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Quebec man stung by scorpion hiding in Costco bananas
Author of the article
enette Wilford
Published Mar 26, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
A man in Laval, Que., says he was stung by a scorpion concealed in a bunch of bananas he had purchased at Costco.
Benoit Sanscartier had bought groceries from the Costco location in Boisbriand, just west of Laval, when the shocking incident occurred.
“I removed the paper around the bananas and I got stung by the scorpion,” Sanscartier told TVA Nouvelles.
He added that the sting hurt badly, describing it as “twice the pain of a wasp sting.”
University of Montreal entomologist Etienne Normandin told the outlet that these scorpions “are imported from the southern United States or Central America and are frequently found on bananas or grapes.”
The scorpion found in Sanscartier’s Costco bananas are believed to have come from Guatemala.
Sanscartier called 811 immediately after he was bitten but after more than an hour of waiting, he went to the hospital.
When Sanscartier reached out to Costco, they told him they only had a protocol in place for employees.
“It’s the first time they’ve seen that for a client,” he said.
Sanscartier now keeps the scorpion in a jar.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has launched an investigation into how the scorpion got all the way to Canada.
However, Normandin explained that in some South American countries, the items are placed in carts or in large warehouses where scorpions “can sneak in and be transported here.”
He added: “In a few days, the scorpion can survive the cold, because they are kept in stable conditions.”
Toronto Sun columnist Dr. Sylvain Charlebois noted this isn’t the first time scorpions have been found hiding in bananas in Canada.
“Scorpions have been found before in Canada, concealed in bananas, in 2017 in Nova Scotia, and Montreal in 2023,” he posted on X.
The Sun reached out to Costco but did not get a response in time for publication.
torontosun.com
Author of the article
enette WilfordPublished Mar 26, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
A man in Laval, Que., says he was stung by a scorpion concealed in a bunch of bananas he had purchased at Costco.
Benoit Sanscartier had bought groceries from the Costco location in Boisbriand, just west of Laval, when the shocking incident occurred.
“I removed the paper around the bananas and I got stung by the scorpion,” Sanscartier told TVA Nouvelles.
He added that the sting hurt badly, describing it as “twice the pain of a wasp sting.”
University of Montreal entomologist Etienne Normandin told the outlet that these scorpions “are imported from the southern United States or Central America and are frequently found on bananas or grapes.”
The scorpion found in Sanscartier’s Costco bananas are believed to have come from Guatemala.
Sanscartier called 811 immediately after he was bitten but after more than an hour of waiting, he went to the hospital.
When Sanscartier reached out to Costco, they told him they only had a protocol in place for employees.
“It’s the first time they’ve seen that for a client,” he said.
Sanscartier now keeps the scorpion in a jar.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has launched an investigation into how the scorpion got all the way to Canada.
However, Normandin explained that in some South American countries, the items are placed in carts or in large warehouses where scorpions “can sneak in and be transported here.”
He added: “In a few days, the scorpion can survive the cold, because they are kept in stable conditions.”
Toronto Sun columnist Dr. Sylvain Charlebois noted this isn’t the first time scorpions have been found hiding in bananas in Canada.
“Scorpions have been found before in Canada, concealed in bananas, in 2017 in Nova Scotia, and Montreal in 2023,” he posted on X.
The Sun reached out to Costco but did not get a response in time for publication.
Quebec man stung by scorpion hiding in Costco bananas
A man in Laval, Que., was stung by a scorpion concealed in a bunch of bananas he had purchased at Costco.
Bird flu detected in milk from dairy cows in Texas and Kansas
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Andrew Jeong, The Washington Post
Published Mar 26, 2024 • 2 minute read
Bird-Flu-Livestock
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday, March 25, 2024, that milk from dairy cows in Texas and Kansas has tested positive for bird flu.
Milk and nasal swab samples from sick cattle on at least two dairy farms in Texas and two in Kansas have tested positive for bird flu, according to federal and state officials.
Agencies are moving quickly to conduct more testing for the illness – known as highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI – the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a news release Monday.
Cattle are showing flu-like symptoms and lactating discolored milk, Texas state officials said. Wild migratory birds are probably the source of infection, federal officials added, pointing to reports that farms have found dead wild birds on their properties.
The announcement comes after Minnesota officials reported the first infection of avian flu among livestock in the United States last week, when a juvenile goat living on a farm with infected poultry tested positive.
The infections among cattle pose minimal risk to human food safety or milk supply and prices, officials said. Milk from sick cattle is being diverted or destroyed. Pasteurization – a heating treatment that kills pathogens – is required for milk involved in interstate commerce, greatly reducing the possibility that infected milk enters the food supply, they added.
The milk samples that tested positive for bird flu were unpasteurized, according to federal officials.
“There is no threat to the public and there will be no supply shortages,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said in a news release. “No contaminated milk is known to have entered the food chain; it has all been dumped. In the rare event that some affected milk enters the food chain, the pasteurization process will kill the virus.”
Officials have long cautioned consumers to avoid raw milk, or unpasteurized milk, which can be sold within some states, including Texas and Kansas. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls raw milk “one of the riskiest foods” and says it is “linked to a variety of foodborne illnesses.”
