By William J. Skinner
Back in September 2017, I wrote an article
about “Water, Water Everywhere” to sum up a few of my discoveries about what is
being done about the toxic algae problem in Florida with a focus on Palm Beach
County and Lake Okeechobee. The
problems are much bigger than any of us expect.
The effects
of toxins in water on human health, especially brain health, are being studied
around the world. The problems are
complex, but we can study it and find how to reduce the damage and deaths.
What brings
this subject to my mind to share with you is my personal knowledge and
involvement in brain health issues. It
is hard to grasp the enormity of the science involved, but we do have the means
to unravel some of these biological secrets if we keep studying the problems. A little simplified and condensed history
about smoking tobacco might help.
Seventy
years ago before I was a teenager, cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco were
commonplace. When I was in my thirties,
my father died of a heart attack. He
smoked 5 or more cigars a day sometimes.
That probably led to his death at age 60. Next I learned that the husband of one of my
mother’s cousins died of throat cancer at about age 50; he was a smoker and
chewed tobacco. Next one of my
grandfathers died of emphysema at about 78.
In those days tobacco was king and it was lightly regulated. Then came the science.
I remember
learning about Dr. Bruce Ames, a scientist in California, who was one of the
pioneers in developing laboratory tests to determine the “hits” on mice and rat
DNA from being raised in a tobacco smoke rich environment. A “hit” is when it could be determined that
the DNA was reconfigured because of something the animal had breathed or eaten. As time when on these tests became more
accurate. When DNA is modified, it can
cause cancer to develop.
In the past
20 years, we learned that nicotine, in tobacco, was also addicting and the
growers and sellers knew this before the public did. Tobacco is now regulated by laws and
regulations administered by the Food and Drug Administration. But people still smoke and chew, though not
as much.
On
television today we are inundated with commercials selling prescription drugs
that extoll the virtues of the drugs and ask you to ask your doctor. The idea of drug science is becoming a second
nature to a new generation of TV watchers.
Everyone
who keeps up with the news for the past 30 years knows that the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) has expanded its authority so much that President
Trump’s election was supported by many to rein in the broad grabbing of
authority by EPA. This was a problem the
Congress caused in many ways.
Before
retiring to Florida 14 years ago, I was a supporter of the Chesapeake Bay
Foundation for many years. It has done some
good work in the states that have the water sheds that flow into the bay. The CBF Winter 2017 magazine just came and
Will Baker, the CBF President, described the problems being done by the
chemical pesticide, chlorpyrifos, “which is acutely toxic to Bay life and has
been found to cause brain damage in children.”
Baker quotes Fernando Stein, the President of the American Academy of
Pediatrics, writing in the NY Times, “This
chemical is unambiguously dangerous and should be banned from use.” Baker quotes other people familiar with the
chemical. Then he proposes support for
two bills in Congress, S.B. 1624 – The Protect Children, Farmers, and
Farmworkers from Nerve Agent Pesticides Act of 2017 and H. R. 4420 –The
Chesapeake Bay Farm Bill Enhancements Act
of 2017 which also supports multi-state water quality challenges. Senate cosponsors are all Democrats. House
cosponsors include a couple or Republicans from bay districts.
Now we move
on to what the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals wrote back in June of
2017 about Florida’s water. The 11th
Circuit is an intermediary court between the local U.S. District Court and the
Supreme Court of the U.S.
The Court
was a three judge panel of Circuit Judges Tjoflat and Rosenbaum, plus Hon. Jane
A. Restani, U.S. Court of International Trade sitting by designation. Judge Rosenbaum wrote the 52-page
opinion. The opinion began by reviewing
background issues. Notice how three
judges described the “algae blooms”.
“Plaintiff-Appellants
Florida Wildlife Federation, Inc., Environmental Confederation of
Southwest Florida, Inc., and Conservancy of Southwest Florida, Inc., (collectively,
“Conservationists”), complained about serious environmental problems in this
channel and the surrounding areas where Lake Okeechobee’s waters flow. They
asserted that decisions by Defendant-Appellee U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(the “Corps”) about when and how to release water from certain locks along
the Waterway violate the Clean Water Act and Florida law because they
negatively affect the quality of the waters the Corps regulates.In response, the
Corps invoked sovereign immunity, and the district court dismissed the
Conservationists’ complaint on that basis. The Conservationists now appeal.
But they aren’t the
only ones. The South Florida Water Management District (the “Water
District”), an agency of the State of Florida, also appeals the judgment. It does
so, though, on the basis that the district court first should have decided whether the
Conservationists failed to join the Water District as an indispensable party
under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 19(b).”
