A layer of smog over upstate New York at sunset on October 21, 2000 (Photo courtesy of the Earth Science and Image Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center)
A new report says smog can contribute to
premature death. Rebecca Williams reports:
Transcript
A new report says smog can contribute to
premature death. Rebecca Williams reports:
Ozone is a main ingredient in smog – it comes from cars and smokestacks and
other sources.
The National Academies of Science report says ozone can send people to the
hospital, and even lead to earlier death. That’s because ozone can damage
your lungs and make it harder to breathe. It can be especially bad for
kids, older people, and people with lung diseases.
Dan Greenbaum is the president of the Health Effects Institute. He worked
on the report.
“It just reinforces the risks of exposure to ozone are there, they’re
significant and people really should be paying attention to alerts when
there are high ozone days.”
Ozone alerts mean even healthy people should avoid working or exercising
outdoors during the day.
The EPA recently tightened the ozone standards. But the agency’s scientific
advisory committee said the standards should be tightened even more.
The back of a female patient with a doctor who is using a stethoscope to listen to her lungs. (Photo courtesy of the National Cancer Institute)
Public health advocates say governments and
individuals should take more precautions as global
warming continues. Chuck Quirmbach has more:
Transcript
Public health advocates say governments and
individuals should take more precautions as global
warming continues. Chuck Quirmbach has more:
Most scientists say a warmer climate will bring some good things for public health, like
longer food growing seasons in parts of the world. But Dr. Georges Benjamin also
believes the forecasts of what bad things might happen.
“We know that climate change certainly could increase air pollution, leading to increases
in things like asthma, allergy and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease”
Benjamin heads the American Public Health Association. The group is issuing a
blueprint for health professionals and the public to combat climate change.
The effort includes calls for government to provide more shelter and health monitoring
during heatwaves, and recommendations for people to be more careful during high
temperatures and heavy rainfalls. The group will also urge Congress to consider health
issues when it debates legislation to curb global warming.
Fish farmers in some parts of the world are using large amounts of antibiotics to prevent infections. Some scientists are concerned that could cause problems for the industry and human health. The GLRC’s Rebecca Williams explains:
Transcript
Fish farmers in some parts of the world are using large amounts of
antibiotics to prevent infections. Some scientists are concerned that could
cause problems for the industry and human health. The GLRC’s Rebecca
Williams reports:
Fish that are raised in farms can get stressed. That makes them more
susceptible to infections. Researchers are finding it’s common for farmers
to give their fish extra antibiotics to prevent illness instead of just
treating fish once they’re sick.
Dr. Felipe Cabello is the author of a report in the journal Environmental
Microbiology. He says the overuse of antibiotics in fish farming is leading
to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. He says that could mean more infections,
not only in fish but also in people:
“I think as aquaculture increases, the antibiotic use is going to increase
in the industry and then this is going to bring an increase in antibiotic
resistance.”
Cabello says antibiotic use is especially heavy in developing countries,
where it’s mostly unregulated.
A recent study finds that the benefits of eating fish could outweigh the harmful effects of slightly elevated levels of mercury in the body. The GLRC’s Christina Shockley reports:
Transcript
A recent study finds that the benefits of eating fish could outweigh the
harmful effects of slightly elevated levels of mercury in the body. The
GLRC’s Christina Shockley reports:
Mercury from air pollution falls into the water and accumulates in fish.
The toxin can cause health problems and birth defects.
John Dellinger is from the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee. He
spent 12-years looking at Native Americans, who tend to eat 10 times
more fish than the average American. He says participants had higher
than average levels of mercury in their bodies, but reported few cases of
illness or infection. Dellinger says one reason could be they types of fish
they eat.
“They’re eating primarily a wide variety of fish, and predominantly a
moderate size fish. This is different than the sport fishing person who
goes out on the Great Lakes and is going for the really big fish.”
Dellinger says big fish tend to contain more mercury. He says it’s not
known exactly how much mercury is harmful, but the federal
government says women of child-bearing age, and children, should eat
only two servings per week of fish that are low in mercury.
