Re: [Goanet] totally confused about garbage..................
-- | Add your name to the CLEAN GOA INITIATIVE | || | by visiting this link and following the instructions therein | || | http://shire.symonds.net/pipermail/goanet/2005-October/033926.html | -- Savika, Floriano, While the *backyard* burning of *plastics* has been confirmed to be dangerous, the *danger* of using/reusing plastics/PET for storing food and water seems to be an *urban legend* Lawrence - See http://www.jhsph.edu/PublicHealthNews/articles/Halden_dioxins.html June 24, 2004 Researcher Dispels Myth of Dioxins and Plastic Water Bottles Rolf Halden, PhD, PE The Internet has been flooded with email warnings to avoid freezing water in plastic bottles so as not to get exposed to carcinogenic dioxins. Recently, one hoax email has been attributed to Johns Hopkins University. The Office of Communications and Public Affairs discussed the issue with Rolf Halden, PhD, PE, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences and the Center for Water and Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Halden received his masters and doctoral degrees researching dioxin contamination in the environment. We sat down with him to set the record straight on dioxins in the food supply and the risks associated with drinking water from plastic bottles and cooking with plastics. Office of Communications and Public Affairs: What are dioxins? Rolf Halden: Dioxins are organic environmental pollutants sometimes referred to as the most toxic compounds made by mankind. They are a group of chemicals, which include 75 different chlorinated molecules of dibenzo-p-dioxin and 135 chlorinated dibenzofurans. Some polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) also are referred to as dioxin-like compounds. Exposure to dioxins can cause chloracne, a severe form of skin disease, as well as reproductive and developmental effects, and more importantly, liver damage and cancer. OCPA: Where do dioxins come from? RH: We always thought dioxins were man-made compounds produced inadvertently during the bleaching of pulp and manufacturing of pesticides like Agent Orange and other chlorinated aromatics. But dioxins in sediments from lakes and oceans predate these human activities. It is now generally accepted that a principal source of dioxins are various combustion processes, including natural events such as wild fires and even volcanic eruptions. Today, the critical issue is the incineration of waste, particularly the incineration of hospital waste, which contains a great deal of polyvinyl chloride plastics and aromatic compounds that can serve as dioxin precursors. One study examined the burning of household trash in drums in the backyard. It turns out that these small burnings of debris can put out as much or more dioxins as a full-sized incinerator burning hundreds of tons of refuse per day. The incinerators are equipped with state-of-the-art emission controls that limit dioxin formation and their release into the environment, but the backyard trash burning does not. You set it ablaze and chemistry takes over. What happens next is that the dioxins are sent into the atmosphere where they become attached to particles and fall back to earth. Then they bind to, or are taken up, by fish and other animals, where they get concentrated and stored in fat before eventually ending up on our lunch and dinner plates. People are exposed to them mostly from eating meat and fish rich in fat. OCPA: What do you make of this recent email warning that claims dioxins can be released by freezing water in plastic bottles? RH: No. This is an urban legend. There are no dioxins in plastics. In addition, freezing actually works against the release of chemicals. Chemicals do not diffuse as readily in cold temperatures, which would limit chemical release if there were dioxins in plastic, and we don't think there are. OCPA: So it's okay for people to drink out of plastic water bottles? RH: First, people should be more concerned about the quality of the water they are drinking rather than the container it's coming from. Many people do not feel comfortable drinking tap water, so they buy bottled water instead. The truth is that city water is much more highly regulated and monitored for quality. Bottled water is not. It can legally contain many things we would not tolerate in municipal drinking water. Having said this, there is another group of chemicals, called phthalates that are sometimes added to plastics to make them flexible and less brittle. Phthalates are environmental contaminants that can exhibit hormone-like behavior by acting as endocrine disruptors in humans and animals. If you heat up
Re: [Goanet] totally confused about garbage..................
-- | Add your name to the CLEAN GOA INITIATIVE | || | by visiting this link and following the instructions therein | || | http://shire.symonds.net/pipermail/goanet/2005-October/033926.html | -- I am no scientist or an internet-web scientist. But I fully endorse Savika Gomes. The diffusion of toxins from plastics into atmosphere and the surrounding, including liquid stored in pet bottles, possibly, are inclusive of dangerous DIOXINS. It has been researched that just the accumulation of a few nanograms ( 9 ?) of dioxins taken into our body (which is a cumulative process and once ingested only adds up bit by bit throughout one's life) can effect hormonal changes in our body and result in ulcers and tumors which eventually turn malignant. In Japan, in the proximity of a plastic compacting plant, women have grown facial hair, men have become impotent and cancers galore. Because, under heavy pressure, plastics get heated up and dioxins are released. These are colourless, odouless molecules assimilated into our bodies through breathing, and through our food chain. BURNING OF PLASTICS IS THEREFORE ABSOLUTELY DANGEROUS. REMEMBER 9 NANOGRAMS This is why we need CONCERNED and educated people in the GORMENT, not only educated, to protect the multitude of those who do not know and who will not learn, throughout their life time, to say NO TO PLASTICS Thank you Savika. Cheers Floriano www.goasu-raj.org - Original Message - From: Savika Gomes [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: goanet@goanet.org Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2005 5:25 AM Subject: [Goanet] totally confused about garbage.. -- | Add your name to the CLEAN GOA INITIATIVE | || | by visiting this link and following the instructions therein | || | http://shire.symonds.net/pipermail/goanet/2005-October/033926.html | -- U wrote : I compost all my wet wastes, and burn all my plastics, including toned milk boxes, etc. Perhaps this is not an environmentally safe way of disposing of my garbage, but at least it is taken care of. Meu Deus Vivian! No wonder the ozone layer is depleting.
[Goanet] totally confused about garbage..................
