Report: Humans Contaminated by Pesticides

A new report finds the average person carries pesticide residue in their body that exceeds government-approved levels. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:

Transcript

A new report finds the average person carries pesticide residue in their body that exceeds
government-approved levels. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:


The Pesticide Action Network analyzed blood and urine samples of more than 9,000
people. The samples were collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.


According to the report, every sample contained pesticide residue. The highest
concentrations were found in adult women, children and Mexican Americans, who were
more likely to work in agriculture.


Angelica Barrera is with the Pesticide Action Network. She says the current testing of
these products isn’t enough, and they’re calling on Congress to impose tougher
regulations.


“To put the burden of proof on the chemical manufacturers, that before they put anything
on the market, they need to prove that that pesticide is in fact safe for public use.”


The most commonly found pesticide residue was from chlorpyrifos, an chemical used in
agriculture. A spokesperson for Dow Chemical, which makes the pesticide, said their
products are safe if used properly.


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

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Canadian ‘Species at Risk’ Law Criticized

A Canadian environmental group is protesting Canada’s decision to seek public comments before giving protection to endangered species. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:

Transcript

A Canadian environmental group is protesting Canada’s decision to seek public comments before
giving protection to endangered species. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly
reports:


Representatives of the Sierra Club of Canada say they were blindsided by the federal
government’s decision.


The government announced public consultations to consider adding 63 new species to Canada’s
Species at Risk Act.


The Sierra Club’s Rachel Plotkin says endangered species should be chosen by scientists, not by
the public at large.


“Either a species is becoming endangered or its not becoming endangered. It’s not whether or not
someone wants it to be on the list because they recognize that might impact their profit and their
industry.”


Plotkin says socioeconomic issues are already considered when action plans are developped to protect a species.
Unlike the U.S. Endangered Species Act, the Canadian law only protects species on federal land.

However, new listings in the U.S. are also subject to public comment.


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

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Bicyclists Peddle Bike Awareness

On the last Friday of every month, people in close to 300 cities all over the world gather together to ride their bikes. The rides are called “Critical Mass” and the goal is twofold: to raise awareness of the rights of bicyclists to be on the road and to promote bicycles as a clean form of transportation. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris Lehman rode along on a Critical Mass ride in one Midwest city:

Transcript

On the last Friday of every month, people in close to 300 cities
all over the world gather together to ride their bikes. The rides
are called “Critical Mass” and the goal is twofold: To raise
awareness of the rights of bicyclists to be on the road and to
promote bicycles as a clean form of transportation. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris Lehman rode along on a
Critical Mass ride in one Midwest city:


John Luhman says riding a bike is a healthy way to get around
town. He says using bikes can ease traffic congestion. And he
says if more people used bikes, we wouldn’t need to import as
much oil.


But he says none of those is the real reason he rides his bike.


“Well, it’s fun”


Luhman is part of a group of bikers who gather on the last Friday
afternoon of each month in downtown Rockford, Illinois.


The first order of business is to plan the route, which varies from
month to month. Luhman says the riders don’t shy away from
major streets because part of the goal is visibility.


“When people see a group of bikes they tend to pay it more
attention than a single biker. And it tends to make them think
that you know, there are people out there that ride bikes and get
around that way.”


The rides are open to anyone. The pace is leisurely, and they last
about an hour. Today’s Critical Mass has just 20 riders. That’s
far less than critical mass rides in places like Chicago, which
sometimes draw nearly a thousand people. But the Rockford
riders are pleased, since 20 is their largest group ever. Some
months, fewer than ten people show up.


Luhman says he isn’t discouraged by the low turnouts. He says
it’s going to take time to build up a ridership base in Rockford.


“Chicago wasn’t a very bike-friendly city until Critical Mass
came along in Chicago. And people started biking and started
networking with other bikers and raising the awareness of bikes.
And it developed to something.”


