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Burma Death Toll Rises to 20 ThousandThe death toll is now over 20 thousand and is expect to rise as more than 41 thousand people are still missing following the devastating rampage of cyclone Nargis through Burma’s fertile Irrawaddy region. In the cities of Bogale and Patanaw more than two thirds of the buildings have been severely damaged or flattened. Debris from buildings and fallen trees are strewn throughout the streets. The damage is far worse than first reported as the cyclone was followed by a storm surge that swept through low lying towns and villages throughout the Irrawaddy delta. People were faced with a growing surge of water with no place to escape.
The Canadian Government Sends Conflicting Messages on GasolineLast week the Government of Canada introduced legislation the will ensure that all gasoline will contain a minimum of 5 percent ethanol by 2010. Then the Government also announced that they would extend permission for auto racing ventures to continue using leaded gasoline until 2010. Canadian consumers have been banned from using leaded gas for passenger vehicles since 1990. Leaded gas is used by stock cars and drag racers. The Indy, Formula One and NASCAR racing circuits, including Canadian NASCAR, no longer allow leaded fuel. Critics find both government announcements unsatisfactory. The legislation ensuring ethanol addition to gasoline will likely pass but concerns are being expressed that the adding and processing of ethanol should be a localized.
Dumping Sewage into the SeaIn recent years the beaches of Florida haven’t been as they once were. Increasingly the beaches have been forced to close periodically as a result of unsafe levels of bacteria in the water. Red tides, huge patches of potentially toxic algae, have appeared threatening both swimmers and marine life. The main culprit for the deterioration of Florida’s beaches and coastline is the discharge of partially treated sewage that is released through six major pipelines that reach out as far 3 miles into the Atlantic Ocean. Three of Florida’s most densely populated counties are connected to the pipelines which dump close to 300 million gallons of nearly raw urban wastewater into the sea daily. The State has long argued the risk to humans is minimal as the sewage dissipates into the Gulfstream current which carries it north and out into the Atlantic.
Bush Climate Change Proposals ChallengedIn the waning months of his term in office President George W. Bush attempted to make a mark on Global environmental politics this week. In the Rose Garden facing the White House south lawn President Bush announced last Wednesday that the United States should stop the growth of greenhouse gases by 2025. He also challenged other major international polluters like India and China to adopt similar policies. As he has done in the past President Bush put his faith in private enterprise to solve the US contribution to greenhouse gas production. “The wrong way is to raise taxes, duplicate mandates, or demand sudden and drastic emissions cuts that have no chance of being realized and every chance of hurting our economy,” he said. “The right way is to set realistic goals for reducing emissions consistent with advances in technology.” Opponents to Mr. Bush contend that his announcement is a political move to stymie the proposed legislation being considered by the Democratic controlled Senate, which will soon present legislation that would adopt the “cap and trade” approach which would limit companies on emissions and permit them to trade for pollution credits. - wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap_and_trade President Bush strongly opposes the Senate approach to greenhouse gas emissions control.
Plastic Baby Bottles could be ToxicA plastic used in baby bottles, water bottles and as a liner in tin cans could be leaching cancer causing agents into the food supply, the United States government has announced. The chemical known as BPA (Bisphenol A) has caused concern for neural and behavioural effects in fetuses, infants and children at certain levels of exposures. The report prepared by the US National Institutes of Health National Toxicology Program said that their findings were based on the effects in the prostate gland, mammary gland and development of young females in puberty. The report casts doubt on the assertions from the FDA that the chemical BPA is safe.
Physicians Warn of Health Effects from Global WarmingDoctors in both Canada and the United States have both, coincidently, issued warnings that Global climate change could have serious health effects. "When we think about climate change, we typically think about how it will affect our environment, but we need to start thinking about how it affects our health too," Ontario College of Family Physicians President, Dr. Renee Arnold told the Toronto Star. "The negative health effects of climate change are profound, and will be irreversible if we don't get our act together now and stop damaging our environment."
Global Food CrisisThe price of some basic foods has doubled in the last twelve months. The United Nations predicts in a recent report that food prices are likely to remain high for a decade. The high cost of food has sparked food riots in Egypt, Senegal, Cameroon and Morocco. In Thailand some farmers have taken to sleeping in their fields to guard against thieves stealing their crops during the night. In the United States consumers are shocked at the rapid cost of basics like bread and eggs. Due to rising cost of wheat flour the price of a loaf of bread has jumped by 32 percent since January. During the last year, the average price of a carton of eggs rose by almost 50 percent.
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