Researcher Kevin Keener has been working on a device that turns the air inside food packaging into ozone (Photo by Ken Hammond, courtesy of the USDA)
Researchers are working overtime to find ways to kill dangerous bacteria in food such as Salmonella and E. coli. Rebecca Williams reports one researcher has found a new way to kill bacteria:
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Researchers are working
overtime to find ways to kill dangerous bacteria in food such as Salmonella and E. coli. Rebecca Williams reports one researcher has found a new way to kill bacteria:
Food processors expose produce like lettuce to ozone for a few seconds or minutes to kill bacteria.
Kevin Keener has been working on a device that turns the air inside food packaging into ozone.
Keener is a food process engineer at Purdue University.
He attaches the device to the outside of food packages – like a bag of lettuce – and applies electrodes that send high voltage through the bag.
“Visually it’s very Frankenstein-ish. It’s a safe process, there is a high voltage, but it’s similar to a spark you’d get with an electric fence.”
Keener says the ozone spends more time with the food so it kills more bacteria.
There’s a problem though – in some of their tests the device turned green spinach white.
So there are a few kinks to work out. But food companies are interested and we might see this commercialized in a year or two.
The National Geographic Channel is airing a documentary called “Waking the Baby Mammoth” this Sunday. The discovery of an intact baby mammoth carcass is also the cover story of the May edition of the National Geographic Magazine. Lester Graham has more on that:
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The National Geographic Channel is airing a documentary called “Waking the Baby Mammoth” this Sunday. The discovery of an intact baby mammoth carcass is also the cover story of the May edition of the National Geographic Magazine. Lester Graham has more on that:
(National Geographic) “This is the story of a nomadic reindeer herder, an extinct baby wooly mammoth, and a team of scientists on a quest to learn her secrets…”
One of the scientists on that quest is Dan Fisher. He’s a paleontologist at the University of Michigan.
This nearly 40,000 year carcass is the most complete baby mammoth ever discovered. The scientists named it Lyuba.
Fisher flew to Russia two years ago to get his first look at the mammoth, an animal that’s been extinct for thousands of years.
“It’s overwhelming really to feel the privilege of getting to be that close to something that does hold so many answers to questions many people have.”
Graham: “This was a fascinating find, but I wonder how much has it added to our knowledge of that period.”
“What it tells us about the period is that it was really a wonderful time to be a mammoth – to be a large mammal – on the open steppes of the high north.”
(National Geographic) “For paleontologists this is a time capsule from the Ice Age. When Lyuba lived, the mammoth steppe was at its peak. It was rich with vegetation that sustained millions of woolly mammoths for hundreds of thousands of years.”
An autopsy of the baby mammoth revealed a lot about where she died – 40,000 years ago a dry grassland. Today it’s a frozen tundra in Siberia.
Dan Fisher says the well-preserved carcass still had traces of what Lyuba ate.
“It’s remarkable that we can take evidence that’s with us today, that’s at our fingertips and generate from that new understanding that can give us perspective on big questions like extinction and climate change, issues that we certainly will have to continue to face as we deal with other endangered species and with the future of our own civilization and planet.”
Fisher says the mammoth remains help add to our understanding of a related animal still around today, the elephant. And they help us better understand our impacts on other endangered species.
And Fisher says learning more about the climate 40,000 years ago can help us understand one other thing.
“We want to, of course, understand the Earth’s climate system better and one of the ways we can test the computer models that help us to project patterns of climate change into the future is to essentially try them out on the past. The past is essentially the training wheels for learning to refine these models. So, information from Lyuba and other mammoths can help us to develop a better understanding of how the Earth’s climate system works.”
(National Geographic) “Dan Fisher and his colleagues will continue to unravel Lyuba’s secrets and to search for reasons why mammals went extinct at the end of the Ice Age.”
The National Geographic program indicates research continues to reveal a lot about Lyuba’s life, and her death, which the scientists begin to piece together in the documentary.
