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New York Times
4 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Frank Graham Jr., Nature Writer Who Updated ‘Silent Spring,' Dies at 100
Frank Graham Jr., who wrote eloquently about the natural world and conservation for Audubon Magazine for nearly 50 years and published a book that updated Rachel Carson's groundbreaking 1962 exposé, 'Silent Spring,' which had warned about the dangers of pesticides, died on May 25 at his home in Milbridge, Maine. He was 100. David Seideman, a former editor in chief of Audubon, the magazine published by the National Audubon Society, confirmed the death. The subjects of Mr. Graham's writing 'ran the gamut,' Mr. Seideman said in an interview, 'from the tiniest creatures, like spiders — about which he was a self-taught expert — to giant sandhill cranes on Nebraska's Platte River. There wasn't a creature that didn't interest him.' He added, 'I'd visit him in Maine, where he had a little island, and we'd be eating plants, and he'd also be picking spiders out of his kayak and identifying them.' In addition to birds and insects, Mr. Graham wrote about threats to the environment. Ed Neal, the outdoors columnist for The San Francisco Examiner, described Mr. Graham's 1996 book, 'Disaster by Default: Politics and Water Pollution,' as 'a damning indictment of what industry and indifferent government have done to the nation's waterways.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Times
09-05-2025
- Health
- Times
How to find out the levels of plastic in your bloodstream
In 1962 a Maryland biologist raised a loud alarm about the toxic effects of everyday chemicals in an eye-popping book. Rachel Carson — today regarded as the grandmother of modern ecology — linked the use of agricultural chemicals to the demise of insects, birds and trees. She also speculated on some of the cumulative effects of these 'poisons' on us as they enter our bodies. Ironically for such a noisy intervention, the book is titled Silent Spring. Carson died from breast cancer shortly after publication, so she never got to experience the future she predicted. Silent Spring has never been out of print and it would be wonderful to say humanity heeded her warnings. But, spoiler alert: we just got more toxic. This isn't wholly surprising. Take plastic — the material with which we are most often in contact. Today 16,000 chemicals are available for manufacturers to choose from, ranging from fillers to finishing chemicals that make plastic bendy. About a quarter of these chemicals have been shown to be hazardous to human health and the environment so far. These chemicals can be endocrine disruptors (aka hormonally active agents), and some are associated with cancers and reproductive system disorders. • This article contains affiliate links that can earn us revenue While we may have safety data on individual chemicals, toxicologists warn that we don't know the true impact of combinations, which is called the 'cocktail effect'. Accumulating in us, these toxic chemicals form what's known as the 'body burden'. But how heavy is this burden? It is estimated that we eat, drink or breathe between 78,000 and 211,000 microplastic particles every year, and a recent study suggested the average brain could harbour a teaspoon's worth. So we could all be scared — and freeze. But instead it might be more practical to get testing. That's because toxic chemicals and microplastics are so ubiquitous that we can't hide from them. Neither can we predict their precise impact on our health; while plastics are associated with a host of serious diseases and illnesses, more research is needed to make conclusive connections. What is known, as toxicologists are fond of saying, is that 'the dose makes the poison'. So minimising your exposure to toxic chemicals makes sense — but to do this you're going to need some data. There's an emerging market in home-testing kits. For instance, thanks to developments in detecting and identifying the type and origin of tiny bits of plastic, now offers the first microplastics blood-screening test kit (£144). A dried-blood microscopy test is provided and you return your samples using the prepaid label back to SV Biotech in the Netherlands. If microplastics are detected (unless you've been hatched from an egg, this is likely), your results will be emailed within 2-4 weeks, providing detailed information on concentration levels and sizes. Next you'll want to get a grip on those associated chemicals that make plastics bendy and turn up in sunscreens, such as phthalates, parabens and oxybenzone (also known hormone disruptors). For $299, will dispatch a urine collection cup with instructions and packaging for the return shipping. Its lab will test for 13 hormone-disrupting chemical metabolites. Helpfully, it won't leave you stewing with the results: the price includes