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Drugs in City Drinking Water

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What's in the Water?:

Tests were conducted in 35 of 62 major ffice:smarttags" />U.S. watersheds, the natural sources of most of the nation's water supply. Pharmaceuticals were detected in 28 of them.

<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com><st1:country-region w:st=<st1:place w:st=" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Philadelphia</st1:place></st1:City>: 56 pharmaceuticals or pharmaceutical byproducts, including medicines used to treat pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems.

<st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York City</st1:place></st1:City>: Heart medication, infection fighters, estrogen, anti-convulsants, a mood stabilizer and a tranquilizer.

<st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New Orleans</st1:place></st1:City>: Pain reliever naproxen, sex hormone estrone and the byproduct of an anti-cholesterol drug

<st1:place w:st="on">Southern California</st1:place> Watershed: Anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety medications.

<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Washington</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">D.C.</st1:State></st1:place>: Six pharmaceuticals.

<st1:place w:st="on">Northern New Jersey</st1:place>: Metabolized angina medicine and the mood-stabilizing drug carbamazepine.

Upstate <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:State> Watershed: Caffeine.

<st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:place></st1:City>: Sex hormone.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Last year, Environmental Data Resources ranked <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s most toxic cities, defined by the amount of man-made chemical in each area's soil.

10. <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cincinnati</st1:place></st1:City>

Contaminated Sites: 22,992

Leaking storage tanks: 1,719 | Corrective action reports: 44

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

9. <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Seattle</st1:place></st1:City>

Contaminated Sites: 46,299

Leaking storage tanks: 1,333

Corrective action reports: 30

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

8. <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Detroit</st1:place></st1:City>

Contaminated Sites: 64,541

Leaking storage tanks: 5,458

Corrective action reports: 70

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

7. San Diego

Contaminated Sites: 51,009

Leaking storage tanks: 3,740

Corrective action reports: 18

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

6. <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Indianapolis</st1:place></st1:City>

Contaminated Sites: 33,857

Leaking storage tanks: 1,206

Corrective action reports: 34

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

5. Minneapolis-St. Paul

Contaminated Sites: 65,969

Leaking storage tanks: 4,444

Corrective action reports: 52

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

4. <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Los Angeles</st1:place></st1:City>

Contaminated Sites: 271,360

Leaking storage tanks: 9,920

Corrective action reports: 159

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

3. <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Portland</st1:place></st1:City>

Contaminated Sites: 62,466

Leaking storage tanks: 20,655

Corrective action reports: 10

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

2. <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Milwaukee</st1:place></st1:City>

Contaminated Sites: 47,531

Leaking storage tanks: 3,872

Corrective action reports: 41

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

1. <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Baltimore</st1:place></st1:City>

Contaminated Sites: 88,284

Leaking storage tanks: 0

Corrective action reports: 23 Source: businessweek.com

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

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Probe Finds Drugs in Drinking Water

AP

Posted: 2008-03-10 06:49:46

Filed Under: Health News, Nation News, Science News

(March 9) - A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

But the presence of so many prescription drugs — and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen — in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.

In the course of a five-month inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas — from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com><st1:City w:st=Detroit</st1:City> to <st1:place w:st=" /><st1:City w:st="on">Louisville</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Ky.</st1:State>

 

Water providers rarely disclose results of pharmaceutical screenings, unless pressed, the AP found. For example, the head of a group representing major <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State> suppliers said the public "doesn't know how to interpret the information" and might be unduly alarmed.

 

How do the drugs get into the water?

 

People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Then, some of the water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers. But most treatments do not remove all drug residue.

 

And while researchers do not yet understand the exact risks from decades of persistent exposure to random combinations of low levels of pharmaceuticals, recent studies — which have gone virtually unnoticed by the general public — have found alarming effects on human cells and wildlife.

 

"We recognize it is a growing concern and we're taking it very seriously," said Benjamin H. Grumbles, assistant administrator for water at the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> Environmental Protection Agency.

