Posted on 12/08/2005 8:51:44 AM PST by GreenFreeper
WASHINGTON -- Toxic chemical concentrations in the Great Lakes remain a threat to humans, animals and fish, and not enough people know of the hazards, a new report concludes.
The draft report was completed by the Scientific Advisory Board to the International Joint Commission, a U.S.-Canada agency that oversees boundary water issues, and will be officially released next month.
Every two years, the panel of scientists reviews the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the two countries, analyzing the state of the Great Lakes and recommending changes.
Environmentalists say the report could be a starting point for negotiations not only between the two countries but for a public dialogue on protecting the lakes.
"There's a perception out there that toxic chemicals are under control," said Dr. Ted Schettler, science director with the Science and Environmental Health Network, an Iowa-based research group on environmental and health issues. "The take-home message here ... is that the problem hasn't gone away."
Dennis Schornack, the U.S. chairman of the IJC, said he couldn't comment on the specifics of the report, since it hasn't been released yet.
"This is a board that we've appointed, and we trust them to deliver to us accurate, scientific information," said Schornack, declining further comment.
The report's conclusions and recommendations about toxic chemicals and fish advisories are just a handful of the 28 recommendations in the report to the IJC. Others include:
Encouraging both countries to spend more money to clean up contaminated sediments in the lakes;
Convening a conference to study the impact of urbanization on the Great Lakes;
Investing in research and pilot studies on the removal of pathogens from wastewater; and
Targeting flame retardants and their removal from the lakes.
A copy of the draft report was given to Booth Newspapers by the Public Education Center, a nonprofit journalism center in Washington that tracks environmental issues.
"(The board cites) compelling evidence that contaminants we've known about for decades -- PCBs, dioxin and mercury -- are causing increased disease, reduced IQs and other serious health problems in humans," said Mike Magner, a researcher with the center. "On top of that, they warn that a host of other chemicals -- flame retardants, plastics additives and even cosmetics and health-care products -- may be compounding those problems."
Environmentalists are focusing attention on the Great Lakes this week in preparation for an announcement Monday in Chicago by the Bush administration about its strategy to clean up the Great Lakes.
Last summer, a group of governors, mayors and environmental leaders recommended to the president that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in conjunction with the states spend up to $20 billion to clean up and protect the lakes.
The Bush administration announced last month that it wasn't likely that its Great Lakes strategy would include a multi-billion financial commitment. Instead officials are expected to focus on using the dozens of Great Lakes programs that are in place today to improve the quality of the lakes.
"The concentration of PCBs and total DDT and its metabolites in fish and wildlife tissues showed almost no decline between 1990 and 2000," the report states. "The concentration of PCBs in Great Lakes fish today is 40 times above EPA's acceptable level."
DDT is a pesticide, and PCBs are manufactured chemical compounds that don't burn easily and often are used as coolants and lubricants. Both chemicals can have toxic health effects in humans and animals.
The report also concludes that fish advisories have not been effective enough in warning certain populations about the dangers of eating Great Lakes fish.
"Women and minorities, two groups advisories were designed to protect, don't appear to know about the dangers of contaminated fish," the report says.
Women of child-bearing age are at increased risk, as are minorities who tend to eat more fish as a staple.
Knowing that, the panel recommends that the IJC modify its fish advisory advice to the two nations, suggesting that a single advisory be developed to cover contaminants such as PCBs, dioxins, pesticides and methylmercury. It recommends that the advisory be written in plain language and include nutritional information.
Currently there are multiple advisories on various toxins.
I'm a Great Lakes lover......they are magnificent and wonderful bodies of water.
actually a great deal of the water quality improvement is due to another exotic, the zebra muscle. The water clarity is the highest ever recorded in Lake Michigan.
They are causing their own pretty serious problems......but you are right about them improving water clarity.
Yes they are and control measures have lost momentum due to their benefits as other issues have become more important. It all reminds me of a simpsons episode in which Bart released the Bolivian tree lizards...then they over took the town so they relased snakes that ate them. When the snake got out of control they release gorillas that ate the snakes...etc.
"Nothing better than a Lake Superior trout from the Brule, fresh caught, gutted and gilled, on the charcoal grill. Gimme a Leiney's."
I've fished there. It is awesome! DH caught I nice one, I got skunked because I was just learning to flycast, but I still caught a Leinies out of the cooler, LOL! Thanks for the nice memory. :)
Gimme a Steelhead, a plate of wild rice and a cold one from Big Eddy Spring.
bah.. just start drilling the great lakes, and charge the oil companies with keeping the lakes clean.
Every one of those references is peer-reviewed, unlike your BS.
I live in Maryland now. A few years ago a federal report was released that said though not perfect, the Chesapeake Bay was doing better. Few months later another report is released that make the Bay sound like a poisoned sludge pond.
Who released the second report? Follow the money....The Chesapeake Bay Foundation. If the Bay is clean, or at least, if people think it's clean, the Foundation basically goes out of business. Can't have that now, can we?
DDT is NOT toxic to humans.
So now peer review means its authoritative? LMAO. Then why all the criticism of articles I have posted in the past? So do the handful (many badly misinterpreted I might add) peer-reviewed articles cited on junkscience outweigh the THOUSANDS of peer-reviewed articles that contradict what junkscience is saying?
Your hypocrisy is blatant. Sound science is only that which fulfills your worldview- everything else is a big conspiracy.
Thats a strong statement considering things like chocholate are toxic to humans in large enough doses. While I do not think DDT is as dangerous as once thought, I certainly would like to keep exposure to a minimum.
Lake, Splake, and Walleye, fesh out of the lake, skinned (not scaled) battered and fried immediately are all great....
People who have never had FRESH fish don't know what we are talikng about.
You can say that again.
Miss Kito OTOH worked well in Alaska where Jacques Costeau had to turn around on the Yukon and beat ell out of there. Geneticists are hard at work on a misquito model that will eventually repel all of the coalition of the quivering--a term I picked up from Michelle Malkin.
But don't tell anyone...nicely ambiguous.
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