personalised follow-up recommendations on toxic-free lifestyle changes. The long-term effects of PFAS, or so-called forever chemicals, which make things stain-resistant and heatproof, are causing a lot of concern. Traditionally tests have only been carried out in clinics and tend to be reserved for those with known exposure, such asfirefighters (firefighting foams contain high concentrations of PFAS). But the first pin-prick home tests are appearing, notably a 16-chemical test from costing $279 that indicates how many PFAS have entered your system over time. • The truth about microplastics: what the problem is and how to avoid them Dr Tamsin Lewis, the founder of Wellgevity and the longevity lead for Solice Health, a concierge medical service, would like to see more standardisation around biomarker tests. She makes the point that the jury is still out on 'healthy' limits for concentrations of environmental pollutants such as microplastics: 'Do we measure this in your urine, your hair, your spit, your blood? What is the definable norm range, and for whom? Should we have age standard or sex standard limits? We're not there right now.' However, she acknowledges that we are on the crest of something big. 'Awareness is key and we're moving into a really interesting industry where we're not far off knowing what environmental pollutants we need to arm ourselves against and what supplements we need to take to protect ourselves against unavoidable exposure,' she says. But what should we do when tests come back showing high concentrations? 'I encourage people to have a lot of dark, leafy greens in their diet' — research suggests chlorophyll may improve the liver's ability to excrete harmful toxins — 'and once every six weeks, some people like to take a glutathione [injection]. This is an antioxidant produced in cells,' Lewis says. But for a really easy way to offload the toxins, keep it simple: 'Sweating is one of the best ways to encourage toxin burden relief,' she adds cheerfully. 'It's a highly effective means of reducing heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury, tin and lead, and aluminium, which we're all exposed to.' In which case — keep your test results in perspective, but do sweat the small stuff.
The Mainichi
07-05-2025
- Health
- The Mainichi
Bird flu suspected in mass deaths of sea animals in eastern Hokkaido
NEMURO, Hokkaido -- The highly pathogenic avian influenza, known for its high mortality rate, is suspected as the cause of mass deaths and abnormal behavior of sea animals in eastern Hokkaido. Since mid-March, the eastern coast of Hokkaido has seen a rise in seabirds and marine mammals believed to have been infected with bird flu. In the city of Nemuro, an independent survey by volunteers had confirmed the carcasses of 614 seabirds as of May 4, along with seals and sea otters. Although infection was confirmed in a dead sea otter found in the neighboring town of Hamanaka, many surrounding municipalities lack sufficient investigative frameworks, suggesting the reported cases are just the tip of the iceberg. Masahiro Toyama, a curator at Nemuro's Museum of History and Nature, and rangers from the Wild Bird Society of Japan noticed abnormalities among seabirds and are continuing a survey voluntarily. The team collected the carcass of a crested auklet from Habomai Fishing Port in Nemuro on March 14 and sent a sample to the Institute for Raptor Biomedicine Japan in the city of Kushiro, where a PCR test confirmed infection with the bird flu A virus. That same day, additional carcasses of a red-necked grebe and a pelagic cormorant were also found at Nemuro's Hanasaki Port. Numerous sightings of abnormal behavior, likely caused by infection, have also been reported. On March 16, a local man birding at Katsuragi Beach in Nemuro witnessed a black-tailed gull and a slaty-backed gull suddenly collapse. Furthermore, a ranger at the Shunkunitai Wild Bird Sanctuary's nature center in Nemuro on March 18 saw a slaty-backed gull stumbling and unable to stand, and two days later a crested auklet was seen spinning and shaking its head at Hanasaki Port. These eerie scenes are reminiscent of depictions in Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring," a book exposing the hazards of pesticide use. Some carcass samples underwent simple tests at the Nemuro Subprefectural Bureau before being sent to the Institute for Raptor Biomedicine Japan and the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture. Nearly 90% of specimens apparently tested positive for avian flu. Meanwhile, reports from a fisheries worker who is also a wildlife protection officer for the Ministry of the Environment indicate that since mid-March, at least five carcasses of what are believed to be crested auklets have been spotted about 10 kilometers offshore in the Pacific Ocean. Additional carcasses of seabirds such as the Laysan