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http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/anchorage/story/9441139p-9352688c.html
Alaskans discover nasty things about plastic
Perhaps rubber duckies don't belong in tub
By MEGAN HOLLAND
mholland@adn.com
Published: November 9, 2007
Last Modified: November 9, 2007 at 04:35 PM
Want to know what toxic chemicals are floating around in congressional
candidate Ethan Berkowitz's blood? How about in an Alaska fisherman's
urine? Both men participated in a national study on detecting what
compounds from common household products stay with us.
The results? Not good for either of them, according to Alaska
Community Action on Toxics. The nonprofit is pushing for legislation
to ban what it says is poisoning us -- substances used mostly to make
plastics.
The chemical groups tested have scary names: Phthalates, Bisphenol A
(BPA), and Polybrominated diphenol ethers (PBDEs).
The first are used in vinyl products like shower curtains and rubber
duckies. The second are used to make baby bottles and linings of metal
food cans. The third are toxic flame-retardants added to plastic on
things like televisions and computers.
PBDEs were found in very high rates in both Berkowitz, 45, and the
Haines fisherman, 54-year-old Tim June, an environmental activist who
co-founded Alaska Clean Water Alliance. Both volunteered with three
other Alaskans and 30 other Americans for the national study called
"Is It In Us?" done by a coalition working for greater regulation of
manufacturers using the chemicals.
"It's no great source of pride that I have some of the highest levels
among the participants across the 50 states," Berkowitz said after a
press conference in Anchorage on Thursday.
"It could be that I spend too much time in front of the computer. It
could be that my mattress has bad chemicals in it. It could be too
much time in airplanes. It could be the cell phone. I just don't know
what it is," said the former state House minority leader. "But it is
more than my individual use of products that's contributing to this.
Everyone of us that participated in this project has different
personal habits and everyone of us has some level."
The hazardous products on display at the press conference included a
Nalgene bottle, a toaster, a My Little Pony and a rain jacket.
The study sponsors say the chemicals have been linked to birth
defects, cancer, infertility and a host of other health problems. But
it's not clear if any of the pollutants is making anyone sick,
according to the Centers for Disease Control, which says more research
is needed.
Patricia Hunt, a molecular expert at Washington State University who
was not part of the study, said BPAs are of particular concern because
a growing body of literature shows that even a low dose may affect
fetal development.
Phthalates, used to soften plastics, have been banned in toys in
Europe. California has imposed a similar ban on certain types of
Phthalates in toys beginning in 2009. California also has a ban on
certain types of PBDEs which takes effect in 2008.
In Alaska, Rep. Andrea Doll, D-Juneau, plans to present a bill banning
PBDEs.
Pamela Miller, executive director of the Alaska anti-toxic group, said
the chemicals may be getting into us from food containers, or maybe
from breathing them, for example, when we take hot showers and the
plastics on the shower curtain are released. They are also found in
household dust, she said.
"The problem is they're everywhere in our environment," Hunt said.
"You can't actually see when you are being exposed. ...We can't go
completely crazy because it's impossible to really remove plastics
from our lives. But we can think differently about how we use it."
She no longer microwaves food in plastic containers, she said. She
also doesn't put them in her dishwasher because the heat may be
releasing the chemicals.
The other Alaskans who volunteered to be tested were Cathy Rexford,
the Alaska director of Native Movement; Lori Townsend, an Alaska News
Nightly journalist; and Democratic congressional candidate Diane
Benson.
http://www.chinookobserver.info/main.asp?SectionID=12&SubSectionID=30...
11/7/2007 12:01:00 AM
Great Pacific garbage patch becoming deadly plastic nightmare
By KEVIN HEIMBIGNER
Observer staff writer
PACIFIC OCEAN - Plastics, like diamonds, are virtually forever and
now
they are everywhere in our modern society. We drink out of plastic
conatiners, eat off of them, sit on them and even drive in them.
