Hi Jesse >Wow. Okay, I'm on it. >Geoffrey Lean, wasn't he our boy in Washington for the Independant?
I don't think so, IIRC he used to cover environment for the Guardian. >What's >he doing in Sarnia, not to be nosey. Chasing girls? :-) >Jesse Here's the whole report: http://www.ehponline.org/members/2005/8479/8479.html Research Declining Sex Ratio in a First Nation Community Constanze A. Mackenzie,1 Ada Lockridge,2 and Margaret Keith3 Best Keith > > From: Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Reply-To: Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > > Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2006 01:15:48 +0900 > > To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org > > Subject: [Biofuel] Pollution: Where have all the baby boys gone? > > > > http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article355200.ece > > Independent Online Edition > Environment > > > > Pollution: Where have all the baby boys gone? > > > > Every year, thousands of British babies who should be boys are born > > girls. The answer to this mystery could lie in a small town in > > Canada. Geoffrey Lean reports > > > > Published: 02 April 2006 > > > > Something very strange is happening in a small but highly polluted > > Canadian community. And it may explain why every year thousands of > > British babies who should be boys are born as girls instead. > > > > Young boys are becoming hard to find on the Chippewa Indian > > reservation in the gritty town of Sarnia, in Ontario's "Chemical > > Valley". It boasts four children's softball teams, but three of them > > are made up entirely of girls. > > > > Research shows that the number of boys being born to the community > > has been dropping precipitously for the past 13 years, while the > > proportion of baby girls has risen. Now there are twice as many > > female births as male ones, though nature normally keeps the sexes in > > balance. > > > > Scientists increasingly believe that pollution is to blame and that > > what has happened here - and among some other highly contaminated > > groups of people in other countries - may solve an enduring mystery > > of "missing boys" in maternity units throughout the industrialised > > world. > > > > Normally, and with remarkable consistency around the globe, 106 boys > > are born for every 100 girls; the excess is thought to be nature's > > way of compensating for the fact that males were more likely to be > > killed through hunting and conflicts. > > > > But this figure has been slowly declining in rich countries over the > > past quarter of a century. In Britain it has fallen to about 105 > > since 1977 -which suggests that every year more than 3,000 babies are > > born as girls instead boys. Studies have revealed much the same story > > in the US, Canada, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries. > > > > Suggested explanations have included increasing stress and rising > > numbers of single mothers; women in difficulties, it has been found, > > produce more girls than boys. But what is happening in Sarnia, on the > > US Canadian border, is increasingly turning the spotlight on > > pollution. > > > > The Chippewa Indians of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation Community have > > long lived in the area, on the southern tip of Lake Huron, not far > > from Detroit. Their right to the land was confirmed in 1827, but much > > of it was taken over by industry in the 1960s. > > > > Now their woods and homes are entirely surrounded by one of the > > world's most extensive petrochemical complexes, producing 40 per cent > > of Canada's entire output of plastics, synthetic rubber and other > > chemical compounds. The air stinks, and the ground is contaminated > > with high levels of dangerous pollutants. > > > > It was those softball teams that first got the 870 people of the > > community thinking that many more girls than boys were being born. > > Among them was Ada Lockridge, a 42-year-old home help aide, who sits > > on the community's council. She and her sister had eight daughters > > between them, and only one son. > > > > She started counting all the babies born to the community since 1984, > > Until 1993 girls and boys were in normal balance, but then the number > > of male births started plummeting. "I felt like I wanted to throw > > up," she says. "I did a lot of crying. And then I got angry." > > > > She joined up with researchers from the University of Ottawa and > > together they published an article in a leading scientific journal. > > It reported "a significant ongoing decrease in the number of male > > births beginning in the early 1990s". > > > > Only 35 per cent of babies now are boys, and there is no sign of the > > decline levelling off. The study could not prove a cause, but pointed > > the finger at "multiple chemical exposures over the years". > > > > Other, non-native communities downwind of the complex also have less > > dramatic reductions in male births, while those upwind do not. And > > many studies have shown sex changes in fish and wildlife in the lake > > nearby. > > > > Ada Lockridge points to a fire and chemical release at one of the > > chemical plants in 1993 as a possible culprit. > > > > The findings tally with other research around the world. People > > exposed to high levels of dioxin in the 1976 accident in Seveso, > > Italy, also have twice as many girl as boy children. The same is true > > for Russian men exposed to pesticides containing the chemical. > > > > And Brazilian scientists have reported that the proportion of boy > > babies fell in the most polluted parts of the city of São Paulo. > > > > Professor Shanna Swan of the University of Ro chester, New York - not > > far from Sarnia - says that levels of contamination on the > > reservation are "incredible" and that the "first assumption" must be > > that they are to blame. She believes that changing sex ratios may > > often provide an indication of dangerous pollution, and that low > > levels of exposure to such ubiquitous chemicals as dioxins and PCBs > > may explain the decline in boys in industrialised countries. > > > > Additional reporting by Martin Mittelstaedt in Ontario > > _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
