Thomko Petro Chemical Blog

Addressing ongoing food riots around the world — in places as disparate as Haiti, Egypt, Indonesia, and Pakistan — has shot to the top of the World Bank's crisis agenda.

International leaders met last weekend to discuss spiking commodity prices — up 40% in 2008 — and to ring the alarm for international aid. Heeding the call, President Bush released $200 million in food aid on Tuesday.

The grave situation, felt most acutely in the developing world, has been fueled by several factors. The world population continues to grow while arable land mass decreases; more land is being cultivated for biofuels, not crops; and a changing climate has disrupted traditional growing patterns. (CN)

Read Fuel Choices, Food Crises and Finger-Pointing
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/business/worldbusiness/15food.html?ref=world

As well are all aware, billions of plastic bags are choking our planet, littering the landscape, and put toxic chemicals in our rivers, lakes, beaches and the ocean.

The plastic bags we use, and throw away every day do not biodegrade, they photodegrade, which simply means the plastic breaks down into small toxic bits which contaminate the ground and waterways.

These toxic plastic bits also enter the food chain when animals ingest these particles.

Sea turtles, whales and other marine life die from ingesting plastic bags and debris mistaken for food.

While these bags are assumed to be "free", these plastics bags have, and will continue to bring an untold cost to our global environment.   

Plastic bags are a by product of the oil industry, and it takes vast amounts of oil to produce the billions of bags that are used by consumers every day. So it's easy to understand that the cost of oil is also driven by our constant use of plastic bags and products.

Visit this great site for more info, and how you, and all of us can get more involved -
Eco-friendly reusable bags, plus facts & news on plastic bag issue
http://www.reusablebags.com/

Most genetically modified plants grown today have traits that facilitate production at the farm.

The latest GM plants in the development pipeline, however, offer more than just agronomic advantages. Among the new possibilities for plant biotechnology is “biopharming”, or the production of pharmaceuticals or specialty chemicals in genetically modified plants.

While progress in the US has been hampered by contamination scandals, European companies seem to have taken the lead by implementing strict safety controls right from the start.

Read full article at GMO Compass 

Just over a decade after scientists cloned the first animal, the last major barrier to selling meat and milk from clones has fallen: The U.S. government declared this food safe Tuesday. Now, will people buy it?

Consumer anxiety about cloning is serious enough that several major food companies, including the big dairy producer Dean Foods Co. and Smithfield Foods Inc., say they aren't planning to sell products from cloned animals.

And the industry says most Americans would never eat a cloned animal for sheer economic reasons: At $10,000 to $20,000 per cloned cow — compared with $1,000 for an ordinary steer — they're too valuable.

They would be used primarily for breeding, to produce a steady supply of cattle that are particularly tender, for instance, or for prize dairy cows. It would be offspring of clones that consumers would eat.

Read full article 

We are facing the tightest global food supplies in recent history.

The increased demand for biofuels have added to soaring crop prices across the globe.

Food shelves (pictured above) are empty in Caracas, Venezuela along with shortages of beef, chicken and milk.

There have already been food riots in Mexico and West Bengal, and threatened food riots in Yemen and Burkina Faso (West Africa).   

Current hunger warnings are predicted for the island of Jamaica, Nepal, the Philippines and sub-Saharan Africa.

And food boycotts are taking place - particularly in Argentina when tomatoes were boycotted because they are more expensive that meat. Even the Italians staged a one day boycott on pasta due to rising prices.

Over in Europe, some German politicians are calling for an increase in welfare benefits so people can purchase food.

The price rises are a direct result of record oil prices, U.S. farmers switching 20% of their corn crop to grow biofuel crops for vehicles. Also adding to the problem is extreme weather, along with a growing demand from countries such as India and China, according to a statement made by the U.N. on Friday.

These soaring prices for basic foods are beginning to lead to political instability, and governments are being forced to step in to artificially control the cost of bread, maize, rice and dairy products. The corn crop is a staple food in many countries which import from the U.S., including Japan, Egypt, and Mexico. U.S. exports are 70% of the world total, and are used widely for animal feed, and these shortages have disrupted livestock and poultry industries worldwide.