Plastics are durable, lightweight, inexpensive and can be made into
almost anything. But it is these useful properties of plastics that
make them so harmful when they end up in the environment.
An albatross carcass shows how much plastic the great birds can
ingest
from the Pacific Ocean. There is a large part of the central Pacific
that only a few ever pass through. Sailors avoid it like the plague
for it lacks the wind they need to sail and fishermen leave it alone
because its lack of nutrients makes it an oceanic desert.
This area includes the "horse latitudes," where ships in the age of
sail got stranded, ran out of food and water and had to jettison even
their horses while being trapped in the doldrums. This is the largest
ocean realm on our planet, being over twice the size of Texas. A huge
mountain of air, which has been heated at the equator, and then
begins
descending in a gentle clockwise rotation as it approaches the North
Pole, creates this ocean realm. Scientists call this the subtropical
high and the ocean current it creates as the central Pacific gyre.
Because of the stability of this gentle maelstrom, it is also an
accumulator of the debris of civilization. Anything that floats, no
matter where it comes from on the Pacific Rim, ends up here.
Unfortunately plastic photo-degrades, a process in which it is broken
down by sunlight into smaller and smaller pieces, all of which are
still plastic polymers, eventually becoming individual molecules of
plastic, still too tough for anything to digest.
Center of the mess
Charles Moore of Santa Barbara News-Press' latest three-month round-
trip research voyage got closer to the center of the garbage patch
than before and found levels of plastic fragments that were far
higher
than estimated for hundreds of miles. He noted jellyfish hopelessly
entangled in frayed line with colorful plastic fragments in their
bellies. Ninety percent of Hawaiian green sea turtles eat the debris,
mistaking it for their natural food, as do laysan and black-footed
albatross. Indeed, the stomach contents of laysan albatross look like
the cigarette lighter shelf at a convenience store they contain so
many of them.
The Pacific gyre also attracts large objects. In 2003 Stephen Brown
took his sailing sloop, Southbound, for a trip out of Moro Bay near
San Diego. After 800 miles of drifting a freighter discovered the
vessel and the log of Brown's demise in a storm. The freighter was
unable to tow the Southbound for fear of swamping it and the 38-foot
boat eventually rode the gyre over 4,050 miles in 144 days, an
average
of 28 miles per day, before being recovered near Hawaii, according to
Curtis Ebbesmeyer in Beachcomber's Alert. He mentions a tobacco jar
lid dated from 1915 as another find in the gyre.
Sponges for toxins
It turns out that plastic polymers are also sponges for DDT, PCBs and
oily toxics that don't dissolve in seawater. Plastic pellets have
been
found to accumulate up to one million times the level of these
poisons
that are floating in the water itself. These are not like heavy metal
poisons that affect the animal that ingests them directly. Rather,
they are what might be called second-generation toxics that are able
to affect reproduction in some species.
"A trillion vectors for our worst pollutants are being ingested by
the
most efficient natural vacuum cleaners nature ever invented, the
mucus
web feeding jellies out in the middle of the ocean. These organisms
are in turn eaten by fish and the fish by humans," Moore said.
"The plastic particles can't be vacuumed up because the fragments are
mixed below the surface down to at least a depth of 100 feet. Only
elimination of the source of the problem can result in an ocean
nearly
free from plastic, and the desired result only will be seen by
citizens of the third millennium," he concluded.
Tripled in past decade
It is estimated that the levels of plastic particulates in the
Pacific
have at least tripled in the last 10 years and a tenfold increase in
the next decade is not unreasonable. Then, 60 times more plastic than
plankton will float on the surface of the Pacific according to Moore.
San Francisco has already begun the fight by outlawing plastic sacks
in its retail stores, but a more concerted effort will need to be
made
world-wide. "A market crash will pale by comparison to an ecological
crash on an oceanic scale if we don't take care of the great Pacific
garbage patch now," Moore concludes.
That fight can begin by recycling every plastic container and by
continued beach and stream-side cleanup projects.
