Why Is the FDA in Such a Hurry to Approve the Sale and Consumption of Frankenfish?

The following statement from the Cornucopia Institute questions the wisdom of the FDA’s rush to allow genetically engineer salmon to be raised and sold in the US.

Despite overwhelming opposition from citizens and public interest groups to genetically engineered (GE) food, including 400,000 public comments opposing GE salmon, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced December 26, 2012 that it is prepared to give transgenic salmon its final stamp of approval.

The FDA failed to address serious concerns about the safety of consuming salmon that has been genetically engineered to produce growth hormones at all times, allowing it to grow faster and bigger than natural salmon. The FDA has not conducted any safety testing, and merely assumes that the genetically engineered salmon is safe to eat.

The FDA has also not considered the potential ecological and economic impacts of approving genetically engineered salmon. Salmon is an integral part of the ecosystem, and the accidental escape of genetically engineered salmon could devastate populations of native salmon, as well as the fish and marine mammals that depend on salmon for their food. Scientists have predicted that escaped GE salmon would likely wipe out wild salmon populations, which will destroy the livelihood of coastal communities that depend on fishing.

Despite the fact that the vast majority of Americans do not want to eat genetically modified organisms, this salmon will not be labeled as such. Yet the Obama administration is willing to gamble with our health for the financial benefit of one biotechnology company.

Which of these fish has had its DNA genetically altered? If you guessed the smaller one, you’re wrong. The DNA of the top fish has been genetically engineered to produce growth hormones all the time for its entire life. People who eat this fish will be eating this DNA, along with the growth hormones.

For instructions on how to comment to the FDA, visit the Cornucopia Institute’s website.

Water Is Not the Benign Substance We Have Been Led to Believe

Furthermore, almost all alcohol abusers started on water and  most flooding is directly caused by water.  The list of the dangers of water could go on forever.   However, on a serious note  . . .

Dangers of Metal Water Bottles

There are many indirect dangers from drinking water as well.  A water bottle accident that is rare but terrifying involves drinking water from popular  metal water bottles.   This month it was revealed that metal water bottles pose a serious threat to users, not because they emit toxic substances into the water but because the drinker’s tongue can be trapped by the narrow neck of the bottle.

NBC’s Rossen Reports revealed that popular metal bottles can grab the drinker’s tongue,  which swells rapidly in the neck of the bottle making it impossible to extract the tongue from the bottle.  This is especially dangerous for children, and several children whose tongues have been trapped by water bottles have had to undergo dangerous and painful surgical removal.  Seeing the NBC video will make your realize that poking your tongue into a metal water bottle may be as dangerous as licking a pump handle in sub-freezing weather.

Above: Mary Kate Person got her tongue trapped inside a metal water bottle  Extracting her tongue required traumatic  surgery and several days in the hospital.

See video.

 Families Who Lost Wells Will Probably Be Connected to the Village of Jackson Municipal Water System

Last July, a major rupture of a pipeline owned by West Shore Pipe Line Co. of Illinois ruined the wells of several families in the Jackson, Wisconsin area.

West Shore owns a 650-mile fuel distribution system within Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana. Pipelines extend from East Chicago, Ind., around Chicago to Milwaukee and Green Bay. A separate line runs from the Chicago area to Janesville and Madison.

A section of 10-inch pipe in the company’s Milwaukee to Green Bay line ruptured along a welded seam July 17 in the 1800 block of Western Ave. in the town. The pipeline was built in 1961.

An estimated 54,600 gallons of gasoline spilled within a few minutes in a farm pasture.

Tests have detected gasoline contaminants in a total of 27 residential drinking water wells and two nonresidential wells since the spill.

Contaminant levels fluctuate in the wells. As of Jan. 2, West Shore reported recent tests detected benzene in 13 of the 29 wells.

Plans for compensation include drilling a new town well for the residents and providing a water treatment facility, but the leading plan is to connect the owners of ruined wells to the Village of Jackson municipal water system.

