And more.
A new U.S. exporter to Germany, via the Associated Press:
Berlin measles traced to refugees, but 2 cases linked to US
Berlin has recorded 347 cases of measles since the start of the year, more than twice the number it had during all of 2014.
Officials believe the outbreak started with a child asylum seeker from Bosnia, because many subsequent infections among refugees were genetically linked.
“We consider this child to be the index case, because the measles virus this child had is identical to the ones that followed,” said Dr. Dirk Werber of Berlin’s state health office.
Werber said at least two cases in Berlin have been linked to the United States. One involved a woman who developed symptoms in the United States before traveling to Berlin; a second involved a child who developed the infection after returning from the U.S.
A kingdom fearing loss of magic, via CBC News:
Disney offers measles advice to California health officials
No evidence anyone downplayed seriousness of the outbreak or misled the public
As the measles outbreak spread last month, Disneyland executives sent a series of emails to California health officials asking them to emphasize that the theme park was not responsible for the illnesses and was safe to visit, documents obtained by The Associated Press show.
There is no evidence Disneyland — or health officials, who incorporated at least some of the theme park’s suggestions — tried to downplay the seriousness of the outbreak or mislead the public. Nor is it unusual for companies to try to get public officials’ ear during a crisis.
But the email exchange pulls back the curtain on what can be a delicate process. And it shows Disneyland’s concern about the disease’s potential harm to “The Happiest Place on Earth” even as the theme park worked with health authorities to alert the public to the danger.
Another African viral outbreak ebbs, via the Guardian:
Africa close to wiping out wild polio after six months free of disease
Hopes high that virus beaten as Somalia and Nigeria reach milestone, but experts counsel caution amid fears Ebola has undermined healthcare systems
Africa has gone six months without any new cases of wild polio for the first time, experts say, raising hopes that the disease could be wiped out on the continent sooner than expected.
Wednesday marked half a year since the last polio case in Somalia. Nigeria achieved the same landmark on 24 January, though it has suffered some cases of vaccine-derived polio, a rare mutation from the oral polio vaccine in areas of poor sanitation.
“This is incredible progress,” said the Global Health Strategies, a New York-based health consultancy. “This is the first time ever that Africa has gone a full six months without a single case of wild polio virus. Combined with the recent successes in Nigeria, today’s milestone is a strong sign that Africa may soon be polio-free.”
From Newswise, veterinary vaccine advocacy:
Wildlife at Risk around the Globe – Scientists Say Vaccinating Endangered Carnivores of Increasing Importance
International Experts Agree on “Top 5″ Actions Needed
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and its Feline Health Center, and the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine have just co-convened the first “Vaccines for Conservation” international meeting at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo in New York City. Experts from around the world focused on the threat that canine distemper virus poses to the conservation of increasingly fragmented populations of threatened carnivores. While canine distemper has been known for many years as a problem affecting domestic dogs, the virus has been appearing in new areas and causing disease and mortality in a wide range of wildlife species, including tigers and lions. In fact, many experts agree that the virus should not be called “canine distemper” virus at all, given the diversity of species it infects.
The forum brought together many of the world’s top disease ecologists, wildlife biologists, immunologists, virologists, vaccinologists, epidemiologists, wildlife veterinarians and pathologists, and policy experts to explore whether it would be appropriate and feasible to develop approaches to canine distemper vaccination to protect at-risk wild carnivore populations. The group looked at examples of distemper outbreaks around the world, including the recent case study offered by the Amur tiger population in the Russian Far East. In 2010 canine distemper virus was diagnosed in tigers that died in widely separated locations across the Amur tiger range. While it is challenging to assess the overall impact on the population of such a wide ranging and elusive big cat, the virus contributed to the decline of one well-studied sub-population, which went from 38 individuals to 9 between the years 2007 and 2012.
WCS Russia Program Director Dale Miquelle stated that “Like many large carnivores, tigers face an array of serious threats throughout their range, including poaching (of tigers themselves and of their prey), habitat loss, and conflict with local people. Addressing these very clear threats remains the top priority for the allocation of scarce tiger conservation resources. Importantly, these threats have led to tiger populations becoming smaller and more fragmented, making them much more susceptible to sudden population declines and even extinction due to disease. I therefore welcome the technical help and resources of the veterinary community to enhance our preparedness for addressing pathogens such as canine distemper virus.” In fact, additional analysis by WCS and international colleagues has shown that smaller populations of Amur tigers are more vulnerable than larger populations to extinction from distemper. Populations consisting of 25 individuals are 1.65 times more likely to disappear in the next 50 years if the virus is present. That finding is profoundly disturbing for wild tigers, given that in most sites where wild tigers persist they are limited to populations of less than 25 breeding adults.
Another lethal impact of air pollution, via Newswise:
Middle-Aged Men at Highest Risk of Suicide After Breathing Poor Air
Study in the American Journal of Epidemiology found increased risk of suicide associated with short-term air pollution exposure
A new study from the University of Utah is adding to the small, but growing body of research that links air pollution exposure to suicide.
