Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
Riddle Me This, Batman!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Someone needs to explain how diethylene glycol from Iran ended up in China, which ended up in toothpaste, which ended up in the US, which caused the FDA to check all the toothpaste shipments from China, which has caused Canadian officials to consider taking similar actions!
The escalating number of frightening and sometimes deadly incidents involving tainted products making their way from China into the world market is a riddle.
What is the reason? Is it for fun or profit?
Holmes loved a mystery; The Riddler taunted Batman. Countries importing tainted products from China may be wondering if the Joker sent them.
Mr. Cool and Excel toothpastes have been found to contain the poisonous chemical diethylene glycol used in antifreeze. The same chemical was found in cough syrup that killed 51 last year in Panama. The source of the cough syrup: Imported products from China.
Here is another riddle from China! When is a monkfish not really a monkfish?
The FDA warned consumers not to buy or eat imported fish labeled as monkfish. Why? Because it isn't monkfish at all, it is puffer fish. Riddle solved!
US Government tests done after 2 Chicago-area people became ill after eat the puffer fish, which had been labeled monkfish. It turns out 282 boxes of the puffer fish were distributed in Illinois, California and Hawaii.
This is very serious business. Deadly serious for those using, consuming or feeding pets tainted products from China, or anywhere else for that matter.
China has a serious consumer confidence problem on their hands. Does anyone think sentencing Zheng Xiaoyu to death is going to shore up confidence in Chinese imports? Zheng, 63 is the former Director of China's State Food and Drug Administration.
Labels: Speak no Evil
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Labels: Chinese Tooth paste. DEG, diethylene glycol, Speak no Evil
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Riddle Me This, Batman!
posted by Pacific Spirit on Thursday, May 31, 2007
After the Downing Street Memo Came the...
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Do not mention a word about climate change, sea ice or polar bears! That is, of course, if you are a biologist or other employee of the US Interior Departments Fish and Wildlife Service.
On March 2, a travel requirement memo was issued warning biologists and other employees not to mention these apparently 'tricky' subjects while traveling abroad.
Fish and Wildlife Service Officials say the 'polar bear memos' as they have become known as, are consistent with a longstanding policy to ensure a coherent position in foreign negotiations and to prevent employees from discussing topics not on event agendas. (Say that 3 times fast!)
In January the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held hearings on political interference with government climate-change scientists. The Union of Concerned Scientists, and advocacy group, cited a survey showing 500 scientists from 9 agencies said they had been barred from publishing new study results related to climate change.
Representatives Brad Miller, (D N.C.) and Bart Gordon, (D Tenn.) requested more information from interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. Miller and Gordon wrote that the memos appear to be the latest effort by the Bush administration to block a full and free discussion of issues relating to climate change by the scientific community.
Just one of the perils polar bears are facing is an ever-shrinking habitat due to melting ice. Ice on the Hudson Bay is melting an average of 3 weeks earlier than in the mid-70's.
These unique bears fast for 6 to 8 months during hibernation and rely on winter hunting for survival. Longer periods without ice during the Arctic summer is leaving polar bears stranded onshore longer, cutting down on their fat reserves. This is affecting reproduction and milk production. There is already a documented 15 percent drop in birth rates.
Did you get the memo?
Labels: After the Downing, Memo, Polar Bear, Polar Bear Memo, Speak no Evil
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
After the Downing Street Memo Came the...
posted by Pacific Spirit on Wednesday, May 30, 2007
I want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
PLASTICS.
According to a UN report plastic debris entering the ocean could be as high as 24 million pieces per day. 20% of that plastic comes from ships and offshore platforms, the rest is blown in from or washed off of land.
Plastic debris is now being found in even the most remote regions of the globe, like Antarctica.
Most plastics just break up into smaller and smaller particles. British scientists have found microscopic pieces of plastic even inside plankton which is the foundation for the marine food chain.
A Dutch study done in 2004 found on average 30 pieces of plastic in the stomachs of dead Seagulls in the North Sea. The UN has reported more than a million seabirds and 100,000 mammals and sea turtles are killed by the consumption or hazards associated with plastics.
It is estimated between 1997 and 2007 some 500 million computers used in the U.S. alone will have produced a staggering 600,000 tones of toxic waste, much of which is plastic. Perhaps 50-80 percent of this waste will be exported to developing countries. Where it goes from there is any one's guess, but our oceans might be a good guess.
