THIS is how you treat your children

Aboriginal leaders say they’ll evacuate 700 kids affected by harmful fumes, via Canadian News

 

A remote First Nations community in northern Ontario is preparing to evacuate about 700 children over fears that harmful fuel fumes are making them ill, an aboriginal leader said Thursday.

Plans are underway to airlift the children out of Attawapiskat First Nation near James Bay this month, even though it could cost millions of dollars, said Grand Chief Stan Louttit.

“Both levels of government refuse to help,” he said.

study to track chemicals

Canadian scientists are recruiting hundreds of pregnant women for a landmark, $6-million study designed to track whether the household chemicals that expectant mothers encounter can trigger health problems in their children — or even alter the babies’ genetic makeup, according to the National Post.

This is expected to create a new scientific domain called epigenetics.  The field is based on the idea that environmental factors can get the genes to turn on and off.  The significance is that the subsequent alterations of genes could lead to various diseases, such as cancer, as well as become an inherited trait.

In the multi-phase study the mothers’ “blood, hair, breast milk and urine samples will be tested for a host of chemicals, from such heavy metals as lead, cadmium and mercury, to bisphenol-A, fire retardants and certain pesticides. The women will also be questioned about their lifestyles, diet and occupations.”

One focus of the study will be on phthalates.  Much research has been released lately indicating the this chemical, like BPA, is the cause of many problems seen in infants.  

Many mothers are being encouraged to volunteer so that more data can be gathered to effectively evaluate environmental factors in child development and disease.

not doing their job.

Trees and plants have often been dubbed the lungs of the planet, although, in reality they are the kidneys. Making up 7% of the world, in simplistic terms, they have the ability to absorb CO2 and turn it into oxygen. In fact, without them, it would have more than likely for humans to have even evolved, let alone what we are facing now, survival, since we need oxygen to live.

In a little reported, but very important news piece, “scientists have determined that Canada’s 1.2 million square miles of forests have become so stressed from damage caused by global warming, insect infestations and persistent fires that they have crossed an ominous line and now pump out more carbon dioxide than they take in.”

The higher planet temperature have hurt the forest in two ways. First, because it is so much warmer, the normally wet trees are drying out. Additionally, with such little rain fall, they are not achieving normal saturation levels. With the trees being so dry, they are either dying or are susceptible to fire, which when burned releases much more carbon dioxide into the air.

Second, the cold seasons typically allow for many of the insect infestations to end, as the various bugs cannot survive the cold. This gives the tree time to heal prior to another infestation, or becoming strong enough to ward off future illnesses. However, especially in Canada, the temperature is not dropping low enough to kill off the various insects. These often kill the tree leaving mass amounts of natural deforestation.

The affect of this is unquantifiable. We have long depended upon trees to suck in vast quantities of carbon dioxide, naturally cleansing the world of some of the harmful heat-trapping gas. With the increasing amount of greenhouse gases released into the air, but with less effectiveness in cleaning the air, we could be in worse conditions sooner rather than later.

The article was first published via The Environmental News Network