In research published today in The American Journal of Epidemiology, investigator Amanda Bakian, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Utah, and her colleagues outline chemical and meteorological variables that are risk factors for suicide. Their study, titled “Risk assessment of air pollution and suicide,” examines how those factors play out among different genders and age groups. The findings build on other research by Bakian released in April 2014, when she found that fine particulates and nitrogen dioxide in air pollution are linked with an increased risk for suicide.
In the latest study, Bakian and researchers found an increased risk of suicide associated with short-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter among Salt Lake City residents who died by suicide between 2000 to 2010. In particular, men and Salt Lake City residents between 36 to 64 years of age experienced the highest risk of suicide following short-term air pollution exposure.
“We are not exactly sure why risk of suicide was higher in these two groups but suspect that it might be because these two groups were either exposed to higher levels of air pollution or that other additional factors make these two groups more susceptible to the effects of air pollution,” said Bakian.
And just the place to breathe that bad air, via Environmental News Network:
When you stop at a red light you are exposed to higher levels of air pollution
UK commuters spend an average of about 1.5 hours a day at the wheel. Road vehicles in particular are known to emit polluting nanoparticles which contribute to respiratory and heart diseases. Now, researchers at the University of Surrey have found that where drivers spend just 2% of their journey time passing through traffic intersections managed by lights, this short duration contributes to about 25% of total exposure to these harmful particles.
The team monitored drivers’ exposure to air pollutants at various points of a journey. Signalised traffic intersections were found to be high pollution hot-spots due to the frequent changes in driving conditions. With drivers decelerating and stopping at lights, then revving up to move quickly when lights go green, peak particle concentration was found to be 29 times higher than that during free flowing traffic conditions. As well as concentration, researchers found that as cars tend to be close together at lights, the likelihood of exposure to vehicle emissions is also significantly increased.
“Air pollution was recently placed in the top ten health risks faced by human beings globally, with the World Health Organization linking air pollution to seven million premature deaths every year,” said lead author, Dr Prashant Kumar, from the University of Surrey.
Another kind of deadly traffic, via TheLocal.it:
Baby dies in ambulance as hospitals are full
A newborn baby in Sicily died in an ambulance on Thursday because there were no bed spaces in three local hospitals, prompting Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin to launch an investigation.
Baby Nicole died in an ambulance en route to a hospital in Ragusa, south-east Sicily, hours after being born in Catania where three emergency rooms allegedly refused to admit the sick newborn.
She was born with breathing problems in a private clinic in Catania, leading staff to phone nearby paediatric intensive care units. All three said there was no space for the baby, La Stampa reported.
Medics at the clinic then decided to drive Nicole to Ragusa, a journey of around 100km, but the baby’s condition worsened and she died on the way to hospital.
After the jump, GMO apples approved in the U.S., a water crisis in Pakistan, a major water crisis in Brazil — with video, a global draft climate deal readied, a stunning Chinese pollution admission, a major California fracking policy hearing, fracking the Gulf of Mexico, an indigenous Latin American win over a Peruvian petro project, on to Fukushimapocalypse Now!, with rateful restart expectations in Japan, and new nuclear power corporateer Bill Gates seeks Chinese partnership. . .
From Environment News Service, almost biblical:
U.S. Approves First Genetically Engineered Apples
The first genetically engineered apples were today approved for planting and sale in the United States by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The two approved apple varieties are genetically engineered to resist browning. They were developed by the Canadian company Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc. and will be marketed as the Arctic® Granny and Arctic® Golden.
apple label
The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, APHIS, said it is taking this action based on a final plant pest risk assessment that finds
the genetically engineered apples “are unlikely to pose a plant pest risk to agriculture and other plants in the United States.”
From the New York Times, a water crisis in Pakistan:
Starved for Energy, Pakistan Braces for a Water Crisis
Energy-starved Pakistanis, their economy battered by chronic fuel and electricity shortages, may soon have to contend with a new resource crisis: major water shortages, the Pakistani government warned this week.
A combination of global climate change and local waste and mismanagement have led to an alarmingly rapid depletion of Pakistan’s water supply, said the minister for water and energy, Khawaja Muhammad Asif.
“Under the present situation, in the next six to seven years, Pakistan can be a water-starved country,” Mr. Asif said in an interview, echoing a warning that he first issued at a news conference in Lahore this week.
And a major water crisis in Brazil, via Fox News Latino:
Brazilian scientists decry government response to drought
The water supply crisis in southeastern Brazil is the result of both a shortage of rainfall and mismangement by authorities, according to members of the country’s academy of science.
Scientists from various fields agreed in a symposium that there needs to be a change in authorities’ mindset if Brazil wants to overcome the current crisis and to avoid similar situations in the future.
“There must be a drastic change in public policy,” academy member Jose Galizia Tundisi said.
Tundisi pointed to flaws in the existing water system, such as a lack of central coordination and leaky pipes, noting that in Belem, capital city of the state of Para, “up to 60 percent of treated water is lost in distribution.”