Members of the AP National Investigative Team reviewed hundreds of scientific reports, analyzed federal drinking water databases, visited environmental study sites and treatment plants and interviewed more than 230 officials, academics and scientists. They also surveyed the nation's 50 largest cities and a dozen other major water providers, as well as smaller community water providers in all 50 states.

Here are some of the key test results obtained by the AP:

--Officials in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Philadelphia</st1:place></st1:City> said testing there discovered 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts in treated drinking water, including medicines for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems. Sixty-three pharmaceuticals or byproducts were found in the city's watersheds.

--Anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety medications were detected in a portion of the treated drinking water for 18.5 million people in <st1:place w:st="on">Southern California</st1:place>.

--Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey analyzed a Passaic Valley Water Commission drinking water treatment plant, which serves 850,000 people in <st1:place w:st="on">Northern New Jersey</st1:place>, and found a metabolized angina medicine and the mood-stabilizing carbamazepine in drinking water.

--A sex hormone was detected in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:place></st1:City>'s drinking water.

--The drinking water for <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Washington</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">D.C.</st1:State></st1:place>, and surrounding areas tested positive for six pharmaceuticals.

--Three medications, including an antibiotic, were found in drinking water supplied to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Tucson</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Ariz.</st1:State></st1:place>

The situation is undoubtedly worse than suggested by the positive test results in the major population centers documented by the AP.

The federal government doesn't require any testing and hasn't set safety limits for drugs in water. Of the 62 major water providers contacted, the drinking water for only 28 was tested. Among the 34 that haven't: <st1:City w:st="on">Houston</st1:City>, <st1:City w:st="on">Chicago</st1:City>, <st1:City w:st="on">Miami</st1:City>, <st1:City w:st="on">Baltimore</st1:City>, <st1:City w:st="on">Phoenix</st1:City>, <st1:City w:st="on">Boston</st1:City> and <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York City</st1:place></st1:City>'s Department of Environmental Protection, which delivers water to 9 million people.

Some providers screen only for one or two pharmaceuticals, leaving open the possibility that others are present.

The AP's investigation also indicates that watersheds, the natural sources of most of the nation's water supply, also are contaminated. Tests were conducted in the watersheds of 35 of the 62 major providers surveyed by the AP, and pharmaceuticals were detected in 28.

Yet officials in six of those 28 metropolitan areas said they did not go on to test their drinking water — Fairfax, Va.; Montgomery County in Maryland; Omaha, Neb.; Oklahoma City; Santa Clara, Calif., and New York City.

The <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:State> state health department and the USGS tested the source of the city's water, upstate. They found trace concentrations of heart medicine, infection fighters, estrogen, anti-convulsants, a mood stabilizer and a tranquilizer.

City water officials declined repeated requests for an interview. In a statement, they insisted that "<st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York City</st1:place></st1:City>'s drinking water continues to meet all federal and state regulations regarding drinking water quality in the watershed and the distribution system" — regulations that do not address trace pharmaceuticals.

In several cases, officials at municipal or regional water providers told the AP that pharmaceuticals had not been detected, but the AP obtained the results of tests conducted by independent researchers that showed otherwise. For example, water department officials in <st1:City w:st="on">New Orleans</st1:City> said their water had not been tested for pharmaceuticals, but a <st1:place w:st="on"><ST1:PTulane </ST1:PUniversity </st1:place> researcher and his students have published a study that found the pain reliever naproxen, the sex hormone estrone and the anti-cholesterol drug byproduct clofibric acid in treated drinking water.

Of the 28 major metropolitan areas where tests were performed on drinking water supplies, only <st1:City w:st="on">Albuquerque</st1:City>; <st1:City w:st="on">Austin</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Texas</st1:State>; and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Virginia Beach</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Va.</st1:State></st1:place>; said tests were negative. The drinking water in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Dallas</st1:place></st1:City> has been tested, but officials are awaiting results. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Arlington</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Texas</st1:State></st1:place>, acknowledged that traces of a pharmaceutical were detected in its drinking water but cited post-9/11 security concerns in refusing to identify the drug.

