Category Archives: environment

Avian Flu Diary: Despite Crackdown, `Wild Flavor’ Trade Continues In China

A similar concern has been raised in the Middle East, where the consumption of camel products (meat, milk, etc.) has been suggested as being a possible route of MERS-CoV infection in humans (see WHO Update On MERS-CoV Transmission Risks From Animals To Humans).

 

And just last Friday, Reuters reported on an illegal slaughtering operation with tragic results (see Five people hospitalized for suspected anthrax infection in Hungary).

 

Last month, in `Carrion’ Luggage & Other Ways To Import Exotic Diseases, we looked at the extensive international smuggling of bushmeat, and exotic animals, which are also potential routes of zoonotic disease introduction and spread.

 

Beyond SARS, and Ebola, and MERS, a few other zoonotic diseases of concern include Hendra, Nipah, Monkeypox, a variety of avian influenzas, other coronaviruses, various hemorrhagic fevers, many variations of SIV (Simian immunodeficiency virus), and of course . . .  Virus X.

 

The one we don’t know about.  Yet.

via Avian Flu Diary: Despite Crackdown, `Wild Flavor’ Trade Continues In China.

Bacteria that ‘eats’ odour could bring end to smelly toilets in mainland China | South China Morning Post

A must import for Rest stops on highways and in service stations! Mainland scientists have developed a “bioweapon” that can wipe out the notorious bad smell in public toilets.

Up to 75 per cent of the odour can be removed, with the rest suppressed by a natural, pleasant fragrance, according to researchers with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The magic is mainly done by bacteria in the Lactobacillus family, which is used in the production of yogurt, cheese, beer and chocolate.

Lactobacillus feeds on human waste, releasing lactic acid that eliminates the growth of most odour-making bacteria.

The “smell-free toilet” study was highlighted on the academy’s website last month as offering an “ultimate” cure to an “urgent” national issue.

via Bacteria that ‘eats’ odour could bring end to smelly toilets in mainland China | South China Morning Post.

Salvadoran Peasant Farmers Clash With U.S. of Monsanto Over Seeds | Inter Press Service

Seed quality is monitored and approved by the Salvadoran Ministry of Agriculture, which paid a total of 25.9 million dollars on seed purchases in 2013, most of them maize and beans which are staple foods in El Salvador.

Until the new model was implemented in 2011, 70 percent of the market was cornered by a subsidiary of U.S. biotech giant Monsanto, Semillas Cristiani Burkard. Since then, other producers have entered the field, like the cooperatives, with better quality certified seeds and more competitive prices.

Last year’s seed was purchased by an executive decree of December 2012, with the approval of Congress, and in practice U.S. companies were excluded. The U.S. embassy demanded a public and “transparent” tender process.

In January 2014, lawmakers approved a new decree allowing international companies to participate in the tendering process. However, the bidding in April was won by the same 18 producers.

Ambassador Aponte is now pressing for a different procurement process that will favour U.S. companies. This position is being criticised by social organisations and rural producers, who protested in front of the embassy in San Salvador in June.

“The embassy’s position serves to promote Monsanto’s seeds,” environmentalist Ricardo Navarro told IPS, referring to the world leader in transgenic seeds, against which many protests have been held in Latin American countries.

Aponte did not mention Monsanto in her comments, but according to Navarro “it is obvious she is referring to Monsanto, the largest company in the sector,” whose local branch “lost a market they thought belonged to them.”

via Salvadoran Peasant Farmers Clash With U.S. Over Seeds | Inter Press Service.

Saharan Dust on the Move : Image of the Day

{Interconnected – climate change and interchange? – naw say tea partiers and lots of GOP – despite proof such as this}

Saharan dust has a range of impacts on ecosystems downwind. Each year, dust events like the one pictured here deliver about 40 million tons of dust from the Sahara to the Amazon River Basin. The minerals in the dust replenish nutrients in rainforest soils, which are continually depleted by drenching, tropical rains. Research focused on peat soils in the Everglades show that African dust has been arriving regularly in South Florida for thousands of years as well.

In some instances, the impacts are harmful. Infusion of Saharan dust, for instance, can have a negative impact on air quality in the Americas. And scientists have linked African dust to outbreaks of certain types of toxic algal blooms in the Gulf of Mexico and southern Florida.

via Saharan Dust on the Move : Image of the Day.

Ebola conference agrees to set up regional fund | Africa | DW.DE | 03.07.2014

However, in an interview with DW, Anja Wolz of Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said the situation in Sierra Leone was still a matter of great concern. In the last two days, another 30 patients had been taken in at the treatment center where she works, she said.

According to Wolz, a major problem is that many people “are denying that Ebola exists.” People who fell sick were hiding rather than go to a doctor and could infect others. There was still a great need for public awareness campaigns, she said, as many Africans “think the white people are bringing Ebola.” MSF staff were working hard to overcome this but they could not go to every single village, Wolz said, addding that the problem was the same in Liberia and Guinea.

via Ebola conference agrees to set up regional fund | Africa | DW.DE | 03.07.2014.

In Panama, A Sad Retreat from the Rising Sea | The Beacon: Oceana’s Blog

While the retreat from rising seas may seem like a distant, if abysmal, end-of-the-century scenario, it is in fact already taking place in some low-lying island communities. For the Guna (pronounced “Kuna”) people of Panama the abandonment of their ancestral homeland, the San Blas Islands, has become the only option after frequent floods have made their way of life impossible.