More Information

Ruptured Main Spilled 14 Million Gallons of Water into Downtown Streets

Many large buildings in downtown Minneapolis were without water for several days, and traffic had to be rerouted around certain parts of the city,  because of a ruptured water main that dumped 14,000,000 gallons of water into the area.

Although repairs are now complete,  testing will be required before the area’s water is deemed safe to drink.

Winter Flood in Minneapolis. A backup service using temporary lines provided water for six buildings. The break occurred at a construction site.

Article Source.

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University of Vermont Is Expected to Ban Single Drink Water Bottles

A new ban on the sales of single-serving plastic water bottles has taken effect in Concord.

An empty water bottle sculpture in Burlington VT. The University of Vermont is preparing to ban bottled water sales, as has the town of Concord.

The ban began Tuesday, Jan. 1,  and follows an April vote by Town Meeting, which made historic Concord one of the first communities in the nation to make the bottles illegal. …

The new law was adopted after a three-year campaign by local activists. They pushed a return to tap water, saying banning the bottles will cut down on plastic waste and reduce the use of the fossil fuels used to make the bottles.

Lake Michigan and Lake Huron Reach Record Low Levels

According to a TV station in Traverse City, Michigan, the Great Lakes have had lower water levels this past year, but now they have reached an all-time, record low.

The Federal Government says preliminary numbers show both Lake Michigan and Lake Huron reached record low water levels, in December.

The credit is given to the low level, to light snowfall last Winter, and light rainfall in the Spring.

The previous all-time low level was set in 1964, at 576.2 feet.

The preliminary mark for December 2012, is 576.15 feet.

Water Conservation Ideas Offered for Texas Legislature

by Kate Galbraith

Reprinted from Texas Tribune, January 3, 2013

Editor’s Note:  This excellent piece on the management of Texas’ water dilemma reveals  the difficulties faced in Texas and across the nation by lawmakers.  Water policy, though of supreme public importance, does not fall outside the realm of politics.  As the article shows, no matter how sane the plan or how necessary, it usually bumps against someone’s vested interest in keeping things the way they are.  Placing restrictions on the massive watering of golf courses makes perfect sense, unless you own a golf course, or a business that is helped by a nearby golf course, or you sell sporting goods or irrigation equipment or turf, or if you play golf.  — Hardly Waite. 

Using less water is the cheapest way to meet Texas’ long-term water needs. The state water plan envisions nearly a quarter of Texas’ future water supplies coming from conservation. So what could and should Texas lawmakers do to promote the idea of saving water?

This is a tricky question, because conservation is generally the domain of local authorities. The nature of water supplies varies tremendously from place to place. Some towns may have fairly stable reservoirs, while others draw from diminishing aquifers. So local groups maintain day-to-day management of their water supplies, including ordering restrictions at times of drought (as many Texas cities have).

But environmentalists and some lawmakers say the state has a key role to play in promoting conservation. Blanket statewide watering restrictions seem politically infeasible, given the unpopularity of mandates. But other options abound. State Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, has filed a bill to create a sales-tax exemption for water-saving appliances sold over Memorial Day weekend, and environmentalists’ other ideas (not yet in bills) include requiring farmers to put meters on their water wells and preventing homeowners’ associations from barring drought-resistant landscaping. Improving how Texas measures water use and water savings is also high on the agenda of the Water Conservation Advisory Council, a group that brings together representatives of numerous state agencies.

Texas has passed water-conservation bills in the past. In fact, Texas and California rank first among all states in water efficiency, according to a September report from the Alliance for Water Efficiency. Texas accumulated points for laws such as requiring water utilities to audit their water losses and limiting the amount of water that toilets and urinals can use. (A 2009 measure by state Rep. Allan Ritter, R-Nederland, tightened the limits, some of which take effect in 2014.) The Legislature created the Water Conservation Advisory Council in 2007; last month it produced a report filled with recommendations for the Legislature.

But Texas, with its fast-growing population, needs to do more, water experts say. “Even though we’re requiring [utilities to have water conservation plans and] we’re requiring reports on implementation, at the end of the day there is just not enforcement of any of those things,” said Carole Baker, executive director of the nonprofit Texas Water Foundation. Requiring more consistent implementation of water conservation plans is one area where the Legislature could act, she said.

