Arsenic - A Fatal Complication for Pandemic Flu - MUST READ

[kiwibird]

Re: Discussion - Arsenic, A Fatal Complication for Pandemic Flu?

This should be very interesting to follow. Wherever you have grape growing areas here in New Zealand you have an increase in the aresenic content of local water supplies. Blenheim, in the north of the South Island, has a very high level of arsenic. It is used in the treatment of the wooden poles that support the wires for the vines. To top it off, New Zealand has virtually no Selenium in the soil. It is a very new, geologically speaking, country, we therefore know that one brazil nut a day is enough to supply the selenium needed in your diet (or a multivit), we also dose our farm animals. Argentina is a huge producer of very good wine. I wonder if they treat their poles the same way? Do the large cities get their water supplies from grape growing regions?

[Shannon Bennett]

Re: Discussion - Arsenic, A Fatal Complication for Pandemic Flu?

Another point source for arsenic contamination is old cemeteries. From approx. 1860 until 1910, bodies were prepared for burial using an unregulated amount of arsenic. Sometims as much as 5 pounds was used per body. As groundwater moves through these graveyards it collects and moves arsenic into local waterways.

Yet one more point source are areas where treated lumber is stored. Copper arsenate is used to preserve lumber used for railroad tracks and myriad other uses where the wood was in contact with soils and thus subject to rapid deterioration.

[St Michael]

Re: Discussion - Arsenic, A Fatal Complication for Pandemic Flu?

We have some evidence of elevated levels of arsenic in three of the areas hardest hit with CFR from H1N1. Why does an elevated arsenic level result in a higher CFR for H1N1 patients?

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WXH-4DXBB1R-2&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=945432827&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=7c366b5d39c29f7aec21579b6706b8d5

Implications of oxidative stress and hepatic cytokine (TNF-α and IL-6) response in the pathogenesis of hepatic collagenesis in chronic arsenic toxicity

Abstract

Introduction:

Noncirrhotic portal fibrosis has been reported to occur in humans due to prolonged intake of arsenic contaminated water. Further, oxystress and hepatic fibrosis have been demonstrated by us in chronic arsenic induced hepatic damage in murine model. Cytokines like tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) are suspected to play a role in hepatic collagenesis. The present study has been carried out to find out whether increased oxystress and cytokine response are associated with increased accumulation of collagen in the liver due to prolonged arsenic exposure and these follow a dose?response relationship.

Cytokinemia -- TNF-α and IL-6 -- strikes again!

[Shannon Bennett]

Re: Discussion - Arsenic, A Fatal Complication for Pandemic Flu?

Yup, we have a real aha! moment. Higher levels of arsenic mean an increased probability of both a reduction in vitamin D uptake and an increased cytokine response. Reduced vitamin D and you have a compromised immune system and yet another problem with pro-inflammatory cytokines. In essence a perfect storm.

[sharon sanders]

Re: Discussion - Arsenic, A Fatal Complication for Pandemic Flu?

I have lost my satellite connection. It will not be repaired until Saturday. Until then I am limited to a dial-up connection which will severely limit my ability to do more research.

As for the selenium, extreme caution needs to be taken as selenium toxicity may be irreversible and deadly. How much you are getting is dependent on soils in your area. Some places such as Kesterson in the Central Valley of California have extremely high amounts while the central plains of the U.S. have very low levels. Food grown in each of those areas will reflect how much is ingested.

Thanks Shannon.

[sharon sanders]

Re: Arsenic - A Fatal Complication for Pandemic Flu - MUST READ

I have moved this thread from discussion into the news forum.

It is a significant public health advisory.


Thank you to everyone on all the sites for working on this development.

[sharon sanders]

Re: Arsenic - A Fatal Complication for Pandemic Flu - MUST READ

Argentina Swine Flu thread -

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103168&page=3

[St Michael]

Re: Arsenic - A Fatal Complication for Pandemic Flu - MUST READ

Arsenic in drinking water and cerebrovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and kidney disease in Michigan: a standardized mortality ratio analysis

Environmental Health 2007, 6:4doi:10.1186/1476-069X-6-4
2 February 2007

Abstract

Background

Exposure to arsenic concentrations in drinking water in excess of 300 μg/L is associated with diseases of the circulatory and respiratory system, several types of cancer, and diabetes; however, little is known about the health consequences of exposure to low-to-moderate levels of arsenic (10?100 μg/L).

