Word: pollens
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...enough for you to see through at least 10 ft. of water and distinguish objects such as a metal grating on the bottom of the pool. Foamy or bubbling water along the pool's edge is a sign of potential trouble; it typically represents excessive organic matter, such as pollen or bacteria. If the water looks clear enough to enter, the next line of defense is to keep your mouth shut. As we swim, many of us unknowingly swallow water--along with any microbes that might...
...emissions demands serious opposition, and this can only start with the American public. Having spent three months in Houston during the summer of last year, I had firsthand experience of unacceptable levels of pollution and suffered considerable discomfort. I found it amusing that the locals believed plant allergies and pollen caused the majority of respiratory problems, and yet there was hardly a piece of greenery in sight! DAVID G. HARRIS Cape Town...
Barrett long ago wrote off St. John's wort as a treatment for severe depression, posting a dispassionate analysis of the evidence for and against it on his website, www.quackwatch.com alongside similar dismissals of such nostrums as bee pollen, royal jelly and "stabilized oxygen." His site--filled with useful links, cautionary notes and essays on treatments ranging from aromatherapy to wild-yam cream--is widely cited by doctors and medical writers and draws 100,000 hits a month. It has also made Barrett a lightning rod for herbalists, homeopaths and assorted true believers, who regularly vilify him as dishonest, incompetent...
...Even more worrisome are ecological concerns. In 1999 Cornell University entomologist John Losey performed a provocative, "seat-of-the-pants" laboratory experiment. He dusted Bt corn pollen on plants populated by monarch-butterfly caterpillars. Many of the caterpillars died. Losey himself is not yet convinced that Bt corn poses a grave danger to North America's monarch-butterfly population, but he does think the issue deserves attention. Others agree. "The problem with transgenics is the risks and hazards involved," says Ashish Kothari of Kalpavriskh, an Indian environmental group working to preserve the country's biodiversity. "We still don't know...
...There are more potential pitfalls. Among other things, the possibility exists that as transgenes in pollen drift, they will fertilize wild plants, and weeds will emerge that are hardier and even more difficult to control. No one knows how common the exchange of genes between domestic plants and their wild relatives really is, but Margaret Mellon, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists' agriculture and biotechnology program, is not alone in thinking that it's high time we find out. Says she: "People should be responding to these concerns with experiments, not assurances...