Texas has worked on standardizing its water information. Senate Bill 181, passed in 2011, requires the state to develop a consistent method for tallying water use and conservation, for example by breaking data into categories like residential single-family use, multifamily residential use and agriculture. Senate Bill 660, also passed in 2011, clarified requirements for reporting on water conservation.

Larson has also filed a bill for the upcoming session requiring utilities to better project future water shortages by assessing how long their current supplies can last.

The nonprofit Environment Texas offers a range of conservation-related proposals for the next session. Among them: ensuring that homeowners’ associations allow drought-resistant landscaping; prodding cities to adopt plans to limit per-capita water usage; and requiring farmers to put meters on their wells.

The metering proposal would not go down well with farmers. “My members will oppose being required to put meters on the wells,” said Billy Howe, the state legislative director for the Texas Farm Bureau. His group would support state funding to help farmers switch to less water-intensive technologies, through research or other means.

Proposals by Environment Texas to limit the use of fresh water for hydraulic fracturing during droughts and require new power plants to study less water-intensive cooling technologies, would probably meet industry resistance as well.

Water conservation is also likely to enter the broad debate over funding for water projects during the session. Lawmakers are discussing whether to allocate $1 billion or more from the state’s Rainy Day Fund to create a revolving fund for water infrastructure projects, such as building desalination plants or pipelines. Environmentalists want conservation projects to be prioritized when the funds are doled out.

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Class Action Lawsuit Targets “Floc” Treatment Used in Coal Mines and Water Treatment Plants

In the settlement of a West Virginia class action suit, many coal treatment plants and water treatment plants in the state were required to pay $6.6 million to provide free medical examinations for workers in the plants.

The suit centered on the use of use of a certain type of water treatment chemical called polyacrylamide (often called “flocculent” or “floc”).  Many coal preparation plants in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and water treatment plants in West Virginia, used the chemical to separate solids from liquids.

The lawsuit claims that the chemical is toxic and that workers at these plants who were exposed to the chemical have a higher risk of getting serious diseases.  The Defendants, manufacturers and distributors of polyacrylamide, deny those claims and that they did anything wrong.  Both sides have agreed to settle the case to avoid the cost and burdens associated with ongoing litigation.

One of the largest uses for polyacrylamide is to flocculate  solids in a liquid. This process applies to is used in water treatment and in processes like paper making.

Full details.

Basic Terms and Measurements for Home Reverse Osmosis Owners

by Gene Franks, Pure Water Products

Performance of home reverse osmosis units is measured with the same tools and concepts as larger units.  Here are some basics:

TDS. The most common measurement of reverse osmosis performance.  TDS stands for “total dissolved solids.”  It  is tested with a simple meter that passes a small electrical current through the water and measures how well the water conducts electricity.  The more “dissolved solids” the water contains, the better it conducts electricity, and the higher the reading on the meter.  Conversely, low conductivity means few solids and a low reading on the meter.

The meter in the picture can be used to measure the tap water as well as the RO water.  It is the comparison of the two, called “percent rejection” (see below), that really tells how well the unit is performing.

A Modern Total Dissolved Solids Tester Gives You An Instant Picture of the Effectiveness of Your RO Unit. You Can Also Use It to Test Your Tap Water for Comparison.

Most municipal tap water will have a TDS reading of 500 parts per million (ppm) or less. (The reading may be expressed as ppm, parts per million, or mg/L, milligrams per liter. Ppm and mg/L are essentially the same.)  The EPA regards 500 ppm as the maximum recommended TDS for drinking water (although the water of  many cities exceeds this).

TDS is merely a way that performance is measured.  A high TDS does not indicate that water is contaminated with dangerous pollutants.  It means mainly that it has lots of minerals in it.  TDS consists mainly of minerals like calcium, magnesium and sodium.

The more of these solids that the RO membrane “rejects” (removes), the better it is working.