Methods

A standardized mortality ratio (SMR) analysis was conducted in a contiguous six county study area of southeastern Michigan to investigate the relationship between moderate arsenic levels and twenty-three selected disease outcomes. Disease outcomes included several types of cancer, diseases of the circulatory and respiratory system, diabetes mellitus, and kidney and liver diseases. Arsenic data were compiled from 9251 well water samples tested by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality from 1983 through 2002. Michigan Resident Death Files data were amassed for 1979 through 1997 and sex-specific SMR analyses were conducted with indirect adjustment for age and race; 99% confidence intervals (CI) were reported.

Results

The six county study area had a population-weighted mean arsenic concentration of 11.00 μg/L and a population-weighted median of 7.58 μg/L. SMR analyses were conducted for the entire six county study area, for only Genesee County (the most populous and urban county), and for the five counties besides Genesee. Concordance of results across analyses is used to interpret the findings. Elevated mortality rates were observed for both males (M) and females (F) for all diseases of the circulatory system (M SMR, 1.11; CI, 1.09?1.13; F SMR, 1.15; CI, 1.13,-1.17), cerebrovascular diseases (M SMR, 1.19; CI, 1.14?1.25; F SMR, 1.19; CI, 1.15?1.23), diabetes mellitus (M SMR, 1.28; CI, 1.18?1.37; F SMR, 1.27; CI, 1.19?1.35), and kidney diseases (M SMR, 1.28; CI, 1.15?1.42; F SMR, 1.38; CI, 1.25?1.52).

Conclusion

This is some of the first evidence to suggest that exposure to low-to-moderate levels of arsenic in drinking water may be associated with several of the leading causes of mortality, although further epidemiologic studies are required to confirm the results suggested by this ecologic SMR analysis.

[Lizw]

Re: Woods Hole Scientists Link Influenza A (H1N1) Susceptibility to Arsenic Exposure

2.2.5. Feed additives

Almost hidden in this long list of links is a significant source of arsenic in US groundwater--an arsenic compound called Roxarsone which is fed to chickens. Quoting from a USGS article (my emphasis):

Organic arsenic compounds are extensively added to the feed of broiler chickens. The most commonly used arsenic compound is roxarsone (3-nitro-4-hydroxyphenylarsonic acid), which is fed to poultry to control coccidial intestinal parasites, thereby improving feed efficiency. Very little of the roxarsone is retained in the chicken meat (FDA limit is 0.5 parts per million in chicken muscle tissue). Most of the roxarsone is excreted unchanged; however, the degradation product, 3-amino-4-hydroxyphenylarsonic acid, has been detected in the urine of hens fed roxarsone. We estimate that approximately 106 kilograms (Kg) per year of roxarsone and its degradation products are introduced annually into the environment from the disposal of poultry litter spread onto agricultural fields near the chicken houses. This practice could result in localized arsenic pollution.

Another article from PubMed (my emphasis again):

Arsenic contamination of drinking water is a worldwide public health concern. The extent of the concern in some countries has reached a point such that some are calling this humanity?s largest mass poisoning (Bhattacharjee 2007). Even low levels of exposure to arsenic have been linked to increased cardiovascular disease and hypertension (Chen et al. 2007; Navas Acien et al. 2005). Although natural contamination of drinking water with inorganic arsenic represents the largest arsenical hazard to human health, environmental exposure to commercial organoarsenicals is a growing concern (Sapkota et al. 2007). Organoarsenicals such as roxarsone are widely used by the poultry industry (Arai et al. 2003; Brown et al. 2004; Chapman et al. 2002), with approximately 2.2 million pounds of roxarsone being fed to broiler chickens raised in the United States per year (Garbarino et al. 2003). The majority of roxarsone is excreted unchanged from chickens (Morrison 1969), while the remainder increases the total arsenic present in chicken tissue (Lasky et al. 2004). This residual roxarsone could amount to ingestion of 1.38?5.24 mg/day of arsenic at mean levels of chicken consumption (60 g/person/day) (Wallinga 2006). The excreted roxarsone may pose an environmental hazard, as microbes, including those residing in the gut microflora, can release inorganic arsenite (AsIII) from roxarsone (Stolz et al. 2007). The human health impacts of roxarsone have not been well studied, and the mechanisms for its biological effects in mammalian tissues are unknown. It has been suggested, however, that all of these biological effects require metabolism to inorganic AsIII (O?Connor et al. 2005).