Disappearing plankton from the waters off of Northern California, Oregon and Washington were thought to have met their end from the lack of 'upwelling'. (seasonal movement of cold nutrient-rich offshore waters near shores)
Maybe....Mr. Mc Guire: Plastics.
Benjamin: Just how do you mean that, sir?
Labels: Ocean, Ocean Habitat, Plastic, Sewage
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
I want to say one word to you. Just one word.
posted by Pacific Spirit on Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Beyond Foundation There Lies Bedrock 'Deborah Bojman'
Friday, May 25, 2007
A strong foundation is imperative when building anything.
Whether it be a family, a skyscraper, an organization, or a future. Good foundations support everything.
What supports the foundation?
A foundation may be laid broad and deep, but if that foundation is built upon unstable shifting sands all things built upon it will fail.
As we head into the end of our first week of comments we want to close, or more appropriately open, with this important thought: Beyond the foundation lies the bedrock.
Deborah Bojman is bedrock. With her hands-on help and support we can be certain the foundation we are building will be strong enough to endure the gales heading our way.
Blowing across our oceans are strong winds of change. Deborah Bojman's vision, of change for the better, is what gives rise to the notion...all may not be lost.
The future of our oceans and consequently the lives of generations to come, depend on the hope, vision and contagious optimism of all the Deborah Bojmans of this world.
For over 20 years Deborah Bojman has been raising the profile of upcoming Canadian talent. As a staunch environmentalist and her personal commitment to champion eco-issues we are certain public awareness will be on the rise.
We count ourselves blessed to call Deborah Bojman our friend. So, we salute you Deborah Bojman and close as we opened
Beyond Foundation There Lies Bedrock: 'Deborah Bojman'
Labels: Salutes
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Beyond Foundation There Lies Bedrock 'Deborah Bojman'
posted by Pacific Spirit on Friday, May 25, 2007
She Wore a Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka-dot Bikini...maybe not!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
She was afraid to go out in the water, but it wasn't because she had abs of flab.
People in coastal communities across the globe are suffering respiratory illness believed caused by harmful algae and bacteria in our oceans.
Trouble breathing, when too close to the surf, is being reported in Sweden where at the Baltic Sea surf brings dead fish bobbing ashore. People on the southern shores of Maui are paying to have vile smelling piles of algae removed daily from their beaches.
Piles of sludge, larger than human beings, are coagulating on beaches in several areas of the world.
We are tossing raw sewage waste and the pathongens it contains such as cholera, hepatitis B and typhoid into our oceans at an astonishing rate. Canada flushes some 200 billion liters of raw sewage into the ocean annually.
The U.S. banned disposal of sewage sludge and industrial waste into territorial waters in 1991. What happens to that sewage sludge now? The open sea provides limitless opportunities for illegal dumping. We'll have more on that topic later. (tag: sewage)
Fish, sea mammals and people alike are becoming increasingly ill from hazardous microorganisms growing at an alarming rate in our oceans.
Fishermen from the Chesapeake Bay (CDC.gov) have suffered red, circular skin rashes, memory loss and respiratory tract problems. As far back as 1997 they reported fish with bloody sores, died by the thousands with some fishermen reporting as much as 90% of the catch having visible bloody sores. In what part of the food chain did those fish land?
With hundreds of millions of dollars at risk in the seafood industry, can we expect any agency to be warning us about what we are eating?
Clearly we cannot rely on those we have entrusted with our health and safety. Our only hope is to become proactive.
While the debate rages over what is causing Global Warming, that which is killing our oceans is not open for debate. It's us.
Labels: Sewage
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
She Wore a Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka-dot Bikini...maybe not!
posted by Pacific Spirit on Thursday, May 24, 2007
Government Fingers EPA Library for Cuts
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
While the polar icecaps are dwindling it seems the EPA's libraries are too!
The folks over at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility think the Bush administration may be trying to 'lobotomize the EPA'. EPA libraries serving 15 states have been closed in recent months Chacago, Dallas, and Kansas City, Mo. Restrictions to access have been placed on 4 other EPA libraries affecting 16 other states. Washington DC EPA headquarters 2 libraries were closed in October.
With environmental issues reaching critical mass why is the EPA closing and restricting access to information so desperately needed by the science community?
The EPA claims it's part of modernization. Vast repositories of information will sit , for perhaps years if not forever, waiting to be digitized. While that information sits, it will remain unseen and unused.