albatross, spectacled guillemot, velvet scoter and rhinoceros auklet have since been confirmed floating offshore. Damage has also extended to marine mammals, marking the first confirmed cases of seal and sea otter infections in Japan. A total of six dead or weakened seals were found between April 18 and 25, with tests confirming infections in two of the four harbor seals examined. The weakened animals reportedly exhibited symptoms such as bloodshot eyes, labored breathing and trembling. In Hamanaka, a sea otter carcass collected on April 22 tested positive for avian flu. On May 4 and 5, two more sea otter carcasses suspected to be infected were recovered along the coast of Katsuragi in Nemuro. Concerns about mass deaths at breeding sites The investigation team, by walking the coast to confirm and collect carcasses and aggregating information from fishery workers, has identified a total of 23 species of seabirds potentially infected, including five species listed on the Environment Ministry's Red List (the common murre, ancient murrelet, Laysan albatross, pelagic cormorant and spectacled guillemot). The most numerous are the crested auklets, which accounted for 155 of the about 200 birds collected on April 18. Toyama expressed uncertainty about the background of the mass deaths and the infection routes. There has also been a report that as a fishery worker threw a common scoter found dead on a boat into the sea, an eagle ate it. Toyama pointed out, "There are concerns about infection chains stemming from scavenging." With seabirds entering their breeding season, he expressed a sense of crisis, saying, "The spread of infection in breeding colonies may result in mass deaths of seabirds." (Japanese original by Hiroaki Homma, Nemuro Bureau)
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
What would a world without mosquitoes look like?
In 1958, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) made a milestone announcement: they had exterminated the mosquito Aedes aegypti–a transmitter of the deadly diseases dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever–from Brazil. This represented the culmination of decades of work. In the 1930s, an ambitious inspection regime removed any sources of stagnant water–key mosquito breeding grounds–in areas where A. aegypti had been detected. Authorities eased this onerous system in the years after World War II as they found success in wiping out mosquitoes with a new weapon: the insecticide DDT. PAHO didn't stop at the Brazilian border; by the mid-1970s, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Paraguay were among nine South and Central American countries to have eradicated A. aegypti. This had significant epidemiological impacts: dengue and other conditions virtually disappeared from the DDT-soaked countries, and the specter of these conditions retreated from the continent. Unfortunately, the story was far from over. Mosquito control efforts failed to account for how persistent A. aegypti could be. It was never eradicated from Columbia or Guyuna. Within just a few decades of PAHO's declaration, dengue re-emerged. Worse still, DDT, PAHO's bug spray of choice, was revealed to have horrific effects on biodiversity in sprayed environments. Public sentiment turned against this indiscriminate tool after the publication of books like Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. Fast-forward to today. Last year was one of the worst on record for dengue in South America in the face of a resurgent A. aegypti. New mosquito-borne diseases like Zika have emerged. The dream of a pest-free South America is further away than ever. However, the goal of squashing mosquito-borne diseases is still paramount for Scott O'Neill, CEO of the World Mosquito Program, a network of companies spun out of Monash University. O'Neill explains that his program aims not to suppress mosquitoes but to help them fight the viruses that infect them and turn them into disease vectors. The WMP's approach involves the symbiotic bacterium Wolbachia. 'Around 50 percent of all insects naturally have Wolbachia,' explains O'Neill. The bacterium cannot survive outside hosts' bodies and infects many organs in A. aegypti. The WMP breeds huge populations of mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia and releases them into the environment. Inside A. aegypti mosquitoes, disease-causing viruses also exploit their hosts' cells to reproduce. O'Neill aims to create a population of mosquitoes in which these viruses have to compete with Wolbachia. Fighting Wolbachia inside an insect is like trying to arm wrestle a polar bear in a Siberian snowstorm. The bacterium has developed various ingenious tools to make itself the dominant symbiote. O'Neill explains that it alters the lipid profile inside mosquitoes' cells, making it harder for them to reproduce. It even boosts the antiviral responses