Updates December 02

• 12/27/02 -- Concerned about our area supermarkets selling irradiated meat?  --from Public Citizen | Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program - Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program ACTION ALERT: FAX YOUR SUPERMARKET AND TELL THEM "NO IRRADIATED FOOD!"  The year is winding down, so we wanted to provide you with one more chance to take action over the holidays.  Please fax your supermarket and let them know how you feel about irradiation.  Supermarket chains across the country are selling irradiated meat in their stores, claiming it is a "safe" choice for consumers. However, most people are unaware of the possible health hazards of eating irradiated food, and that they may be eating "sterilized" feces in their meat. Your supermarket needs to hear that their customers do NOT want to consume dirty meat, especially if it has been "treated" with high doses of ionizing radiation.  In addition, there may soon be a push for supermarkets currently carrying irradiated meat to expand to fruits and vegetables due to the recent approval of the importation of irradiated fruits and vegetables.  Fax your supermarket free from our website by clicking on the link below. Each state and the stores in that state that are selling irradiated meat are listed. http://www.citizen.org/cmep/foodsafety/food_irrad/articles.cfm?ID=8724#Alabama
• 12/27/02 -- If you have not already come across this document by the EPA, here it is: FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2002 EPA RELEASES A DRAFT HEALTH EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTS FROM THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER  EPA Press Office, 202-564-4355 - EPA today released for public review and comment a draft evaluation on the effects of exposure to airborne pollution from the destruction of the World Trade Center. The draft evaluation concludes that with the exception of those exposed immediately following the collapse and perhaps during the next few days, people in the surrounding community are not likely to suffer from serious long or short term health effects from the attack on the World Trade Center. EPA researchers evaluated the measured outdoor levels of various air pollutants to which the public had been potentially exposed as a result of the collapse of the World Trade Center. These data were evaluated in terms of available health benchmarks and typical background concentrations for New York City or other urban areas.  A Federal Register notice, published December 27, 2002, announced the public availability of the external review draft and the start of a 60-day comment period. Concurrently, the draft report will begin the process of peer review by a panel of independent scientific experts. EPA will address the peer panel's comments and the public comments in revising the draft document. The draft document is available on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/ncea/wtc.htm .  One of the studies supporting the draft human health evaluation is also being released today. In this study, EPA scientists exposed mice to particulate matter samples collected at the World Trade Center site. The researchers found that the particulate matter samples were mostly dominated by calcium-containing compounds derived from WTC building materials and that a high dose of WTC fine PM could cause mild lung inflammation and air flow obstruction in mice. These findings suggest that a similarly high dose in people could cause short-term respiratory effects such as inflammation and cough. A final report on the respiratory toxicology studies is available on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/nheerl
• 12/20/02 -- January 8th at 4:30pm, the The Monroe County Legislature: includes calendar of events and lists all your legislature representatives will soon consider the Pesticides - The Neighbor Notification Law again.  Monroe County legislators propose pesticide notice -- The measure is based on the New York State pesticide notification law, which was recently upheld by the Appellate Division of state supreme court. The state law requires notification before spraying lawns, trees and gardens. It covers private as well as public lands. (December 16, 2002) MSNBC Local News   Some counties in this state have not adopted this law and some have.  Monroe County has not. For information provided by the Office of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer read Urban Pesticides Report (25mb PDF)  contact your Monroe County Legislature representative and ask them to vote for the The Neighbor Notification Law
• 12/20/02 -- Are there environmental threats near you?  Check out Welcome to ecoTHREAT-NY Welcome to CEC's ecoTHREATNY.org  The site that lets you zoom to maps of your community and view the top environmental concerns, find out about each pollution source, and learn how to take action.
• 12/20/02 -- From the THE GREEN SHEET Environmental Advocates of New York PLOWING AHEAD: A new study by the American Farmland Trust (AFT) highlights trends in the loss of farm and ranch land across the country. Farming on the Edge identifies three regions of New York among the top 20 most threatened farming regions in the country – the Hudson Valley, Finger Lakes/Lake Ontario Plain and eastern Long Island. In the face of these growing threats, AFT has worked with Environmental Advocates of New York, Scenic Hudson, state Soil and Water Conservation Districts and the NY Farm Bureau to promote common interests in the state’s farms and farmers through the Keep Farms Growing coalition. For more information, call 518-581-0078 or visit: www.farmland.org.
