GLYPHOSATE: A PROBABLE CARCINOGEN IN BREAKFAST OF CHILDREN!?

Reproduced from The Guardian - Environment

Significant levels of the weedkilling chemical glyphosate have been found in an array of popular breakfast cereals, oats and snack bars marketed to US children, a new study has found.

Tests revealed glyphosate, the active ingredient in the popular weedkiller brand Roundup, present in all but two of the 45 oat-derived products that were sampled by the Environmental Working Group, a public health organization.

Nearly three in four of the products exceeded what the EWG classes safe for children to consume. Products with some of the highest levels of glyphosate include granola, oats and snack bars made by leading industry names Quaker, Kellogg’s and General Mills, which makes Cheerios.

One sample of Quaker Old Fashioned Oats measured at more than one part per million of glyphosate. This is still within safe levels deemed by the Environmental Protection Agency, although it it currently working on an updated assessment. 

The EWG said the federal limits are outdated and that most of the products it tested exceed a more stringent definition of safe glyphosate levels. 

“I grew up eating Cheerios and Quaker Oats long before they were tainted with glyphosate,” said EWG’s president, Ken Cook. “No one wants to eat a weedkiller for breakfast, and no one should have to do so.” Cook said the EWG will urge the EPA to limit the use of glyphosate on food crops but said companies should “step up” because of the “lawless” nature of the regulator under the Trump administration.

“It is very troubling that cereals children like to eat contain glyphosate,” said Alexis Temkin, an EWG toxicologist and author of the report. “Parents shouldn’t worry about whether feeding their children heathy oat foods will also expose them to a chemical linked to cancer. The government must take steps to protect our most vulnerable populations.”

The findings follow a landmark decision in a San Francisco court last week to order that Monsanto pay $289m in damages to Dewayne Johnson, a 46-year-old former groundskeeper. A jury deemed that Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller caused Johnson’s cancer and that it had failed to warn him about the health risks of exposure.

Monsanto, which said it will appeal against the verdict, has said glyphosate has been used safely for decades. In 2015, the EPA said that glyphosate has a low toxicity for people but could cause problems for some pets if they consume the chemical.

However, the World Health Organization has called glyphosate a “probable carcinogen” and authorities in California list it as a chemical “known to the state to cause cancer”.

In April, internal emails obtained from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) showed that scientists have found glyphosate on a wide range of commonly consumed food, to the point that they were finding it difficult to identify a food without the chemical on it. The FDA has yet to release any official results from this process.

There was no indication that the claims related to products sold outside the US.

US farmers spray about 200m pounds of Roundup each year on their crops, including corn, soybeans, wheat and oats. It can also be used on produce such as spinach and almonds.

A General Mills spokeswoman said: “Our products are safe and without question they meet regulatory safety levels. The EPA has researched this issue and has set rules that we follow, as do farmers who grow crops including wheat and oats.”

A Kellogg’s spokesman said: “Our food is safe. Providing safe, high-quality foods is one of the ways we earn the trust of millions of people around the world. The EPA sets strict standards for safe levels of these agricultural residues and the ingredients we purchase from suppliers for our foods fall under these limits.”

Quaker Oats continues to “proudly stand by the safety and quality of our Quaker products”, a spokesman said.

But Cook said that General Mills and Quaker Oats are “relying on outdated safety standards”.

“Our view is that the government standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency pose real health risks to Americans – particularly children, who are more sensitive to the effects of toxic chemicals than adults,” he said.

FIVE COUNTRIES FIGHTING FOR THE CASPIAN RICHNESS: OIL, GAS, CAVIAR

Reproduced from BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-45162282

It is a landmark deal that has been more than two decades in the making. 

Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan - all bordering the Caspian Sea - have agreed in principle on how to divide it up. 

Their leaders signed the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea in the Kazakh city of Aktau on Sunday.

It establishes a formula for dividing up its resources and prevents other powers from setting up a military presence there.

It is an important step in the easing of regional tensions, but the deal over the world's largest inland body of water matters for several reasons.

Here's what you need to know about the hotly disputed Caspian Sea.

1. Its legal status has been complicated

It would be reasonable to assume that the Caspian Sea is, well, a sea. But at the heart of this long-running dispute is whether or not the 370,000 sq km (143,000 sq mile) body of landlocked water should be considered a lake.

Until the dissolution of the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1991, that's what it was known as and shared between the USSR and Iran.

But the arrival on the scene of new countries complicated this issue, with ensuing claim and counterclaim. 

Iran had argued it was a lake and not a sea, but none of the four other countries agreed.

Why is the difference so important?

If it was treated as a sea, then it would be covered by international maritime law, namely the United Nations Law of the Sea.

This binding document sets rules on how countries can use the world's oceans. It covers areas such as the management of natural resources, territorial rights, and the environment. And it is not limited to littoral states, meaning others can seek access to its resources.

But if it is defined as a lake, then it would have to be divided equally between all five.

Sunday's agreement goes some way to settling this dispute. 

The signed convention gives the body of water a "special legal status" which means it is not defined as a sea or a lake, Russian officials said. 

The surface water will be in common usage, meaning freedom of access for all littoral states beyond territorial waters. 

But the seabed - which is rich in natural resources - will be divided up.

2. Who wins and who loses?

It's difficult to say, as the final text of the deal is yet to be published. 

Another key factor is that seabed boundaries are yet to be negotiated (although now it's the subject of bilateral agreements - not multilateral as before).

