How Airplane Contrails Are Helping Make the Planet Warmer

Yale ENVIRONMENT 360

Contrails over Manitoba. A PinP photo.

New research shows that condensation trails from aircraft exhaust are playing a significant role in global warming. Experts are concerned that efforts to change aviation engine design to reduce CO2 emissions could actually create more contrails and raise daily temperatures even more. Story here.

Canada needs to triple the amount of protected land and water to tackle 'nature emergency': report

CBC News

A Cape May warbler. So far, its populations are stable.
Photo by PinP.

Biodiversity is declining faster than at any other time in human history, study finds. Story here.

A popular farm fungicide, now banned in Europe as a suspected carcinogen, remains in widespread use in Canada today.

The European Union halted sales of all crop fungicides containing the active ingredient, chlorothalonil this spring. The move followed advice from its Food Safety Agency (EFSA) that chlorothalonil "may cause cancer in humans." Canada, on the other hand, re-approved the same product just over a year ago. Hard numbers on amounts still being applied in this country are hard to come by. But official government documents show it continues to be approved for use in no less than 29 crop protection products.  by Larry Powell A ground sprayer in Manitoba. Stats Canada says farmers in that  province apply fungicides "more frequently" than their counterparts  in any other province, "possibly due to its large potato sector." A PinP photo.

Chlorothalonil is the active ingredient in several agricultural fungicides used to treat mildew, blight and mold in many food crops.                                                    It's been used worldwide, since bing approved in the US in the '60s. Almost 5 1/2 thousand tonnes were applied to American crops in 2017, making it the third most-used fungicide there, only after copper and sulphur.  And, according to The Guardian, it's the most widely-used pesticide in all of the UK.

Chlorothalonil use in the US in 2011. A research project at the University of British Columbia, CAREX reports that 581 tonnes of chlorothalonil were sold in BC alone in 2010 - 1,121 tonnes in Ontario in 2008. No more recent figures are given and no other provinces are mentioned. But tables which remains posted on a Government of Canada website (see bottom), shows chlorothalonil remains approved for use in no less than 29 different agricultural products. And CAREX has reached the same conclusion as the EU. Its website declares, "Chlorothalonil is associated with cancer of  the kidney and stomach."  While Statistics Canada does not give a breakdown of active ingredients, the federal agency says almost one in four (23%) of all crop farms in this country applied fungicides of one kind or another in 2011. And it adds, farmers in Manitoba used them "more frequently than those in any other province," possibly due to that province's high level of potato production. Here's what the European study finds:  ·      Chlorothalonil binds to red blood cells, delaying its removal from the body,  ·      is very toxic if inhaled and can cause serious damage to the eyes and skin,  ·      mainly attacks the kidneys and forstomach, producing both benign and malignant tumours,  ·      slows sexual maturity in treated lab animals and causes them to give birth to underweight young, ·     produces acute risks to amphibians and long-lasting damage to fish,                  . could pose a hazard to groundwater, especially when it exceeds allowable standards.      But there was too little information to determine whether it harms wild mammals, aquatic species other than fish, or bees. (Earlier research, however, has linked it to diminishing numbers of bumblebees, as well.)The study was peer-reviewed by experts in the field. Canada' approach - a study in contrasts

In May of last year, Canada's Pesticide Management Regulatory Agency, PMRA - a division of Health Canada, released results  of its "re-evaluation" of chlorothalonil. The agency did impose some restrictions, including its use on cut flowers grown in greenhouses. (Even that restriction, however, does not need to be met until next spring.) But the PMRA's main finding was: "Most uses...meet current  standards for protection of human health or the environment. It’s continued registration is acceptable."

                              

                  

  

                                

           

July 16th, 2019. Still waiting for the PMRA to respond to my e-mail,

below!!

==============
Media Qs

• 
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

  Larry Powell

  
  

  To:

  pmra.infoserv@hc-sc.gc.ca

  Mar. 31 at 9:16 p.m.

  
  

  Dear PMRA,

  
  

  I'm a journalist in Manitoba. I am attaching the draft

  
  
  

  of an article I am writing for my blog and perhaps

  
  
  

  some weekly newspapers here in Manitoba.

