Month: October 2003

Developing a New Test for West Nile Virus

Almost 6300 Americans contracted the West Nile virus this year. And 133 of them died. Each season, health officials scramble to predict where the virus will strike before it affects humans. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports on a experimental approach being used in Canada that might make that information faster and easier to collect:

Transcript

Almost 63 hundred Americans contracted the West Nile virus this year. And one
hundred 33 of
them died. Each season, health officials scramble to predict where the virus will
strike before it
affects humans. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports on a
experimental
approach being used in Canada that might make that information faster and easier to
collect:


(sound of chickens)


Stephen Burgess stands in front of a chicken coop. He holds an egg carton in one
hand while
slowly lifting the coop’s plywood cover. He carefully collects a dozen eggs that
have rolled into a
trough at the back of the cage.


From here, he’ll visit thirty more sites around Ottawa, Canada’s capital.
Collecting eggs from
small farmers as well as test flocks set up around the city. It’s a new form of a
common early
warning system that’s used for the West Nile virus – the sentinel chicken flock.
But in this case,
it’s the eggs that are tested, not the chickens.


“Many states in the United States are using chickens but they are taking blood
samples from the
chickens every one to two weeks. The approach that we’re doing is we’re able to
monitor for
West Nile virus by looking for specific proteins in the eggs.”


Burgess says this offers researchers some distinct advantages. Blood sampling
requires the use of
trained technicians – one to hold the bird while the other draws blood. This causes
stress to the
chicken. And it poses a danger to the humans who are handling the blood samples.


Two people have been infected with West Nile virus while collecting chicken blood.
Burgess
says the nice thing about eggs is that they pose no risk to humans, and they’re easy
to get.


“If you want to go and look at a particular county, you can say, go out and collect
every egg from
every backyard flock this week and you can have a flash snapshot of what is the
status throughout
the county and that was totally unfeasible using previous approaches.”


Burgess is leading a pilot project to test out this approach in the Ottawa region.
He’s a biochemist
by training and runs a company with Hugh Fackrell, a microbiologist at the
University of
Windsor. The two had been working in the lab, trying identify antibodies in animal
blood. This
spring, they stumbled upon a method that they say reveals the complete immune
profile of a
chicken by examining its egg.


For now, they’re keeping that method a secret – until it’s patented. But it was
enough to convince
Ontario’s Ministry of Health to fast track a pilot project for this fall.


Dave Jensen is a spokesman with the ministry.


“We’re interested in testing out this approach because it offers both a less
invasive way of getting
test results and a way of getting more of them than doing it the way we have been.”


The project has also attracted the attention of researchers at the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control.


Jennifer Brown is a scientist at the CDC’s West Nile headquarters in Fort Collins,
Colorado.


“This is very new work and it’s very interesting. We’re really looking forward to
hearing the
results of this pilot study, but I think it’s too early to say how useful it’s going
to be in future West
Nile surveillance efforts.”


For instance, Brown says it might require a redesign of the sentinel chicken cages
that are
typically used.


“If you had an egg that was positive for West Nile antibodies, you would want to
know which
chicken it came from and you would want to know how many chickens in the flock were
laying
eggs that contained West Nile antibody.”


At this point, the pilot project is not that specific. Researchers are looking for
evidence of West
Nile in each flock, rather than the individual birds.


But Stephen Burgess, the pilot project’s director, is taking the idea into account.
He plans to
deliver a final report on the project in December. He’ll consider what worked, and
what needs
improving. And he hopes to demonstrate that testing eggs can provide a safer, and
less expensive
alternative for tracking the West Nile virus.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly.

Traffic Jams Waste Billions of Gallons of Fuel

Drivers are spending more time and burning more fuel stuck in traffic. An annual study found the upward trend of more traffic congestion continues. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

Drivers are spending more time and burning more fuel stuck in traffic. An annual study found the
upward trend of more traffic congestion continues. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester
Graham reports:


The latest report looks at 2001. It found that about half of the time we spend in traffic jams is due
to delays caused by accidents, vehicle breakdowns, weather and construction. But researchers at
the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A and M University found that people are driving
farther to work and they’re also making more trips. Instead of combining trips to the bank, the
grocery store and the cleaners, more and more drivers tend to make separate trips, putting more
cars on the road at a time. David Schrank is one of the researchers. He says it ends up being a
huge waste of fuel.