Alaskans discover nasty things about plastic
Perhaps rubber duckies don't belong in tub
By MEGAN HOLLAND
mholland@adn.com
Published: November 9, 2007
Last Modified: November 9, 2007 at 04:35 PM
Want to know what toxic chemicals are floating around in congressional
candidate Ethan Berkowitz's blood? How about in an Alaska fisherman's
urine? Both men participated in a national study on detecting what
compounds from common household products stay with us.
The results? Not good for either of them, according to Alaska
Community Action on Toxics. The nonprofit is pushing for legislation
to ban what it says is poisoning us -- substances used mostly to make
plastics.
The chemical groups tested have scary names: Phthalates, Bisphenol A
(BPA), and Polybrominated diphenol ethers (PBDEs).
The first are used in vinyl products like shower curtains and rubber
duckies. The second are used to make baby bottles and linings of metal
food cans. The third are toxic flame-retardants added to plastic on
things like televisions and computers.
PBDEs were found in very high rates in both Berkowitz, 45, and the
Haines fisherman, 54-year-old Tim June, an environmental activist who
co-founded Alaska Clean Water Alliance. Both volunteered with three
other Alaskans and 30 other Americans for the national study called
"Is It In Us?" done by a coalition working for greater regulation of
manufacturers using the chemicals.
"It's no great source of pride that I have some of the highest levels
among the participants across the 50 states," Berkowitz said after a
press conference in Anchorage on Thursday.
"It could be that I spend too much time in front of the computer. It
could be that my mattress has bad chemicals in it. It could be too
much time in airplanes. It could be the cell phone. I just don't know
what it is," said the former state House minority leader. "But it is
more than my individual use of products that's contributing to this.
Everyone of us that participated in this project has different
personal habits and everyone of us has some level."
The hazardous products on display at the press conference included a
Nalgene bottle, a toaster, a My Little Pony and a rain jacket.
The study sponsors say the chemicals have been linked to birth
defects, cancer, infertility and a host of other health problems. But
it's not clear if any of the pollutants is making anyone sick,
according to the Centers for Disease Control, which says more research
is needed.
Patricia Hunt, a molecular expert at Washington State University who
was not part of the study, said BPAs are of particular concern because
a growing body of literature shows that even a low dose may affect
fetal development.
Phthalates, used to soften plastics, have been banned in toys in
Europe. California has imposed a similar ban on certain types of
Phthalates in toys beginning in 2009. California also has a ban on
certain types of PBDEs which takes effect in 2008.
In Alaska, Rep. Andrea Doll, D-Juneau, plans to present a bill banning
PBDEs.
Pamela Miller, executive director of the Alaska anti-toxic group, said
the chemicals may be getting into us from food containers, or maybe
from breathing them, for example, when we take hot showers and the
plastics on the shower curtain are released. They are also found in
household dust, she said.
"The problem is they're everywhere in our environment," Hunt said.
"You can't actually see when you are being exposed. ...We can't go
completely crazy because it's impossible to really remove plastics
from our lives. But we can think differently about how we use it."
She no longer microwaves food in plastic containers, she said. She
also doesn't put them in her dishwasher because the heat may be
releasing the chemicals.
The other Alaskans who volunteered to be tested were Cathy Rexford,
the Alaska director of Native Movement; Lori Townsend, an Alaska News
Nightly journalist; and Democratic congressional candidate Diane
Benson.
http://www.chinookobserver.info/main.asp?SectionID=12&SubSectionID=30...
11/7/2007 12:01:00 AM
Great Pacific garbage patch becoming deadly plastic nightmare
By KEVIN HEIMBIGNER
Observer staff writer
PACIFIC OCEAN - Plastics, like diamonds, are virtually forever and
now
they are everywhere in our modern society. We drink out of plastic
conatiners, eat off of them, sit on them and even drive in them.