Chene Street, on Detroit's east side, was once a thriving retail corridor. Now, it's a decimated stretch of crumbling and burned-out buildings. (Photo by Marla Collum)
The Chene-Ferry market was once a bustling center of commerce and a social hub for the neighborhood. It closed in the 1970s. There are no major chain grocery stores to serve the community, so many people shop for food at liquor and convenience stores. (Photo by Marla Collum)
On the east side of Detroit, there are 93 liquor stores for 90,000 residents. Compare that to the racially mixed, middle-income suburb of Southfield, where there are 18 liquor stores for about 78,000 residents. This data was collected in 2002. (Photo by Shannon Zenk)
Finding a big supermarket is next to impossible in many inner-city
neighborhoods. That means a lot of people do their shopping at convenience
and liquor stores, where there’s rarely fresh produce. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Sarah Hulett reports on one group’s efforts to get around
the grocery store problem – and help revitalize a neighborhood:
Transcript
Finding a big supermarket is next to impossible in many inner-city neighborhoods. That means a lot of people do their shopping at convenience and liquor stores, where there’s rarely fresh produce. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Sarah Hulett reports on one group’s efforts to get around the grocery store problem and help revitalize a neighborhood:
(Sound of traffic)
Up and down this street as far as the eye can see are crumbling and burned-out buildings. This used to be a thriving business district. It’s where Vlasic Pickle, White Owl Cigar, and Lay’s Potato Chips grew into national brands. Today, the most evident sign of commerce is the prostitutes walking the street. Smack in the middle of this is Peacemaker’s International. It’s a storefront church where Ralph King is a member.
“Now if you look at it you see that there’s no commercial activity, no grocery stores within a mile of here. And our concern was that people had to eat.”
There are about seven liquor stores for every grocery store here on the east side of Detroit. Some people can drive to the well-stocked supermarkets in the suburbs, but many families don’t have cars, and King says the city busses are spotty.
“So they’re buying food at convenience stores or gas stations. And quite frankly, it just doesn’t seem a good fit that a community has to live off gas station food.”
That means processed, high-starch, high-fat diets that lead to illnesses like heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Those are all problems that disproportionately hit African Americans, and public health researchers say those higher rates of illnesses are linked to the food availability problems in poor black communities.
Amy Schulz is with the University of Michigan, and she’s studied the lack of grocery stores in high-poverty neighborhoods.
“What we found, in addition to the economic dimension was that Detroit, neighborhoods like the east side that are disproportionately African American are doubly disadvantaged in a sense. Residents in those communities have to drive longer, farther distances to access a grocery store than residents of a comparable economic community with a more diverse racial composition.”
In other words, if you’re poor and white, you have a better chance of living near a grocery store than if you’re poor and black. Ralph King and the folks in this neighborhood want to get around that problem. So about three years ago, they decided to try and reopen a nearby farmer’s market. They turned to Michigan State University Extension for help. Mike Score is an extension agent.
“I thought it would just be the process of organizing some people, helping them buy some produce wholesale, setting up in the neighborhood, selling the food, and generating a net income that could be reinvested. And I was really wrong.”
The farmer’s market was a flop. Score says produce vendors set up in the neighborhood, but the fruits and vegetables sat all day, unsold. He says the problem was they were using the wrong currency. Most people in this neighborhood have very little cash on hand, and they need to use their food stamp cards to shop for groceries.
So, Score helped develop a plan for a neighborhood buyers’ club that can negotiate low prices by ordering in bulk. His business plan also calls for job training for people in the neighborhood.
“It’s going to give people who are chronically unemployed but who have some entrepreneurial skills access to food at a lower cost, and that enables them to think about starting restaurant businesses or smaller retail businesses. So that’s an important part of this project: in addition to getting people groceries, it also creates some job opportunities.”
It’s been a struggle to get the program off the ground. It took a long time to get approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a machine to read peoples’ food stamp cards. People have stolen some of the project’s meager resources, but Mike Score and Ralph King say they’ll stick with it until families in this neighborhood can put decent food on their tables. And they say they hope it can be a model that other low-income communities around the country can use.
The EPA has found that some of the water served on airplanes is contaminated, and are advising people to be cautious. (Photo by Lester Graham)
New data suggest you might want to think twice before drinking coffee or tea on an airplane. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Christina Shockley explains why:
Transcript
New data suggest you might want to think twice before
drinking coffee or tea on an airplane. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Christina Shockley explains why:
The water on airplanes is tested by the Environmental Protection Agency. Recently, researchers found water that contained coliform bacteria on about one in six of the planes they tested.
The bacteria is usually harmless, but can signal the presence of other, more dangerous organisms.
Cynthia Bergman is with the EPA. She says there’s no need to panic, but concerned passengers should choose other options on board.
“Canned or bottled beverages or bring bottled water onto the flight, and they shouldn’t be shy about asking the flight attendant if the water used for the coffee or tea was made with bottled water, or if it was brought to a boil.”
Bergman says the EPA has not seen any major outbreaks of illness from airplane water. She says symptoms could include nausea and stomach pains. Researchers don’t know yet where the bacteria is coming from, but twelve major airlines have agreed to test the water and disinfect their planes more frequently.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Christina Shockley.
Water contamination from sources that might include some wastewater treatment plants closes some beaches. (Photo by Lester Graham)
Municipal sewer plants are sometimes blamed for high E. coli bacteria counts that close beaches to swimmers. Some cities are working to find better ways to treat the water and put it back into nature. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris McCarus reports:
Transcript
Municipal sewer plants are sometimes blamed for high E. coli bacteria counts
that close beaches to swimmers. Some cities are working to find better ways to treat the
water and put it back into nature. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris McCarus
reports:
(sound of cars moving along a small street and a few people talking)
A typical summer day by the lake: SUVs pull boats on trailers. People saunter from an
ice cream shop to the city beach. Jet skis and water skiiers slice through the waves.