“In 2001, almost five-point-seven billion gallons of fuel — that’s with a ‘b’– were wasted in
traffic congestion in 75 urban areas in the United States.”


And the study estimates we all spent more time, three-and-a-half billion hours, stuck in traffic
during the year.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

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Soot Now Part of Epa Air Quality Alerts

The Environmental Protection Agency is expanding its air quality forecasts for more than 100 cities. That means you’ll be getting air quality alerts during the winter, too. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams reports:

Transcript

The Environmental Protection Agency is expanding its air quality forecasts for more than 100
cities. That means you’ll be getting air quality alerts during the winter, too. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams reports:


The Air Quality Index has five color codes. They range from green for days when the air is good,
to purple when the air is hazardous. In the summer, the index forecasts ozone pollution. Now,
the EPA will use the index to forecast particle pollution year-round.


Particle pollution is the soot that comes mainly from coal-burning industries and diesel engines.
Jeff Holmstead is the assistant administrator of the EPA’s Air Office.


“These tiny particles are almost microscopic, and they can actually bypass some of the body’s
normal protective functions and embed deep in the lungs and cause problems.”


Holmstead says particle pollution can be especially harmful for adults with heart or lung
problems, and kids with asthma. But he says even healthy people should take the warnings
seriously.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Rebecca Williams.

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Digesters Convert Manure Into Fuel

The federal government is putting more money into turning cow manure into power. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Transcript

The federal government is putting more money into turning cow manure into power. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:


The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently gave 6 Great Lakes states about 14 million dollars
for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects at rural sites. A large chunk of the money
will go to manure digesters, which separate liquid and solid waste and capture methane gas that
can be turned into electricity. Frank Frassetto heads the USDA’s rural development office in
Wisconsin. He says the manure digesters are a small step toward energy independence, as some
digesters can power about 200 homes apiece.


“That’s a pretty serious amount of energy to be putting back into the grid.”


Frassetto says he expects more farmers and rural groups to apply for these funds. He says the
USDA is trying to back projects that reduce odors and other pollution coming from larger farms
that may border developed areas.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Chuck Quirmbach reporting.

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Fall Foliage Could Be Brilliant

Across the region, the leaves are beginning to change color. One forestry expert says it’s a slow start, but the autumn foliage could become brilliant before the leaves fall this year. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

Across the region, the leaves are beginning to change color. One forestry expert says it’s a slow
start, but the autumn foliage could become brilliant before the leaves fall this year. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


This fall, most of the region has seen a lot of cooler, overcast days. Burt Barnes is a forestry
professor with the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment. He
says if we’re to see great fall color, we need some more sunshine.


“Well, so far we haven’t had the crisp, sunny, warm days and cold nights that are sometimes
characteristic of fall, which give us the best coloration.”


Barnes says the temperature differential between day and night affects the fall color. With
brighter, warmer days and cool nights, the colors become spectacular. He adds if there’s a sharp
frost, that will cut short the display, but if we get a long frost free period, the colors will continue
to intensify.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

WETLANDS PRESERVATION ALSO PRESERVES ARCHEOLOGY (Short Version)

Archeologists are benefiting from a wetland restoration project in the Midwest. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports:

Transcript

Archeologists are benefiting from a wetland restoration project in the Midwest. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports:


A conservation group is planning to convert a seven thousand-acre farm in Central Illinois into a
prairie wetland. But before the Nature Conservancy brings back native plants and animals, it’s
allowing archeologists to survey the land. So far the search has turned up fifty-five Native
American campsites dating back as far as 900 A.D. Larry Conrad is an archeology professor at
Western Illinois University.


“Perhaps the most important thing about surveying that bottom area is that if it hadn’t been
surveyed, then there would be this tract of several thousand acres that we’ll never have another
chance in our lifetime to looks at, and we wouldn’t know what was there. Now we do know.”