A previous issue of the magazine Backyard Poultry published a critique of the poultry industry by Harvey Ussery, a well-known and widely respected organic gardener and writer. In the current issue of the magazine, a reader takes exception to Harvey and defends the industry that he criticised. Here is part of Harvey's rebuttal. In one of those odd examples of synchronicity, it was posted today in a mailing list I'm on.

America's commercial broiler flocks are fed two million pounds of
Roxersone per year, most of which is excreted unchanged, and the litter
is spread far and wide as fertilizer on croplands. Roxarsone is soluble,
that is, highly mobile in the environment, leaching to surface and
groundwater systems. Many environmental factors degrade Roxarsone to
inorganic forms of arsenic: mostly arsenate (toxic), but some arsenite
(highly toxic). Such factors include sunlight (seen any of that
around?), bacteria, presence of nitrates (plenty of that in chicken
litter), and especially anaerobic conditions, as found in big wet piles
of litter, subsoils, sediments under rivers and lakes, etc.

I have no idea whether Roxarsone is widely used in Argentina or Canada. It has been banned in Europe for a decade or more, but as far as I know, every commercial producer of broiler/fryers in the US uses it, and I'll be surprised if that isn't true for South America as well.

[Lizw]

Re: Arsenic - A Fatal Complication for Pandemic Flu - MUST READ

"When a normal person or mouse is infected with the flu, they immediately develop an immune response," says Hamilton, in which immune cells rush to the lungs and produce chemicals that help fight the infection. However, in mice that had ingested 100 ppb (parts per billion) arsenic in their drinking water for five weeks, the immune response to H1N1 infection was initially feeble, and when a response finally did kick in days later, it was "too robust and too late," Hamilton says. "There was a massive infiltration of immune cells to the lungs and a massive inflammatory response, which led to bleeding and damage in the lung." Morbidity over the course of the infection was significantly higher for the arsenic-exposed animals than the normal animals.]

My assumption as a layperson is that the phrase, "they immediately develop an immune response" refers to the innate immune system. Which makes the following even more interesting:

From this article on arsenic exposure in zebrafish:

What did they find? Arsenic exposure at both 2 and 10 ppb inhibited the zebrafish?s innate immune system, which allowed viral and bacterial infections to thrive in the exposed embryo as compared to the controls (graph below). One day after infection with the SHR virus, fish exposed to only 2 ppb arsenic had 57 times more virus particles growing inside them then did the control fish. Fish exposed to 10 ppb arsenic had 87 times more virus particles inside them.

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Arsenic - A Fatal Complication for Pandemic Flu - MUST READ

note this says marginally significant

Assessment of lymphocyte subpopulations and cytokine secretion in children exposed to arsenic

<nobr>Gerson A. Soto-Pe&#241;a^*</nobr>, <nobr>Ana L. Luna^*</nobr>, <nobr>Leonor Acosta-Saavedra^*</nobr>, <nobr>Patricia Conde^*</nobr>, <nobr>Lizbeth L&#243;pez-Carrillo</nobr>, <nobr>Mariano E. Cebri&#225;n^*</nobr>, <nobr>Mariana Bastida</nobr>, <nobr>Emma S. Calder&#243;n-Aranda^*</nobr> and <nobr>Libia Vega^*<sup>,1

</sup></nobr>We found a marginally significant (P=0.055)increase in the incidence of asthma, allergies, and parasiticinfections on individuals with high arsenic levels in urinecompared with individuals with arsenic levels lower than thereference value in urine (50 &#181;g/L).
<nobr>
</nobr><nobr><sup>

http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/full/20/6/779

</sup></nobr>

[tropical]

Re: Arsenic - A Fatal Complication for Pandemic Flu - MUST READ

E. post #1 (May 22nd,09.):
"Respiratory infections with influenza A virus are a worldwide health concern and are responsible for 36,000 deaths annually. The recent outbreak of the influenza A H1N1 substrain ("swine flu")--which is the same virus that Hamilton and his colleagues used in their arsenic study--to date has killed 72 people in Mexico and 6 in the United States."