A related development from teleSUR English:
Brazilians protest government for lack of water in Sao Paulo
Program notes:
Brazilian citizens and activists took to the streets of Sao Paulo to protest government policies in the distribution of water. They claim that they have been feeling the effects of the lack of water for months.
A global draft climate deal readied, via Deutsche Welle:
Negotiators agree on draft climate deal
Nearly 200 nations have agreed on a draft text for a deal due at the end of 2015 to fight climate change. The document contains a range of proposals, but critics say it’s unlikely to produce a strong final agreement.
A global deal to fight climate change is to be negotiated at the end of the year in Paris, and a text agreed to in Geneva on Friday will serve as the blueprint during those talks.
Delegates from 195 UN member states agreed on an 86-page draft text as the official basis for the climate talks in Paris. The draft more than doubled in lengths from 38 pages in an earlier document, which might lead to more difficult negotiations. The text resulted from week of talks in Geneva during which countries could add text without any checks.
The document has radically different proposals for fighting climate change. One foresees a phase-out of net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, another vaguely seeks a peak of emissions “as soon as possible.”
A stunning Chinese pollution admission, via Reuters:
China must cut pollution by half before environment improves: official
China needs to slash emission levels by as much as half before any obvious improvements are made to its environment, a senior government official said on Friday, underscoring the challenges facing the country after three decades of breakneck growth.
Zhai Qing, China’s deputy minister of environmental protection, told a briefing that pollutants had been cut by just “a few percentage points” since 2006 and had to drop much further if any progress is to be made.
“According to expert assessments, emissions will have to fall another 30-50 percent below current levels if we are to see noticeable changes in environmental quality,” he said.
A major California fracking policy hearing, via the East Bay Express:
Big Hearing on Fracking in Oakland on February 18
California officials will hold a hearing in Oakland next week to receive public input on the state’s environmental impact report on fracking. The hearing will be on February 18 from 5 to 8 pm at the Elihu Harris State Building Auditorium, at 1515 Clay Street in downtown Oakland. It will be one of six public hearings around the state to get public input on the fracking EIR.
The Bay Area hearing follows revelations this week that wastewater from fracking has contaminated groundwater with the carcinogenic chemical benzene at levels hundreds of times the maximum considered safe by federal regulators, as reported in the Los Angeles Times. This is only the latest revelation in a growing scandal around the state agency supervising the oil industry, the Department of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR). Since July 2014, the US Environmental Protection Agency has gradually revealed growing evidence that hundreds of California oil fields have been injecting wastewater laced with toxic chemicals into wells connected to drinking water supplies.
From BBC News, an indigenous Latin American win over a Peruvian petro project:
Argentina oil company leaves Peru town after protests
An Argentine oil company says it will withdraw from an area of the Peruvian Amazon where it has been prospecting for gas deposits.
The company, Pluspetrol, was asked to leave by the government after the death of a demonstrator in Junin province, during four days of violent protests.
The demonstrators, mostly indigenous people, accused the company of contaminating local rivers and soil.
Pluspetrol denied causing any environmental damage.
Fracking the Gulf of Mexico, via Al Jazeera America:
Documents reveal oil companies fracking in Gulf of Mexico
Government lists at least 100 sites offshore where regulators approved the controversial exploration method
While a debate rages over the use of hydraulic fracturing to exploit fossil fuel reserves inland, the practice has quietly taken hold offshore, in the Gulf of Mexico.
Documents obtained by “Fault Lines” reveal that the world’s largest oil firms are now fracking in some of the Gulf’s deepest waters — raising questions about how it is being regulated.
A list of about 100 well sites offers one of the first snapshots of the practice, which until just a couple years ago was unknown to the public.
“There’s been a level of secrecy that’s shielded this activity from view, literally and figuratively,” said Jonathan Henderson, who works for New Orleans’ Gulf Restoration Network. “This activity is taking place offshore, and the public can’t get out here [to see it].”
On to Fukushimapocalypse Now!, with rateful restart expectations in Japan, via the Yomiuri Shimbun:
Approval for KEPCO raises hopes of curbing power rates
The Nuclear Regulation Authority’s decision to issue a safety screening certificate for two reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture has raised prospects for cutting the utility’s power-generating costs and eventually curbing electricity rates.
But how much progress is being made to restart idled reactors across the nation remains uncertain. Regional differences in electricity charges could widen further.
Before the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, KEPCO had 11 reactors in operation, and nuclear power accounted for about 50 percent of the firm’s total power generation. But currently plagued by increased costs due to the suspension of its reactors, KEPCO plans to raise electricity rates again in April.
And from Want China Times, control/alt/delete:
Bill Gates visits China to discuss nuclear reactor cooperation
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and chairman of nuclear startup TerraPower, was in China again earlier this week, Shanghai-based China Business News reports.
In recent years, Gates has visited China at least three times to seek cooperation with the Chinese side on developing a next-generation nuclear reactor.
While in Beijing Feb. 9, Gates met with Nur Bekri, director of China’s National Energy Administration and they held in-depth discussion on a US-China traveling wave reactor project.
