The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), under outgoing Governor Schwarzenegger, has formally approved methyl iodide for use on strawberries and other food crops in California. Methyl iodide is a potent carcinogen and neurotoxin that is a clear danger to those who consume and grow food.

The DPR faced the largest opposition in the history of the public comment period. More than 53,000 including leading scientists on health and safety asked for a ban on the pesticide. The company that produces methyl iodide, the largest private pesticide company in the world Arysta LifeScience, overcame the public opinion and scientific community warnings through a massive lobbying campaign.

The Scientific Review Committee (SRC) noted in its final report in February that “Based on the data available, we know that methyl iodide is a highly toxic chemical and we expect that any anticipated scenario for the agricultural or structural fumigation use of this agent would result in exposures to a large number of the public and thus would have a significant adverse impact on the public health. Due to the potent toxicity of methyl iodide, its transport in and ultimate fate in the environment, adequate control of human exposure would be difficult, if not impossible.”

Dr. John Froines, Chair of the SRC and Professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health at UCLA said in a Senate Food and Agriculture Committee Hearing in June, “I believe that if you go out into the real world, and I think everybody in this room knows what the real world in the valleys are about, that the mitigation strategies that are promised so articulately by Mary-Ann [Warmerdam, DPR Director], are not going to be adequate, because this is without question one of the most toxic chemicals on earth.” (page 46 of transcript)

“The decision to permit use of a chemical in the fields that causes cancer, late-term miscarriage and permanent neurological damage is a ticking time bomb,” said Dr. Susan Kegley, Consulting Scientist with Pesticide Action Network. “The idea that this pesticide can be used safely in the fields is a myth.”

In a world where now we constantly hear hackers bypass controls, financial controls fail to stop fraud, and rivers and lakes show the awful effects of pesticide runoff…California is foolish to gamble on such extreme risk.

Mammals are known to reduce in size in response to environmental risks. It has been studied in great detail.

The icecap may not be the only thing shrinking in the Arctic. The genitals of polar bears in east Greenland are apparently dwindling in size due to industrial pollutants.

That might not be the best example; it has been known for some time that polar bears are losing weight overall.

A new ecology study now says mammals are not the only species. It turns out even fish can shrink under harsh living conditions

In examining how juvenile salmonid fish responded to harsh environmental conditions, we were faced with unexpected and previously undocumented observations in terms of growth performance, indicating that fish do shrink in harsh winter conditions. Young salmonids showed significant shrinking of individual body length, up to 10% of the body length, over the course of winter. The dynamics of the growth in length of these fish can be explained by a combination of anorectic stress and environmental conditions. Under stable, sheltered underwater conditions fish were best able to maintain positive growth in length.

The Office of Inspector General in the US Department of Energy has just released a “Letter Report on ‘Inspection of Allegations Relating to Irregularities in the Human Reliability Program and Alcohol Abuse within the Office of Secure Transportation” (OST):

Specifically, a review of OST documentation and interviews confirmed the occurrence of 16 alcohol-related incidents involving OST Agents, Agent Candidates and other personnel from 2007 through 2009. To put this situation in some perspective, the 16 alcohol-related incidents experienced by OST from 2007 through 2009 were from a total population of approximately 597 OST Agents, Agent Candidates and other personnel. Of the 16 incidents, 2 were of the greatest concern because they occurred during secure transportation missions while the Agents were in Rest Overnight Status, which occurs during extended missions where [nuclear weapon] convoy vehicles are placed in a safe harbor and Agents check into local area hotels. In 2007, an Agent was arrested for public intoxication, and, in 2009, two Agents were handcuffed and temporarily detained by police officers after an incident at a local bar. OST management took what appeared to be appropriate action in these cases. However, in our judgment, alcohol incidents such as these, as infrequent as they may be, indicate a potential vulnerability in OST’s critical national security mission

Vehicles with nuclear weapons go into safe harbor overnight but Agents can go out on the town. That pretty-much says it all.

The 16 incidents could implicate 3% of staff. The report does not make any formal recommendations and so it also does not try to figure out if this is a case of a few bad apples or a loosely managed and thereby insecure operation overall.

Either way, the report concludes that nuclear weapons and thereby national security is in the hands of staff who often become involved in “incidents” related to alcohol.

A report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) condemns government authorities for ignoring global exploitation of tuna. The magnitude of the problem was found in 2007 when France hauled in almost double its allowed quota.

The report details systematic over-fishing, falsely reported catch volumes, ignored bans of spotter planes to track down schools of tuna and illegal sales of national quotas from one vessel to another.

All told, the investigation paints a bleak picture in which thousands of tons of fish were illegally hauled between 1998 and 2007 – as many as one in every three bluefin tuna may have been caught illegally during this period.

Reasons for the illegal trade are said to be obvious.

As marine biologist, Daniel Pauly told the ICIJ, the promise of a slice of such wealth is too enticing for many to resist.

“Fisheries are one of the most criminalized sectors in the world,” Pauly said. “This generates so much money that it’s like drugs.”

The report said the black market trade in tuna was worth at least $4 billion (2.9 billion euros) between 1998 and 2007.

Tuna populations have been devastated by the practice. Quotas have been ignored, if not difficult to monitor, and regulators are facing a tough situation. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has suggested a simple answer — drop quotas to something very easy to monitor that also may be necessary to save the species — zero.