Dr. John Holden from Rockford, Illinois is the CEO of Heartland Processing, which aims to convert millions of tons of Asian carp into pet food, fishmeal and fish oil. (Photo by Shawn Allee)
There are rivers in the Midwest that are just flush with fish. Normally, that would be great, but these are two species of invasive Asian Carp – and they shouldn’t be there in the first place. These foreign fish breed so quickly and grow so large, they push out native fish species. There are entrepreneurs who dream of getting rid of Asian carp. Shawn Allee looks at what they’ve cooked up and whether it could do any good:
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There are rivers in the Midwest that are just flush with fish. Normally, that would be great, but these are two species of invasive Asian Carp – and they shouldn’t be there in the first place.
These foreign fish breed so quickly and grow so large, they push out native fish species. There are entrepreneurs who dream of getting rid of Asian carp.
Shawn Allee looks at what they’ve cooked up and whether it could do any good:
One businessman wants to take on Asian carp.
He’s John Holden and he started up the brand-new Heartland Processing company.
When I visit his factory in central Illinois, Holden walks me around his machines.
They transform fresh carp into fish oil and dry fishmeal. Holden says the fishmeal might make good pet food.
He’s tested it his own dog.
“He just inhaled it. You got more of that for me?”
Unfortunately, there are no carp today – and I have to settle for a dry-run demo.
John Holden is a doctor by trade, but he started his business after he watched Internet video of carp in the Illinois River.
“I went onto YouTube, and I said, this is nuts.”
“What did you see when you went onto YouTube?”
“Fish jumping like it was boiling water. The most poignant one was the department of natural resources one. All of a sudden they’re jumping out of the river, and smacking the DNR people.”
Actually, a guy from the state Department of Natural Resources is on-hand to vouch for this. He’s Chris McCloud.
“We’ve had conservation police have their teeth knocked out.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“Oh no.”
McCloud says the state wants to cut back the carp population – not out of some vendetta, but because silver and big-head Asian carp pretty much took over the Illinois river from native fish.
McCloud says the agency’s got a plan.
Commercial fishing fits into it.
“It basically says, let’s see what this can do and then determine how much processing would be needed to make a dent in a population that’s so voracious.”
Now, my question is: Will massive, commercial harvesting of carp really work? I mean, the Illinois river’s 275 miles long, and I’ve seen videos that it’s thick with Asian carp.
To get an informed opinion, I head to the Illinois Natural History Survey.
Kevin Irons works there – he tracks carp populations along the Illinois River.
“As biologists we’re very encouraged by the Heartland Processing plant and commercial fishermen that are taking the fish out. From some of the research we’ve looked at, the only way we can reduce the numbers is by commercially harvesting them”
Irons walks me through his argument.
To start, he opens a freezer.
“These are the ones that will jump out and hit ya.”
“This one’s like 2.5 feet long.”
“That’s a relatively small one. There are many that are 3-4 feet long.”
Irons says the two troublesome varieties of Asian carp are native to Russia, the Mideast and China.
They’re small in China – they’re super-sized here.
“Nowhere else in the world do we have populations like this because they’re over-fished everywhere else. People in the YangTze River rarely see them over 4-5 pounds because they’re taken soon in their life cycles.”
How big can they get here?
“The world record was taken in St. Louis – nearly a hundred pounds.”
Irons says Chinese and other ethnic food markets in the US sell Asian carp but most Americans won’t touch them.
“We might go to a restaurant and get a walleye or perch fillet – they’re boneless and they’re beautifully done. These can be just as tasty, but they have bones. My wife, if she gets a bone in her fish, she’s just about done; she doesn’t want to mess with the bones. We’re pretty spoiled.”
Irons says if most Americans won’t eat Asian carp, maybe processors like Heartland can pick up the slack by making them into pet and animal feed.
It might not eliminate carp, but Irons says it might get darn close.