Once they choose their route, the riders set off together. They
mostly observe traffic regulations. Their presence seems to have
little effect on the constant stream of drivers heading home from
work.


Terry Patterson pedals west on a main thoroughfare as cars zoom
past just a few feet to his left.


“Just having a presence on the street, taking a lane with this
many people can open people’s eyes, give them the visual that
bikes are viable, that we can have sustainable energy through
human energy.”


“Looks like we’re turning right here. You’ve mentioned some of
the social and environmental aspects of this. Why is this
something you personally participate in?”


“Personally, I’ve been shot at with a paint gun, sling shots, pop
cans, beer cans, cigarette butts, ‘Get a job, get a life.’ People spit
at me; people mess with bikers in Rockford.”


(traffic sound fades out)


Many of the Critical Mass riders say cities don’t always do much
to help their concerns, and they say Rockford is no different.
They say biker’s needs aren’t always taken into account when
new roads are built. And they say existing roads don’t offer bike
lanes.


Doug Scott is the City of Rockford’s mayor. He concedes the
city hasn’t always treated bikers with respect.


“We’re fighting a lot of years of history here, where they weren’t
as highly regarded as they should have been. We’ve done well
with some paths and some other things, but just in traveling
along the streets itself, we haven’t done as well as we probably
should have.”


Mayor Scott says the city does look at the needs of bicyclists
when new roads are built. But he says it’s difficult and
expensive to retrofit existing roads.


After making a loop through Rockford’s north and west side, the
group ends up at the home of one of the riders. There, a large
pot of soup is waiting on the stove and everyone helps them self
to a bowl.


Some of the Critical Mass riders believe in bikes so much
they’ve started a free bike clinic for kids in their neighborhood.
By patching up tubes and greasing up chains, they hope to plant
a seed that will grow into the next generation of riders.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chris Lehman.

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Gardens Become Sculpture Showcase

  • The Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park is an outdoor art museum that aims to blend art and nature. This piece is a work by Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro. Photo courtesy of the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park.

Recently, a new sculpture park opened in the Great Lakes region. This new outdoor art museum exhibits 24 pieces by acclaimed modern sculptors. Eventually, 80 pieces will be on view and the park is expected to become a regional arts destination. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tamar Charney has a look at how the sculpture park at the Frederik Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids mixes art and nature:

Transcript

Recently, a new sculpture park opened in the Great Lakes region.
This new outdoor art museum exhibits 24 pieces by acclaimed modern
sculptors. Eventually 80 pieces will be on view and the park is expected
to become a regional arts destination. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Tamar Charney has a look at how the sculpture park at the Frederik Meijer
Gardens in Grand Rapids mixes art and nature:


The pieces in the 30 acres sculpture park are spread out amid hills,
paths, and nooks. There’s an area with stone and bronze works from the
early modern masters like Rodin, Lipchitz, and Henry Moore. In a hollow
there’s an enormous red gardening trowel by Claus Oldenburg and Coosje van
Bruggen. And suspended just inches over a pond is a kinetic or moving
piece by George Rickey. Just downstream from the pond are 15 gigantic
ceramic eggs. A blue robin’s egg, a speckled killdeer’s egg… they are all
enlarged versions of eggs laid by birds you can find at the park. It’s a
work by Carolyn Ottmers, a sculptor from Chicago. She says the sculpture
park meshes the visual arts with the wonders of nature.


“I think in the way they have chosen to arrange the sculptures, and
integrate within the park… created this arena for encounters which for
me is a similar experience echoed when you walk through nature.”


As you move through the park you catch a glimpse of a piece here, a
suggestion of a work there through the trees, around the bend, or across the
pond. Officials with the gardens say the collection is the most
significant one in the Midwest. But it’s not your typical sculpture park,
with formal manicured gardens adorned with sculpture.


“The sculpture is not a decoration of a garden.”