The AP also contacted 52 small water providers — one in each state, and two each in <st1:State w:st="on">Missouri</st1:State> and <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:State> — that serve communities with populations around 25,000. All but one said their drinking water had not been screened for pharmaceuticals; officials in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Emporia</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Kan.</st1:State></st1:place>, refused to answer AP's questions, also citing post-9/11 issues.

Rural consumers who draw water from their own wells aren't in the clear either, experts say.

The <ST1:PStroud </ST1:PWater</ST1:Place Research Center in <st1:City w:st="on">Avondale</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Pa.</st1:State>, has measured water samples from <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York City</st1:place></st1:City>'s upstate watershed for caffeine, a common contaminant that scientists often look for as a possible signal for the presence of other pharmaceuticals. Though more caffeine was detected at suburban sites, researcher Anthony Aufdenkampe was struck by the relatively high levels even in less populated areas.

He suspects it escapes from failed septic tanks, maybe with other drugs. "Septic systems are essentially small treatment plants that are essentially unmanaged and therefore tend to fail," Aufdenkampe said.

Even users of bottled water and home filtration systems don't necessarily avoid exposure. Bottlers, some of which simply repackage tap water, do not typically treat or test for pharmaceuticals, according to the industry's main trade group. The same goes for the makers of home filtration systems.

Contamination is not confined to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>. More than 100 different pharmaceuticals have been detected in lakes, rivers, reservoirs and streams throughout the world. Studies have detected pharmaceuticals in waters throughout Asia, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Australia</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region> and Europe — even in Swiss lakes and the <st1:place w:st="on">North Sea</st1:place>.

For example, in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>, a study of 20 <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ontario</st1:place></st1:State> drinking water treatment plants by a national research institute found nine different drugs in water samples. Japanese health officials in December called for human health impact studies after detecting prescription drugs in drinking water at seven different sites.

In the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>, the problem isn't confined to surface waters. Pharmaceuticals also permeate aquifers deep underground, source of 40 percent of the nation's water supply. Federal scientists who drew water in 24 states from aquifers near contaminant sources such as landfills and animal feed lots found minuscule levels of hormones, antibiotics and other drugs.

Perhaps it's because Americans have been taking drugs — and flushing them unmetabolized or unused — in growing amounts. Over the past five years, the number of <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> prescriptions rose 12 percent to a record 3.7 billion, while nonprescription drug purchases held steady around 3.3 billion, according to IMS Health and The Nielsen <st1:place w:st="on">Co.</st1:place>

"People think that if they take a medication, their body absorbs it and it disappears, but of course that's not the case," said EPA scientist Christian Daughton, one of the first to draw attention to the issue of pharmaceuticals in water in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>.

Some drugs, including widely used cholesterol fighters, tranquilizers and anti-epileptic medications, resist modern drinking water and wastewater treatment processes. Plus, the EPA says there are no sewage treatment systems specifically engineered to remove pharmaceuticals.

One technology, reverse osmosis, removes virtually all pharmaceutical contaminants but is very expensive for large-scale use and leaves several gallons of polluted water for every one that is made drinkable.

Another issue: There's evidence that adding chlorine, a common process in conventional drinking water treatment plants, makes some pharmaceuticals more toxic.

Human waste isn't the only source of contamination. Cattle, for example, are given ear implants that provide a slow release of trenbolone, an anabolic steroid used by some bodybuilders, which causes cattle to bulk up. But not all the trenbolone circulating in a steer is metabolized. A German study showed 10 percent of the steroid passed right through the animals.

Water sampled downstream of a <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Nebraska</st1:place></st1:State> feedlot had steroid levels four times as high as the water taken upstream. Male fathead minnows living in that downstream area had low testosterone levels and small heads.

