/PRNewswire/ -- While applauding expected actions by the Food and Drug Administration and Federal Trade Commission against dangerous alcoholic energy drinks, Marin Institute, the alcohol industry watchdog, called for strong state action as well.
In the wake of increased media attention to the grave risks of combining caffeine with high-alcohol content, states have taking swift stands. In the past 2 weeks alone, four states – Michigan, Oklahoma, Washington, and New York— have shown leadership by banning the products or suspending their sale, while many more states are planning similar actions.
"State-level product bans will continue to be necessary to get the products off of store shelves," explained Michele Simon, Marin Institute's research and policy director and co-author of the 2007 report. "States are the primary regulators of alcoholic beverages and have full authority to ban alcoholic energy drinks whether by regulatory or legislative action, or through attorney general enforcement," Simon added.
Marin Institute first sounded the alarm about alcoholic energy drinks in 2007, with its groundbreaking report, Alcohol, Energy Drinks, and Youth: A Dangerous Mix. The report describes both the health risks and how companies market these products to youth.
"We are thrilled that the federal government is taking action," said Simon. "We have maintained all along that these products contain illegal additives in the form of caffeine and other stimulants and that they are being deceptively marketed to youth."
For the past several years, Marin Institute has called on companies to stop making these products, for states to ban or restrict them, and for the federal government to act as well. Most recently, Marin Institute directed more than 1,200 emails from around the country calling on FDA to ban alcoholic energy drinks. In 2010, Marin Institute backed legislation in Washington State, California, and New York to ban the tainted products.
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Showing posts with label dangerous. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dangerous. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Thursday, August 20, 2009
How Mercury Becomes Toxic In The Environment
TT Note: With the recent headlines of fish contaminated with mercury along many of the southeast coastlines, we thought you'd be interested in learning more about the way it happens in nature.
Naturally occurring organic matter in water and sediment appears to play a key role in helping microbes convert tiny particles of mercury in the environment into a form that is dangerous to most living creatures.
This finding is important, say Duke University environmental engineers, because it could change the way mercury in the environment is measured and therefore regulated. This particularly harmful form of the element, known as methylmercury, is a potent toxin for nerve cells. When ingested by organisms, it is not excreted and builds up in tissues or organs.
In a series of laboratory experiments, Amrika Deonarine, a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering, found that organic matter and chemical compounds containing sulfur – known as sulfides -- can readily bind to form mercury sulfide nanoparticles. Since they are more soluble than larger particles, these nanoparticles may be the precursors to a process known as methylation.
“When the organic material combines with the mercury, it prevents the particle from accumulating with other mercury particles and growing larger,” said Deonarine, who presented the results of her analysis at the summer annual scientific sessions of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Washington, D.C.
“Since the mercury remains in a nanoparticle size, it can easily collect on the surface of microbes where any mercury that dissolves can be taken in by the microbes,” Deonarine said. “Without the organic matter, the mercury sulfide nanoparticles would grow too large and become insoluble, thus reducing the availability of mercury for microbial methylation.”
It is while inside the microbe that the mercury is converted into the harmful methylmercury form, the researchers said.
These reactions can only take place in cold water environments with little to no oxygen, such as the zone of sediment just below the bottom of a body of water. Other such anaerobic environments can also be found in waste water and sewage treatment systems, the researchers said.
“The exposure rate of mercury in the U.S. is quite high,” said Heileen Hsu-Kim, Duke assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and senior member of the research team. “A recent epidemiological survey found that up 8 percent of women had mercury levels higher than national guidelines. Since humans are on top of the food chain, any mercury in our food accumulates in our body.”
Because fish and shellfish have a natural tendency to store methylmercury in their organs, they are the leading source of mercury ingestion for humans. Mercury is extremely toxic and can lead to kidney dysfunctions, neurological disorders and even death. In particular, fetuses exposed to methylmercury can suffer from these same disorders as well as impaired learning abilities.
There are many ways mercury gets into the environment, with the primary sources being the combustion of coal, the refining of such metals as gold and other non-ferrous metals, and in the gases released during volcanic eruptions. The air-borne mercury from these sources eventually lands on lakes or ponds and can remain in the water or sediments.
“These initial laboratory findings could have far-reaching implications,” Hsu-Kim said. “That these reactions can take places in anaerobic environments suggests that the old paradigm of testing for toxic metals in sediments may provide an incomplete picture of how much methylmercury is there.”
The researchers plan to continue their studies with other types of organic matter and for longer periods of time.
For her presentation and paper, Deonarime was one of six recipients of the C. Ellen Gonter Environmental Chemistry Award, given annually to graduate students.
The research was supported by the federally funded Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT), which is based at Duke, and the ACS’s Petroleum Research fund.
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