But because the deal does not define the Caspian as a lake, Iran - which has the smallest coastline - is viewed as a potential loser. 

Iranian social media users have accused the government in Tehran of "selling off" the Caspian Sea on Sunday.

However, Iran - which is currently under growing political and economic pressure from the West - might see some political benefits in securing the clause that bars any armed presence on the Caspian other than that of the five littoral states.

Had the Caspian been defined as a lake, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan - who have established an early claim over large areas of the Caspian - stood to lose out under such a split.

So the basis of all previous disagreements stems from who gets access to what. This is important because...

3. It is rich in oil and gas

The Caspian Sea is highly-prized for its vast oil and gas reserves. 

It's estimated there are 50 billion barrels of oil and nearly 300 trillion cubic feet (8.4 trillion cubic metres) of natural gas beneath its seabed.

That is why disagreements over how to divide some of its huge oil and gas fields have been numerous - and acrimonious. On occasion, warships have been deployed to scare off contractors hired by rival countries.

The disagreement over its legal status has also prevented a natural gas pipeline being built across the Caspian between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. This would have allowed Turkmen gas to bypass Russia on its way to Europe.

Russia - a major exporter of gas and oil to Europe - has previously objected to this.

International oil companies that rushed to the Caspian in the 1990s have now pulled out.

But there is a possibility this could be explored further following Sunday's deal.

4. It provides the world's caviar

The Caspian Sea has a number of different species of sturgeon, the fish that yields the highly prized delicacy caviar. 

Between 80-90% of the world's caviar is sourced from the Caspian, but the numbers have been falling over the past few decades.

WILDFIRE: THE NEW REALITY

Reproduced from  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/30/california-wildfires-climate-change-new-normal?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

As California burns, many fear the future of extreme fire has arrived 

Experts say the state’s increasingly  wildfires are not an aberration – they are the new reality

[...]

Recent wildfires in California are notable for their ferocity. At least six people have died, including two firefighters, in the past month in fires that continue to blaze, and 44 died as a result of last year’s wine country fires. The conflagrations have also spawned bizarre pyrotechnics, from firenados to towering pyrocumulus clouds that evoke a nuclear detonation. These events are not aberrations, say experts. They are California’s future.

As of Monday morning, the Carr fire had burned more than 98,000 acres, and containment stood at 20%, with more than 5,000 structures threatened. In the evening, Cal Fire officials began lifting evacuation orders, allowing residents mostly on the east side of the fire to return home.

Awareness of fires “is not just because the news is covering it more”, said Michael Wehner, a senior staff scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “More acres are burning. That is almost certainly due to climate change.”

As the climate shifts, so does fire behavior. Summers are longer and drier. Sometimes the winter rains are meager for years, as in the recent five-year drought. Sometimes, like this year, they are torrential, producing explosive plant growth that, several months later, desiccates into prime accelerant. The needle is moving, but where it will stop is anybody’s guess.

[...]

“Climate change is continuing to unfold,” said Anthony LeRoy Westerling, a professor of management of complex systems at the University of California, Merced. “The impacts from it will probably accelerate. There won’t be a new normal in our lifetimes.” 

He said the Carr fire is one of “a bunch of large fires which have behaved in uncharacteristic ways” in recent years in the west. 

More acres are burning. That is almost certainly due to climate change

Michael Wehner, scientist

Gabriel Lauderdale, a firefighter from Redding, said the rhythm has changed even during his 10 years fighting fires. When he started, sometimes years passed without fires so big that his company was called to help outside their county. “Now, it doesn’t just happen every year, it happens multiple times every year,” he said. He hasn’t been home since 25 June because he has been helping fight fires all over the state.

Of the firenado on Roger Gray’s homey street, he said: “A lot of people have said they’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve never seen anything like this. We can’t look at this as a one-time incident. We have to look at it as: what if it continues to happen?”

Lauderdale said he worried about the way these fires strain resources when they get too large, as well as lack of public awareness among city residents – like those in Redding or last year in the wine country city of Santa Rosa – who might not think they are at risk during wildfire season. 

Most of all, though, he said he worried about firefighters getting worn down and becoming unable to do their jobs at this intensity for long periods of time, as California’s fire season grows longer. Departments are emphasizing family time and a firefighter’s mental and physical health, he said. Sometimes they bring peer counselors or therapy dogs to especially difficult fire sites.
He hesitated to link the recent firefighter deaths – four in recent weeks, including two at the Carr fire – to fatigue, since each death occurs under different circumstances. But “in 12 months, this is the fifth firefighter death on a fire I’ve been on”, he said.

[...]

Scientists emphasize that climate change is not the only way humans are implicated in California’s astonishing fires and should not be used to “relinquish local or individual responsibility” said University of Oregon researcher Mark Carey. Increasingly, people are building in risky areas, and forest managers have allowed stands to grow too dense.

[...]

WILDFIRE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: DEALING WITH IT, PERMANENTLY!

https://youtu.be/g-SNFf0xM5g

A screenshot from the USGS film "Living with Fire".

"Living with Fire" is a 11-minute USGS production exploring ongoing USGS research on wildfire science in southern California -- where the fire ecology is unlike any other region in the United States. 

USGS is investigating ways to balance community fire risk management and native habitat conservation as part of the USGS Southern California Wildfire Risk Scenario Project, analyzing both human factors and natural factors.

"Living with Fire" explores the fire risk factors being explored by USGS researchers, and how they impact southern California communities and ecosystems. The film seeks to jumpstart conversations on wildfire science in southern California.