If it works too well – and Heartland runs out of fish on the Illinois River – Irons says there are plenty of carp waiting for processing in the Mississippi and other rivers.
Henry A. Waxman is the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has just started debating a carbon cap-and-trade program. (Photo courtesy of energycommerce.house.gov)
The debate on what to do about climate change has begun in Congress. Lester Graham reports the House Energy and Commerce committee is discussing an energy bill that includes a plan to reduce the greenhouse gases that cause global warming:
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The debate on what to do about climate change has begun in Congress. Lester Graham reports the House Energy and Commerce committee is discussing an energy bill that includes a plan to reduce the greenhouse gases that cause global warming:
In opening comments, members of the House committee had very different views of what the plan –called carbon cap-and-trade might do.
“A cap-and-trade energy tax will cost this country millions of good jobs and will force the average American family to pay thousands of dollars in increased energy costs.”
That’s Steve Scalise, a Republican from Louisiana. No one actually knows the cost yet, because there’s not a final plan. But several studies estimate it would be a few hundred dollars a year not thousands.
Meanwhile supporters say carbon cap-and-trade will create millions of jobs in a new green economy. Betty Sutton is a Democrat from Ohio.
“It will be a challenge for our country to transform the way we operate and transition to a green economy. But, the costs of not addressing climate change far outweigh the challenges.”
And members of President Obama’s cabinet all told the House committee pretty much the same thing.
The penguins' natural shelter (their own dung) is being removed from the landscape for fertilizer. So, conservationists are supplying penguins with artificial homes in which to nest. (Photo by Frank Olivier)
Rows of introduced, igloo-like penguin houses on an island off the coast of South Africa. (Photo by Frank Olivier)
Flocks of penguins nearly cover a small island near South Africa. However, due to habitat destruction, their ability to reproduce has been in danger. (Photo by Frank Olivier)
(Photo by Frank Olivier)
Along with lions and elephants, Southern Africa is home to a species of penguin. But the African penguin population is dwindling – and scientists are trying to turn things around for the bird. Ann Dornfeld reports:
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Along with lions and elephants, Southern Africa is home to a species of penguin. But the African penguin population is dwindling – and scientists are trying to turn things around for the bird. Ann Dornfeld reports:
Dyer Island sits just off the coast of the Western Cape of South Africa. It’s tiny, and pretty much consists of two things. Rocks. And birds.
Along with Cape cormorants, Hartlaub’s gulls and swift terns, Dyer Island is the nesting ground for hundreds of African penguins. Although they’re half the size of the Emperor penguins from that movie you might have seen, the species act a lot alike – waddling, awkwardly hopping, and squawking at each other over territory disputes. But today, these African penguins aren’t doing much of anything. That’s not them you hear. They’re mostly just standing still, trying to catch a breeze in the 90-degree heat.
“If you have a look here, you get an idea of just the heat stress of the birds. See this bird over here who’s just sort of standing, gasping, that’s an indication of heat stress.”
Lauren Waller monitors the penguin colony for Cape Nature. That’s the provincial conservation department. Waller says penguins used to find protection from the heat by burrowing into centuries’ worth of bird guano. That allowed them to keep cool, and lay their eggs out of predators’ reach. But in the 19th and 20th centuries, people dug out the guano between the rocks along the Southern Africa coast and sold it as fertilizer.
“And now what you’ve got if you have a look around the island is just – it’s rock, and the penguins can’t burrow into that. And so it now forces them to breed on the surface.”
When penguins make their nests out in the open, kelp gulls can snatch their eggs and chicks. And because penguins breed during African summers, the heat can be overwhelming. Parents often leave the nest just to cool off at sea, and their eggs or chicks die. It will take decades for the guano to build back up.
Scientists are trying to help the penguins out. They’re building nests for them. Waller says Dyer Island is the main testing ground.