Lester Brown, president of the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute thinktank, said: “The competition for grain between the world’s 800 million motorists, who want to maintain their mobility, and its 2 billion poorest people, who are simply trying to survive, is emerging as an epic issue.”

READ FULL ARTICLE - GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS LOOMS AS GLOBAL WARMING TAKES TOLL

The volume of imports from China is straining the capacity of U.S. regulators to watch them . . .

China is the third largest importer of fish to the U.S., but only 5% of the fish from Chinese fish farms are inspected each year by the FDA. Why? Because there are only 1,317 field investigator for the FDA, for 320 ports of entry, and the agency only inspects just 0.7% of all imports - very scary.

Currently the U.S. imports 40% of cheap goods from China, which includes deadly pet food, lead-paint-tainted toy trains, dangerous car tires that shred, poisonous toothpaste, and now farm raised seafood. 

Wednesday three Japanese importers recalled millions of Chinese-made travel toothpaste sets that were sold to inns and hotels, after they were found to contain as much as 6.2 percent of diethylene glycol.

Earlier this month, following 100 deaths in Panama linked to cough syrup containing diethylene glycol (the ingredient had been mislabeled as glycerin, which is harmless), the FDA issued an import alert on all toothpaste made in China. Diethylene glycol is commonly found in antifreeze.

In May, two people in the Chicago area became ill after eating soup containing a product from China labeled as "monkfish."  The FDA began investigating whether a Chinese exporter tried to sneak in puffer fish by labeling it monkfish, and the agency warned consumers not to buy the fish testing revealed it contained life-threatening levels of tetrodotoxin.

Currently Catfish, Basa, Dace, Shrimp and Eel from China have tested for contamination with drugs unapproved in the U.S. for use in farmed seafood.

Traces of the antibiotics nitrofuran and fluoroquinolone, as well as the antifungals malachite green (which kills fungus on fish--and causes tumors in lab rats), and gentian violet (a dye coloring substance) was also found. 

And fluoroquinolones, a family of widely used human antibiotics that the FDA forbids in seafood in part to prevent bacteria from developing resistance to these important drugs. The best-known example is ciprofloxacin, sold as Cipro, which made headlines as a treatment during the 2001 anthrax attacks.

Why are these toxic chemicals being used at Chinese fish farms?
These toxic chemicals help shrimp and fish survive in the squalid and overcrowded Chinese fisheries. In other words, these chemical help disguise bad fish.

China says safety of exports guaranteed in rare move to directly address concerns - You will need a strong stomach to read about the pig farmers in this article . . .
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/28/asia/AS-GEN-China-Tainted-Food.php

China shuts 180 food factories for using formaldehyde, illegal dyes...
http://www.kxmc.com/News/138654.asp

F.D.A. Curbs Sale of Five Seafoods Farmed in China
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/29/business/worldbusiness/29fish.html?hp

Ran across an interesting article over at Natural Life Magazine, and it got me to thinking about food miles - CT

For some people, this modern long-distance food system offers unparalleled choice. But it often runs roughshod over local cuisines, varieties and agriculture, while consuming staggering amounts of fuel, generating greenhouse gases, eroding the pleasures of face-to-face interactions around food and compromising food security.

And recent heightened concerns over global warming, compounded by food poisoning scandals linked to contaminated pet, poultry, and pig food ingredients from China, have many of us thinking about where our food comes from…that is, counting our “food miles” (or kilometers.)

Read full article at Natural Life Magazine
http://www.life.ca/nl/116/foodmiles.html

Washington's Worldwatch Institute has issued a report that bottled water, the world's fastest growing beverage, carries with it a heavy environmental cost, along with the financial cost. 

Let's not forget that plastic is a material made from oil. Most of the water we drink is bottled in polyethylene terephthalate or PET. About 23% of these bottles are currently recycled in the U.S. - and the rest ends up in our land fills. And it takes plenty of energy to produce, bottle, package, store and ship millions upon millions of bottles of plastic bottled water.

