Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 15 January 2018

U.S. review shows pesticides harm threatened salmon, whales

By MICHAEL BIESECKER ies saying the academic
Associated Press studies were flawed. Dow
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fed- wrote a $1 million check
eral scientists have de- to help underwrite Trump’s
termined that a family of inaugural festivities, and
widely used pesticides pos- company CEO Andrew Liv-
es a threat to dozens of en- eris led a now-disbanded
dangered and threatened White House manufactur-
species, including Pacific ing working group.
salmon, Atlantic sturgeon “The denial of a requested
and Puget Sound orcas. extension of time to com-
The National Marine Fish- plete the opinion resulted
eries Service issued its new in a document that has the
biological opinion on three potential to create exag-
organophosphate pesti- gerated and unfounded
cides — chlorpyrifos, diazi- concerns regarding threat-
non and malathion — af- ened and endangered
ter a yearslong court fight species and have a nega-
by environmental groups. tive impact on farmers as
At the urging of pesticide well as public health pro-
manufacturers, the Trump tection,” said Jay Vroom,
administration had sought the CEO of CropLife.
a two-year delay of a Studies have shown for
court-ordered deadline In this Friday, Aug. 29, 2014 file photo, Pinot Noir grapes just picked are shown in a bin in Napa, years that even low levels
to issue the findings by the Calif. of pesticides running off
end of 2017, but it was un- Associated Press into streams and rivers can
successful. peer-reviewed academic in the United States, with spond to a request for impair the growth, swim-
The exhaustive 3,700-page studies found that even tiny Dow selling about 5 million comment Friday. ming ability and reproduc-
federal review , dated Dec. levels of exposure could pounds (2.3 million kilo- The Associated Press first re- tive systems of salmon. Po-
29, concludes that chlorpy- hinder the development of grams) domestically each ported in April that lawyers tentially harmful levels of
rifos and malathion jeopar- children’s brains. year. representing Dow and two the toxins then build up in
dize 38 out of the 77 spe- EPA’s press office did not Dow AgroSciences, the other pesticide compa- the bodies of orcas, also
cies under the jurisdiction respond Friday to a request Dow subsidiary that sells nies sent letters to three of known as killer whales, that
of the fisheries service and seeking comment about chlorpyrifos, did not re- Trump’s Cabinet secretar- eat salmon.q
that diazinon was found to the latest federal study on
jeopardize 25 of the listed the threat to protected Scientists: Virus cause of over
species. species.
The report makes detailed Organophosphorus gas
Environmental Protection as a chemical weapon 170 dolphin deaths in Brazil
recommendations to the was originally developed

Agency for new restrictions before World War II. Dow livirus” is responsible for the
on how and where the pes- Chemical, based in Mid- death of more than 130
ticides can be sprayed to land, Michigan, has been guiana dolphins in the Bay
help limit the harm. selling chlorpyrifos for of Sepetiba since late No-
EPA Administrator Scott spraying on citrus fruits, vember.
Pruitt in March reversed an apples, cherries and other The bay is about 45 miles
Obama-era effort to bar crops since the 1960s. (70 kilometers) west of the
the use of chlorpyrifos on It is among the most widely city of Rio de Janeiro.
fruits and vegetables after used agricultural pesticides Another 40 dead guiana
dolphins were found in a
nearby island called Ilha
Grande.
Guiana dolphins swim in the Bay of Sepetiba, on the coast of Rio The virus can damage the
de Janeiro State, Brazil, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018. immune system of marine
Associated Press mammals.
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian Janeiro state. What led to the outbreak
scientists say a virus is the The School of Oceanog- and how long it will last are
main cause for the death raphy of the State Univer- still unknown. Scientists are
of close to 200 guiana dol- sity of Rio de Janeiro said trying to determine other
phins in little more than 40 in a statement that an out- possible causes for the
days on the coast of Rio de break of “cetacean morbil- death of the dolphins.q