“The nests are made out of fiberglass mold and they sort of mimic natural burrows that the bird would make in the ground. They’re kind of like a really small igloo shape, and big enough that you can fit two adult birds inside and their chicks as well.”
The nests are covered with rocks to prevent a greenhouse effect inside the igloos. Waller says they’re experimenting with different materials and nest arrays to see whether the penguins prefer their igloos in a cul-de-sac pattern, or a secluded ocean view. Some nests never catch on, but others have become prime real estate.
“Here you can see we have a colony of 15 nests, and already nine of them are occupied and it’s not their peak breeding yet. So this specific colony is looking really, really good.”
We peek inside one of the plastic igloos where a mother is guarding two fuzzy brown chicks.
“She’s turning her head from side to side.”
“Yeah, it’s a kind of aggressive, stay-away kind of behavior. But if you look behind her you can see the little heads sticking out!”
Waller says as successful as the artificial nests have been, commercial overfishing of sardines and anchovies also affects chick survival. At one well-protected nest a few yards away, she finds an abandoned egg and a dead chick. She says it may be that the parents couldn’t find enough fish.
“It is hard. Knowing their numbers are just going down every year. And you become quite desperate to do something so that these birds don’t have these breeding failures.”
The South African government has banned fishing around one island with penguin colonies to see whether it makes a difference in the birds’ survival rates. Waller says she’s hopeful that now is the turning point for African penguins.
The founder of Earth Day, the late Senator Gaylord Nelson, felt population control is the key to sustainability. (Photo courtesy of NASA)
Earth Day has grown from its counterculture roots. Now there’s a lot of green talk on Main Street. But as Mark Brush reports, the founder of Earth Day might think we’re leaving something out:
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Earth Day has grown from its counter culture roots. Now there’s a lot of green talk on Main Street. But as Mark Brush reports, the founder of Earth Day might think we’re leaving something out:
In the last several decades, concern about the environment has shifted from college campus protests to board room discussions. There’s a lot more awareness about environmental issues. And the administration in Washington D.C. is much more receptive. That has Earth Day organizers pretty excited.
The man credited for founding Earth Day is the late Senator Gaylord Nelson. He probably would’ve liked all this talk about a green future. But in a 2003 speech recorded by C-Span – the Senator said there was an important topic being left out of the conversation:
“The ultimate key to sustainability is population.”
He acknowledged that taking on population control is a tough thing to do for politicians. But if they’re really serious about taking on environmental problems, he said they’re going to have to get up the courage to talk about population.
Cement kilns produce mercury, which gets into the fish we eat making it unsafe (Photo courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service)
After years of urging, the US Environmental Protection Agency is proposing regulations to cut down on pollution from cement kilns. Lester Graham reports:
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After years of urging the US Environmental Protection Agency is proposing regulations to cut down on pollution from cement kilns. Lester Graham reports:
Cement – the stuff used to make concrete – is made by baking limestone and other ingredients at really high temperatures in huge coal-burning ovens.
Burning the coal and baking the stone both release mercury. The mercury gets into the food chain and contaminates fish.
Mercury is a neuro-toxin, so eating contaminated fish can cause health problems, including IQ loss.
For 20 years Congress and the courts have been telling the EPA to do something about mercury pollution from cement kilns.
Jim Pew is a staff attorney with Earth Justice, an environmental group. It’s sued the EPA over the issue.
“The government response until now has not been to try to get mercury under control, since everybody agrees it’s a problem. The response has been to tell people ‘mercury is out there, so don’t eat the fish.’”
Under the EPA proposal, cement kilns would have to clean up the mercury and other pollution emitted from their smokestacks.
The reported number of salmonella cases has not gone down since 1996 (Source: Gene.Arboit at Wikimedia Commons)
Government agencies admit they need to do a better job at keeping food safe. Kyle Norris has more:
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Government agencies admit they need to do a better job at keeping food safe. Kyle Norris has more:
When you discover people are getting sick from a food bourne illness like salmonella, you want to stop others from getting sick from it as fast as possible.