Plastics are durable, lightweight, inexpensive and can be made into
almost anything. But it is these useful properties of plastics that
make them so harmful when they end up in the environment.
An albatross carcass shows how much plastic the great birds can
ingest
from the Pacific Ocean. There is a large part of the central Pacific
that only a few ever pass through. Sailors avoid it like the plague
for it lacks the wind they need to sail and fishermen leave it alone
because its lack of nutrients makes it an oceanic desert.
This area includes the "horse latitudes," where ships in the age of
sail got stranded, ran out of food and water and had to jettison even
their horses while being trapped in the doldrums. This is the largest
ocean realm on our planet, being over twice the size of Texas. A huge
mountain of air, which has been heated at the equator, and then
begins
descending in a gentle clockwise rotation as it approaches the North
Pole, creates this ocean realm. Scientists call this the subtropical
high and the ocean current it creates as the central Pacific gyre.
Because of the stability of this gentle maelstrom, it is also an
accumulator of the debris of civilization. Anything that floats, no
matter where it comes from on the Pacific Rim, ends up here.
Unfortunately plastic photo-degrades, a process in which it is broken
down by sunlight into smaller and smaller pieces, all of which are
still plastic polymers, eventually becoming individual molecules of
plastic, still too tough for anything to digest.
Center of the mess
Charles Moore of Santa Barbara News-Press' latest three-month round-
trip research voyage got closer to the center of the garbage patch
than before and found levels of plastic fragments that were far
higher
than estimated for hundreds of miles. He noted jellyfish hopelessly
entangled in frayed line with colorful plastic fragments in their
bellies. Ninety percent of Hawaiian green sea turtles eat the debris,
mistaking it for their natural food, as do laysan and black-footed
albatross. Indeed, the stomach contents of laysan albatross look like
the cigarette lighter shelf at a convenience store they contain so
many of them.
The Pacific gyre also attracts large objects. In 2003 Stephen Brown
took his sailing sloop, Southbound, for a trip out of Moro Bay near
San Diego. After 800 miles of drifting a freighter discovered the
vessel and the log of Brown's demise in a storm. The freighter was
unable to tow the Southbound for fear of swamping it and the 38-foot
boat eventually rode the gyre over 4,050 miles in 144 days, an
average
of 28 miles per day, before being recovered near Hawaii, according to
Curtis Ebbesmeyer in Beachcomber's Alert. He mentions a tobacco jar
lid dated from 1915 as another find in the gyre.
Sponges for toxins
It turns out that plastic polymers are also sponges for DDT, PCBs and
oily toxics that don't dissolve in seawater. Plastic pellets have
been
found to accumulate up to one million times the level of these
poisons
that are floating in the water itself. These are not like heavy metal
poisons that affect the animal that ingests them directly. Rather,
they are what might be called second-generation toxics that are able
to affect reproduction in some species.
"A trillion vectors for our worst pollutants are being ingested by
the
most efficient natural vacuum cleaners nature ever invented, the
mucus
web feeding jellies out in the middle of the ocean. These organisms
are in turn eaten by fish and the fish by humans," Moore said.
"The plastic particles can't be vacuumed up because the fragments are
mixed below the surface down to at least a depth of 100 feet. Only
elimination of the source of the problem can result in an ocean
nearly
free from plastic, and the desired result only will be seen by
citizens of the third millennium," he concluded.
Tripled in past decade
It is estimated that the levels of plastic particulates in the
Pacific
have at least tripled in the last 10 years and a tenfold increase in
the next decade is not unreasonable. Then, 60 times more plastic than
plankton will float on the surface of the Pacific according to Moore.
San Francisco has already begun the fight by outlawing plastic sacks
in its retail stores, but a more concerted effort will need to be
made
world-wide. "A market crash will pale by comparison to an ecological
crash on an oceanic scale if we don't take care of the great Pacific
garbage patch now," Moore concludes.
That fight can begin by recycling every plastic container and by
continued beach and stream-side cleanup projects.