While the flooding of the San Blas Islands is partly a consequence of rising sea levels, the Guna are not entirely blameless. Coral reefs that once surrounded and buffered the islands from storm surges and flooding have been destroyed after decades of exploitation (ironically, the Guna mined the reefs to build up the islands). It has been enough, according to Reuters “to submerge the Caribbean islands for days on end”.

The sad tale of the Guna, who are currently managing their retreat to mainland Panama, provides a cautionary tale of how climate change and poor resource management can combine to create disaster. But it isn’t just the direct exploitation of coral that threatens so many similar tropical, predominantly poor, coastal communities around the world. Coral reefs of the sort that once surrounded the San Blas Islands are under threat worldwide from carbon dioxide emissions that, when absorbed by the ocean, make it more acidic. When corals struggle in the more acidic water so too does the kaleidoscopic variety of life that depends on them. These once flourishing paradises may become barren monuments to changing ocean chemistry.

via In Panama, A Sad Retreat from the Rising Sea | The Beacon: Oceana’s Blog.

Study: 4 big wells injecting wastewater from energy drilling trigger more than 100 quakes

A new study explains how just four wells forcing massive amounts of drilling wastewater into the ground are probably shaking up Oklahoma.

Those wells seem to have triggered more than 100 small-to-medium earthquakes in the past five years, according to a study published Thursday by the journal Science. Many of the quakes were much farther away from the wells than expected.

Combined, those wells daily pour more than 5 million gallons (19 million litres) of water a mile or two underground into rock formations, the study found. That buildup of fluid creates more pressure that “has to go somewhere,” said study lead author Cornell University seismologist Katie Keranen.

Researchers originally figured the water diffused through underground rocks slowly. But instead, it is moving faster and farther and triggers quake fault lines that already were likely ready to move, she said.

“You really don’t need to raise the pressure a great deal,” she added.

The study shows the likely way in which the pressure can trigger fault lines — which already existed yet were not too active— but researchers need more detail on the liquid injections themselves to absolutely prove the case, Keranen said.

via Study: 4 big wells injecting wastewater from energy drilling trigger more than 100 quakes.

1,512 suspected cases of chikungunya in addition to 5,698 confirmed cases of dengue – Fides News Agency

According to the Ministry of Health in El Salvador (MINSAL) there are 1,512 suspected cases of chikungunya in the State of El Salvador. Most of them in the department of San Salvador, with a total of 1,365; of these, 1,035 have been located in Ayutuxtepeque, 138 in Mejicanos, 73 in Apopa and 41 in the capital of the department, and in Ciudad Delgado. San Vicente is another department where there have been 118 cases of the virus, and 88 in the municipality of San Ildefonso. MINSAL has stated that the age of the people most affected by the disease varies between 10 and 19, with 395 cases. Compared to the situation of dengue in the territory of El Salvador, the Ministry of Health reported a total of 16.937 suspected cases and 5,698 confirmed cases. Compared to the same period of 2013 there has been an increase of 101%. Of the confirmed cases, 97 were severe dengue, 56% more than last year. MINSAL reiterates its appeal to the people to work together to prevent the proliferation of the mosquito aedes aegypti, vector of chikungunya virus and dengue.

via 1,512 suspected cases of chikungunya in addition to 5,698 confirmed cases of dengue – Fides News Agency.

Water supply key to outcome of conflicts in Iraq and Syria, experts warn | Environment | The Guardian

Armageddon on the horizon?

The Euphrates River, the Middle East’s second longest river, and the Tigris, have historically been at the centre of conflict. In the 1980s, Saddam Hussein drained 90% of the vast Mesopotamian marshes that were fed by the two rivers to punish the Shias who rose up against his regime. Since 1975, Turkey’s dam and hydropower constructions on the two rivers have cut water flow to Iraq by 80% and to Syria by 40%. Both Syria and Iraq have accused Turkey of hoarding water and threatening their water supply.

“There has never been an outright war over water but water has played extremely important role in many Middle East conflicts. Control of water supply is crucial”, said Stephen.

It could also be an insurmountable problem should the country split into three, he said. “Water is one of the most dangerous problems in Iraq. If the country was split there would definitely be a war over water. Nobody wants to talk about that,” he said.

Some academics have suggested that Tigris and Euphrates will not reach the sea by 2040 if rainfall continues to decrease at its present rate.

via Water supply key to outcome of conflicts in Iraq and Syria, experts warn | Environment | The Guardian.

Fear as ebola ‘out of control’ in parts of west Africa | World | The Guardian

Described by virologists as a “molecular shark”, ebola is believed to be hosted by the fruit bat, a delicacy in Guinea and Liberia. The current strain is at least the fifth mutation since its discovery in 1976. Diagnosis is often complicated by the fact symptoms mirror those of malaria, common in the region, including fever, vomiting and diarrhoea. Victims sometimes have horrific internal and external bleeding and most die of shock or multiple organ failure, although chances of survival increase dramatically if adequate treatment is received early on. No cure exists for ebola but confirmed cases are first quarantined before undergoing intensive rehydration therapy. Due to its high contagion rate, medical workers should wear head-to-toe biohazard suits even when dealing with dead patients.

via Fear and ignorance as ebola ‘out of control’ in parts of west Africa | World | The Guardian.