Plastic Bodies, Garlic Salt, & Eagle Towns

Plastic in your body…

This is The Environment Report. I’m Lester Graham.

Bisphenol-A - or BPA - is a chemical used in some plastics. Studies suggest BPA could be linked to some serious health problems such as prostate and breast cancer, and early puberty in kids even at very low levels.

Rebecca Williams has been looking at a new study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

RW: Scientists thought our main exposure to BPA is through food because of plastic linings in cans and other containers. They also thought BPA doesn’t stay in our bodies very long. But these researchers found that people who fasted for 15 to 24 hours still had levels of this chemical in their bodies only a little lower than people who’d just eaten.

So, either we’re getting exposed to BPA in some other major way besides food... like water. Some water bottles and plastic water pipes are made with BPA.

Or... BPA is sticking around in our bodies for longer than people thought. Or... both.

Dr. Rick Stahlhut is the lead author of the study. He says there are some ways to reduce your exposure from food.

“You’d probably have to get food that was mostly fresh and cook it yourself and try not to use polycarbonate plastic to store food whenever you can avoid it.”

RW: He says you can eat fewer canned foods and use containers and bottles that don’t contain BPA.

LG: Okay, thanks Rebecca.



In Ankeny, Iowa they’ve found a new source of salt for the roadways. I’m on the phone with Public Works Administrator Al Olson. What are you using?

(((STING)))

This is The Environment Report.

You know, too much of the time we have to tell you about one bad thing or another that's happening… so, it's kinda nice to find some good news. Shawn Allee is just back from Dubuque, Iowa… so Shawn what in the world was in Dubuque that you're all geeked about it?
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Well, it's one of the best places to witness first-hand the environmental come-back kid – the bald eagle.
I went to a bald-eagle watch there – and found hundreds of people who'd braved some really cold temps just to get a peek.
I met Barb Fahrenbach – who'd traveled to this Mississippi River town to see the eagles.
FAHRENBACH: I have a camera that can take pictures of bald eagles and I just had to get them.
ALLEE: What's the draw?
FAHRENBACH: The bald eagle, an American symbol. I can remember in the seventies when bald eagles weren't going to exist any longer, they were going to be dead. And just the fact that you see them swooping and we saw eight, maybe ten of them just in the last half hour. It's pretty thrilling.
LESTER: I've gone eagle watching in Alton, Illinois, also along the Mississippi. I remember that pesticide DDT really knocked back eagle populations.
Yeah, DDT made the eagles' eggs thin … and they couldn't breed. When DDT was banned – they started coming back nearly everywhere.
LESTER: Eagles are popping up in most states. So, Shawn, what's so special about the Mississippi and eagle-watching?
The Mississippi freezes in winter, and the eagle fly south to areas of open water… like the dam at Dubuque.
The eagles literally sit on the ice and wait for tasty fish to go by. Keeps 'em fat in the winter.
So … it's almost guaranteed you'll spot some eagles in these places.
So I guess every town near a dam on the Mississippi has eagle watching..
You can find 'em pretty much any weekend from mid-January to mid-February in the upper Midwest.
A lot of these towns are small, so any tourist dollars are welcome.
Organizers I've spoken to say the real draw is an environmental success story that gets a little better each year.