• 12/17/02 -- All communities have trouble with Brownfields:  Buffalo News - Brownfields grant is sought LITTLE VALLEY - The Cattaraugus Empire Zone Corp. has applied for a two-part $400,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields Assessment Grant that will assess socioeconomic and environmental conditions on some industrial sites around the county. Half the funding is requested for brownfields sites contaminated by hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants. The other half would be used to determine the extent of petroleum contamination at other brownfields sites. The effort is expected to help communities turn around years of severe industrial decline and rise in unemployment and poverty in the Southern Tier. (December 17, 2002) The Buffalo News
•  12/17/02 -- Interesting..., in their latest article about the problems of the proposed Rochester Fast Ferry, the Democrat and Chronicle failed to mention the Rochester Regional Group's problem with the fast ferry project failing to have an open forum on the possible environmental damage of the fast ferry boats: Democrat & Chronicle: Cynicism plagues ferry project Critics doubt that people will want to travel to Rochester — A high-speed ferry won’t make its maiden voyage between Rochester and Toronto until 2004, but the ferry operators and community leaders already find themselves combating a wave of public cynicism. No one seems to be short of opinions or shy about sharing them. Especially the negative ones. Take your pick: The ship will be a flop. Canadians won’t ride it. It’s too expensive. The ferry will be the worst thing ever for the Rochester economy. (December 16, 2002) Democrat and Chronicle
•  12/17/02 --What are you drinking?  Here's a story that should make you think about what water you are drinking in the Rochester area, what else besides mercury is the fish, and what possible soup the fast ferry might stir up in Ontario Lake: WXXI: Researchers Study Pharmaceuticals in Water (2002-12-16) ROCHESTER, NY (2002-12-16) Studies by researchers in the United States and Canada have found that the Great Lakes and many other bodies of water are contaminated with pharmaceutical compounds. Nobody is sure whether this poses any sort of health risk, but some scientists are worried about what might happen if the drug contamination is also getting into drinking water. Public NewsRoom  Also, in Pollutants In Great Lakes American and Canadian researchers revealed some unsettling news about the Great Lakes Monday. The researchers found the lakes contaminated with pharmaceutical compounds. Their study detected traces of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. The Environmental Protection Agency says the contamination is part of a nationwide problem.  (December 17, 2002) R News: Your NewsChannel
•  12/15/02- How can you help Conesus Lake? Read on...Democrat & Chronicle: Help urged for Lake Conesus — The long-awaited draft of a Livingston County plan to clean up and preserve Conesus Lake is done and open to public review.  The draft of the Livingston County plan to clean up and preserve Conesus Lake is on the Livingston County Web site at www.co.livingston.state.ny.us. A limited number of free copies of the draft plan are also available at the Livingston County Planning Department office in Geneseo. Call (585) 243-7550.
•  12/12/02 --Why isn't hunting a good solution to our Deer Problem?  Perhaps this story will give you an idea: Democrat & Chronicle: Officials: NY has 55 hunting injuries this year — ALBANY — With regular deer season finished, the state Department of Environmental Conservation reports 55 hunting injuries, including accidental shootings, so far this year and one fatality. In the state’s Southern Zone, there were 27 accidental shootings, and for only the second time on record no hunting-related fatalities, in big game season, DEC spokesman Peter Constantakes said. (December 12, 2002) Democrat and Chronicle
•   12/12/02-- New look: RochesterEnvironment.com has a new look because someone pointed out that these pages were hard to read because of the lines in the background.  So, I've changed the theme of this site and hopefully it makes it easier to read online.  Please contact me for more comments, corrections, criticisms, praises, and especially ideas on how to make this site more useful for you--FrankRegan@RochesterEnvironment.com
•  12/12/02 -NPR : The Killer Fog of '52 Last night I listen to this report on the Killer Fog of 1952 and it reminded of the Spanish Flu of the winter or 1918-19 and how in a moment, something in the environment can and has gone wrong.  The Killer Fog of '52 changed our ideas about air pollution and industry's responsibility.
• 12/12/02 -- Major Internet search engine includes the most complete list of news stories on the net. Google News The best and most comprehensive Internet search engine now scours the Internet for all news stories.  Just type Rochester, NY in the search engine and scan stories for our environment.   I have contacted them and ask the Google.com team to place Environmental news as a major heading on their first page.
• 12/12/02 -- What do you need to know about a possible smallpox outbreak?  Check out the Center of Disease Control's CDC Smallpox Home
• 12/06/02 -- Have you been asking yourself, "Is the environment really in trouble, or are all those environmentalists a bunch of Chicken Little's against progress?  Well, consider this from United Nations Environment Programme, GLOBIO: Mapping human impacts on the biosphere. "Within 50 years, 50-90% of the world's land area may be impacted significantly by by human activities. This will most likely result in a substantial increase in environmental problems related to habitats, biodiversity, food production, fresh water resources and health."  Pictures may be more convincing that words.  Check out the maps that indicate human footprints on this planet and that "Overall, 83% of the land's surface, and 98% of the area where it is possible to grow rice, wheat, or maize is directly influenced by human beings." from Bioscience, The Human Footprint and the Last of the Wild.  Look here: http://wcs.org/media/general/HumanFootprint_v1.0.pdf  (you'll need Adobe Acrobat) Find a place that has not been disturbed by man?
• 12/02/02-- EPA website allows you to check up on environmental compliance of facilities in your area: EPA Enforcement and Compliance History Online ECHO This Web site allows you to search for facilities in your community for the purpose of determining whether: EPA or State/local governments have conducted compliance inspections violations were detected or enforcement actions were taken and penalties were assessed in response to environmental law violations. After performing your search, you will receive summary data about each facility meeting your search criteria. From this list of facilities, click to access EPA's Detailed Facility Report to find out more.
• 12/02/02 -- Getting it on Global Warming: The New York Times published an excellent article on why we must begin to solove Global Warming long before all the science is in: Can Global Warming Be Studied Too Much? — On Tuesday, the Bush administration convenes a three-day meeting here to set its new agenda for research on climate change. But many climate experts who will attend say talking about more research will simply delay decisions that need to be made now to avert serious harm from global warming. (12/02/02)  The New York Times on the Web  Also read, Arctic Sea Ice May Vanish This Century (ENS) - Perennial sea ice - the floating ice that remains year round near the Arctic Circle - could vanish entirely by the end of this century, warns a new study by researchers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The NASA study concludes that sea ice is now melting about nine percent faster than prior research had indicated, due to rising temperatures and interactions between ice, ocean and the atmosphere. Environmental News Service (ENS)