Other veterinary drugs also play a role. Pets are now treated for arthritis, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, allergies, dementia, and even obesity — sometimes with the same drugs as humans. The inflation-adjusted value of veterinary drugs rose by 8 percent, to $5.2 billion, over the past five years, according to an analysis of data from the Animal Health Institute.

Ask the pharmaceutical industry whether the contamination of water supplies is a problem, and officials will tell you no. "Based on what we now know, I would say we find there's little or no risk from pharmaceuticals in the environment to human health," said microbiologist Thomas White, a consultant for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

But at a conference last summer, Mary Buzby — director of environmental technology for drug maker Merck & Co. Inc. — said: "There's no doubt about it, pharmaceuticals are being detected in the environment and there is genuine concern that these compounds, in the small concentrations that they're at, could be causing impacts to human health or to aquatic organisms."

Recent laboratory research has found that small amounts of medication have affected human embryonic kidney cells, human blood cells and human breast cancer cells. The cancer cells proliferated too quickly; the kidney cells grew too slowly; and the blood cells showed biological activity associated with inflammation.

Also, pharmaceuticals in waterways are damaging wildlife across the nation and around the globe, research shows. Notably, male fish are being feminized, creating egg yolk proteins, a process usually restricted to females. Pharmaceuticals also are affecting sentinel species at the foundation of the pyramid of life — such as earth worms in the wild and zooplankton in the laboratory, studies show.

Some scientists stress that the research is extremely limited, and there are too many unknowns. They say, though, that the documented health problems in wildlife are disconcerting.

"It brings a question to people's minds that if the fish were affected ... might there be a potential problem for humans?" EPA research biologist Vickie Wilson told the AP. "It could be that the fish are just exquisitely sensitive because of their physiology or something. We haven't gotten far enough along."

With limited research funds, said Shane Snyder, research and development project manager at the Southern Nevada Water Authority, a greater emphasis should be put on studying the effects of drugs in water.

"I think it's a shame that so much money is going into monitoring to figure out if these things are out there, and so little is being spent on human health," said Snyder. "They need to just accept that these things are everywhere — every chemical and pharmaceutical could be there. It's time for the EPA to step up to the plate and make a statement about the need to study effects, both human and environmental."

To the degree that the EPA is focused on the issue, it appears to be looking at detection. Grumbles acknowledged that just late last year the agency developed three new methods to "detect and quantify pharmaceuticals" in wastewater. "We realize that we have a limited amount of data on the concentrations," he said. "We're going to be able to learn a lot more."

While Grumbles said the EPA had analyzed 287 pharmaceuticals for possible inclusion on a draft list of candidates for regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act, he said only one, nitroglycerin, was on the list. Nitroglycerin can be used as a drug for heart problems, but the key reason it's being considered is its widespread use in making explosives.

So much is unknown. Many independent scientists are skeptical that trace concentrations will ultimately prove to be harmful to humans. Confidence about human safety is based largely on studies that poison lab animals with much higher amounts.

There's growing concern in the scientific community, meanwhile, that certain drugs — or combinations of drugs — may harm humans over decades because water, unlike most specific foods, is consumed in sizable amounts every day.

Our bodies may shrug off a relatively big one-time dose, yet suffer from a smaller amount delivered continuously over a half century, perhaps subtly stirring allergies or nerve damage. Pregnant women, the elderly and the very ill might be more sensitive.

Many concerns about chronic low-level exposure focus on certain drug classes: chemotherapy that can act as a powerful poison; hormones that can hamper reproduction or development; medicines for depression and epilepsy that can damage the brain or change behavior; antibiotics that can allow human germs to mutate into more dangerous forms; pain relievers and blood-pressure diuretics.

For several decades, federal environmental officials and nonprofit watchdog environmental groups have focused on regulated contaminants — pesticides, lead, PCBs — which are present in higher concentrations and clearly pose a health risk.

However, some experts say medications may pose a unique danger because, unlike most pollutants, they were crafted to act on the human body.