-- | Add your name to the CLEAN GOA INITIATIVE | || | by visiting this link and following the instructions therein | || | http://shire.symonds.net/pipermail/goanet/2005-October/033926.html | -- U wrote : I compost all my wet wastes, and burn all my plastics, including toned milk boxes, etc. Perhaps this is not an environmentally safe way of disposing of my garbage, but at least it is taken care of. Meu Deus Vivian! No wonder the ozone layer is depleting. please please please do not brun plasticssimple reason is because when burnt they emit hazardous gases that pollute the air. to all those reading this post : try and reduce the use of plastics. recycle and reuse plastics.also, as an afterthought - please try and not use plastic to store food as the chemicals used to manufacture plastics can leach out into food products stored in them and thereby reach our systems. Many homes in goa are of the practice of storing food (vegies, eats, etc) in plastic polybags inside their refrigerators - this is very very dangerous. Also, there are those retailers / households storing or bottling milk, vinegar, oil, even feni, etc in plastic PET bottles. Please note that these PET bottles are for a one time use and are then supposed to be crushed to recycle.. Discountinue this practice, if uve adopted it, as migration of toxins takes place from the bottle to the liquid (other than water) stored. Your concerned goanetter, SAVIKA Cansaulim - Goa.
[Goanet] totally confused about garbage..................
-- | Add your name to the CLEAN GOA INITIATIVE | || | by visiting this link and following the instructions therein | || | http://shire.symonds.net/pipermail/goanet/2005-October/033926.html | -- In response to Marlon's query hereis a response from my perspective. Marlon, I have lived off and on in Goa for less than 4 years, so I am by no means an expert on the garbage issue. During my frequent visits to Goa, the amount garbage that has accumulated in once clean and pristine areas of Goa, caused a great deal of angst to me personally. I have written to authorities, spoken before my Panchayat, and spoken to Mr. Parrikar when I had an opportunity at a question and answer session that was held during one of the NRI conventions. Apparently Wendell Rodricks was distressed by the dumping of garbage in Colvale, so he had a discussion with Margaret Mascarenhas, and the two decided to use their celebrity status to organize the demonstration that was held in Panjim on Monday. I and several others joined the bandwagon. I believe what precipitated the present garbage problem was the Goa government passing the buck to Municipalities and Panchayats to take care of garbage within their jurisdictions. While Municipalities have always taken care of garbage in their jurisdictions, Panchayats became the new kids on the block and started to take garbage to the same landfills used by the Municipalities. These landfills such as Curca were soon overflowing and the people in the vicinity protested. The Panchayats through their private contractors started dumping garbage haphazardly anywhere that was not on the beaten path, creating new eyesores and health hazards. I pass through Porvorim often on my way to Panjim and Mapusa. The Porvorim plateau of Alto Porvorim, is chock-a-block with new construction, consisting of apartment buildings and mini-mansions. It appears to me that the residents of these apartments and mini-mansions just dumped their garbage outside their compound walls. As the garbage ripened, dogs, cows, goats, crows feasted on some of the garbage, while plastic wrappers and bags flew with the wind and created a real eye-sore in some prestigious neighborhoods. This probably led to demands to do something about the garbage. I am sure the same situation exists all over Goa where development has taken place, including Dona Paula, the beach belt etc. In the villages, people have always taken care of their own garbage, without help of Panchayats. I for one, limit my use of plastic bags. I compost all my wet wastes, and burn all my plastics, including toned milk boxes, etc. Perhaps this is not an environmentally safe way of disposing of my garbage, but at least it is taken care of. I have a dry well on my property that has existed for decades, which is far away from drinking water wells, where the ash is dumped. Plastic bottles, glass bottles and glass jars have eager users. They are probably used as containers for Feni, or to make and store or sell pickles. A form of recycling for me. Goa needs an in-depth look at garbage management. With the advent of plastics in Goa, the problem continues to worsen. The State Government needs to identify and develop mega land-fill sites away from populated areas, for wastes that cannot be composted or recycled. As in the USA, here too people have a nimby (not in my back yard) attitude when it comes to waste disposal. Perhaps the enormous cavities resulting from mining activities could be used for landfills ? Another issue is littering. Our highways and byways are strewn with wrappers and plastic bags, flung by passersby and from public buses. I dont know how one goes about instilling civic pride in people. Perhaps we need to start by making it a mandatory part of the curriculum/ A good example to follow would be that of Our Lady of Divar school on Divar island, which has constructed a Vermiculture contraption for their wet wastes and paper products. If we dont start doing something soon, our beautiful Goa will go to the dogs, cows and crows. -- | 1st Young Goans International Essay contest 2005 | || | Theme: WHAT CAN I DO FOR GOA | | More details at| | http://shire.symonds.net/pipermail/goanet/2005-October/034190.html| --
[Goanet] totally confused about garbage
-- | Add your name to the CLEAN GOA INITIATIVE | || | by visiting this link and following the instructions therein | || | http://shire.symonds.net/pipermail/goanet/2005-October/033926.html | -- Folks, Can someone explain to me why this garbage issue has suddenly become a hot item in Goa? Is this a recent phenomenon (as in the last few months), or are we talking about the general levels of garbage that has apparently existed since Goa was liberated/trashed by India. I understand that there have been numerous attempts in the past to deal with trash, such as imported hoisting trucks that were not very compatible with the bins. More recently, the BJP government had apparently done a massive job to improve the look and feel of Panjim (yeah ok, Panjim does not equal Goa). Was it just skin deep, or is the mess the result of mismanagement by the present government? Marlon -- | 1st Young Goans International Essay contest 2005 | || | Theme: WHAT CAN I DO FOR GOA | | More details at| | http://shire.symonds.net/pipermail/goanet/2005-October/034190.html| --
