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Caffeine Level In Sea Causes Concern
DarkHand writes "Researchers at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) have spent three years looking for trace remains of pharmaceuticals in drainage water and the sea near Tromsoe in northern Norway. The project has focused on 16 substances and a high concentration of caffeine was one of the surprising finds. Need a lift in the morning? Have a refreshing glass of seawater!"
Mmm code sharks...
Anywho... I'm not aware of any study ont he effect of caffine on sharks - or any sea life - but I'm sure it exists (Or will shortly!).
Every species reacts to chemicals in different ways. Hell, individuals of te same species react differently! I wouldn't automatically assume that caffine will have the same effect on sharks as it does on humans.
Good example? Chocolate. Cocoa is very poisonous to cats and dogs (Specifically, the chemical Theobromine). Most humans can eat it with no ill effects. Similar items include garlic, onions, and macadamia nuts.
Oddly, cows enjoy chocolate as well. Can't remember where I saw it, but I think there's a place in Australia that feeds their dairy cows "reject" (read: mangled but otherwise edible) candy, which they buy from a factory by the truckload. If I recall, sometimes the flavor can actually leech into the milk.
Moral of the story is: Caffine might not have any effect on sharks, or only for some species of shark, or it might be toxic. Who knows?
=Smidge=
Those damn Scandinavians have everything. I mean I have just finished reading the story about the Swedish chick who managed to solve (part of) Hilbert's 16th problem. And amazingly for a female math geek she is actually not bad looking. If she was from any other part of the world she would have looked like my grandfather, only uglier.
And now the Norwegians get CAFFEINATED SEAWATER! Is is just me or is there something wrong with this picture?
OK, so at least they are sharing Linus with the rest of us, but still...
People couldn't type. We realized: Death would eventually take care of this.
While the amounts reported are below the current safety thresholds -
caffeine easily passes from mother to unborn child -
there is also increasing concern about environmental estrogens or chemicals that may react with them.
Subduction leads to orogeny
The parent poster writes:
Every species reacts to chemicals in different ways.
And then he goes on to talk about chocolate as an example.
Here's a better example, IMHO: Spiders on Caffiene and Other Drugs
Reverse osmosis doesn't necessarily remove everything; the city of Santa Barbara, CA built a RO-based desalination plant in the early 90s, at a cost of roughly $40 million. When they fired up the plant (spring of 92, IIRC), the water it put out still tasted a bit of the sea, according to most observers.
However, during the plant's construction, the drought that had motivated the project had subsided. So after a few weeks of operational testing (i.e. none of its output went into the distribution system), the plant was mothballed. AFAIK, it's never been started up since.
That's only true of the primitive sharks, like the great white. More modern sharks like the leopard shark have gills that function fine at rest.
And just in case anyone is wondering whether any marine organisms are actually sensitive to caffeine...
"Responses of regular urchins to mechanical and chemical stimulation have been described by... von Uexkull (1896a, 1896b, 1900a). According to von Uexkull, caffein is a particularly effective chemical agent and evokes pointing away of the spines in all concentrations." (L. H. Hyman, The Invertebrates: Echinodermata, 1955, pp. 552-3).
Just a data point, but I think it's particularly interesting that even these invertebrates, whose physiology is very different from humans, are sensitive to caffeine.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!