A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US Food & Drug Administration, and the Department of Agriculture finds the government is not getting any faster.
The report found the number of reported salmonella cases each year is about 15 people in 100,000. That has not gone down since 1996.
Lola Russell is a spokeswoman for the CDC.
“We are planning to increase the capacity of state health departments so that outbreaks can be better detected and investigated.”
Russell says the CDC will work to get more “boots on the ground” to detect an outbreak. The report also indicated the FDA is looking at the best options to prevent food borne illnesses in the first place.
Ships sometimes bring unwanted travelers with them (Photo by Lester Graham)
Invasive species hitchike on foreign cargo ships and end up in US waterways. Lester Graham talked with the author of a new book about why the government has done so little to stop these aquatic invaders that are damaging the environment:
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Invasive species hitchike on foreign cargo ships and end up in US waterways.
Lester Graham talked with the author of a new book about why the government has done so little to stop these aquatic invaders that are damaging the environment:
Lester Graham: “Maybe you’ve heard about Zebra Mussels. The thumbnail-sized mussels have invaded freshwater lakes, rivers, clogged water intake pipes, and damaged the environment across a good portion of the US – and they’re still spreading. The Zebra Mussel is just one of dozens and dozens of invasive species brought into the US by foreign cargo ships entering the Great Lakes though the St. Lawrence Seaway, which connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. What happens is ships in Europe or Africa or Asia take on ballast water, sucking up millions of gallons of water from a foreign port. Aquatic life is sucked up with it. Then, as the ships take on cargo in the Great Lakes, the ballast water is discharged, and with it things like Zebra Mussels and other foreign pests. Many of those species have spread from the Great Lakes into the Mississippi River system, and then transported by recreational boating in every direction from there. Jeff Alexander has written a book that chronicles not only those invasions, but the utter failure of the government to do anything effective to stop these introductions. Jeff, you make the argument that these invasive species, biological pollution if you will, amount to a more serious environmental disaster than the Exxon-Valdez oil spill in Alaska. How’s that?”
Jeff Alexander: “Well the Valdez, there’s no discounting the severity of the Valdez oil spill. But oil spills, over time, can be cleaned up to a certain extent, and the ecosystem can recover. In the Great Lakes, ocean freighters have brought in 57 species, they’ve caused billions of dollars in damage, and they’ve transformed the entire ecosystem.”
Graham: “There are eight states that border the Great Lakes, and members of Congress are aware of this problem, why haven’t they taken action to ensure this problem is dealt with once and for all?”
Alexander: “The shipping lobby has been very effective at keeping regulations at bay, the Coast Guard, which is the lead agency in the US, has just totally dropped the ball on this issue. They’re the ones who’re supposed to be the guardians of the Great Lakes when it comes to ships, and the Coast Guard is very close to the shipping industry. They have social events together every year. A lot of people blame the shipping industry for this problem, but I tend not to. They certainly have fought the regulations but, in the end, the reason that we have regulatory agencies is to protect public health and the environment. And our regulatory agencies haven’t done the job, and our politicians haven’t done the job – no one seems to have the backbone to stand up to the shipping industry and deal with this problem.”
Graham: “Are the foreign ships that bring in this cargo and take away grain or the other things from the Midwest so economically valuable that it is worth this economic and environmental cost?”
Alexander: “There is some debate on that, but the best economic study estimated if we kept these ocean freighters out of the Great Lakes, made them offload their cargo in Montreal and put it on trains and trucks, it would cost us an extra $55 million a year to move that cargo. That’s compared to the estimate of $200 million a year that foreign species are costing us in terms of economic and environmental damage. It’s not a stretch to make the case that the environmental and economic costs have far exceeded the economic benefits.”
Graham: “Jeff Alexander’s new book is ‘Pandora’s Locks: The Opening of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway’. Thanks, Jeff.”
