monitoring is an important way scientists can gauge thehealth of the Great Lakes. Yet according to a new study, the monitoringof at least one of the lakes is not being done well enough. The GreatLakes Radio Consortium’s Dale Willman reports:
Environmental monitoring is an important way scientists can gauge the health of the
Great Lakes. Yet according to a new study, the monitoring of at least one of the lakes is
not being done well enough. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dale Willman
reports.
Monitoring an ecosystem such as the Great Lakes means collecting data for a
number of indicators over a period of time. Scientists then use that data to
determine the system’s health…
“It gives us baseline information so that we know if a change has taken place in
the environment, and helps us to identify what the source of that change is.”
Ric Lawson is part of a team that attempted to do a complete inventory of indicators
for Lake Michigan. He says they had two major problems – the first is that some
observations simply are not being made. But perhaps most importantly, he says,
those that are being made are not being collected all in one place, so people can find
them. And the other lakes apparently face the same problems. The researchers are
recommending that a central data collection point be established.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Dale Willman.
For perhaps the first time ever, scientists have looked at whatenvironmental indicators are being collected for Lake Michigan. Theysay the results of their inventory are not good. And they say the otherlakes are likely facing similar problems. The Great Lakes RadioConsortium’s Dale Willman reports:
For perhaps the first time ever, scientists have looked at what environmental indicators
are being collected for Lake Michigan. They say the results of their inventory are not
good. And they say the other lakes are likely facing similar problems. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Dale Willman reports.
Scientists use indicators, such as water quality and toxin levels, to gauge the overall
health of the Great Lakes. So workers with the Great Lakes Commission tried to
come up with a complete list of those indicators. Ric Lawson says they found two
problems. First, some much needed indicators are apparently not being collected…
“Terrestrial and aquatic habitat, amphibian diversity and abundance is, is
very unknown, and the deposition of air toxins.”
The second problem is, no one knows for sure who’s collecting what. Although this
inventory just involved Lake Michigan, Lawson says the other lakes face similar
problems. So the researchers are calling for a centralized location for data collection, and
better coordination between monitoring programs. For the Great Lakes Radio
Consortium, I’m Dale Willman.
Water levels in the Great Lakes remain low this summer, but the amountof cargo shipped across the lakes has held fairly steady compared tolast year’s amounts. Shipping officials say that’s because the ships’crews are working a lot harder. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s DaleWillman reports:
Water levels in the Great Lakes remain low this summer, but the amount of cargo shipped
across the lakes has held fairly steady compared to last year’s amounts. Shipping officials
say that’s because the ship’s crews are working a lot harder. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Dale Willman reports.
Although some areas of the region have suffered a drop in cargo deliveries, officials with
the Lake Carrier’s Association say the overall change in tonnage has been negligible.
George Ryan is president of the Association. He says the larger ships, which account for
about 70-percent of the total cargo shipped in the region, have had to run at less than 100-
percent capacity. That’s because with a full load they would hit bottom in some areas.
But they’ve made up for the loss in cargo by making more runs. However, more runs cut
into profits…
“So the larger ships are suffering.”
Ryan says companies haven’t released exact figures, but the lost revenue has run as high
as 40-thousand dollars per trip. However, Ryan says the season has not been as bad as
expected, and he says with a mild winter, the total tonnage shipped this year, if not the
dollars made, should remain solid.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Dale Willman.
Despite low water levels in the Great Lakes this year, shipping officials say the amount of cargo traveling through the region has not dropped off much over last year. However, they say that’s because ships are making more trips than before. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dale Willman reports:
Despite low water levels in the Great Lakes this year, shipping officials say the amount of
cargo traveling through the region has not dropped off much over last year. However,
they say that’s because ships are making more trips than before. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Dale Willman reports.
The problem, says George Ryan of the Lake Carrier’s Association, is one of depth. With
lake levels this past spring reaching a 35-year low, bigger ships could not run fully loaded
through shallower passages without dragging on the lake bottom. So he says those ships
had to run with lighter loads, and make more trips to make up the difference.
“We started the season much earlier, because we had a
mild winter. So we got a number of trips in in March. And we’ve had very good weather.
Not as much fog, so there have been fewer delays. So we have made more trips, but less
tonnage in each ship.”
Now Ryan says a mild winter is needed so that shippers can keep cargo moving as long
as possible before heavy ice sets in.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Dale Willman.
A new study has once again sparked controversy over the use of agenetically modified crop. At issue is Bt corn – a corn grown by manyfarmers in the Great Lakes region – and its effect on the monarchbutterfly. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dale Willman reports:
A new study has once again sparked controversy over the use of a genetically modified crop.