And where does the water come from? At some point these springs will become depleted due to excessive withdrawal - and then what??

I'm one of those people who remember when water was FREE. The thought of paying for water was not even on the radar screen.

Bottled water costs 240 to 10,000 times as much as water straight from the tap. I also drink bottled water (Ice Mountain), but I sometimes wonder if the water we pay for is really all that safe. Let's hope so since the U.S. is the largest consumer. We drank over 6 billion gallons in 2005, and when the reports come in for 2006 it will obviously be more.

Among the top ten countries that use bottled water, India's consumption nearly tripled, and China's more than doubled between 2000 and 2005. Other countries that consume large amounts of bottled water are Mexico, Brazil, Italy, Germany, France, Indonesia and Spain. 

While we take water for granted, the real disgrace is that there are 1 billion people in the world who have NO access to clean drinking water, must less a certain brand of bottled water. Worldwatch estimates that up to 50% of urban dwellers in Asia and Africa lack access to safe drinking water. 

Source: ENN News 

When you heard about the "pet food" contamination, didn't you think about the food we eat? CT

Reps. John D. Dingell, the Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Bart Stupak, Chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee today dispatched Committee investigators to the west coast to pursue reports of extensive melamine contamination of wheat gluten, rice protein, and other vegetable protein.

The Committee’s investigation of contaminated pet food and the discovery of melamine contamination of wheat gluten imported from China were examined in a hearing on food safety held by the committee last week.

The hearing brought to light serious shortcomings in the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) inspection and regulation of food imported from China.

Last week’s hearing brought immediate action from the FDA . . .

Read more at the news release from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce

While toxic chemicals are a serious health issue anywhere in the world, we have our own toxic chemical wasteland right here in the Gulf region. These dangerous toxins are flowing into the Mississippi River, and then on to the Gulf of Mexico. Much of our "fresh" seafood comes from the Gulf Region . . . CT

Along an 85-mile stretch between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La., there are 130-plus petrochemical plants and refineries discharging toxins to the air and the waters flowing to the Mississippi River, then into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. 

Cancers, respiratory problems and emotional disorders seep through the communities, collectively called Cancer Alley.

Don't think this is just a problem for the Gulf States - the Mississippi River flows through a great portion of the U.S., and millions of Americans will be affected by these toxins - CT

Deep Trouble - The Gulf in Peril
http://web.naplesnews.com/deeptrouble/deeptrouble.html#dayone

This week The House overwhelmingly endorsed federal help for communities faced with deteriorating sewage systems, ignoring White House warnings that the cost was too high.

The legislation, approved 367-58, would spend $1.7 billion over five years in federal grants to states and municipalities to modernize wastewater systems and control sewage overflows that pollute rivers and streams and pose health risks.

Those voting against the bill, which now moves to the Senate, were all Republicans.

"No American should have to walk outside after a storm to see sewage in the streets," said Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif.

Supporters cited Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the nation's wastewater infrastructure will face a funding shortfall of $300 billion to $400 billion over the next 20 years.

The White House, in a statement released Tuesday, said the administration strongly opposes the bill, stating that the money approved was "unrealistic in the current fiscal environment."

It added that the bill could also encourage municipalities to delay starting sewer infrastructure projects while they wait for federal subsidies. The statement promoted an administration proposal to give exceptions to state caps on tax-exempt private activity bonds for wastewater and drinking water projects.

According to a 2004 EPA report, about 850 billion gallons of untreated wastewater and storm water are released every year as combined sewer overflow. There are also between 23,000 and 75,000 incidents each year of sanitary sewer overflow, releasing between 3 billion and 10 billion gallons.

Combined sewer systems collect rainwater runoff, domestic sewage and industrial wastewater in one pipe. Sanitary sewer systems carry only sewage from homes and industrial and commercial wastewater.

The EPA says there are roughly 772 communities serving some 40 million people with the older and more vulnerable combined sewer systems. Most are located in the Northeast and Great Lakes areas, with some in the Pacific Northwest.