The Nature Conservancy is planning to start its prairie wetland restoration at the end of next year.
The archeologists say they will continue to survey the site until then.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jonathan Ahl.

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Wetlands Preservation Also Preserves Archeology

A large wetland restoration project in the Midwest is expected to bring back a variety of native plants and animals. But in addition to the environmental benefits, the project is helping out an unexpected group – archeologists. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports:

Transcript

A large wetland restoration project in the Midwest is expected to bring back a variety of native
plants and animals. But in addition to the environmental benefits, the project is helping out an
unexpected group – archeologists. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports:


Alan Harn is standing on the top of a ridge overlooking a seven thousand-acre farm in Central
Illinois. Harn is the assistant curator of Archeology at the Dickson Mounds Museum in nearby
Lewistown. While he has surveyed just about all of the land in the region for archeological sites
over his forty-year career, he only recently was able to get into these bottomlands next to the
Illinois River:


“Even though I’ve walked over that land for most of my lifetime I was never forced to know it.
But we found 55 new archeological sites. And these sites have been found in areas that, had I not
been forced to look at them, I would have overlooked them.”


Harn says during his short window of opportunity to search the land, he found temporary
campsites of the Mississippian and Oneota Indians from about 900 to 1200 A-D. The discoveries
are part of a unique partnership between environmentalists and archeologists. The Nature
Conservancy purchased this land to convert it to a wetland. But before they bring back native
plants and animals to the region, they are letting archeologists survey the property. Larry Conrad
is director emeritus of the Western Illinois University Archeological Research Lab. He says
farming has done significant damage to many Native American sites in the Midwest:


“They were plowing a lot of the sites, particularly those in the bottoms, and this gradually
deteriorated the sites. And there was collecting by at least workmen. They used to bring axes
and spearheads off those sites without any documentation.”


Conrad says environmentalists may be the best hope archeologists have to protect important
pieces of land that have not yet been surveyed. He says conservation groups are one of the few
private property owners that do not abuse the land they own:


“Unfortunately, a lot of people view it as the property belongs to them and they can do whatever
they want, and if there are archeological resources, some people are irresponsible or destructive
toward the resources. We look forward to the Nature Conservancy as being an excellent steward
and they own a very large tract of land there now. So it’s a tract of land we don’t have to worry
about.”


Conrad says even after the survey of the land is over, any sites not found will be underneath water
and vegetation –not at risk of being plowed and damaged. The Nature Conservancy is happy
another group of people is benefiting from their plans to restore this piece of land. Doug Blodgett
is with the Nature Conservancy and is heading up the restoration effort. He says in this project,
the archeological element is a natural fit:


“The archeology is such an important issue here. It’s important to us because it fits right in with
our mission. It’s almost a part of our mission. It helps better explain and justify our mission.
The reason native Americans were here for twelve thousand years is because of the abundant
natural resources that were there in the flood plain. So it just enhances our story.”


But Blodgett says the Nature Conservancy’s mission is to create bio-diversity, and not protect
archeological sites. He says if digging for artifacts ever gets in the way of protecting plants and
animals, they will not hesitate to call off the archeologists. Alan Harn realizes that could be a
possibility. He says that’s why they will continue to survey this land while they have the chance
before the restoration begins:


“We have no idea what lies out there. I think that’s the fun thing about archeology is that every
time you answer a set of questions, it opens a door, and in that door is a room full of new
questions that you didn’t even know existed. We will be continuing the search for the record.”


Harn still has some time to continue his search. The Nature Conservancy is planning to begin its
restoration plan in earnest at the end of next year.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jonathan Ahl.