Magdalena Abakanowicz is a sculptor from Poland. Her bronze piece called
“Figure on a Trunk” is a headless, shoeless person. It’s hidden in an alcove
made of young trees. Abakanowicz rails against the idea of art decorating
a garden, but she says nature can create the right space in which to see
sculpture.


“Spaces to contemplate, spaces to meditate, spaces in which we are
confronted to our own scale and the scale of the world.”


These are spaces that change with the weather, the time of day and the
season. Joseph Becherer is the sculpture curator for the Frederik Meijer
Gardens and Sculpture Park. He says it’s the natural setting that may just get more
people interested in looking at art.


“I think there are many, many people… the majority of Americans that are
very intimidated by a traditional museum or gallery but there is something
welcoming, inviting and warm about coming to a garden.”


And some of the things on exhibit in the botanical section of the gardens
can help people understand some of the things on exhibit in the sculpture
section. It’s something Italian sculptor Arnoldo Pomodoro is well aware
of. At the gardens, his piece called “Disk in the Form of a Desert Rose”
sits on a small grassy field next to a waterfall. After the dedication
ceremony, he was strutting around, greeting the people admiring his piece
when he was approached by a young boy with his buddies from school in tow.


Child: “Um, they want to know what the sculpture is supposed to be… like… about.”


Pomodoro: “In the gallery down is a real rose of the desert so the inspiration
comes from this rose which is a stone very beautiful.”


Pomodoro encourages the children to go into the conservatory to see a real desert rose
to start understanding and discovering the connections between art and nature,
and sculpture and the environment.


“You go and see it’s an homage to the nature. Ciao.”


Kids: “Ciao.”


In the coming years, more than 50 new sculptures will be added to the Frederik
Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Tamar Charney.

Lax Enforcement in Ontario?

A new report says cutbacks in the Ontario government have led to a shortfall in monitoring for water pollution. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly has this report:

Transcript

A new report says cutbacks in the Ontario government have led to a shortfall in monitoring for water pollution. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen
Kelly reports.


The study was released by the Canadian Institute of Environmental Law and Policy.
It looked at Ontario’s pollution program for surface and groundwater over a five-year period. And it found the number of pollution discharges, spills and leaks doubled between 1994 and 99, while the number of investigations dropped. But ministry spokesman John Steele says things have changed over the last couple of years.


“Our enforcement figures are very, very good right now. I think there are about 200 additional staff of which about 150 are involved in the enforcement.”


Steele says the number of cleanup orders issued to industry increased by more than 300 percent in the last two years. But the study’s authors say the province releases little information about water pollution to the public. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly.

Epa Wavers Over Online Information

  • Some federal agencies and laboratories have restricted access to information. The government fears terrorists could use some information to plan attacks against the U.S.

Following the terrorist attacks on September 11th, the federal government has been re-thinking its website policies. Anything that the government feels could be used by terrorists was removed from the Internet. For example, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission completely shut down its website for a time and little of it has been restored. The Army Corps of Engineers removed information about dams across the U-S from its sites. Similarly, some information about natural gas pipelines, and transportation systems was removed. The Environmental Protection Agency removed information about hazardous chemicals. Now, the E-P-A is considering putting back some information about the risks communities face because of nearby industrial plants. But some industry groups were glad to see the information removed and don’t want it put back on the internet. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

Following the terrorist attacks on September 11th, the federal government has been re-thinking its website policies. Anything that the government feels could be used by terrorists was removed from the internet. For example. the Nuclear Regulatory Commission completely shut down its website for a time and little of it has been restored. The Army Corps of Engineers removed information about dams across the U.S. from its sites. Similarly, some information about natural gas pipelines, and transportation systems was removed. The Environmental Protection Agency removed information about hazardous chemicals. Now, the EPA is considering putting back some information about the risks communities face because of nearby industrial plants. But, some industry groups were glad to see the information removed and don’t want it put back on the internet. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports.