Congress in 2002 and 2003 also approved federal grants under the Clean Water Act for sewer systems, but then failed to appropriate the money in annual spending bills.

The legislation is one of three water quality bills the House is taking up this week. On Thursday it plans to revisit a defunct Clean Water Act program providing $125 million in grants for alternative water source projects. The administration also opposes this bill, saying it costs too much and is unnecessary because of other available funding sources.

On Friday it is to act on the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which would give out up to $20 billion in loans over five years for water pollution abatement projects.

The bill is H.R. 569

On the Net:
Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov/

2004 EPA report: http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/cso/cpolicy--report2004.cfm

Source: Associated Press

In 2000 Deirdre Imus began investigating how toxins in the home and hospital environment affect children’s health. She was concerned about the number of supposedly safe products we use in our everyday living.

We are exposed to more than 82,000 chemicals in our environment. Yet the EPA has reviewed fewer than 2% for their safety. Environmental hazards are not always obvious, and yet they are real and affect us all - especially children.

Regrettably, it is children who are the most vulnerable to many environmental insults. In fact, studies have shown a 30% percent increase in various cancers in children result from exposure to toxins in our environment.

From the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat, numerous toxic substances from a variety of sources are bombarding our children each day. Not enough is known about how all of these toxins, interact with one another and our body chemistry. Taking any step to reduce or eliminate toxins in our environment is simple common sense and is often easy to do.

Switching to a non-toxic cleaning product is a single change that can lead to another and another and ultimately to a cleaner, safer and healthier life.

Deirdre Imus is the founder and president of The Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology at Hackensack University Medical Center.

For more information, go to www.dienviro.com

117,000 faulty tanks still need to be cleaned up - that's at least the figure from the latest reports dated September, 2005.

Forty three states say they expect to find 16,700 new leaks in the next five years - and federal money will be required for the cleanups.

It will cost at least $12 billion to clean up contamination from tens of thousands of gasoline storage tanks that are leaking underground, congressional auditors say - and the latest government figures are outdated, so the real cleanup cost will be higher.

Now if you think that money is the problem - you're wrong! That's the scandal . . .

Every time you pay for a gallon of gas, a tenth of a penny goes into a trust fund to remove the contamination. The fund now has about $2.6 billion and is expected to reach $3 billion before the end of 2008.

Congress created the trust fund in 1986 because of concerns about contamination from leaking tanks at gas stations, but annually only a small fraction has been appropriated for cleanups. Most has sat in the Treasury to help counter federal budget deficits.

AND Congress and the Bush Administration have provided $72 million each year, according to a report last week from the GAO (General Accountability Office).

The EPA, which oversees the cleanups, has already spent more than $10 billion to reduce the contamination over the past 20 years caused by hundreds of thousands of leaking tanks, many of them found at gas stations and convenience stores.

GAO estimates that it will take $12 billion to remove 54,000 leaks from underground storage tanks that are either abandoned, or no one can be held accountable for cleaning up. Another 63,000 leaking tanks would be paid for by pump stations, store owners or other operators of the leaking tanks, along with insurers and state funds. 

For year leaking underground gasoline tanks have been blamed for much of the MTBE ( methyl tertiary-butyl ether) found in drinking water supplies in at least 36 states. More than 150 lawsuits have been filed seeking damages because of problems with MTBE, which until recently has been a widespread gasoline additive that helped curb air pollution.

The GAO's own report has found that some states' financial assurance funds lack the money to pay for timely tank cleanups, and tank owners covered under the state programs usually pay only a small deductible when tanks leak - the government picks up most of the tab.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 required underground storage tanks to be inspected every three years. Only one-third of the states currently assure the EPA they are checking to see if tank owners are covered by insurance.

Now the GAO has the money, but in their report this past week they are going to "consider studying" better ways to distribute money from the trust fund. And the GAO is also going to "consider studying" whether the state funds and insurance are effective enough.

