Wednesday, 04 Jun 2003

Oh, the Humanity

Before they can be put on the market, pesticides are usually tested for safety on animals. Government regulators then establish an exposure level for humans that is 10 times more conservative than the safety level for animals. In an effort to abolish the tenfold safety net, pesticide companies frequently sponsor clinical tests on volunteers to try to prove that their products are as safe for humans as for animals. In December 2001, the U.S. EPA imposed a moratorium on using data from such tests until the ethical and scientific acceptability of human clinical trials could be determined. Pesticide companies sued over the moratorium, and yesterday, a federal appeals court ruled in their favor, saying the agency must take the findings from human trials into account when establishing safety levels. Environmentalists criticized the court's decision, saying it amounted to an endorsement of exposing people to toxic chemicals to benefit the pesticide industry's bottom line.

Tunnel at the End of the Tunnel

A coalition that includes the Sierra Club, the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, and the Abyssinian Baptist Church is backing a project to build a new tunnel under New York Harbor to reduce truck traffic in the city. The proposed rail freight tunnel would divert almost a million truck-trips per year away from the George Washington Bridge; it is supported by business, labor, environmental, and civic leaders, who say it will ease traffic snarls, reduce pollution in neighborhoods suffering from high asthma rates, generate jobs, save money on road maintenance, and even curtail terrorism by limiting the threat of truck bombs. Critics counter that most of the freight would still be moved by truck once it entered the city, and that few of the kinds of industries inclined to take advantage of rail freight do much business in New York City. Currently, less than 2 percent of all freight moving in and out of the area is transported by rail, compared with the nationwide average for cities of 40 percent.

Chop Shop

The environmental policies of the Bush administration are endangering our nation's woodlands, according to a coalition of environmental groups that yesterday released a list of the 10 most at-risk forests. The coalition, which included Greenpeace and the National Forest Protection Alliance, assessed the risks posed to water quality, endangered species, and old-growth trees. Citing road-building and timber sales as major threats to forest health, the groups strongly criticized President Bush's championing of logging projects in the name of limiting forest fires -- a move most environmentalists see as a giveaway to the timber industry. According to the group, the 10 most endangered forests are Arizona's Apache-Sitgreaves, Bitterroot and Kootenai in Montana, Black Hills in South Dakota, Wisconsin's Chequemegan-Nicolet, Virginia's George Washington-Jefferson, all of Mississippi's national forests, California's Plumas, Alaska's Tongass, and Oregon's Umpqua.

Come on Baby, Fire My Light

Compact fluorescent light bulbs, those money- and energy-saving improvements on the old-fashioned incandescent variety, are extraordinarily popular in Wisconsin. About 12 percent of all light bulbs sold in the state are CFLs, a figure that trounces the national average of roughly 1 percent. That's thanks largely to Wisconsin's Focus on Energy program, which educates homebuilders and businesses about energy efficiency and offers financial incentives for using efficient products. Unfortunately, the state's budget crunch is jeopardizing the program's future; a proposal by Gov. Jim Doyle (D) would cut $27 million, or more than 43 percent, from the program's budget in 2005. Hugo Heyns, director of Focus on Energy's business projects, says the cut would be a mistake, because every dollar spent on energy efficiency programs saves the state $3.50 in energy expenses.

Jagged Little Pill

Birth control pills aren't just having an effect on human reproduction: They're dramatically reducing the fertility of male rainbow trout as well, according to a study by scientists in Washington state. In the study, adult captive trout were exposed to synthetic estrogen for two months, then spawned with a healthy female. Synthetic estrogen, which is commonly found in oral contraceptives, has been found in waterways across the country; the study found that exposure to it cut male trout fertility in half. Even the lowest exposure level -- 80 times lower than concentrations found in the wild -- had an adverse effect on fertility. The findings add to an ongoing debate about the effect of hormone-mimicking pharmaceuticals and pesticides that seep into sewage and wastewater. Currently, there are no regulations governing the release of such substances.