Word: toxicants
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...divest from Dow. The other requested the city manager to assess whether the city uses Dow products. Kaveri Rajaraman, a third-year student at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, said Bhopal, where she has relatives, is still severely polluted from the spill of heavier-than-air toxic gas. “This resolution will be much needed support for the disaster’s survivors,” she said. “They have not been forgotten.” —Staff writer Virginia A. Fisher can be reached at vafisher@fas.harvard.edu...
...litter is only a small part of the problem. Thorny-headed worms dropped into the ocean by seabirds are known to be killing otters, as are toxic algae blooms triggered by urea, a key ingredient in fertilizer. And sea otters, because they feed on shellfish that tend to accumulate whatever floats their way, are particularly susceptible to PCBS and other man-made pollutants...
...their colors to anthocyanins, a subclass of polyphenols, which are ubiquitous in nature. Anthocyanins are important antioxidants. They protect plant tissue from oxidative damage from solar radiation and other environmental stresses. When we consume them, they protect our tissue from oxidative damage caused by free radicals. Free radicals are toxic molecules produced in the course of normal metabolism and are present in environmental toxins like tobacco smoke. Research in test tubes and on animals shows that anthocyanins have anti-inflammatory and cancer-protective properties and can lower risks of getting age-related diseases, including cardiovascular and neurological conditions...
...damp peat and readily converts to the methyl form. That is not a problem as long as the mercury stays put. But increasingly frequent droughts--a likely consequence of global warming--have led to increasingly frequent wildfires, causing wetlands to release centuries' worth of collected mercury in one toxic breath. "There's mercury that's been accumulating since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution," says ecosystems ecologist Merritt Turetsky of Michigan State University, who has been studying the problem. "During droughts, you get a meter-thick carpet of dry peat in some places, and all you need then...
...More than 25% of the U.S. total blows in from overseas, particularly from coal-gobbling countries like China. Illinois Senator Barack Obama has proposed two bills to address those problems. One requires the eight chlor-alkali plants in the U.S. that still use mercury to convert to a less toxic alternative by 2012. The other calls for a ban on U.S. exports of mercury starting in 2010--a significant move, since the U.S. sells as much as 300 tons of the metal a year, or 8% of the world's total. More than a dozen state governments across...