"These are chemicals that are designed to have very specific effects at very low concentrations. That's what pharmaceuticals do. So when they get out to the environment, it should not be a shock to people that they have effects," says zoologist John Sumpter at <ST1:PBrunel </ST1:PUniversity in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:City>, who has studied trace hormones, heart medicine and other drugs.

And while drugs are tested to be safe for humans, the timeframe is usually over a matter of months, not a lifetime. Pharmaceuticals also can produce side effects and interact with other drugs at normal medical doses. That's why — aside from therapeutic doses of fluoride injected into potable water supplies — pharmaceuticals are prescribed to people who need them, not delivered to everyone in their drinking water.

"We know we are being exposed to other people's drugs through our drinking water, and that can't be good," says Dr. David Carpenter, who directs the Institute for Health and the Environment of the State University of New York at <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Albany</st1:place></st1:City>.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

2008-03-09 18:50:12

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I run my drinking water through a small home distiller. Even if the water was 100% pure by the time it got to my apt. building it would be filled with rust lead and other deposits by the time it hit my tap. The reason is old pipes. You wouldn't believe the crud that is left at the bottom of the distiller.

 

Sri Vishnu Sri Vishnu Sri Vishnu

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I run my drinking water through a small home distiller. Even if the water was 100% pure by the time it got to my apt. building it would be filled with rust lead and other deposits by the time it hit my tap. The reason is old pipes. You wouldn't believe the crud that is left at the bottom of the distiller.

 

Sri Vishnu Sri Vishnu Sri Vishnu

But this is filtering out only bigger particles and not subtle things like which attack your genetic material. This is how actually biological warfare is run, you can't filter this stuff in your small home distiller. Sri Vishnu, Sri Vishnu surely helps, but Sri Vishnu also gave us intelligence how to not get contaminated.

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Seems that suddenly they have all the details how to get really pure drinking water, whereas in India water quality is still unsolved?

 

Water Filters Based on Ancient Indian Purification Techniques

BY: STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Mar 10, NEW DELHI, INDIA (HPI) — The Shruti Foundation recently organized a workshop to teach the assembling of a "Ghatam" - a unique water filter based on knowledge derived from Indian traditional wisdom and ways of purification. The event was attended by NGO's, social workers, academicians and residents of an area of Delhi who live without the benefit of potable water.

Mr. Anil Laul, the inspiration and knowledge behind the filter explained, "To purify the water through this filter we have used coconut charcoal, marble chips, white sand and silver coins which are put in four different copper vessels and water is made to pass through them. Marble chips, white sand and silver coins respectively tackle coli form, water hardness and unwanted bacteria."

Mr. Laul said, "All the gadgets that we use in India should be devised locally keeping the local population and their own traditions in mind. The cost of the Ghatam would vary from US$15.00 to $62 and can be used by a common man without electricity or processed chemicals."

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But this is filtering out only bigger particles and not subtle things like which attack your genetic material. This is how actually biological warfare is run, you can't filter this stuff in your small home distiller. Sri Vishnu, Sri Vishnu surely helps, but Sri Vishnu also gave us intelligence how to not get contaminated.

 

Please be more specific. What subtle things are attacking my genetic material?

 

And please share what Sri Vishnu has told you about how not to get contaminated. The rest of us need to know. Is it the home made purifying system your next post describes?

 

We clean water the best we can and remember Sri Vishnu as the source. What else can we do? It is that rememberance of the Lord that takes us to the stream of Living Water which quenches all mundane thirsts.

 

We do our best but don't obssess over what we can't reach. Next will be the air as well as the food supply. Then we will be paralyzed from interacting with the material world and live in an OCD hell like Howard Hughes.

 

The fortunate thing is none of the contaminates of this world touch the soul. The material covering is something like our Hazmad suit which enables us to operate here for a short time.

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What subtle things are attacking my genetic material?

 

 

 

 

It is not that we should demand too much from food distributors/producers but at least they should explain why guinea pigs, mice and rats are dead within a couple of weeks when living on GM vegetables. Then you have all the medications of factory farming, these are not bio-degradable and meanwhile enter our drinking water.

