Poisons in US drinking water

EWG has launched it's US drinking water database. The database even has an interactive map of the US. EWG testing of tap water has found 250 toxin in US tap water, and they organized it into a database.

EWG found the unregulated cancer-causing contaminant 1,4-dioxane in the water supply of 90 million Americans and thousands of personal care products.

Some tap water has toxins that are at 1000 time the EPA limit. Children's brains are especially sensitive to toxins while the brain is still growing and making neuron connects. The human brain does not stop growing until age 25, on average, and some are not even finished growing at that age.

Here's a PubMed search for studies on dioxane. You can even create an RSS feed from your search! So with an RSS reader you can have the studies ready at your fingertips. Mozilla Thunderbird, an email client, supports RSS feeds.

More links
EWG database page for dioxane.

Neat map of wind, rain, clouds, pressure, or temperatue

Windyty is a website which can show a heatmap of temperature, wind speed, barometric pressure, snow, cloud cover or waves.

It also comes as an app for Android.

I'll never sleep through another tornado again (true story).

Try it!

Interactive map shows 6500 North Carolina farms that pollute

Farming operations jeopardize stream water with pollutants such as Roundup, pesticides, and animal waste, making the water dangerous and undrinkable. And you sure don't want your kids swimming in it, even you can tolerate the smell.

An interactive map will show the location of these fields.

Direct link to map.

Cancerous fish in Pacific after Fukushima

In March 2011 a tsunami caused by an earthquake hit the Fukushima reactor in Japan. Cancerous fish are being found on the US west coast, where currents have likely carried radiation from the Fukushima reactor to fish stocks closer to the US, and fish have picked up radiation from near Fukushima. Tumors are caused by abnormal cell growth, and radiation is one cause of tumors. Fish, and people who eat them, are being exposed to dangerous levels of cesium-137 and strontium-90.

This is what cancer on fish looks like:

Below is salmon with tumors.

Map of Pacific salmon range.


Below: This is what tumors look like in sliced, raw fish. Source.

Here's an estimated fallout map of the Fukushima radiation.
More info on currents and radiation patterns from Fukushima.

What the "experts" say

Government "experts", pundits, and bloggers alike have claimed it's safe to eat the cancerous fish after no testing has been done on them. But radioactive cesium has been found in 15 Pacific bluefin tuna in this study from PNAS. The study says tuna have definitely transported radioactive materials from the Fukushima reactor across the Pacific to the US. The scientists found no cesium in pre-Fukushima tuna. Another blog says this radiation is only 5% of eating a normal banana.

Doses of radiation are cumulative for a lifetime, meaning the dose never goes away, is never diminished, and it stays in your body for a lifetime. The more radiation you are exposed to, the more likely something will go wrong with your body. Until we have more information about the prevalence of the radiation in Pacific seafood, ignoring the impact is foolish and irresponsible.

The NRDC says eating cancerous fish is ok: " Could Fukushima radiation in U.S.-caught fish increase over time to levels that would present a significant health impact to individuals? In our judgment, the answer is “No” due to dilution of the radioactivity released from Fukushima in the vast waters of the Pacific Ocean." They do explain how they think dilution works and why the radiation levels are safe.

Even the Japanese Prime Minister said “There are no health-related problems until now, nor will there be in the future.” That's an impossible claim to make. He cannot control the future, nor does he care since he won't be in office then. Increased cancer rates around Fukushima in Japan may not show up for another 20-30 years, but the damage is already done to the people. It's up to you to keep your family safe by not making foolish assumptions about the safety of food. After all, when has the government ever made a conservative assumption that something is safe?

Caution is required here, not reliance on bureaucrats who just don't care about what happens to people when they are no longer in office. Get educated, know your food and where it comes from, and you should be in a more healthy position.

More links

1. Superstation95. Fukushima radiation is damaging more animals than just fish. Also affected are seals, shrimp, and polar bears. Furry animals have a loss of body hair, an obvious component of radiation poisoning.
2. Nuclear-News. Scientists estimate number of deaths from cancer just from eating radiated fish.
3. The Fish Vet. More info on cancerous fish caught in upper Alaska, Vancouver, and Alberta.

Fun with health maps!

You didn't know obesity could be this fun, could you? Well, obesity is no laughing matter, but maps can be interesting. Some of these might require Javascript or Flash so make sure they are turned on in your browser first.

CountyHealthRankings.org: map many health issues by US county like obesity rate, adult smoking, inactivity, teen births, uninsured, high school graduation, unemployment, children in poverty, income inequality, violent crime, physical environment, air pollution, drinking water violations, severe housing problems, and more.

A US health map with time slider. Map many factors, one at a time, and see how they changed over time. Some of the items you can map: alcohol use (any at all, binge drinking, and more), hypertension (various factors), life expectancy, obesity, physical activity (various types), poverty, smoking (daily and total).

78% of Americans are overweight or obese. (WHO 2010). A world map showing how common obesity is by country. Look at which nations have the "western diet". Now Finland, north and west of Germany, does surprise me at 67% overweight and obese. On this map you can also see cholesterol levels and tobacco use.

WHO obesity and overweight maps.

CDC: 2014, 28.9 percent of Americans who are obese, average for US, and by state. You can also see other indictors like overweight (child or adult), and older years.

CDC: Obese people have higher medical costs as a group.

Not everyone who has a high BMI is unhealthy. These include body builders, football players (who tend to be large) and people who get regular exercise. There is correlation that overweight people are unhealthy, because many of them rarely exercise. That does not mean all overweight people are unhealthy.