Alexander: “Thank you.”
Jeff Alexander spoke with The Environment Report’s Lester Graham.
There is some confusion about what to do with unused medications (Photo source: Shorelander at Wikimedia Commons)
The drugs we take are showing up in our drinking water, and they’re showing up in fish. The federal government’s now saying that in most cases, you should never flush unused drugs down the drain. There are safer ways to dispose of them. But even if you want to do the right thing, it’s not always easy. Rebecca Williams takes a look at what you should and should not do with your medications:
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The drugs we take are showing up in our drinking water, and they’re showing up in fish. The federal government’s now saying that in most cases, you should never flush unused drugs down the drain. There are safer ways to dispose of them. But even if you want to do the right thing, it’s not always easy. Rebecca Williams takes a look at what you should and should not do with your medications:
In the U.S., there are about 12,000 brand name and generic drugs on the market. And who knows how many over the counter drugs.
Scientists are finding many of these drugs in our water. Everything from caffeine, to allergy and anti-cancer drugs, to antidepressants.
Now, they’re finding these drugs at very low levels. But they’re pretty much everywhere.
An Associated Press investigation found trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in the drinking water of more than 40 million Americans.
“You know, we don’t think it’s enough to cause public harm but honestly nobody’s sure.”
That’s Sahar Swidan. She’s a pharmacist.
Right now, Swidan’s going through a five foot tall box of prescription drugs that people have brought to her store in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They might be expired, or just not needed anymore.
(sound of pill bottle shaking)
“Asthma medications, growth hormones for patients – so really the gamut could be anything and everything.”
A disposal company picks up the drugs about once a month and incinerates them.
Swidan’s drug take-back program is pretty rare. Many pharmacies are not set up to collect unused drugs.
One reason is, it takes a lot of work. Swidan has to sort through the drugs and make sure there aren’t any controlled substances – things like narcotics. It’s illegal for pharmacies to take these back in most cases.
The Drug Enforcement Agency is talking about revising their disposal rules for controlled substances. But for now you usually have to get rid of them yourself. So, how do you do that?
You can dissolve pills or caplets in water, and mix in kitty litter or coffee grounds. That’s to make the stuff look gross and undesirable. Then dump it all into ziptop bags, wrap it up in duct tape, and throw it away.
But to make things more complicated, there’s still a short list of drugs that you’re supposed to flush down the drain. The Food and Drug Administration says the drugs on this list are too dangerous to toss in the trash.
Connie Jung is with the FDA’s pharmacy affairs department. She says the drug label will tell you if you’re supposed to flush them.
“For the small number of prescription drugs that have flushing recommendations they have these because the drugs are strong narcotic pain relievers or other controlled substances. These drugs can be dangerous to those who aren’t supposed to be taking them, particularly children or pets.”
Jung says the FDA is currently reviewing disposal methods for these kinds of drugs… because flushing them down the toilet is starting to raise some questions.
An even bigger problem is that most of the drug residues getting into our water are coming from drugs we take and excrete.
Bryan Brooks is a researcher at Baylor University. He recently found low levels of seven drugs in fish caught near wastewater treatment plants. He says these sewer plants just can’t filter out drugs.
“These wastewater treatment facilities were largely not designed to treat to really ultra low levels. Compounds like birth control medications can be active at low part per trillion levels.”
Right now Brooks is trying to sort out what effects drugs are having on fish.
Hormones like estrogen appear to be feminizing male fish. Antidepressants might change how fish behave. And no one’s sure how drugs might be affecting our drinking water.
Brooks says one thing that can be done at the treatment plant is adding reverse osmosis filters. But they’re expensive.
Brooks says there’s not much we can do about excreting drugs, but at the very least we shouldn’t be flushing drugs down the drain.
Researcher Kevin Keener has been working on a device that turns the air inside food packaging into ozone (Photo by Ken Hammond, courtesy of the USDA)