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Anglers Offered Alternatives to Toxic Lead Sinkers

  • Dave Zentner caught a smallmouth bass using a bismuth sinker. Zentner is active in the Izaak Walton League, and he wants more anglers to switch to non-lead tackle, which can poison eagles, loons and other water birds. (Photo by Stephanie Hemphill)

Anglers around the Great Lakes region are starting to pay more attention to some of the smallest and most humble pieces of gear in their tackle box – lead weights and jigs. Recent research shows lead fishing tackle is killing eagles, loons and other water birds. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill reports:

Transcript

Anglers around the Great Lakes region are starting to pay more attention to some of the smallest
and most humble pieces of gear in their tackle box – lead weights and jigs. Recent research shows
lead fishing tackle is killing eagles, loons and other water birds. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill reports:


Outside a Gander Mountain outdoor gear store in Duluth, Minnesota, there’s a steady stream of
people dropping lead tackle into a cardboard box. They bring it in plastic bags, in jars, and in the
original wrappers. They walk away with a small supply of sinkers made of steel, tungsten, or
bismuth.


Jim Simmons says he doesn’t use much lead tackle, but he’s ready to get rid of most of his supply.


“Well, I just brought in one package of split shot,” he says.


“What did they give you in exchange?”


“Some jigs, a couple of weights.”


“What are they made of?”


“They’re made of steel, and one is ceramic.”


“How do you think it will work?”


“I think it’ll work fine. We’ll try it out, give it a shot anyway!”


Inside the store, another angler says he doesn’t want to poison loons, but he isn’t ready to give up
his investment in lead weights.


“I have the tackle so I might as well use it,” he says. “Maybe I’ll switch to the other stuff, as I use
up the old.”


But a lot of anglers simply don’t realize lead tackle could be hurting wildlife.


No one uses lead shot for hunting anymore. It was banned years ago. But loons, eagles, and other
birds are still dying from lead poisoning.


Eagles can be poisoned by eating birds that have eaten lead.


Loons dive to the bottom of lakes and pick up pebbles and eat them. The pebbles go to the bird’s
gizzard, where they help grind up the small fish they eat. If they happen to swallow a lead sinker
or jig that some angler has lost, it only takes a small piece to poison the bird.


Some studies in New England have found as many as half the loons could be dying from lead
poisoning. In the Midwest, the figure is lower, but more research is underway.


Dave Zentner loves to fish. He’s an active member of the Isaac Walton League, a national
conservation organization.


He’s trying out the non-lead jigs for the first time, from a canoe in the St. Louis River near Duluth.
He keeps getting his line caught in the rocks on the bottom.


“There’s nothing that feels differently to me about this tungsten jig. It fishes with that twister-tail
just like any lead jig I would have hooked on before. And it sure as heck has been effective in
getting me snagged up!”


Zentner casts over and over, and loses his jig in the rocks. He reaches for another one, made of
bismuth.


“We left a piece of fishing gear down there,” he says. “And if a loon or a merganser decides to try
to eat it, we haven’t left something that’s going to make it sick.”


Dave Zentner was hoping the Minnesota legislature would ban lead tackle. Small lead sinkers are
banned in New Hampshire, Maine, and national parks in Canada. A New York ban takes effect
next spring. But in Minnesota, fishing groups and tackle manufacturers fought the bill.


So instead, the state is running a voluntary exchange program, and hoping to raise awareness
among anglers.


Zentner says some people won’t want to spend a little extra for the bismuth and tungsten weights
that behave like lead. But he says prices will come down as the demand goes up.


“And let’s make a little sacrifice, even if the price is a little higher,” he says. “We buy RVs and
ATVs and boats and motors, we spend thousands and thousands of dollars. And this is a
proposition that’s miniscule compared to that one.”


So far, a few tackle manufacturers have added non-lead alternatives to their product lines. But
there aren’t nearly as many choices as the lead products offer. Manufacturers are reluctant to re-
tool until they know people will buy the new lead-free products.


It could take years to persuade large numbers of anglers to switch from their tried and true gear.
But Dave Zentner says that’s what he’s going to try to do.


“We don’t want to put the tackle people out of business, we want them to stay in business,” he
says. “But we’re simply saying – it appears there’s a problem; let’s go to work on it, let’s educate,
let’s experiment, let’s work together.”


Finally Zentner proves the non-lead tackle works by catching a small-mouth bass.


“And it is a little guy!”


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Stephanie Hemphill.