Carpenters raise trusses on homes being built into the remaining lakefront lots.
Just a few years ago it seemed towns like this were just for loggers and locals. But now
people are flocking to the lakes around the Midwest and staying there. And that’s putting
a strain on local sewer plants.
(sound of machines inside the water treatment plant)
For 40 years, the treated waste water from the Boyne City, Michigan sewer plant has
been released into the big lake it was built on…Lake Charlevoix.
“It’s located right adjacent to a public swimming beach, park, marina and some valuable
waterfront property. We are only a block off the downtown district.”
Plant manager Dan Meads wants to stop mixing the end product with the water where
tourists and the locals swim and play. He tests daily for E. coli bacteria. He
doesn’t want anyone getting sick. But it’s still a concern, and there are other concerns.
In recent years, the United States Geological Survey has reported on new kinds of
contaminants that they’ve found in ground and surface water. The USGS says treated
wastewater from sewer plants can contain hormones from birth control pills, antibiotics,
detergents, fire retardants, and pesticides.
USGS microbiologist Sheridan Haack says the effects of all these compounds are still
unknown. Most are found in tiny quantities, but combined they could cause any number
of chemical reactions.
“There are many different chemical structures and it would be very difficult to state for
all of them what we would actually expect the environmental fate to be and how they
would actually be transported through the environment.”
Haack says the medicines people take don’t disappear. They eventually leave the body
and are flushed down the toilet. Those drugs have been tested for safe human
consumption, but the question is: what happens when those chemicals are mixed in with
industrial waste, accidental spills and nature’s own chemical processes? Haack says they
just might come back around to hurt humans, fish and wildlife.
The Boyne City solution is to build a new wastewater treatment plant two miles from the
beaches up the Boyne River. Officials say contaminants will be diluted by the time they
flow back down into Lake Charlevoix.
(sound of the Boyne River)
Larry Maltby volunteers for a group called “Friends of the Boyne River.” The group
doesn’t like the city’s plan to discharge treated wastewater directly into the river. It wants
them to consider some non-traditional methods. They say the new sewer plant could run
a pipe under a golf course or spray the treated water on farm fields… or let it drain into
wetlands to let nature filter it out.
“It will seep into the soils which are very sandy and gravelly underneath the golf course
and then the filtration through the ground will have a great deal of effect of continuing to
purify that water. Much more so than it would be with a direct deposit, straight into the
surface waters of Michigan.”
Lawyers for the Friends of the Boyne River have appealed to the state dept of
environmental quality and filed a lawsuit.
But wastewater treatment plant manager Dan Meads says the city doesn’t want to please
just one group and end up angering another…
“There isn’t any guarantee that you can satisfy everybody. We think we have the best
option available.”
As municipalities are short on funds and personnel, they don’t want to wait for decades
for the perfect solution. Still, nobody wants any amount of pollution to affect their home
or their recreational area.
Sheridan Haack with the USGS won’t take either side in this dispute. She says not only
are the dangers from contaminants unknown, the best way to deal with them is unknown.
“I am not aware of any consensus in the scientific community on the nature or types of
treatment for this broad range of chemicals.”
In the meantime… communities such as Boyne City have the unenviable task of trying to
dispose of their residents sewage without polluting the beaches, the fishing, and the
environment that brought folks there in the first place.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chris McCarus.
There’s growing evidence that having pets is good for the well-being of their humans. A new study looks at the effect of pets on the lives of chronically ill children. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:
Transcript
There’s growing evidence that having pets is good for the
well-being of their humans. A new study looks at the effect of pets on
the lives of chronically ill children. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Tracy Samilton reports:
This study of children living with diabetes was performed by researchers
at the Human-Animal Bond Initiative at Michigan State University. It
found that the children who had close, loving relationships with their
pets had better coping skills and were better at actively managing their
disease than other children.
Researcher Linda Spence says that may be because pets can improve children’s self-esteem and
reduce stress.
“They are consistently there, no matter how awful a day you have. When you come home, they’re
as happy to see you as if you were some sort of celebrity.”
Spence says the next step is to find out what these families are doing
that encourages their chronically ill children to develop close
relationships with pets. She suspects such families treat their pets as
members of the family rather than just animals.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Tracy Samilton.
Much of the debate over preventing the West Nile virus has focused on when and how to use pesticides to get rid of the mosquitoes that transmit the disease. But one community is trying another approach: increasing stocks of mosquito-eating fish. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lisa Phillips reports:
Transcript
Much of the debate over preventing the West Nile virus has focused on when and how to use
pesticides to get rid of the mosquitoes that transmit the disease. But one community is trying
another approach – increasing stocks of mosquito-eating fish. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Lisa Phillips reports:
When Greg Wier was a kid, he spent hours playing in the woods next to his family’s vegetable
farm in Guilderland, New York. He was too busy having fun to pay much attention to
mosquitoes.
“You got woods, you’re a kid. We had trails and forts and everything back here.”
Wier, who now has kids of his own, still lives on the family farm. But a lot has changed. The
woods have been replaced by a subdivision. The mosquitoes he once thought fairly harmless are
now potential carriers of the sometimes-deadly West Nile virus. Wier, the town highway
foreman, is the man in charge of Guilderland’s latest effort to combat the disease. He’s taking a
different approach: stocking ponds with fish that eat mosquito larvae. The effort started in the
subdivision’s drainage pond. On this hot afternoon, Wier watches a few sunfish and tadpoles dart
around the pond’s edge:
“I grew up here. I know this area quite well, and to see something like this happening naturally
instead of chemically is good for me.”
For the past four years, Wier has stocked the pond with several native fish species, including
pumpkin seed sunfish and golden shiner, a type of minnow. Both have a healthy appetite for
mosquito larvae. The town also puts bacterial larvicides, known as “dunks,” in smaller pools of
water, but there has been no pesticide spraying since the 1980’s. Ward Stone heads the Wildlife
Pathology Unit of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. He is a big
fan of the Guilderland approach, especially as evidence of West Nile mounts:
“We’re in high danger right now. We’ve had mosquitoes, we’ve had a wet summer. Predictions
are that the United States will have the most severe year for West Nile virus. We need to have a
vaccine and control. This is a little bit of that overall war that the town of Guilderland is waging
and doing it very soundly and ecologically.”
Using fish to fight mosquitoes is not a new idea. But using native fish is different from what’s
been done in the past. Michael Kaufman is an entomologist at Michigan State University. He
says gambusia, a non-native species known as “mosquito fish,” has been used in the American
West and parts of Asia.
“Lots of people, myself included, think it is an unwise idea to use them indiscriminately. There is
an issue with mosquito fish eating the eggs of native species or amphibians. They’ll eat frogs or
salamander eggs. That’s obviously a sensitive issue there, too.”
Guilderland has taken no official steps to research how well the program is working, though there
have been fewer complaints about mosquitoes in the neighborhood near the drainage pond. The
question is whether other communities should follow the town’s lead. Entomologist Michael
Kaufman says there are benefits to doing so – but there are also limits.
“Anything a community can do to reduce mosquitoes coming off any breeding site is a good
thing. The problem is, many mosquitoes don’t breed in ponds that are permanent. There are a
large number of mosquitoes that breed in smaller bodies of water, temporary ponds, very polluted
areas. Things like sewage lagoons.”
In other words, places mosquito-eating native fish are unlikely to thrive. Guilderland Highway
Foreman Greg Wier is well aware that his strategy is no magic bullet against West Nile virus. He
just sees it as one part of an effort everyone has to make.
“By a town taking care of a pond like this, we’re taking care of our own backyard. If everyone else
takes care of their own backyard, cleans the gutters, birdbaths, or empties a tire, that alone will
help control the mosquito population. If every house in the area does it that will be more of an
answer to West Nile virus, I believe.”
Because the fish program is so cheap to implement, Wier has already expanded it to a pond in a
new town park. If all goes well, in a few years there could be another benefit to Guilderland’s
mosquito prevention scheme: a place for anglers to go fishing – perhaps without having to cover
themselves with quite so much bug repellant.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Lisa Phillips.
With the rapid spread of West Nile, more communities are faced with the question of whether to use pesticides to control mosquitoes, which carry the virus. One town is trying a new approach: fish. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lisa Phillips reports:
Transcript
With the rapid spread of West Nile, more communities are faced with the question of whether to
use pesticides to control mosquitoes, which carry the virus. One town is trying a new approach –
fish. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lisa Phillips reports:
Non-native “mosquito fish,” also known as gambusia, have been used for years as a weapon
against the insect in parts of Asia and the American West. One town in upstate New York,
Guilderland, is trying something a little different: stocking a town pond with native species such
as sunfish and golden shiner.
Ward Stone is New York State’s Wildlife Pathologist. He says more communities should
consider doing the same.
“West Nile’s going to be around, and by lowering the mosquito population it makes it a little bit
safer. And they’re not applying any pesticides to it. We should encourage that.”
Stone says the fish program is limited because mosquitoes often breed in pools of water too small
for fish. But complaints about mosquitoes have decreased in the neighborhood near the pond,
and the town has decided to expand the program.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Lisa Phillips.
A layer of smog over upstate New York at sunset on October 21, 2000 (Photo courtesy of the Earth Science and Image Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center)
