Chapter two is "Poisoned Fish". This chapter is a continuation of what he briefly touched on at one point in chapter one: the contamination of fish and how it can destroy our body.
The issue of contamination in our fish is beyond the New Jersey shoreline, but a Federal issue. "These bioaccumulation studies showed significant amounts of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxin in edible fish, both carcinogens that cause cancer and teratogens, which can result in learning disabilities and birth defects in children" (31). You would think that with this information the public would put a halt on fishing or at least take caution, but many feel that if they have consumed the fish for so long and nothing has happened then it should be fine. Which is not valid. PCB based products became a central part of many American industries for its various uses such as in inks, fabric dyes, lubricants, sealants, paint additives, and more. The toxicity of PCBs were known immediately, but companies tried to keep it on the down low because the chemicals were so useful. In the 1930s, employees of Swann Company displayed many health issues, such as acnelike pustules on the face and body and loss of energy, appetite, and libido, which are now considered the classic symptoms of PCB toxicity. This issue was not limited to just one company. Monsanto was sued multiple times for damaging the health of its employees and residents near its Superfund sites in Alabama where the Swann facility was located. With the dangers of the PCBs known and the health affects documented and seen, it would show everyone just how bad the situation is. As a result, PCBs were banned in 1977, but fish in the Atlantic waters were still contaminated with PCBs and when eaten, the toxins enter the body of the eater. It's a cycle that ends with humans at the top of the food chain and harms the body. Fish, especially ones that migrate down the coast create a danger to all people along the coast, but many people refuse to believe. Not only are we in danger because of our food supply, but the water as well. Companies pour toxins into the soil thinking that it would just go away, but it contaminates our water and creates problems for us. That leads us into chapter 3.
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The book required for this class is Protecting New Jersey's Environment. Chapter 1 discusses "The War on Cancer" between the time of the 1970s up to the end of the 1990s. It all started in the 70s when President Nixon declared this "war". The Program on Environmental Cancer and Toxic Substances (PECTS) among others began to fight this war which is still on going to this day. I have people in my own family that have been diagnosed with cancer and it seems like most of my friends also know of someone or are close to someone who has passed from cancer or is thankfully in remission. Cancer is a very hard disease to treat and fight and can even be hard to diagnose sometimes. Sometimes 10 or more years can go by between the time a person was exposed to the carcinogens up to the time of the actual diagnosis. At the time this book was written, there were 246 substances with supportable scientific evidence for carcinogenicity. These include ultraviolet radiation (e.g., sun and tanning beds), viruses (e.g., human papilliomavirus), ionizing radiation (e.g., radon), pesticides (e.g., DDT), solvents (e.g., paint, dry cleaning), benzene (e.g., gaso- line and tobacco smoke), fibers (e.g., asbestos, exposure to which accounts for the largest percentage of occupational cancers), dioxins (e.g., paper manu- facturing and smelting), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (e.g., burning fossil fuels), and heavy metals (e.g., arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, lead, and nickel) (12). I'm sure this list has increased to this day. Just about everything can cause cancer! Even things that are supposed to be good for you like use of toothpaste and deodorant! It is absolutely insane. In the state of California they have a law which requires them to label if something can cause cancer (just about everything). Even if the actual object isn't proven to cause cancer (such as a pair of shoes for example), if those shoes were made in a factory with chemicals around or could have been exposed to the exhaust fumes of the truck it was delivered in - then it must have that label.
"The New Jersey Department of Health calculated geostatistical spatial distributions of cancer mortality in New Jersey and the factors associated with any increased risk of cancer mortality in the New York City–New Jersey–Philadelphia metropolitan region. The study con- firmed that this region did indeed have excessively high childhood leukemia, young adult Hodgkin’s disease, and lymphoma cancer mortality rates com- pared with the United States as a whole" (11). Children's bodies are more at risk because they are still developing making them more susceptible to toxic and carcinogenic exposures. And its not just fumes and chemicals from factories, but even our food and ground water is effected. Pesticides sprayed on our food can cause cancer and it is not as simple as washing the food, but it can seep into the pores of the plant and be consumed that way. Groundwater can also contain pesticides or metals that can cause cancer. When the pesticides are sprayed onto the plants they seep into the soil as well and into our water supply. This is somewhat similar to the Flint water crisis when their water was contaminated and they were in great need for clean water. People were getting sick and the government was working at a very slow pace to help and even tried to get their supply from another place that was only less containment, but not healthy. |
Gabriella Brycea Junior at Seton Hall University studying Elementary and Special education with Environmental Studies. Archives
April 2018
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