Green Options

A two-year-old Minnesota biomonitoring program has now confirmed that residents of suburbs east of the Twin Cities have perfluorochemicals (PFCs) in their blood, although government agencies stress that the levels are only slightly higher than those in the general population. Several landfill sites where 3M formerly dumped CFC wastes leaked the chemicals into groundwater including some drinking water wells. Meanwhile, a federal agency is proposing to study chemicals in urine and blood of Great Lakes residents to determine whether a massive proposed federal cleanup is delivering results.

The Minnesota Department of Health says 3M workers exposed to PFCs during manufacturing show no apparent impact on their health. Studies on animals have shown effects on the liver, thyroid, and pancreas.

An October, 2002 the EPA-funded study on the health risks from Coal Ash dumps, which showed an increased cancer risk as well as the risk of non-cancer illnesses, was never released to the public.

The predicted cancer risk increase–up to 1 in 50 more cases per site–was due to arsenic leaching into the water table from unlined waste (coal ash) ponds. Non cancer health problems, including liver and kidney damage, were also shown to be at increased risk for residents living within a few miles of the waste ponds. Additionally, neurological damage from lead leaching was also a major risk finding.

The EPA did release an edited version of the study in August of 2007, but, according to environmental groups, it omitted the risks to marine animals. Environmentalist fear that the risk may be even greater than the study predicts, due to the fact that the EPA based its findings on a smaller survey data set (of total coal ash ponds)–40% less than the Industry reported in the subsequent year. Currently, there are at least 427 documented, coal ash waste ponds in the US.

IBM, which has been promoting the virtues of its smart grid and smart traffic technologies, today announced it’s jumping into “smart water,” too. The technology and services giant introduced a new suite of services and products aimed at better using water resources.

At the top of the list, a new membrane that filters toxins more efficiently than current methods, IBM says. The membrane uses a unique chemistry in what IBM calls a  “water super-highway.”"  The rate at which the water super-highway removes arsenic from contaminated water doubles as the pH increases. When contaminated water is forced through the membrane salts and a number of toxins are filtered out  and what’s left is pure drinking water.

The Tennessee Valley Authority and the EPA reported that levels of pollutants such as lead and arsenic were below safe levels for drinking water in areas affected by the Kingston coal ash spill. An environmental group’s tests had dramatically different results.

[Creative Commons photo by Andrew Ciscel]

Appalachian Voices teamed up with scientists at Appalachian State University to test water samples downstream from the spill. They found contaminant levels far above what is considered safe for drinking.

Finally, the warmer season is here, and thoughts turn to outside play for the whole family. For many of us this includes watching our kids of playing on a play set, swinging happily in the June sun, or scooping up sand in a sand box.

But there are a few potential environmental health problems with this scene. The play set, if bought before 2004, could be treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA), which according to the Green Guide, “the basis of which is arsenic, a carcinogenic chemical that can leach out of CCA-treated wood onto children’s hands and into soil and groundwater. Although CCA has been banned in residential uses since 2004, millions of CCA-treated play sets still exist.”

The recent recalls of toys for lead contamination has become a major concern for parents. Additional research shows that it is not just lead we parents should be concerned about.

Healthy Legacy, an environmental group of Minnesota, worked in tangent with a few other organizations to test 1,200 children’s toys. The tests were used to detect not just lead, which was found in one third of the tested toys, but four other potential hazards as well; cadmium, arsenic, mercury and chlorine.