In the last decade or so, the government has put volumes and volumes of information on the internet. In the interest of an open and free government, federal agencies have given the public access to all kinds of data. But after the terrorist attacks, there was a scramble to remove a lot of that data. Some government agencies concede they might have overreacted when pulling information off the web. But, most indicate they thought it was better to be safe than to leave information on the internet that terrorists could use to more effectively plan an attack.


For example, the Environmental Protection Agency removed Risk Management Plans from the EPA website. Those plans give details about certain hazardous chemicals that are kept at industrial plants, how a chemical leak or fire at a plant would affect the surrounding community. and even how many people might be hurt or killed in a worse case scenario.


The EPA Administrator, Christie Whitman recently explained to journalists why she had the agency remove those plans.


“That was information on our website that really gave terrorists a road map as to how to where to plan an attack. I was just not sure that we wanted to have that up for any –not so much terrorists, but terrorist wannabe— to find and to take advantage of.”


The information was originally put together in EPA office reading rooms open to the public. Later it was put up on the EPA’s website. That was so community groups could more easily learn about the risks they faced from nearby chemical plants. It was also used by some neighborhood groups to pressure companies to either implement better safety measures or stop using certain chemicals.


Administrator Whitman says in the weeks since the attacks, the EPA has been reviewing whether some of that information can be restored to the internet.


“What we’re doing is reviewing and seeing if it is readily available elsewhere, then there’s no point in our taking it off. We’d put it back again.”


But many chemical companies and other industry groups don’t want that information put back on the government’s websites, even though it’s sometimes still available elsewhere on the internet. In fact, they don’t want the information available to the public at all.


Angela Logomasini is with the Washington-based libertarian think tank, the Competitive Enterprise Institute. She says the information, such as worse case scenarios, shouldn’t be available because it might be used by terrorists. Logomasini was surprised to learn the EPA Administrator is considering putting the information back on the internet.


“I think it’s ridiculous. I think what they should be doing is trying to investigate, you know, what the risks are and whether this is really a wise thing to do. You know, just simply because other groups have taken the information and posted some of it on the internet does not mean that our government should go out of its way and provide it too.”


Logomasini says the risk management plans are of little use to the public anyway. She says the only people who used them were environmentalists, who wanted the information to scare people.


There’s some skepticism about the chemical industry’s real motivation to keep the information out of public view. Besides environmentalists. Some journalists use the information to track industry safety and government regulations.


Margaret Kriz is a correspondent for the National Journal where she writes about government, industry and the environment. She says since September 11th, chemical industry people might be arguing that the risk management plans should be kept secret for national security reasons. But before then, their reasons had more to do with corporate public relations and competition.


“Some of the information that was taken off the web by EPA the day of the attack is information the chemical industry has been trying to get off the web for years. They have not wanted it on there because they really don’t want to have— they fear two things: they fear the public will overreact to the information if they find out (about) some chemicals in a nearby plant and the second thing, they’re fearful if a competitor for them will go look at this information and find out what chemicals are being used and figure out what their secret formula is for whatever they make.”


So, it appears to at least some observers that the chemical industry sees the concern over terrorism as an opportunity. an opportunity to get the internet-based information removed for good. But it looks as though the Environmental Protection Agency is leaning toward making some of the information available on the website again. However. EPA Administrator Christie Whitman didn’t say when. Other agencies are also reviewing the information they’ve removed from the web with an eye toward eventually making some version of the data available to the public once again on the internet.


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

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Cats’ Role in Public Health

Humans first domesticated cats in about 2000 B-C. Since then,
our view of felines has ranged from loving to loathing …depending on
the
time and culture. Now, a new book traces the history of cats …and
makes
some connections about their impact on human health. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson reports:

PCB Contamination Through Sewer Overflow

Despite a 1970’s ban, PCBs have remained a problem throughoutthe Great Lakes Region. Now residents in one Detroit neighborhood aresuing the city over PCB exposure. Families on one street say theirhouses have been contaminated with PCB’s from city sewer lines. TheGreat Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jerome Vaughn reports: