The invasion of the sea lamprey wreaked havoc on a once thriving GreatLakes fishery. For years, chemicals have been used to reduce thelamprey population, but now researchers are experimenting with somethingmuch less toxic. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush reports:
Transcript
The invasion of the sea lamprey wreaked havoc on
a once thriving Great Lakes fishery. For years
chemicals have been used to reduce the lamprey
population, but now researchers are experimenting
with something much less toxic. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush reports.
Pheromones are essentially smells that carry a
message… like where to find a mate, where to find
food, or directions to potential a spawning ground.
Doctors Peter Sorensen and Weiming Li are using
pheromones from sea lampreys in an effort to
control where they go.
Sorensen says the promising thing about using
pheromones is that the pheromones are extremely
potent.
“So it’s extremely effective at low concentration –
it’s extremely specific – it would only be expected
to affect lamprey it’s safe – easily licensed – and
should once developed be relatively easy and safe to
deploy, so there’s a lot to be said for using
pheromones.”
If successful, Sorensen hopes the pheromones can
eventually be used to control the lamprey
population in the Great Lakes.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mark
Brush.
More than a third of the nation’s commercial nuclear power reactorsoperate here in the Great Lakes Region (6 in NY, 9 in PA, 2 in OH, 4 inMI, 11 in IL, 3 in WI, 3 in MN). The high-level radioactive waste theseplants produce is currently being held on-site at each facility, whileefforts to find safe long-term storage continue. The Great Lakes RadioConsortium’s Mark Brush reports on new research that points toward apotential storage solution:
Transcript
More than a third of the nation’s commercial nuclear power reactors
operate here in the Great Lakes Region (6 in NY, 9 in PA, 2 in OH, 4 in
MI, 11 in IL, 3 in WI, 3 in MN). The high-level radioactive waste these
plants produce is currently being held on-site at each facility, while
efforts to find safe long term storage continue. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Mark Brush reports on new research that points toward a
potential storage solution.
Radioactive waste is highly active. Particles continue to bombard the
container it’s held in until the radiation essentially changes the
physical structure of the container. That then causes the container to
distort, decay or simply crack.
And that’s a problem for dangerous waste that has a half-life of more
than a thousand years.
However, scientists recently discovered a new ceramic material that
appears to stand up to radioactive waste’s unruly behavior. Lisa
Minervilli is with the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
“We found that these materials have very high radiation tolerance… By
immobilizing the radioactive species in these crystal structures you
would have possibly a longer term, more stable, more durable waste
form.”
Researchers say the material’s ability to hold up to radiation is
proven. What’s left to test is how the material will hold up to the
natural elements and time. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m
Mark Brush.
In the 1950’s it was discovered that feeding livestock low levels ofantibiotics helped to fatten them before being slaughtered. Thepractice is still widely used today. But the increase in resistantbacteria found in humans is leading many experts to question the safetyof using antibiotics on the farm. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’sMark Brush has more:
Transcript
In the 1950’s it was discovered that feeding livestock low
levels of antibiotics helped to fatten them before being slaughtered.
The practice is still widely used today. But the increase in resistant
bacteria found in humans is leading many experts to question the
safety of using antibiotics on the farm. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Mark Brush has more.
The Food and Drug Administration tried to
restrict the use of antibiotics as growth
promotants more than two decades ago.
Drug producers and farm groups fought the
FDA’s efforts saying that the evidence linking
antibiotic use on the farm to human illness
was lacking.
Dr. Stuart Levy is a professor of microbiology
at Tufts University. he says proving that
human illness is linked to antibiotic use in
farm animals is difficult.
“When you use the same antibiotics for people and for animals it’s
very hard to know exactly where that resistant bacteria came
from… all you can do is postulate that if there are all these
resistant strains that are being propagated on the farm. Then
couldn’t it possibly be a contributor the problem in people. And
many of us have said yes.
A federal interagency task force is developing
an action plan to combat the resistance
problem.
Officials hope to have the final draft
completed within a year.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mark
Brush.
In the 1940’s antibiotics were hailed as ”miracle drugs.” Illnessesthat were once incurable fell easily to the new medicine’s power. Butnow, many believe the overuse of these drugs has led to a decline intheir ability to combat disease. The more the drugs are used – the morebacteria can change and resist treatment. The Great Lakes RadioConsortium’s Mark Brush reports on what many believe is one of the bigabuses of antibiotics… using them to bring food to our table:
Transcript
In the 1940’s antibiotics were hailed as “miracle drugs.” Illnesses that were once incurable fell easily to the new medicine’s power. But now, many believe the overuse of these drugs has led to a decline in their ability to combat disease. The more the drugs are used – the more bacteria can change and resist treatment. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush reports on what many believe is one of the big abuses of antibiotics, using them to bring food to our table.
Doctors are worried. They’re staying up late and peering into their microscopes. They’re trying to figure out why bacteria that fight antibiotic treatments are on the rise.
Doctors sometimes overuse antibiotics and this is one of the main reasons that there’s an increase in resistant bacteria found in humans, but many experts believe that antibiotic use on farm animals also plays a big role.
By the mid 1950’s approximately 2 million pounds of antibiotics were produced in the u-s each year. Today 50 million pounds are produced, and almost 20 million pounds of that are given to farm animals. Some antibiotics are used to treat sick animals, but they’re also mixed with feed to fatten livestock before they’re slaughtered.
Mike Balander is an associate professor in animal science at Michigan State University. He says mixing antibiotics with animal feed is a
Common practice among chicken farmers.
“If we feed very low levels of antibiotics to the birds then we find that we get a 4 to 5% better growth rate of the birds with no increase in feed consumption… the cost effectiveness is there and that’s why it’s used. If it was not cost effective, we would not be using it.”
The practice of feeding antibiotics to animals began in the mid 50’s after people spotted trophy sized fish downstream from a penicillin factory.
Researchers traced these super-fish directly to antibiotics being dumped into the stream.
Before the use of antibiotics, raising large flocks and herds required a large amount of Space. Farmers kept the animals apart in order to prevent an outbreak of disease.
By using antibiotics, farmers were able to raise many more animals – with a better growth rate – in the same amount of space.
Mike Cook is a professor of animal science at the University of Wisconsin:
“We could go back to the old systems in which animals are less consolidated, give them more floor space, and we could probably improve growth and not even need antibiotics.”
But, cook adds, to go back to the old ways – Farmers would have to double the amount of Chicken coops and hog pens in order to produce the amount of meat consumed today. For the poultry industry alone, that would be a lot of
Extra chicken coops… 7 and a half billion chickens are grown in the U.S. each year.
Meanwhile, resistant strains of organisms that cause human disease, such as salmonella, campylobacter, and E. Coli are being found in Europe and the United States.
The food and drug administration first proposed restricting the use of antibiotics as growth promotants more than two decades ago. The drug and farm lobbies cried foul – saying that the evidence linking antibiotic use on the farm to human illness was lacking.
At the time, they were right… and proving that antibiotic use in animals leads to human illness continues to be difficult today.
Dr. Stuart levy is a professor of microbiology at Tufts University:
“When you use the same antibiotics for people and for animals it’s very hard to know exactly where that resistant bacteria came from… all you can do is postulate that if there are all these resistant strains that are being propagated on the farm then couldn’t it possibly be a contributor the problem in people and many of us have said yes!”
But drug producers say a decision on whether or not to remove antibiotics as growth promotants needs to be based on definitive scientific evidence:
“You can’t take these actions – the law doesn’t allow you to take these actions – science doesn’t allow you to take these actions based on presumption.”
Dr. Richard Carnevale is vice president for scientific affairs for the Animal Health Institute. The institute represents agricultural and veterinary drug producers.
“For people to say we don’t need these antibiotics, well, that’s their opinion. It’s easy for them to say they’re not needed, but its been in our system for 40 years, they have been proven safe and effective through all the FDA testing, and right now there hasn’t been enough of a link to human illness for FDA to take action on it.”
But evidence linking antibiotic use on the farm to human illness is mounting.
Last year, a study in Minnesota found that the use of fluoroquinolones in the poultry industry led to resistant bacteria found in humans.
And another recent study, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, linked a fatality caused by a resistant strain of salmonella to a swine operation in Europe.
The European Union felt the evidence was strong enough to ban the use of four
Antibiotics used for growth promotion, and Sweden has outlawed the practice altogether.
Here in the U.S., the increase in resistant bacteria recently led to the creation of a federal interagency task force. The task force is developing an action plan to help combat the resistance problem.
Officials hope to have a final draft completed within a year.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mark Brush.
In the mid 1800’s the federal government established several treaties
with Native American tribes. Those treaties gave them broad rights to
fish the Great Lakes and they must be
re-negotiated every few years. These treaties have become a major point
of contention as fish resources become more strained. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush reports that Michigan is in middle of
working out a new settlement with the tribes in their state:
