A new study finds low doses of a chemical used in plastics increases developmental
defects in mice. Rebecca Williams reports the study adds to the growing body of
research that has some scientists wondering if there are human health effects:
Transcript
A new study finds low doses of a chemical used in plastics increases developmental
defects in mice. Rebecca Williams reports the study adds to the growing body of
research that has some scientists wondering if there are human health effects:
The chemical’s called bisphenol A. It’s used to make everything from plastic baby bottles
to the lining of food cans.
The researchers exposed pregnant mice to the chemical. They found that the female
babies those mice were carrying were more likely to have eggs with chromosome defects.
So it’s a three-generational effect. Exposure in the pregnant female mouse increases the
likelihood her grandchildren will have defects.
Patricia Hunt is an author of the study, published in the Public Library of Science
Genetics. She notes this is an animal study and humans are more complex:
“But we also need to bear in mind that this is one chemical of many that have these
effects, they can mimic the actions of hormones in the body.”
Hunt says there’s a growing level of concern among scientists that the developing fetus
might be especially sensitive to chemicals that mimic hormones.
When you think of cougars, you usually think of the big cats roaming mountains in the West. But researchers say evidence of cougars in the Midwest has increased considerably over the last fifteen years. So far, scientists say, the big cats have not settled permanently in the region.
Bob Allen has more:
Transcript
Researchers say confirmed evidence of cougars in the Midwest has
increased considerably over the last fifteen years, and the number of
unconfirmed sightings by the public ranges into the hundreds. But so
far, scientists say, the big cats have not settled in the region. Bob Allen
has more:
The Eastern Cougar Network tracks hard evidence of cougars in
Midwestern states. That means photos, DNA samples or a carcass
confirmed by an expert.
Clay Nielsen is a wildlife researcher at Southern Illinois University in
Carbondale. He’s the scientific advisor for the Cougar Network and he
thinks cougars likely are dispersing from Western states where their
population is growing but their habitat shrinking. He says carcasses
found in the Midwest mostly turn out to be young males:
“And so a major limitation of getting populations to become established
has a lot to do with females getting here. Because some of the habitat in
the Midwest especially the forested areas the big woods are going to be
probably good habitat for them.”
Wildlife scientists say there’s no confirmed breeding population of
cougars east of the Dakotas.
The Environmental Protection Agency says the phase-out of a widely used pesticide is working. They say the amount of methyl bromide companies have in stock has been dropping since 2003. Christina Shockley has more:
Transcript
The Environmental Protection Agency says the phase-out of a widely used pesticide is
working. They say the amount of methyl bromide companies have in stock has been
dropping since 2003. Christina Shockley has more:
Methyl bromide is a colorless, odorless gas used by crop growers to kill unwanted bugs.
Scientists say when the chemical gets into the atmosphere, it depletes the ozone layer.
Drusilla Hufford is with the Environmental Protection Agency. She says methyl bromide
is the fourth most widely-used pesticide in the United States:
“It’s used in soils where people are growing crops, it’s used to make sure that houses and
structures are free of pests, and it’s used to make sure that commodities that are shipped
abroad or brought into the United States are also free of pests.”
Methyl bromide was phased out of production in the US in 2005, except for limited
cases. So, for the most part, what’s used now was produced before then.
Hufford says many growers, especially in California, are increasing their use of safer
alternatives to methyl bromide.
For the Environment Report, I’m Christina Shockley.
A group of flu scientists and health officials want to end secrecy over avian flu data. The group says some scientists and governments are keeping flu data hidden. The GLRC’s
Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
A group of flu scientists and health officials want to end secrecy over avian flu data. The
group says some scientists and governments are keeping flu data hidden. The GLRC’s
Lester Graham reports:
Some data on avian flu outbreaks are restricted by governments, or kept private within small
groups of researchers, or the information hoarded for years by scientists who want to be
the first to publish in academic journals, according to correspondence published online by
the journal Nature.
Seventy top flu scientists and health officials propose sharing all data through what
they’re calling the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data. The consortium
and its data will be open to all scientists provided they agree to share their own research.
Any articles published in academic journals would have to credit the use of other
researchers’ data. The idea is to more quickly allow scientists and health officials world-
wide to better understand how avian flu viruses spread and evolve before they reach
pandemic levels.
Researchers are putting together an online service
that will help determine nature’s contributions to the economy.
The GLRC’s Rebecca Williams reports the economic benefits
of the natural system aren’t always considered when developers
start building:
Transcript
Researchers are putting together an online service that will help determine nature’s contributions to the economy. The GLRC’s Rebecca Williams reports the economic benefits of the natural system aren’t always considered when developers start building:
We don’t get a bill from wetlands for purifying our water, but scientists say we might pay
more in our utility bills if wetlands weren’t there to clean up the water.
Bob Costanza directs the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics. He and his colleagues are
building computer models that will be turned into an interactive website. He says the website
will put a price on the services things such as wetlands and forests provide:
“If you are gonna, you know, put a new housing development or shopping center, what are
you losing in terms of ecosystem services and where could you put those things that would
lose as little as possible?”
Kostanza says the website will be live in about a year and a half. It will be open
to the public so you’ll be able to get a better sense of what your local pond and forest
are doing for you.
The American eel migrates from the salty Sargasso Sea into the fresh waters of the eastern U.S. and Canada. But their numbers have dropped significantly. Now, the eel is getting help from dam operators. The GLRC’s Martha Foley explains:
Transcript
The American eel migrates from the salty Sargasso Sea into the fresh waters
of the eastern US and Canada. But their numbers have dropped significantly. Now, the
eel is getting help from dam operators. The GLRC’s Martha Foley
explains:
Fifty years ago, the American eel accounted for half the biomass in Lake
Ontario. Now it’s almost gone. Scientists don’t exactly know why, but some
researchers say dams are partially to blame.
Kevin McGrath is a scientist with the New York Power Authority. He’s been
looking for ways to help the migrating eels get past a dam in Massena, New York.
The dam is jointly operated by the US and Canada. McGrath helped design a
new eel passage that opened this summer. He says the new passage is working
well:
“The thing that is really amazing us is how quickly they’re going through
the system. They’re moving through the entire system in about an hour and a
half and we’re just incredibly pleased that it’s working as well as it is.”
McGrath says he wouldn’t be surprised if the new passage – and an older
one on the Canadian side – combine to pass 30,000 eels this season.
Scientists say the size of this year’s dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is bigger than average. It’s grown to more than 65-hundred square miles in size. The GLRC’s Mark Brush explains:
Transcript
Scientists say the size of this year’s dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is bigger than
average. It’s grown to more than 6,500 square miles in size. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Mark Brush explains:
Each spring, scientists measure the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution coming
down the Mississippi river. The excess nutrients mostly come from farm fields and
sewage treatment plants in the Mississippi river basin. The nutrients cause algae blooms
in the Gulf of Mexico which eventually rob the water of its oxygen.
Dave Whittall is with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He says
the dead zone has a big impact on the region’s ecology and economy:
“That whole area where we don’t have oxygen, nothing can live there, so this is an area
the size of the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island put together where you have no
aquatic life essentially.”
Government officials are working toward a goal of cutting the size of the dead zone by
half in the next nine years. And they’re looking to farmers and cities to help them with
that goal.
Wind energy is among the fastest growing sources of new electricity generation. Now, scientists are looking at ways to make
wind turbines safer for birds and bats. The GLRC’s Dustin Dwyer has more:
Transcript
Wind energy is among the fastest growing sources of new electricity generation. Now,
scientists are looking at ways to make wind turbines safer for birds and bats. The
GLRC’s Dustin Dwyer has more:
A study published last year by the Government Accountability Office says wind farms
have had little impact so far on birds and bats, but the study says that could change as
more wind farms go up. The question is how to minimize the risk.
Alex Hoar is with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:
“Not all turbines cause a problem. There are turbines around that had bird
problems. There are lots of turbines that don’t. And we’re trying to learn why.”
Hoar says scientists know a lot about migration patterns for both birds and bats. But they
haven’t tracked the animals’ behavior while they’re in the air. Scientists are now using
thermal imaging and radar to study flight patterns in detail, and Bowling Green State
University in Ohio recently won a one million dollar grant to study the impact of smaller
turbines on wildlife.
After the release of a new report, the Environmental
Protection Agency is one step closer to developing new standards
for dioxin exposure. But as the GLRC’s Mark Brush reports,
some scientists say the standards have been delayed by the Bush Administration:
Transcript
After the release of a new report, the Environmental Protection Agency is one step closer
to developing new standards for dioxin exposure. But as the GLRC’s Mark Brush
reports, some scientists say the standards have been delayed by the Bush Administration:
The EPA decided to reassess the standards for dioxin exposure 15 years ago. That was
after scientists found that dioxin can alter human cells. The EPA spent nine more years
researching the chemical. And in 2000, the EPA released a draft of the new standards,
but the Bush Administration wanted more research.
Boston University’s Richard Clapp reviewed the EPA’s draft report in 2000:
“And it was, I thought, very complete and very accurate up to that point. And it was at
that point that we got a new Administration and the decision was made that this needs to
be reviewed yet again by the National Academy of Sciences.”
The authors of this new NAS report say their findings shouldn’t get in the way of
finalizing the EPA’s new dioxin standards.