of the A. aegypti immune system, helping the mosquito fight off its competitors. [Related: ] No further intervention is needed after the initial injection of Wolbachia-infected insects. Over time, Wolbachia will naturally spread through the mosquito population and the number of bugs that can become infected with viruses declines. WMP say this approach has slashed rates of dengue in Australia and Columbia. In a controlled trial in Indonesia, the technique reduced virologically confirmed dengue by 77 percent. If A. aegypti was somehow wiped from existence, it wouldn't significantly harm the ecosystems it lives in, says O'Neill. That's because it largely ignores environments where other animals live, unlike other species of mosquitoes that are food sources for frogs and fish. 'It lives in cities, and it's exquisitely adapted to biting humans,' says O'Neill. Some scientists suggest that if every mosquito species were to disappear, there would be significant impacts on bird populations. However, this is contested by other researchers who say they aren't an irreplaceable part of these birds' diet. Some mosquitoes are pollinators, although very few plant species are only pollinated by mosquitoes. In short, the loss of all mosquito species would be felt by ecosystems, but to a much lesser extent than the loss of vital pollinators like the honey bee. Our efforts to remove even one ecologically unimportant mosquito species have fallen short for now. O'Neill says that entomologists call A. aegypti the 'cockroach of the mosquito world' for good reason, and its tenacity and widespread range mean that we are unlikely to see a world without this buzzing pest any time soon. This story is part of Popular Science's Ask Us Anything series, where we answer your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the ordinary to the off-the-wall. Have something you've always wanted to know? Ask us.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Rachel Carson Raised the Alarm About Pesticides in Silent Spring, Changing Environmental History
Stay up-to-date with the politics team. Sign up for the Teen Vogue Take In 1962, the biologist Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, which captured the public's imagination and led to a shift in the understanding of our relationship with the natural world. Her book criticized the widespread use of artificial pesticides, especially one known as 'DDT.' Notably, Carson's work also helped launch the modern environmental movement and highlighted the environmental consequences of our actions in a way that had never been done before. At the time, pesticides like DDT were seen as offering a glimpse of a better future, one where humans could control nature. DDT in particular promised to combat insects that carried diseases or destroyed farmers' crops. In fact, the 1948 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to the Swiss chemist who first realized that DDT could be used as an insecticide. After it was successfully used to fight disease during World War II, DDT's production soared. It was used in everything from sprays to bug-killing wallpaper. Applying her skills as a biologist, though, Carson observed that not all was right with this optimistic picture. Carson was raised in Springdale, Pennsylvania, not far from the polluted, industrial city of Pittsburgh. Her love of nature had been instilled in her by her mother. Carson became a marine biologist and, in 1936, was hired as a scientist, writer, and editor for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. In the 1940s and 1950s, she published a series of popular books about the sea, which conveyed her love of the ocean to a general audience. Carson's ability to understand complex scientific reports and her status as a noted author placed her in an excellent position to write a book exposing the harms of DDT. Silent Spring argued that the overuse of these artificial pesticides was poisoning not just insects, but many other animals – including people. For example, DDT can cause bird eggshells to thin to a dangerous extent, resulting in reproductive failure. Indeed, the 'silent spring' in Carson's title was a reference to a hypothetical future in which there would be few or no birds left to sing in the springtime. The plight of birds was, however, just one of many examples of environmental destruction Carson ominously highlighted in chapters like 'Needless Havoc' and 'Rivers of Death.' Although not the first to raise concerns about DDT, Carson's book presented these issues for the public in a way nothing else had done before. She had a knack for making hard-to-understand concepts easier to grasp. Writing Silent Spring during an era of widespread anxiety about nuclear weapons, she highlighted the similarities between unseen pesticides and invisible nuclear radiation. This made the seriousness of her claims about DDT