Some are saying science journals are being tossed into dumpsters. This is information that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to compile. An EPA spokesperson says they are recycling 'non-unique documents'.
Non-uniquie? We can find that information somewhere else, but where else? How long would it take to find it and can we afford to waste time looking for something wemay not even know exists if we can't see it?
Congress has not approved these closures. The EPA library budget is $2.5 million per year. Estimated savings would be $7.5 million from the closures. Nice work if you can get it! A tidy 5 million dollar savings per year AND control over access to information by both the EPA Staff, and the public!
What's up?
The EPA's 26 libraries contained as many as 500,000 books with irreplaceable research and studies which took decades to assemble.
Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall, and we do not have decades to put him back together again.
Labels: Cuts, EPA, EPA libraries, Speak no Evil
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Government Fingers EPA Library for Cuts
posted by Pacific Spirit on Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Road Kill at Sea
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Nearly 35% of all whales found dead show signs of being hit by ships. These injuries include huge, horrible, deep gashes and blunt force trauma.
At greatest risk for injuries from ocean going vessels are the calves. Underdeveloped diving skills cause them to be more vulnerable. In some species ship strikes are the largest known cause of death.
Shockingly hundreds of these strikes go unreported. The small amounts that are reported are generally exposed when ships coming into ports are pushing a whale carcass pinned to their prows.
There are a variety of reasons whales are suffering from these hit and run accidents. Underwater noise levels have reached deafening levels making it nearly impossible for whales to hear approaching ships.
Meanwhile two dead whales, a young grey and an orca, have washed ashore in the space of a week at Nootka Sound and Boundary Bay only last week. Are they just the latest victims of hit and run?
Marty Haulena of the Vancouver Aquarium says most of the last five orcas to die in B.C. waters were the victims of some sort of ship strike.Necropsy reports provided little in the stranding of a mind boggling 33 pilot whales and 1 minke on a single day, January 14, 2005 near Oregon Inlet North Carolina USA. The following day 2 dwarf sperm whales stranded north of Cape Hatteras, N.C.
Over the past decade NOAA Fisheries Services scientists have concluded parasites, viral infections, biotoxins, acute noise in the oceans and traumatic injuries due to ship strikes are being counted among the reasons for sea mammal stranding.
What is the reason these hits are not being reported?Forcing ships to cut engine props while traveling across known migration routes would cut into industry’s bottom line. These engines cut deeply into marine mammals killing and wounding untold numbers daily.
For business the bottom line is a living.For whales the bottom line is living.
Labels: Ocean, Ocean Habitat, Sea Mammals, Whales
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Road Kill at Sea
posted by Pacific Spirit on Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Vinnie Isn't the Only Thing Sleeping with the Fishes
Monday, May 21, 2007
On the Maiden Voyage of the PSMI blog our minds turned to the romance of ships upon the waters. Like most romance, when examined, there is a reality not always pretty.
It is simply astonishing to consider cruise lines dump more than 160,000 gallons of sewage into our oceans daily. Some 25,000 gallons are toilet sewage. If that doesn't send chills down your spine while seated at your computer screen, try thinking about that when you are seated at your next seafood repast.
Currently cruise ships are allowed to dump untreated sewage from toilets into waters outside the 3-mile limit. An appetizing thought when one thinks about where commercial fishing takes place. Sewage and dinner are not two words I like to have swimming together in my mind.
Inside the 3-mile limit toilet sewage, if treated first by woefully inadequate marine sewage treatment devices, is still allowed. Good news? Not so fast. Untreated sewage from sinks and showers is still allowed inside the 3-mile limit. Can you say loufa or hock-a-loogey?
Cruising is a wonderful experience. Mankind atop the waters of the world, calling in far off and exotic ports, is the stuff we are made from. Since man was able to tie a few sticks of wood together with twine he has taken to the sea. Our hearts haven't changed, but our circumstance has.
Cruise ships are not the only culprits when it comes to dumping the unspeakable into our oceans. Corporations and municipalities will not escape our future entries.
We are flushing more than waste into our seas. We are flushing our very existence away and that is the very real, very tragic waste.
Labels: Cruise Ships, illegal dumping, Ocean, Sewage
© 2007, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Vinnie Isn't the Only Thing Sleeping with the Fishes
posted by Pacific Spirit on Monday, May 21, 2007