More Resources On the Net on this Subject:

House Energy and Commerce Committee

 http://energycommerce.house.gov/

EPA

http://www.epa.gov/OUST/index.htm

Article Source: ENN Network

The nation's biggest milk company, Dean Foods says it will refuse milk from cloned cows. And smaller companies like Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, along with Organic Valley have say they will oppose milk from clones.

Now, there is a difference between refuse and oppose . . . CT

The FDA has already given preliminary approval to meat and milk from cloned animals, and could grant final approval by the end of the year. Federal scientists say there is virtually no difference between clones and conventional cows, pigs or goats.

Dallas-based Dean Foods is a $10 billion company that owns Land O Lakes and Horizon Organic, among dozens of other brands. In a statement issued last week, the company said its customers and consumers don't want milk from cloned animals.

"Numerous surveys have shown that Americans are not interested in buying dairy products that contain milk from cloned cows and Dean Foods is responding to the needs of our customers," the statement said.

Milk companies worry that concern over cloning could turn people away from dairy products.

So far, public opinion appears mixed - A September poll by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology found that 64%  of respondents were uncomfortable with animal cloning - And a December poll by the University of Maryland found that the same percentage would buy, or consider buying, such food if the government said it was safe.

What happened between September and December? I'm with the 64% in September, and just because the government says it safe don't make it so - CT

Dean Foods spokeswoman Marguerite Copel said the company respects the FDA, "but we've got a customer and consumer base."

The company did not say whether it would use milk from the offspring of cloned animals. Cloning companies say the purpose of cloning is not to put many cloned livestock into the food supply. Instead, the goal is to make a genetic copy of a superior animal, and then put its offspring into the food supply.

So is using the "offspring of cloned animals" going to be a way for companies to say there are not using cloned animals? Food for thought. CT

Source: ENN

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has become aware that a number of Americans who placed orders for specific drug products over the Internet (Ambien, Xanax, Lexapro, and Ativan), instead received a product that, according to preliminary analysis, contains haloperidol, a powerful anti-psychotic drug.

Reports show several consumers in the United States have sought emergency medical treatment for symptoms such as difficulty in breathing, muscle spasms and muscle stiffness after ingesting the suspect product. Haloperidol can cause muscle stiffness and spasms, agitation, and sedation. 

Therefore, the agency is reissuing its warning to consumers about the possible dangers of buying prescription drugs online.

FDA laboratory analysis of the misrepresented tablets is ongoing, but preliminary analysis indicates they contain haloperidol, the active ingredient in a prescription drug used primarily to treat schizophrenia. FDA learned about these mislabeled and potentially dangerous products after their recipients complained to a U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturer.

The origin of these tablets is unknown but the packages were postmarked in Greece. Photographs of the tablets in question and the shipping packages can be seen at online.

http://www.emergencyemail.org/newsemergency/anmviewer.asp?a=176&z=1

Back in October I posed about the Murphy Oil Spill in New Orleans, as a result of Hurricane Katrina

A federal judge in New Orleans on Tuesday approved a $330 million class action settlement between Murphy Oil Corp.  and residents of a New Orleans suburb flooded by crude oil during Hurricane Katrina.

U.S. District Court Judge Eldon Fallon signed off on the agreement between the El Dorado, Arkansas-based company and some 3,800 residents of a blue-collar neighborhood whose homes and businesses were flooded by oil from Murphy's Meraux, Louisiana, refinery after Katrina struck on Aug. 29, 2005.

A giant crude oil storage tank at the refinery ruptured after being lifted off its base by floodwaters that inundated the area, pouring about 25,000 barrels of oil into 6,500 homes and businesses in a one square-mile (2.59 square-kilometer) area of the adjoining neighborhood.

Lawyers for the homeowners in the neighborhood that has remained largely abandoned since the oil spill will receive $36 million under the settlement, an issue Murphy has contested.

"Putting the attorneys' fee issue aside, the company and its attorneys are pleased," said Murphy lead attorney Kerry Miller. "It's basically the relief that we sought."

Barring any further appeals, the company could start issuing checks to property owners as early as March 8.