* * *
“To the Conservationists, this case is
about the quality of water and the ecological conditions along the Waterway. To
the Corps, it is about federal regulation of navigation through the Waterway.
And to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) and the Water
District, the case is about protecting any authority the state might have over
the waters at the center of this controversy. So resolving this case requires
us to consider complex and overlapping interests. Because
understanding these interests is critical to finding the right answer here, we review
relevant background information below about Florida’s water geography, Florida’s
water-ecology issues, the roles that the federal and state entities play in
regulating the waters at issue in this case, and federal and state law concerning water
quality.”
* * *
“B. Florida’s Ecological Water Issues
Florida suffers from a Goldilocks
problem when it comes to water in the Waterway: too much or too little
results in serious consequences. The waters in the Waterway are healthiest and most
useful when they fall within a range that is just right. In this lawsuit, the
Conservationists complain about only the problems that arise as a result of low water in
the Caloosahatchee River, a condition they attribute in part to the Corps’s
management of S-77, S-78, and S-79 under its 2008 regulation schedule. See
generally U.S. Army Corps of Eng’rs, Jacksonville Dist., Cent. & S. Fla.
Project: Water Control Plan for Lake Okeechobee & Everglades Agric. Area
(2008) (“2008 LORS”).
Low water levels can have adverse
effects on navigation, water supply, and fish and wildlife in the area. Among
other negative effects, low water levels can aggravate ecological conditions in the
Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Estuaries by causing too high a level of salinity
and saltwater encroachment into the freshwaters of the Waterway. But the
Conservationists draw special attention to another serious problem associated
with lower water levels: the emergence of algal blooms. Often characterized by
the bright-green appearance of the water in which they are occurring, algal
blooms represent a serious environmental problem because they consume an excessive
amount of oxygen from the water when the constituent cells die. The remaining
levels of oxygen may be too low to sustain aquatic life, which can die off as a
result. Algal blooms also can result in taste and odor problems with drinking
water, contribute to the formation of carcinogenic
substances in drinking water when it undergoes chlorination, and produce toxins that are not removed by the
treatment process. Algal-bloom toxins, in turn, can cause liver and neurological disease in animals and humans who drink or
come into contact with the water. They can induce skin irritations, kill fish
and other animals, and seriously impair the recreational value of the body of
water. And eating fish taken from waters
during algal blooms is dangerous. Algal blooms have happened in the
Caloosahatchee River eight of the eleven years between 2001 and 2012. In 2011,
eight weeks of algal blooms proliferated.”
[emphasis added.]
The
remainder of the opinion and specially concurring opinion by Judge Tjoflat
dealt with the procedural position for dismissing under Rule 19 or the claim of
sovereign immunity. Rule 19 was selected as the primary reason for dismissing
the case. No ruling was made on the
operational procedures for the locks or the dangerousness of the algae blooms, but
the court explained what it understood of the science that was put before them
during the case.
11th Circuit Court of Appeals – June 19, 2017 –
Opinion in Florida Wildlife Mgmt, et al
v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineer, Case No. 4:12-cv-00355. Case dismissed for failure to join SFWMD in
the suit under Federal Rule 19 (b).
Now for
those who like to watch videos, I am giving you three to watch in order. They are all short, but very interesting.
To learn more about BMAA in the brains of humans watch these
three quick videos in this order:
ONE - 2012 Paul Alan Cox speaks about BMAA in tangle
diseases at Jackson Hole
go on YouTube and search for “update on Paul Alan Cox BMAA
research since 2012” and
you will find several more short reports that claim BMAA is
found in brains of people dying
of ALS, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease.
TWO - April 3, 2017 Update on use of L-serine for ALS
Published on Jan 24, 2016
BREAKTHROUGH: Cause of Alzheimer’s discovered:
where you live and what you eat are crucial.
A POISONOUS algae found in freshwater lakes in the UK is being blamed
for an increase in the number of people developing dementia, which is expected
to hit one million by 2050.
Published on Mar 5, 2016
The neurotoxin BMAA is found in seafood and
the brains of Alzheimer’s and ALS victims. Might dietary changes help prevent
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis? [This one
shows research papers and connection to fish in USA.]
Downloaded 12-5-2017 WJS
We may have
to go to another world to get our brains away from the danger of chlorpyrifos
and BMAA. Ask Stephen Hawking if you don’t
believe me.