 

"Peter O’Neill’s Group is looking into the processing of radiation-induced clustered DNA damage. Ionising radiation may be considered as a two-edged sword since it can induce cancer and other adverse responses in normal tissue or alternatively it leads to cellular inactivation, of considerable importance in radiotherapy. The genetic material (DNA) in cells is an important target for ionising radiation as it damages the DNA. If the damage is not removed by proteins which can restore the correct genetic code, potentially harmful effects of radiation such as mutations in the genetic code may occur and lead to significant biological consequences, such as cancer or severe late effects to normal tissue. In radiation oncology it is important to kill tumour cells but minimise damage to normal tissue. An important feature of ionising radiation is its ability to cause clusters of damage sites very close to one another. These clusters are very difficult to correct for as the repair proteins do not easily recognise the damage. "

http://www.rob.ox.ac.uk/research/researchgroups/peter-oneill

 

At least some primitive people have a sense for natural food and protested today.

 

FARM NEWS

 

FARM NEWS

Brazilian protesters destroy GM crops: group

<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="160"><tbody><tr><td>corn-vegetable-bg.jpg

</td></tr></tbody></table> by Staff Writers

Sao Paulo (AFP) March 7, 2008

Around 300 women rural residents in Brazil burst into a property owned by the US company Monsanto and destroyed a plant nursery and crops containing genetically modified corn, their organization said. The women were protesting what they saw as environmental damage by the crops.

They trashed the plants within 30 minutes and left before police arrived at the site in the southern state of Sao Paulo, a member of the Landless Workers' Movement, Igor Foride, told AFP.

The Brazilian government had "caved in to pressure from agrobusinesses" by recently allowing tinkered crops to be grown in the country, he said.

In Brasilia, a protest by another 400 women from an umbrella group, Via Campesina (the Rural Way), was held in front of the Swiss embassy against Syngenta, a Swiss company that is selling genetically modified seeds in Brazil.

The demonstrators called attention to an October 2007 incident in which private guards working for Syngenta killed a protester taking part in an occupation of land owned by the company.

Via Campesina said in a statement that "no scientific studies exist that guarantee that genetically modified crops won't have negative effects on human health and on nature."

It added that on Tuesday, another 900 of its members had entered a property owned by the Swedish-Finnish paper giant Stora Enso and ripped out non-modified eucalyptus saplings they claimed were illegally planted.

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OK, but we were talking about my water distiller.

<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="373" width="665"><tbody><tr><td bgcolor="#ffff00" height="60" valign="top" width="409">

 

<b><big><big>Build your own Radiation Exposure Meter!</big></big></b>

 

 

<big>This is a homemade, yet Accurate and Depenable Fallout Radiation Exposure Meter. Originally developed by the Oak Ridge National Labratory (the US Government)</big>

 

</td> <td align="center" height="60" valign="top" width="2">

</td> <td height="60" valign="top" width="134"> fallout.gif</td> </tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2" height="305" valign="top" width="409">

 

<big>Why spend 100's or 1000's of dollars on a Radiation Exposure meter? Build one yourself and know! </big>

 

 

<big>There are no batteries because this is an electrostatically charged device that accurately tracks how much radiation you have been exposed to.</big>

 

 

<big>It is built with common items found at the local hardware store. You build it, so you can fix it!</big>

 

 

<big>How it works</big>

 

 

The meter has two foil leaves that are charged electrostatically, their like charges cause them to be forced apart. When fallout gamma radiation (that is similar to X rays but more energetic) strikes the air inside the ionization chamber of the meter, it produces charged ions in this enclosed air. These charged ions cause part or all of the electrostatic charge on the foil leaves to be discharged. As a result of losing charge, the two leaves move closer together indicating the exposure level.

 

 

<big>Be Prepared! Order the plans and build the meter today!</big>

 

 

<big>The booklet is 23 pages long, filled with 32 diagrams and pictures that show you step by step how to build the Meter.</big>

 

 

 

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