Link:
"Joshua Hamilton, the MBL's Chief Academic and Scientific Officer and a senior scientist in the MBL's Bay Paul Center; graduate student Courtney Kozul of Dartmouth Medical School, where the work was conducted; and their colleagues report their findings this week in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives."


"... AH1N1 substrain ("swine flu")--which is the same virus that Hamilton and his colleagues used in their arsenic study ..."

So, the folks at MBL had got the same novel pandemic virus for experimenting, finished the study, and publish it in May, only a month after such pandemic supposedly started?
Or it is about an simil-like previously existed swine flu virus?
Anybody know exactly?

[Lizw]

Re: Arsenic - A Fatal Complication for Pandemic Flu - MUST READ

E. post #1 (May 22nd,09.):

"... AH1N1 substrain ("swine flu")--which is the same virus that Hamilton and his colleagues used in their arsenic study ..."

So, the folks at MBL had got the same novel pandemic virus for experimenting, finished the study, and publish it in May, only a month after such pandemic supposedly started?
Or it is about an simil-like previously existed swine flu virus?
Anybody know exactly?

Wow, that is an extremely good point. Something had been niggling at me about the timeline, but it never quite crystallized.

The full report says the mice were exposed to Influenza A/PuertoRico/8/34 (H1N1). Someone else will have to tell us whether that is one of the current variants--I'm not knowledgeable enough.

The mice were fed arsenic over a 5 week period, according to the report. So they just possibly could have begun the study as soon as the outbreak came to the world's attention, and been able to complete it in time for online publication. But that is still an extremely short time span in which to design a study, see it through, review it, submit it for peer review and get it published, even online. It has not yet been published in print.

[pjie2]

Re: Arsenic - A Fatal Complication for Pandemic Flu - MUST READ

It's a 1934 strain - that's what the final "34" means. The phrase "the same virus" simply means it's an H1N1 virus, not an H3N2 or H5N1 virus. Moreover, once you allow for 5 weeks' arsenic treatment and then another 8 days assessment of the timecourse of influenza, that pushes the earliest possible start point of the study back to 7th April - and that's assuming they analysed all their results, wrote the paper and got it peer reviewed and accepted within 24 hrs, and that the design, approval and setup of the study also took zero time. Even then, it would require them to have started the study two weeks before the first swine flu case was diagnosed.

Summary: there's absolutely zero chance that this study was aimed at studying swine flu. It's a group that's examining the effects of metal toxicity, they happened to have a flu study running, simple as that. It just so happens that it was ready for publication around the time swine flu hit, so they made mention of it as appropriate in the introduction and discussion. And then the university wrote a slightly overcooked press release billing it as "the same virus", because hey, free publicity. :-)

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Arsenic - A Fatal Complication for Pandemic Flu - MUST READ

From a blog

June 10 , 2009

INVESTIGATION: Do dirty coal plants make us more vulnerable to swine flu?

Scientists have discovered that exposure to a common pollutant may make people more likely to experience severe symptoms from swine flu -- and it's a pollutant emitted in large quantities by coal-burning power plants and other industrial facilities.

The culprit is arsenic, a highly poisonous semi-metal which, according to a new study by researchers at the Marine Biological Laboratory and Dartmouth Medical School, compromises a person's ability to mount an immune response to the H1N1 swine flu virus.

Most disturbingly, the study -- published last month in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives -- found that arsenic can weaken the immune response to swine flu even in the low-level exposure levels that are commonly found in contaminated drinking water.

When normal people or mice are infected with the flu, they immediately develop an immune response where immune cells rush to the lungs and produce chemicals to battle the infection, the researchers explain. But in mice who over the course of five weeks had ingested 100 parts per billion (ppb) of arsenic in their drinking water, the immune response to H1N1 infection was initially weak. When the response finally did kick in days later, it often overwhelmed the animal.