Murphy could still face lawsuits from residents who were not part of the class action suit.

Reuters

A former New York City policeman died late Tuesday just as his 21-year-old son prepared to appear at the State of the Union address to symbolize the desperate health problems of his father and other ailing Sept. 11 workers.

Cesar Borja, 52, had been in intensive care, breathing through a tube, at Mount Sinai Medical Center, awaiting a lung transplant.

Borja's son, college student Cesar Borja Jr., was invited by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., to attend President Bush's speech as a reminder to the president of workers who were stricken with a host of illnesses after exposure to toxic World Trade Center debris.

The younger Borja learned of his father's death in a phone call while eating dinner around 6:30 p.m. but insisted on attending the president's 9 p.m. speech - in memory of his father.

"It's a very emotional time, and it's very difficult," said the son. "My father is a symbol of those in need, in desperation."

The Hunter College student said he came to Washington to make the point that there are many more whose lives are threatened by their exposure at ground zero.

"9/11 is not over. It didn't end in 2001. It is still affecting my father and numerous other first responders," he said. "My father is an extreme example of what can happen and what may and will happen in the future."

Clinton and other New York lawmakers have been urging the government for years to pay for treating Sept. 11-related illnesses.

This is our "dirty" little secret as we fight this war on terror for 9/11. Thousands of volunteers across America came to ground zero to clear the debris, but no one wants to talk about what has happened to them. They are sick and many have already died, but the nation seems to have forgotten these brave and patriotic Americans - CT

Read our previous blog posting on this subject of workers at "Ground Zero"

A huge study from Denmark offers the latest reassurance that cell phones don't trigger cancer.

Scientists tracked 420,000 Danish cell phone users, including 52,000 who had gabbed on the gadgets for 10 years or more, and some who started using them 21 years ago.

They matched phone records to the famed Danish Cancer Registry that records every citizen who gets the disease _ and reported Tuesday that cell-phone callers are no more likely than anyone else to suffer a range of cancer types.

The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, is the largest yet to find no bad news about the safety of cell phones and the radiofrequency energy they emit.

But even the lead researcher doubts it will end the debate.

"There's really no biological basis for you to be concerned about radio waves," said John Boice, a Vanderbilt University professor and scientific director of the International Epidemiology Institute in Rockville, Md. "Nonetheless, people are."

So Boice and colleagues at Copenhagen's Danish Cancer Society plan to continue tracking the Danish callers until at least some have used the phones for 30 years.

This so-called Danish cohort "is probably the strongest study out there because of the outstanding registries they keep," said Joshua Muscat of Pennsylvania State University, who also has studied cell phones and cancer.

"As the body of evidence accumulates, people can become more reassured that these devices are safe, but the final word is not there yet," Muscat added.

Cell phones beam radiofrequency energy that can penetrate the brain's outer edge, raising questions about cancers of the head and neck, brain tumors or leukemia. Most research has found no risk, but a few studies have raised questions. And while U.S. health officials insist the evidence shows no real reason for concern, they don't give the phones a definitive clean bill of health, either, pending long-term data on slow-growing cancers.

For the latest study, personal identification numbers assigned to each Dane at birth allowed researchers to match people who began using cell phones between 1982 and 1995 with cancer records.

Among 420,000 callers tracked through 2002, there were 14,249 cancers diagnosed _ fewer than the 15,001 predicted from national cancer rates. Nor did the study find increased risks for any specific tumor type.

Source: Associated Press

Majority Of States Cited As Being At Unacceptable Level To Cope With Widespread Public Health Emergencies

This should come as no surprise to many of you - where is your home state on the list? CT

A new study indicates that five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, public health emergency preparedness is still not at an acceptable level in most states.

No state received a perfect score. However, executive director Jeffrey Levi said Kansas and Oklahoma received the highest scores, with nine out of the 10 indicators met. California, Iowa, Maryland and New Jersey are at the bottom, with scores of four out of 10.

Read the full study at CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/12/health/main2251484.shtml