At issue is Bt corn – a corn grown by many farmers in the Great Lakes region – and its effect on
the monarch butterfly. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dale Willman reports.
Bt corn is a corn genetically engineered to contain a naturally occurring insecticide.
The corn accounts for just 19-percent of all corn grown in the country right now – that’s
about one out of every five acres of corn. But its relatively small share of the market hides
its apparently remarkable potential for causing arguments. Especially when it comes in contact
with one of America’s most endearing symbols, the Monarch butterfly.
It was just a year ago that scientists at Cornell University in New York led a study that found
Bt corn to be toxic to the larvae of Monarchs under laboratory conditions. For months, those
results were debated and criticized for not involving a real-world test of the corn. The
scientists were accused of feeding butterfly larvae levels of Bt pollen much higher than those
actually found in farm fields.
This latest study though has moved the lab a bit closer to the field. Iowa State University
researcher John Obrycki says the two-year project used milkweed plants. They placed those potted
plants out in Bt and non-Bt cornfields.
“And allowed pollen to be naturally deposited on these
milkweed plants. Then we took those leaves, brought them
into the lab, counted the densities, the amount of pollen on
the leaves, then exposed those to monarch larvae.”
And the results, says Obrycki, were startling.
“And we observed significantly higher mortality when we
exposed those larvae to the Bbt corn pollen, as compared to the non-Bt corn pollen.”
In fact, about 20-percent of the larvae eating the Bt leaves died from the insecticide, while
almost all the larvae that ate the non-Bt leaves stayed alive. This is troubling, says Obrycki,
because milkweed plants are the only thing the Monarch larvae will eat. And milkweed plants are
often found within, and around, cornfields. So the Monarchs attracted to those plants near Bt
corn could face a much greater risk. Val Giddings is a Vice President at the Biotechnology
Industry Association, a Washington-based trade group for biotech companies. He says it’s true
that some strains of Bt corn, under the right conditions, could indeed kill Monarchs.
“I’m willing to concede that, you know, what they have found,
that pollen of this particular variety, if monarch larvae are
exposed, would have some probability of a negative impact.”
However, the devil he says is in the details. He says the actual amount of exposure the larvae
might get to Bt corn pollen is slight.
“The amount of time that corn pollen is present overlaps with
only a very small fraction of the amount of time that
monarch larvae are present, so most monarch larvae are unlikely ever to encounter any corn
pollen in the field.”
And Giddings says the alternative to Bt corn could be much worse. Right now, he says Bt is one
of just two options available to farmers to control corn-boring caterpillars. That pest causes
an estimated one billion dollars worth of crop damage each year. The other option is the spraying
of broad-spectrum pesticides, which are quite effective against the caterpillars. But the
pesticides have some major drawbacks not found in Bt corn.
The results of the study, if confirmed by other scientists, could be especially significant for
Midwestern farmers and butterfly lovers. As much as half of the Monarch butterfly population
makes its way across the Midwest during its annual migration.
Even the study’s co-author says this is not the last word on Bt corn. John Obrycki says more
studies must be done before the full effects of this transgenic crop are understood.
In the meantime, the fight against Bt corn will continue. Environmentalists say it’s simply the
latest battle in a larger war against all bioengineered crops.
For the Great Lakes radio Consortium, I’m Dale Willman.
The controversy surrounding genetically modified crops is heating uponce again with the release of a new study critical of Bt corn. TheGreat Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dale Willman reports:
The controversy surrounding genetically modified crops is heating up once again with the release
of a new study critical of Bt corn. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dale Willman reports.
Bt is a naturally occurring insecticide that has been genetically placed into certain strains
of corn. Researchers at Iowa State University conducted the study. They say it shows the pollen
produced by that corn is deadly to the larvae of monarch butterflies. Professor John Obrycki says
they placed milkweed plants in both Bt and non-Bt corn fields for several days. Then they
counted the pollen on the milkweed leaves and fed the pollen and leaves to monarch larvae in the
laboratory.
“And we observed significantly higher mortality when we
exposed those larvae to the Bt corn pollen, as compared to the
non-Bt corn pollen.”
Critics say the study does not reflect real-world conditions, such as rain that could wash the
pollen away. However, Obrycki says many of the plants they used were exposed to rain and wind,
yet the remaining pollen was still enough to kill the larvae. The study meanwhile is of
particular importance to farmers in the Great Lakes region, where a significant amount of the
corn grown is of the Bt variety.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Dale Willman.