"There was a massive infiltration of immune cells to the lungs and a massive inflammatory response, which led to bleeding and damage in the lung," explains MBL senior scientist and report co-author Joshua Hamilton. The animals exposed to the arsenic were more likely to die from the infection than their counterparts who were not exposed.

The currently federal standard for arsenic in drinking water is 10 ppb, but levels in drinking water in some parts of the country routinely exceed that. A 2005 analysis of contaminants in drinking water by the Environmental Working Group found that the average arsenic levels in water supplied by at least 144 systems in Texas and 11 systems in Florida exceeded that standard -- in some cases at levels approaching those given to the experimental mice.

For example, average arsenic levels in water from the Bruni Rural Water Supply Commission in Webb County, Texas were 90.87 ppb. Levels of over 100 ppb were also documented in the drinking water in Jim Hogg County, Texas.

When Hamilton and his colleagues heard about the recent H1N1 outbreak, they were struck by the fact that there are high arsenic levels in well water in many parts of Mexico. That includes Veracruz, where news reports placed the first case of H1N1 swine flu, though there are now questions about that time line since the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta more recently reported that the virus likely started circulating among the Mexican people as early as the fall of 2008.

No link has been established between any specific case of swine flu and arsenic exposure, "but it's an intriguing notion that this may have contributed," Hamilton says.

The coal power-arsenic connection

Arsenic has been linked to cancers of the bladder, lungs, skin, kidney, nasal passages, liver and prostate as well as fetal malformations. Earlier research by Hamilton and colleagues found that arsenic also disrupts the endocrine system that controls the release of hormones.

There are many parts of the United States where groundwater naturally contains high arsenic levels, including large swaths of Texas and Florida (click on map at left to see a larger version). If tests show that your water has high levels of arsenic, the Natural Resources Defense Council recommends purchasing filters certified by NSF International to remove it.

But arsenic is also released into the environment through industrial pollution. Across the United States, there are more than 700 toxic waste sites overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program where arsenic is a contaminant of concern. There are also scores of industrial facilities that routinely release arsenic and arsenic compounds to the air and water or dump it into surface impoundments like the one that collapsed last December at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston plant in Roane County, Tenn., according to the EPA's online Toxics Release Inventory. All of these create potential exposure pathways for people.

Of the top 25 industrial emitters of arsenic and arsenic compounds via point-source air emissions (that is, releases through confined streams like smokestacks) in 2007, 22 were coal-fired electric power plants, according to the most recent TRI data available. The big arsenic air polluters are concentrated in the South, with 10 of the top 25 arsenic-emitting facilities located in the region.

In the Southern states, the biggest emitters of arsenic and arsenic compounds to the air were the Southern Company's Bowen plant in Bartow County, Ga. and Progress Energy's Roxboro plant in Person County, N.C., each of which released 2,200 pounds of arsenic to the air in 2007 alone. Besides coal-fired power plants, the other big arsenic emitters were copper refineries in Texas and Utah and a glass plant in Kentucky. The following are the top 25 point-source air emitters, their location and the amounts released:

Industrial facilities -- and particularly coal-fired power plants -- are also dumping large quantities of arsenic and arsenic compounds into surface waters such as streams and rivers. Of the top 25 emitters of arsenic and arsenic compounds into surface waters in 2007, 22 were coal-fired power plants. The facilities dumping arsenic and arsenic compounds into surface waters are again concentrated in the South, with 16 of the top 25 arsenic water polluters located in the region. Arsenic pollution of waterways is a particular concern since the pollutant concentrates up the food chain, which can render fish unsafe to eat.

In the South, the biggest dumper of arsenic and arsenic compounds into surface waters in 2007 was Dominion Power's Chesterfield power plant in Chesterfield County, Va. at 4,500 pounds. It was closely followed by the TVA's Johnsonville plant in Humphreys County, Tenn. at 4,200 pounds and TVA's Widows Creek plant in Jackson County, Ala. at 3,900 pounds. In fourth place was TVA's Kingston plant, which dumped 2,700 pounds of arsenic and arsenic compounds into nearby waterways in 2007. The following chart shows the top 25 emitters of arsenic to surface waters:

The failure of the Kingston plant's coal ash impoundment also released significant quantities of arsenic into the environment. An analysis of water samples taken downstream of the spill and released earlier this year showed elevated levels exceeding standards set to protect humans from dangerous concentrations of pollution, with arsenic levels more than double acute toxicity levels. The tests, which were sponsored by the Environmental Integrity Project and United Mountain Defense, also found widely fluctuating arsenic levels in the nearby Emory and Clinch rivers, with some 37 times higher than safe drinking water standards.