  
  

  My questions are;

  
  
  
  
  
  

  Will you be reviewing the status of the fungicide chlorothalonil, now that the European Union is banning it?

  • How do you explain the differences between the findings of the EFSA and your own re-evaluation?
  • Would you kindly review my attached script and correct any factual errors you may encounter?
  • Please feel free to include any additional comments you feel may be relevant, which I can include in my final draft. 

  Many thanks for your attention.

  
  

  Sincerely.

  Have a green day!

  Larry Powell

  Please visit Planet in Peril -  "where science gets respect."

  Facebook: Twitter,

  Skype - larry.powell9

  Videos.                  

RELATED:  

EU ban on chlorothalonil endorsed by member states.

Thirty years of unique data reveal what's really killing coral reefs

Science News
Study is world's longest record of reactive nutrients, alga concentrations for coral reefs. Story here.

Bleached coral. Photo by NOAA.

The Uninhabitable Earth

New York Intelligencer. 

Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: 

What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think.  

Story here.

Photo by Oxfam.

The Guardian view on the climate emergency: a dangerous paralysis

The Guardian
The closer the prospect of disaster becomes, the less the government manages to do. 
 Story here.

A PinP photo.

Don’t believe carbon pricing really works? Just ask B.C.

PEMBINA

institute

Carbon tax holds key to clean innovation. Story here. 

Seismic lines in Alberta's boreal forest boost methane emissions, according to UCalgary study

                                                                        UToday

Newly discovered emissions would increase Canada's national reporting of greenhouse gases. 
Story here.

Photo by Roland "Roly" Roesler.

Photographer's Note

This is an aerial view of the Northern Alberta landscape, somewhere between Athabasca and Swan Hills. It consists of numerous shallow lakes, muskeg, and the typical vegetation including spruce, willow and poplars. The typical patterns of the vegetation are determined by the consistence and composition of the semi-solid soil underneath. 
The parallel lines that scar the landscape are seismic lines used for oil and gas exploration, and they cover good part of the province. Seismic exploration is somewhat similar in principle to radar, and even more similar to the ultrasound used in medical facilities. Straight, parallel stripes up to 10 m wide are cleared with bulldozers, and drilling equipment follows these stripes sinking explosive charges in the soil. The sound of the explosions bounces back of rock layers, is collected by listening devices and used for mapping the geology and potential resources. The statistic says that in this oil rich province more ground is cleared for seismic lines than by forestry.

Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming

Alternatives Journal

Having an awareness of the worst possible climate change scenarios can be motivating rather than paralyzing, argues David Wallace-Wells. The climate crisis has the potential to bring people together in the massive efforts required to mitigate the disaster. Story here.

CO2 emissions are on track to take us beyond 1.5 degrees of global warming

Science News

A fertilizer plant in Brandon, Manitoba, Can. A PinP photo.

Current and planned energy infrastructure could emit around 850 gigatons of the greenhouse gas. Story here.

Could our changing lifestyles and a changing climate spell a return of deadly diseases like malaria to Canada? A recent scientific study warns - it's possible!

by Larry Powell

A malaria mosquito, Anopheles albimanus.
Photo by CDC.

Mosquito-born diseases (MBDs) like dengue fever and malaria aren't currently established in Canada, partly due to our harsh climate. But global warming combined with increasing international travel, could change all that. 

New research by a Canadian team from the National Microbiology Lab, the Public Health Agency  of Canada (PHA) and two universities finds, given "an evolving situation" due to climate change, mosquitoes native to Canada "may become infected with new pathogens and move into new regions within Canada." But exotic species may move in, too, bringing diseases like malaria and dengue fever along with them, from afar, as well. 

And, "With high levels of international travel, including to locations where the diseases are present," states the report, "there will be more travel-acquired cases of MBDs."

As a result, the team stresses a need for active surveillance, a high level of awareness and mosquito-bite prevention to guard against a worst-case scenario.