Super Rachel confronts Chemical Man before they duel. (Photo courtesy of the Shakespeare in the Schools Program at the University of Pittsburgh)
Eleina Block as Super Rachel. (Photo courtesy of the Shakespeare in the Schools Program at the University of Pittsburgh)
In a play designed to help children learn about environmental issues and leadership, Rachel Carson is portrayed as a superhero fighting against the evils of DDT. (Photo courtesy of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences)
Drama is a unique way to connect children with their textbooks. That’s why a play on the achievements of Rachel Carson might be coming to a classroom near you. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lisa Ann Pinkerton reports on how the life of one prominent environmentalist is teaching students about
science:
Transcript
Drama is a unique way to connect children with their textbooks.
That’s why a play on the achievements of Rachel Carson might be coming to
classroom near you. The Great Lake Radio Consortium’s Lisa Ann Pinkerton
reports on how the life of one prominent environmentalist is teaching
students about science:
The office of Professor Buck Favorini is in a tall gothic tower. It was the inspiration for Gotham City in the first Batman movie. Inside his tower at the University of Pittsburgh, Professor Favorini has his own superhero story. His children’s play, Rachel Carson Saves the Day, is a science lesson in the language of children.
“We have used the sort of idiom of superheroes in the play, because it’s a way of teaching kids about science that they can understand simply by looking keenly at the world around them.”
Favorini says if Rachel Carson hadn’t been smart, bold, and risky, pesticides like DDT might still be in wide use. Some people honored her for her book Silent Spring. Others saw her as a reckless, unpredictable scientist threatening their chemical superhero.
“People made some of the worst chemicals in the world launched a very expensive campaign to undermine Rachel Carson’s scientific abilities partly based on the fact that she was a woman.”
Perched on a hill, overlooking another part of Pittsburgh, is Spring Hill Elementary.
LOUDSPEAKER: “Third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers, we’ll call you to the
assembly as soon as the staff sets up in the auditorium. Thanks.”
The staff is actor Elena Block and stage manager Josh Futrell. They hustle to assemble silver pipes of scaffolding and hang two white screens.
“There are two DVD players that do these great images that do these scenes from science and pictures of Rachel Carson. Sort of become this floating back drop.”
While Block is on stage as Rachel Carson, Futrell controls the images, music, and the voice of “Little Rachel’s” Mother.
FICTIONAL MOTHER: “Alice in Wonderland is your breakfast companion again.”
FICTIONAL RACHEL: “Oh Mama, I love this book, and so does Candy when I read it to her.”
(Sound of barking)
The play begins with Rachel as a young girl. She grows up quickly to become a marine biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Her scientific observations reveal chemicals like DDT are contaminating waterways and silently creeping up the food chain.
FICTIONAL RACHEL: “This is the bird. The bird that ate the clam, that ate the
plankton, that swam in the ocean, fed by the stream, that carried the
chemical Jack-”
CHILDREN: “Sprayed!”
(Sound of clock ticking)
FICTIONAL RACHEL: “I’m in the late afternoon of my life and I am so angry. The next book I right is going to make a lot of noise.”
(Sound of “Mighty Mouse” theme)
To write Silent Spring, the passionate scientist/writer rips away her dress
to reveal a green superhero suit. Quickly Super Rachel is attacked by a man who’s face is hidden behind a long
pointed gasmask.
(Sound of fighting)
The Chemical industry attacks Rachel for her ideas. Images of nature and chemical compounds flash on the screens behind them. Super Rachel uses cartwheels and karate chops to over power Chemical Man.
(Sound of hip hop battle)
CHEMICAL MAN: “The bugs are buggin’ me.”
FICTIONAL RACHEL: “The chemicals are killin’ me.”
CHEMICAL MAN: “We’re gonna hit ’em from the air.”
FICTIONAL RACHEL: “How can you not care?”
Super Rachel prevails and DDT is officially banned in 1972.
(Sound of applause)
After the play, it’s clear the students of Spring Hill Elementary were paying attention.
GIRL: “She was trying to think of better ways to kill the insects instead of just polluting them.”
BOY: “I think she thought it was really important about the environment, and I think that’s good, because most people don’t.”
Not everyone agrees with the conclusions of Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring. Some scientists say Carson misrepresented existing 1950’s data on bird reproduction, and others say the very threat of malaria in developing countries should trump possible environmental threats of DDT. Actress Elena Block thinks despite these criticisms, Rachel Carson’s story has much to offer children.
“If they can sort of come away the idea with the idea that you can exact change being yourself from the place that you’re from. I think that’s pretty good, don’t you?”
Rachel Carson Saves the Day starts its second year of touring this fall, and perhaps it’s fun, multimedia look at environmental protection will inspire America’s next generation of intrepid scientists.