Catastrophic failures like the one at the Kingston plant are not the only ways coal ash impoundments are contaminating the environment with arsenic. For example, high levels of the chemical were recently discovered in water and sediment samples collected downstream of Progress Energy's coal-fired power plant near Asheville, N.C., raising concerns that arsenic contamination from unlined coal ash impoundments is seeping into the environment. In addition, a 2007 assessment by the EPA documented coal ash waste dumping sites around the country associated with arsenic contamination.

Enormous quantities of arsenic are currently being dumped into these unlined and poorly regulated surface impoundments at coal-fired power plants across the country. An EPA analysis found people living near these coal ash dump sites have as much as a 1 in 50 chance of getting cancer from drinking water contaminated by arsenic, and evidence has surfaced since then suggesting the risk may be even higher.

Of the 25 surface impoundments where the greatest quantities of arsenic and arsenic compounds were dumped in 2007, 17 were at coal-fired plants; of those 17 plants, 12 are located in the South, as shown in the following chart. Note that TVA's Kingston plant doesn't even make the list of the top 25 facilities; the 44,000 pounds of arsenic and arsenic compounds it dumped into its surface impoundment in 2007 put it at number 27 on the list.

The fight for tougher coal waste regulation

In the U.S. to date, the swine flu virus has sickened more than 13,000 people and caused at least 27 deaths, according to the CDC. This week the World Health Organization said it was getting close to declaring a pandemic as the virus has infected more than 26,500 people in 73 countries, while researchers warn that the current outbreak may be only a "dress rehearsal" for a wider pandemic to come.

Many questions still remain about the virus. For example, last month we reported that scientists working to understand the genetic makeup of the current H1N1 strain linked it to a virus behind a 1998 swine flu outbreak at an industrial hog farm in eastern North Carolina. But Dr. Barrett Slenning, an epidemiologist at N.C. State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, points out that subsequent laboratory research suggests the 1998 virus was not a direct predecessor to the current H1N1, with recent genetic analyses showing greater similarities to flu strains from Asia.

"It all points to the importance of human health, animal health, and environmental health workers needing to come together," says Slenning. "You cannot protect one without protecting the others."

And when it comes to protecting ourselves from the worst effects of swine flu, it might also help to exercise precaution by reducing our exposure to arsenic -- which ultimately means cleaning up dirty coal plants and carefully regulating their toxic waste.

But that won't be easy. While environmental advocates have been pressing hard for enforceable federal standards governing disposal of coal ash waste in the wake of last December's Kingston disaster, some in Washington are working to protect the dirty and dangerous status quo -- despite new research suggesting that regulations to require safer storage of coal ash waste will likely produce far more benefits than costs.

This week, for example, congressional allies of electric utilities have been circulating "Dear Colleague" letters that oppose regulating coal ash as hazardous waste, instead calling only for federal "guidelines" for coal ash disposal rather than enforceable standards. The letters are based on the notion disproved by the Kingston spill that the current patchwork of state regulations is adequate for protecting the environment and public health.

Leading the effort to gather signatories are Sens. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Rep. Tim Holden (D-Pa.). Among the lawmakers from the South who have signed the letter opposing tough federal standards so far are Reps. Marion Berry (D-Ark.), Travis Childers (D-Miss.), John Fleming (R-La.), Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), Jerry Jim Moran (D-Va.), Sue Myrick (R-N.C.), Mike Ross (D-Ark.) and Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.).

In response, the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project -- which has taken a lead role in pressing for better regulation of coal ash -- is urging concerned citizens to call their representatives in Congress and ask them not to sign the letter. Instead, says EIP, lawmakers should support consistent and enforceable regulations of arsenic-contaminated coal ash waste to better protect their constituents' health.

http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/06/investigation-do-dirty-coal-plants-make-us-more-vulnerable-to-swine-flu.html

credits Momcares