Victoria Ng, PhD

Senior Scientific Evaluator, 

Infectious Disease Prevention & Control Branch

Public Health Agency of Canada / 

Government of Canada

A spokesperson for the study, Dr. Victoria Ng of the PHA (r), tells PinP in an e-mail, "I think one of the biggest impacts of climate change for exotic MBDs in Canada will be the increase in travel-acquired cases as well as the potential for limited autochthonous (local) transmission of diseases where there is climatic suitability for mosquito vectors and reservoirs." 

But these latest findings are not universally-accepted.  An expert who has contributed to other studies of malaria in Canada, Lea Berrang Ford (formerly with McGill University - now with the University of Leeds), is not too concerned. In an e-mail to PinP, Prof. Berrang Ford concedes, climate change could create more favourable conditions for the disease. But he beleieves there are factors other than temperature, such as a strong health care system that'll make a resurgence unlikely.

Dr. Ng agrees, other factors may make exotic diseases born by mosquitoes unlikely in Canada. But, she adds, "There's always the chance that, given a combination of suitable conditions occurring concurrently over time and space, that establishment could occur." She cites the introduction of West Nile virus in Canada some 20 years ago as a case in point. 

While Canada is considered, for all intents and purposes, malaria-free, readers might be surprised to learn, this has not always been the case. It ravaged the early European settlements of Niagara-on-the-Lake and Kingston. While rarely fatal, it also affected those working on the Rideau Canal in the 1830s to such a degree, construction was seriously impacted. Known then as "fever and ague," it was so widespread from 1780 to 1840,  few were spared.

Malaria - a grim reaper

Malaria is one of the deadliest diseases in human history. But, in the past couple of decades, gains in the fight against it have been so significant that. Collectively, they've been called "one of the biggest public health successes of the 21st century."   

However, the most recent figures from an international partnership, "The Global Fund (TGF)," suggest, there's still a long way to go. In 2017, malaria still sickened more than 200 million and claimed the lives of almost half-a-million more, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. 

And TGF, which allocates public and private funds to combat the disease, believes it's still not certain what the future holds. In some of the almost 100 countries currently reporting the disease, "progress is being made towards its elimination." Others with a higher burden, are still "suffering setbacks in their response." And even more money, beyond the substantial amounts already spent, will be needed, just to make sure the gains stay ahead of the setbacks.

Secrets of malaria exposed. New research peels back the layers which mask our understanding of one of the deadliest diseases known to man. 

Findings just published by a research team from the US and UK reveal, parasites that carry malaria, can mature inside their mosquito hosts way faster, at lower temperatures, than earlier thought. 

Lab tests showed (at between 17 and 20 degrees C), it can take as little as 26 days from the time mosquitoes have had an infectious blood meal, to the time the parasites grow and becomes capable of transmitting the disease. For decades, it’s been assumed it would take about twice that long…some 56 days.

A malaria mosquito, the Anopheles stephensi. Source: CDC.

For more than 50 years, medical experts have been relying on a guide known as the Detinova model to try to map the future course of the disease.  But that model did not fully take into account just what implications those cooler temperatures could have. Neither did it fully explore the impacts of routine fluctuations in daytime temperatures, which can also play a role. "Ring" stage (in blue & pink) of the malaria parasite,  Plasmodium falciparum in human red blood cells.  Microscopic image by Eric Hempelmann. Unlike previous studies, described in this new paper as “poorly-controlled,” two major malaria mosquito species were tested this time (including Anopheles_stephensi, above).

“These novel results challenge one of the longest-standing models in malaria biology," states the study, "and have potentially important implications for understanding the impacts of future climate change."

Study co-author Jessica Waite, Ph.D. 
Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics
The Pennsylvania State University.

The study's co-author, Dr. Jessica Waite, tells PinP, "What we hope is that our work will help make better predictions about where, when and possibly how much malaria to expect. We believe our work provides a much-improved estimate for models of malaria." She also believes it'll help governments better direct their financial resources to aid areas that  need it most.

Her team consisted of experts from the Universities of Pennsylvania State in the US and Exeter in England. It acknowledges, there's still a need for further lab and field tests.

The findings have just been published in the journal, Biology Letters by The Royal Society.

RELATED:

Research Suggests Our Past, Prolific Use of the Insecticide DDT May Still be Contributing to a Scourge Of Modern-Day Diseases Related To Obesity.