Thursday, 17 Apr 2003

Dam Shamer

A $25 billion dam-building plan for Spain's Ebro River would submerge entire towns, displace tens of thousands of rice and fish farmers, and poison the wetlands of the river delta with salt. Luckily, Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, an economics professor at the University of Zaragoza in Spain, has stepped off campus to organize an enormous grassroots movement against the plan. Thanks to his efforts, hundreds of thousands of people have gathered across Spain to protest the project. On April 14, Arrojo-Agudo was awarded one of six 2003 Goldman Environmental Prizes for his work to stop the dam-building. Read an interview with him as part of Michelle Nijhuis's special six-part series on the Goldman Prize winners, only on the Grist Magazine website.

Lead Story

Lead levels that are currently assumed to be safe for children can significantly impair intellectual development, according to a groundbreaking report published in today's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The current U.S. and international allowable blood lead level is 10 micrograms per deciliter, but researchers found that lead levels lower than that caused a drop in IQ of up to 7.4 points. That's sobering news, given that an estimated one in 50 U.S. children has lead levels above the federal standard, and one in 10 has levels of five micrograms per deciliter or higher -- within the dangerous range, according to today's report. Some 38 million houses across the country are coated in lead-based paint, making homes the single largest source of the toxic substance. In addition to decreased intelligence, exposure to lead has been associated with slower overall development, behavioral problems, and even criminality.

Public Employees Should Be Seen and Not Heard

Speaking truth to power has its price -- just ask Dave Moody and Bob Jackson. Moody, one of Wyoming's leading predator biologists and an employee of the state Department of Game and Fish since 1976, was suspended from his job last week after publicly expressing doubts that the state's proposed wolf management plan would ensure a sustainable population in Wyoming. Neither Moody nor the department would comment on the suspension, but Eric Wingerter of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility said, "This kind of behavior sends a chilling effect through an agency. It's injecting politics into biology." Meanwhile, Bob Jackson, the longest-serving ranger at Yellowstone National Park, was not rehired for the coming season, a move the 30-year veteran chalks up to his habit of calling attention to shady hunting practices. Jackson has lobbied against illegal salt licks, used by commercial hunting enterprises to lure elk outside park boundaries and give their customers a better chance of a kill.

Give a Hoot

Pollution in North America decreased by 5 percent between 1995 and 2000, according to a report released today by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, established under the North American Free Trade Agreement. In 2000, the U.S., Canada, and Mexico released 3.6 million tons of pollution. Of that, 1.5 million tons went directly into the air, water, or ground, while the remainder was sent to recycling operations (1 million) or for treatment, energy recovery, or disposal. The worst offenders were industries located in just three states (Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania) and one province (Ontario, Canada), which together accounted for as much as one-quarter of all North American pollution. Fourteen percent of the pollution consisted of chemicals that are known or suspected carcinogens, the CEC reported.

Orange Alert

The U.S. military sprayed twice as much herbicide on Vietnam during the war there than previously estimated, according to a study published today in the journal Nature. Relying on previously unexamined military documents and new assessments of dioxin concentrations, the study found that an additional 1.8 million gallons of toxic herbicides, mostly Agent Orange, were used by the Armed Forces. From 1961 to 1971, more than 10 percent of what was then South Vietnam was sprayed with defoliants in an effort to destroy food crops and remove forest cover from combat areas. An estimated 14 percent of Vietnam's forests were obliterated, and the herbicides have been blamed for birth defects and illnesses in both Vietnamese citizens and American veterans. The U.S. compensates veterans for diseases associated with the spraying in Vietnam but has refused recompense to the Vietnamese until more data are available.