Percent Rejection

In general, most modern residential reverse osmosis units reduce the TDS of tap water by 90% plus.  Your home unit is running fine if the water coming out of the RO unit is only about 10% of the tap water.  In other words, if your tap water reads 300 on your meter and your RO unit reads 30 or less there is no reason to consider changing your membrane.  The percentage rule works fine,  but if you want to be a bit more scientific, you can figure what is called the “percent rejection” of the unit.  Here’s the formula:

Tap water TDS minus RO water TDS divided by tap water TDS times 100.

For example, if your tap water reads 289 and your RO water reads 16, work the forumla:

289 – 16 = 273/289 = .9446 X 100 = 94% rejection.

This means that your RO unit is rejecting (removing) 94% of the solids from your tap water.  It is safe to assume it’s doing an excellent job reducing not only the minerals in the water but also contaminants like lead, arsenic, and fluoride.

Measuring TDS is an effective means of determining the overall performance of your RO membrane.

Measuring Output

An easy way for determining how many gallons per day your RO unit is producing is to measure how many milliliters the unit produces in a minute and multiply the result by 0.38. To do this, turn off the valve on your storage tank so that no water can go in or out, then lock open the ledge faucet on your sink top.  The small stream or drip that comes from the faucet is the amount of water the RO unit is producing in real time.  Catch the drip or stream for one minute in a measuring cup that shows milliliters.   Multiply the milliliters produced during one minute by 0.38 to get gallons per day.

For example, if your unit produces 60 milliliters in a minute,  multiply by 0.38 and you’ll see that your RO unit is making about 23 gallons of water in a 24 hour period.

 Vitamin C Shower Filter for removal of chlorine and chloramines from city tap water.

Chloramine removal from shower water is a challenge.  In fact, it is virtually impossible for conventional shower filters.  Shower filters have to be small and they have to process a large amount of water very quickly.  This means that filter carbon, the best chloramine reducer in larger filters, is not effective because the shower filter does not allow sufficient “residence time” with the water.

Vitamin C shower technology offers a new approach that is quite successful at chloramine reduction.

Ascorbic acid, Vitamin C, has been used for many years by industry, by aquarium enthusiasts, and by dialysis operators to remove chlorine and chloramine.  It is only recently that this very successful technology has been applied to the retail marked in the form of a shower filter.

Vitashower, the original and  the leading manufacturer of Vitamin C shower filters, is located in  Pasadena, California.  Its product is called Vitashower, and it also offers bath tablets, marketed under the name Vitabath,  that quickly remove chlorine and chloramine from bath water.

The approach is unique.  Although Vitashower is marketed as a “shower filter,”  Vitashower is not a filter but rather an injector.  It introduces the necessary amount of pharmaceutical grade vitamin C into the shower stream  to neutralize all chlorine or chloramine as the water passes through the unit. It does not filter chlorine and chloramines, but rather it neutralizes them through chemical reaction.

Vitashower is manufactured with  pharmaceutical grade Vitamin C which fully neutralizes both chlorine and chloramines.  Vitamin C is not toxic to humans and is known to boost the immune system and improve skin and hair.  Vitashower lets you enjoy disinfectant-free,  odor free, healthful shower water at a very low cost.

Vitashower works at any water temperature, any water pressure,  and the lifetime of the filter does not depend on the water quality. When no water is running through the shower head, no vitamin is injected, so the product’s effective  life depends on the amount of water used, not the quality of the water or the passage of time.

Features of the Vitamin Shower Filter

• De-chlorinating agent is 100% pharmaceutical grade Vitamin C.
• Totally neutralizes chlorine and chloramine.
• Improves the condition of skin and texture of hair.
• Attaches easily to any shower fixture without lowering the height (an important issue for tall individuals).
• Unit treats up to 15,000 gallons.
• Meets the de-chlorination requirements established for drinking water by the EPA.
• Environmentally safe.
• The active ingredient is a necessary nutrient, not a toxic chemical.
• 100% organic.
• Easy to install.  Easy to use.

Now Available from Pure Water Products

Vitashower Vitamin C Shower Filter

$37.  We pay shipping.   Call 940 382 3814 to order or for more information.