rinking Water: Clusters of elevated breast-cancer incidence have been reported in several areas in Long Island, NY. USGS is working with Suffolk County to measure pesticide levels in groundwater and to determine whether the locations of these clusters correspond to areas having high contaminant levels for drinking water. USGS is working on a similar study in northern New England to determine if a high incidence of bladder cancer is linked to elevated arsenic in private well water. And near Fallon, NV, scientists have found that elevated levels of radioactive elements are naturally occurring, not the result of underground nuclear testing in the 1960s. Health officials suspect that a childhood-leukemia cluster could be related to those elevated concentrations.
Arsenic, Coal, and Chili Peppers?: Throughout the world, nearly one billion people burn coal for heating and cooking in unvented ovens. As a consequence, millions of these people suffer serious health problems. In China's Guizhou Province alone, health officials have identified more than 3000 cases of arsenic poisoning, attributed primarily to the practice of drying chili peppers used in Sichuan cooking, over stoves burning coals with extreme concentrations of arsenic. Working with officials in China and scientists in the U.S., USGS has adapted an arsenic-in-water field-test kit to analyze arsenic in coal. Fluorine poisoning also affects millions of people in China. USGS scientists have helped Chinese health officials to trace this health crisis to drying corn over fluorine-enriched coal. Recognizing the etiology of these diseases has helped public health officials to determine how to mitigate this hazard.
Sentinels of Emerging Disease: Because wild birds often are the first indicator that West Nile Virus is present in an area, state and local health departments depend upon the testing of dead birds for West Nile Virus surveillance. With expertise in wildlife healPage: 1 2 3 4 Related biology news :1
Contact: Carolyn Bell
United States Geological Survey
. Natural mineral locks up carbon dioxide2
. Naturalists of the Isthmus of Panama3
. Natural selection at work in genetic variation to taste4
. Natural, man-made mix promises biggest landscape plant growth5
. Natural enemies help scientists untangle tropical forest food webs6
. Natural killer cellers are made, not born7
. Natural selection in a nutshell8
. Natural fat compound may be basis for new class of drugs targeting obesity9
. Natural hormone could reverse heart damage10
. New biography details adventures of Fritz Muller, A Naturalist in Brazil11
. Natural selections fingerprint identified on fruit fly evolution