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Banned Chemicals From 1970's Persist In Deepest Reaches of the Pacific Ocean, Study Shows (bbc.com)
walterbyrd quotes a report from BBC: Scientists were surprised by the relatively high concentrations of pollutants like PCBs and PBDEs in deep sea ecosystems. Used widely during much of the 20th Century, these chemicals were later found to be toxic and to build up in the environment. The results are published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. The team led by Dr Alan Jamieson at the University of Newcastle sampled levels of pollutants in the fatty tissue of amphipods (a type of crustacean) from deep below the Pacific Ocean surface. The pollutants found in the amphipods included polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), which were commonly used as electrical insulators and flame retardants. PCB production was banned by the U.S. in 1979 and by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, a UN treaty signed in 2001. From the 1930s to when PCBs were banned in the 1970s, the total global production of these chemicals is estimated to be in the region of 1.3 million tons. Released into the environment through industrial accidents and discharges from landfills, these pollutants are resistant to being broken down naturally, and so persist in the environment. The authors of the study say that the deep ocean can become a "sink" or repository for pollutants. They argue that the chemicals accumulate through the food chain so that when they reach the deep ocean, concentrations are many times higher than in surface waters.
MH370
Surprising that people think seafood is healthy.
I have been looking all over for them.
Toxic chemicals that build up in the environment found to build up in the environment!!!
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
Someone please fill me in on what ng g1 dw is. I get the nanograms, I get the inverse grams. WHAT IS A dw. Thanks
Dump our waste that will remain for all eternity into the area on our planet that we understand the least, and in case we fuck up, we have no way to undo it.
Is it me or does this sound like a really bad idea?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Although, we can't blame it all on lax Chinese cleanup processes. We can probably blame the rest on maritime decomissioning.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
...Be warned. The tides are coming.
That's OK, Clemson is standing by...
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
(N/T)
You wanna keep burning fossile fuels (actually, I kinda do)? You're gonna want something that'll at least turn CO2 back into O2, and a few national forests full of trees ain't gonna cut it!
If you want to keep burning fossil fuels you're going to have to be able to turn CO2 back into oil.
Oil is too valuable to burn, and we have the technology to stop doing it. Let's make use of it before it's too late, if it isn't already. We may well be beyond the tipping point already. Atmospheric CO2 levels in fact suggest that this is the case.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Maybe - but (like so many of us) - I'm addicted. When there's an affordable battery fueled 3/4 ton pickup truck on the market, let me know. Until then, I'll keep sucking energy out of the slow carbon cycle and pumping the wastes into the fast carbon cycle.
Many PCBs are stable in cold and dark conditions and need to be broken down by sunlight or the right kind of microorganisms. Without sunlight to break the chemicals down they are bound to persist for many decades and possibly centuries. In soil there are microorganisms that can break down PCBs, but they don't exist in the deep ocean (that I'm aware of).
I suspect the concentrations to only increase over time, as rivers and lakes eventually get stable material from the bottom dredged from floods, construction or even drought. Resulting in more contaminates flooring into the ocean.
Look, chemistry is a very powerful thing in nature. And we carry a huge burden of responsibility for the planet when we produce different chemical compounds on an industrial scale. There's nothing wrong with science and technology that can't be fixed with a little cautious restraint in how it is applied.
"In all of your deliberations in the Confederate Council, in your efforts at law making, in all your official acts, self interest shall be cast into oblivion. Cast not over your shoulder behind you the warnings of the nephews and nieces should they chide you for any error or wrong you may do, but return to the way of the Great Law which is just and right. Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground -- the unborn of the future Nation." -- The Constitution of the Iroquois Nation (The Great Binding Law)
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
So "fish" that eat "fish' have bad stuff in them, what's new? I regulate my tuna consumption because of the mercury buildup, and I love tuna. I would bet their mercury levels were high as well, but then that would not make news I suppose.
There are three kinds of falsehood: the first is a 'fib,' the second is a downright lie, and the third is statistics.
The other thing that surprises me about any of this is that the US banned it. Hopefully Trump will see reason and lift that ban. You can't hurt the environment, even in principle.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
ng * g ^-1 :
nanograms [of the polluant, found] per gram [of the medium].
10 ng * g ^-1 :
if you take 1 gram of the soil of the bottom of the pacific ocean, you'll find that it contains 10 ng of the plastic polluant.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
BPA (Bisphenol A) is not a PCB (Polychlorinated Biphenyl), in fact it isn't chlorinated at all. It isn't completely banned like PCBs. Also, PCBs were never knowingly used in food packaging.
No, what it means is that a team will be created at the UN from multiple countries including the worst polluters. This team will decide that the only way to resolve this issue is to create a global tax on something that everyone needs and first world countries will be required to give billions to third world countries. This money will not be tracked and will be used for everything except what the original purpose was.
I know it sounds like I'm bashing the UN because I'm a hater but seriously that seems like what will happen and nothing will truly occur to resolve the issue. I wish I was wrong but I know I'm not.
-GeekPoet
Must be weird to have such carefully curated ignorance.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
You've got a set of rulers who are highly skeptical of environmental damage of any kind, ever. Enjoy that.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
None of that will happen, you'll be able to happily pollute away until the cows come home. Enjoy.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
None of that will happen, you'll be able to happily pollute away until the cows come home. Enjoy.
Well, it wouldn't fail because the third-world despots that effectively run the UN didn't TRY to extort trillions of dollars from the EU and the US.
Iran on the "Human Rights Commission"?!?! I'm surprised the mullahs found time away from stoning gays and honor-killing rape victims.
What this does seems to say ever so slightly to me, is, we need to algae bloom the ocean over 30 to 50 years, in some sort of way that will provide a layer to reduce and or bury the problem.
if you see me, smile and say hello.
Maybe they're skeptical because too many people on all sides are politicizing the findings. Maybe if we had a government agency that was just interested in the data. And providing solid evidence.
Too bad we don't have that. The EPA is as politicized as it gets.
If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
Today is Tuesday, a day that ends in Y. On days that ends in Y, the UN is the Strongly Worded Letter Gang that Can't Shoot Straight.
The other days are when the UN is the Evil Black Helicopter Socialist New World Order Agenda 21 George Soros Illuminati Trilateral Commission Bilderberg Group Conspiracy.
Ooh, moderator points! Five more idjits go to Minus One Hell!
Delendae sunt RIAA, MPAA et Windoze