PID News

(KATU) — The Canadian government has listed a common ingredient in plastic bottles, toys and other items as toxic.

Bisphenol A, better known as BPA, is commonly used in plastic water bottles, plastic toys and other plastic items. It has been used for the last 50 years in numerous products.

In 2008, concerns about the effect of BPA had on unborn children, female reproductive systems and as a link to some chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart problems led many companies to turn away from using the substance in their plastic products.

via Canada lists plastic element ‘BPA’ as toxic | KATU.com – Portland News, Sports, Traffic Weather and Breaking News – Portland, Oregon – Portland, Oregon | Business.

(KYIV POST) — The Russian state forest protection service Roslesozashchita has confirmed reports that forests that were radioactively polluted by the Chernobyl disaster have been affected by forest fires this summer.”

As of August 6, twenty-eight fires on an area of 269 hectares had been registered in the Bryansk region alone, including 12 fires on an area of nine hectares in the southwestern part of the region,” a Roslesozashchita spokesman told Interfax on Wednesday.

via Kyiv Post. Independence. Community. Trust – Russia and former Soviet Union – Russian official confirm fires burning in radioactively polluted areas.

By Lawrence Solomon (FINANCIAL POST) — How U.S. labour and ­environmental rules blocked Dutch spill-cleanup technology

Some are attuned to the possibility of looming catastrophe and know how to head it off. Others are unprepared for risk and even unable to get their priorities straight when risk turns to reality.

via Lawrence Solomon: Avertible catastrophe | FP Comment | Financial Post.

(VANCOUVER SUN) — Chevron Corporation has been trying for weeks to locate the source of a “historic” leak from its Burnaby oil and gas refinery — a leak that has been seeping still-unknown amounts of oil, gas and diesel fuel into the Burrard Inlet since at least April 21.

Ray Lord, a spokesman for the multinational oil and gas company, said he has no idea how long the seepage from the nearly 70-year-old plant has been happening, but that Chevron first alerted the authorities about the leak on April 21, after discovering the toxic pollutants on the waters and beaches of the Burrard Inlet.

via Mystery fuel leak seeps into Burrard Inlet.

Investors warm to water as shortages mount

LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) — As liquidity is drained from credit and money markets and pours into oil and gold, another asset class that could offer long-term returns to the discerning investor is water. Water shortages are on the rise — stemming from soaring demand, growing populations, rising living standards and changing diets. A lack of supply is compounded by pollution and climate change.

Australia reports record drought, US water sources in the southeast are drying up, pesticides and chemical spraying pollute ground water making it undrinkable, and in China, the Gobi desert advances two miles per year. We are seeing the Book of Revelation playing out before our very eyes. Read the rest of this entry →

Mar 14, 2008 (SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN) — /SNIP/ In 2006 the EPA began to regulate nanosilver as a pesticide under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. As a result, companies employing such nanosilver particles (as an antimicrobial in a wide array of merchandise from computers to cooking pans) are required to register them as pesticides. Last week, the agency fined computer equipment maker IOGEAR of Irvine, Calif., $200,000 for failing to register the antimicrobial nanosilver in some of its wireless computer keyboards and mouses. Full Report

More than likely, you’ve already consumed or inhaled nanoparticles today. Would it surprise you to learn that these tiny molecules not only can cross the blood/brain barrier but also infiltrate lung tissue? Would it also surprise you to know that magnetic nanoparticles are used to deliver ‘time-released’ drugs and that some can be ‘remote-controlled’? If you’ve read Sharon’s novel, Armageddon Strain, then you might recognize this sort of science — are we getting close to the BioStrain chip she described? Maybe it’s already here. — PID