clear, helping readers to understand that just because something was hard to detect did not mean that it was not dangerous or destructive. Her revelations about DDT must have been surprising to those who believed it represented a progressive step forward for humanity, especially when the consequences for the environment were unintentional. Carson's willingness to speak up against the chemical industry that produced compounds such as DDT was courageous. At a time when the environmental movement was only beginning, detractors argued she cared more about birds, fish, and insects than the health of human beings. After all, human food security and protection against diseases like malaria or typhus were positive goals – who could deny that? The chemical industry, no doubt genuinely trying to provide useful substances for humanity, was threatened by her work. Upset by her book, some critics also chose to attack Carson personally rather than address her scientific concerns, attempting to portray her as a hysterical spinster and perhaps even a communist. However, Carson showed that DDT wasn't even helping humans as intended. She claimed that due to the overuse of pesticides, insects were developing something known as 'resistance.' Resistance works like this: if a poison such as DDT wipes out weaker insects, any survivors would be likely able to survive a future spraying — and so might their offspring. What was at first an effective bug killer could shortly become useless as insects evolved to resist the pesticide. Those survivors would then go on to repopulate and, before long, the unwanted bugs would be back, only stronger. Resistance itself is not new or unusual. Insects have been developing the ability to endure natural plant toxins for hundreds of millions of years. But man-made toxins can increase the speed and scope in which insects can evolve. The counterintuitive lesson of pesticide resistance is that to maintain some ability to control insects, only a small amount of pesticide should be used. Otherwise, any victories achieved could be short lived as harder-to-kill bugs take the place of their more susceptible cousins. Seen from this angle, Carson was far from being at war on human welfare. She encouraged us to use less spray, not only because it would be better for the environment, but because it would likely be better for us in the long run. In Silent Spring, she gave evocative examples of places where the insect problem was worse after pesticides had been sprayed. For example, in apple orchards in Virginia and Nova Scotia, apple-eating moths became more problematic after DDT had been used. Despite her concerns about DDT, Carson never called for its outright ban and was not inherently opposed to pesticides. Her real concern was of a coming 'Age of Resistance,' in which increasingly toxic chemicals were used less effectively against insects, resulting in environmental havoc, harder-to-kill bugs, and the need for more potent chemicals. Carson's detractors may have thought she was overly sentimental about nature — she did write movingly about the plight of natural creatures — but she was also an excellent scientist who supported her claims with carefully compiled evidence. Like any good scientist, she provided a list of references at the end of her book, citing the work of many other biologists and researchers. If the mild-mannered Carson was 'emotional,' then so were a whole body of scientists who were reaching the same conclusions. Carson denied being an emotional crusader but maintained that she was merely collecting the facts so that the public could make up their own minds about pesticides in an informed manner. In time, the public and many policymakers listened to Carson and her fellow scientists who raised concerns about DDT. In 1972, the newly formed Environmental Protection Agency banned the general use of DDT in the United States. Elsewhere, the compound is largely out of use, with only limited controlled spraying in places where malaria is still a problem. The world has changed, and many more people today recognize the impact we have upon nature, including the fact that our actions often have unintended consequences. However, understanding these relationships is not easy, and many of the questions that Carson raised remain with us. The lessons that we can learn from her courage and scientific mindedness will continue to be relevant as we study not only the environment, but also our relationship with it. This article was produced with Made By Us, a coalition of more than 400 history museums working to connect with today's youth. Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue Want more Teen Vogue climate coverage? 17 Young People on the Moment the Climate Crisis Became Real to Them 7 Ways to Manage Climate Anxiety Why Activists Go on Hunger Strikes In California, Incarcerated Teens Help Fight Wildfires
