Echo
Only half the drugs in sewage are removed before entering Great Lakes
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The impact of most of these “chemicals of emerging concern” on the health of people and aquatic life remains unclear, according to the International Joint Commission.
Great Lakes Echo (http://greatlakesecho.org/tag/ehn/)
The impact of most of these “chemicals of emerging concern” on the health of people and aquatic life remains unclear, according to the International Joint Commission.
Lead poisoning of Detroit children has dropped dramatically, and experts attribute it to the cleanup or demolition of vacant homes, a shrinking population and stricter city landlord laws.
Baby fish exposed to hormone-laden manure from Indiana farms were more likely to be male than those raised in uncontaminated water.
The findings add to evidence that farm runoff may alter fish hormones.
People of color eat a lot of locally-caught fish for economic and cultural reasons. A 2012 survey of more than 1,700 Great Lakes anglers found that 61 percent of whites said they followed fish consumption advisories. Half of non-whites said they did.
Indigenous people in the United States and Canada are burdened with health problems linked to pollutants. But native foods, medicines, language, ceremonies and traditional farming, hunting and fishing are also jeopardized.
Some longtime contaminants – like DDT – are declining more quickly than ever in the Great Lakes.
But new ones – like flame retardants – are on the rise.
A soon-to-be-published study evaluates the fate of the Great Lakes chemical load.
When one thinks of iconic fish, Lake Ontario’s lake trout probably don’t come to mind.
But the white-bellied natives of these deep, cold transnational waters have a unique reputation — one considerably nobler than taking bait or adorning plates: They are a barometer for global pollutants.
Ten years ago, when an international mining company arrived near the shores of Lake Superior to burrow a mile under the Earth and pull metals out of ore, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community had to stand for its rights and its water.