Texas requires dairy farms selling raw milk to have it tested every three months. Kansas requires raw milk sales to “take place at the farm where it was produced,” while any advertising and any containers must plainly state that it is raw milk.
The loss of milk from symptomatic cows is too limited to have a major impact on milk supply, federal officials said, meaning “there should be no impact on the price of milk or other dairy products.”
Federal and state officials are investigating primarily older cows in Texas, Kansas and New Mexico. Iowa officials are also “actively monitoring this evolving situation.”
Unlike outbreaks among poultry, bird flu infections among mammals are expected not to require massive culling efforts, officials said. In rare cases, avian flu has jumped from birds to humans, most notably during an avian influenza outbreak in Hong Kong in 1997, according to the World Health Organization.
Brian Hoefs, a veterinarian and the executive director of the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, said last week that the kid goat’s bird flu infection “highlights the possibility of the virus infecting other animals on farms with multiple species.”
“Thankfully, research to-date has shown mammals appear to be dead-end hosts, which means they’re unlikely to spread HPAI further,” he added at the time.
Miller said he does not expect a “need to depopulate dairy herds,” and that the affected cattle are “expected to fully recover.”
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Andrew Jeong, The Washington Post
Published Mar 26, 2024 • 2 minute read
Bird-Flu-Livestock
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday, March 25, 2024, that milk from dairy cows in Texas and Kansas has tested positive for bird flu.
Milk and nasal swab samples from sick cattle on at least two dairy farms in Texas and two in Kansas have tested positive for bird flu, according to federal and state officials.
Agencies are moving quickly to conduct more testing for the illness – known as highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI – the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a news release Monday.
Cattle are showing flu-like symptoms and lactating discolored milk, Texas state officials said. Wild migratory birds are probably the source of infection, federal officials added, pointing to reports that farms have found dead wild birds on their properties.
The announcement comes after Minnesota officials reported the first infection of avian flu among livestock in the United States last week, when a juvenile goat living on a farm with infected poultry tested positive.
The infections among cattle pose minimal risk to human food safety or milk supply and prices, officials said. Milk from sick cattle is being diverted or destroyed. Pasteurization – a heating treatment that kills pathogens – is required for milk involved in interstate commerce, greatly reducing the possibility that infected milk enters the food supply, they added.
The milk samples that tested positive for bird flu were unpasteurized, according to federal officials.
“There is no threat to the public and there will be no supply shortages,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said in a news release. “No contaminated milk is known to have entered the food chain; it has all been dumped. In the rare event that some affected milk enters the food chain, the pasteurization process will kill the virus.”
Officials have long cautioned consumers to avoid raw milk, or unpasteurized milk, which can be sold within some states, including Texas and Kansas. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls raw milk “one of the riskiest foods” and says it is “linked to a variety of foodborne illnesses.”
Texas requires dairy farms selling raw milk to have it tested every three months. Kansas requires raw milk sales to “take place at the farm where it was produced,” while any advertising and any containers must plainly state that it is raw milk.
The loss of milk from symptomatic cows is too limited to have a major impact on milk supply, federal officials said, meaning “there should be no impact on the price of milk or other dairy products.”
Federal and state officials are investigating primarily older cows in Texas, Kansas and New Mexico. Iowa officials are also “actively monitoring this evolving situation.”
Unlike outbreaks among poultry, bird flu infections among mammals are expected not to require massive culling efforts, officials said. In rare cases, avian flu has jumped from birds to humans, most notably during an avian influenza outbreak in Hong Kong in 1997, according to the World Health Organization.
Brian Hoefs, a veterinarian and the executive director of the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, said last week that the kid goat’s bird flu infection “highlights the possibility of the virus infecting other animals on farms with multiple species.”
“Thankfully, research to-date has shown mammals appear to be dead-end hosts, which means they’re unlikely to spread HPAI further,” he added at the time.
Miller said he does not expect a “need to depopulate dairy herds,” and that the affected cattle are “expected to fully recover.”
Bird flu detected in milk from dairy cows in Texas and Kansas
Agencies are moving quickly to conduct more testing for the illness.
Measles cases in Canada are increasing, Canada’s chief public health officer warns
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Nicole Ireland
Published Mar 27, 2024 • 2 minute read
Tam issued a statement Wednesday saying the Public Health Agency of Canada is aware of 40 measles cases in Canada so far this year.
Tam issued a statement Wednesday saying the Public Health Agency of Canada is aware of 40 measles cases in Canada so far this year.
The number of confirmed measles cases in Canada so far this year is more than three times higher than all infections recorded in 2023, the country’s chief public health officer said as she urged people to ensure their vaccinations are up to date.
The Public Health Agency of Canada is aware of 40 confirmed cases across the country in 2024, Dr. Theresa Tam said on Wednesday.
Tam said she is concerned that not enough school-aged children have been adequately vaccinated against the highly contagious virus.
“I strongly advise parents or caregivers to ensure that children in their care have received all measles vaccines according to schedule,” she said in an interview.
Those who aren’t sure about their child’s vaccination history should speak to their health-care provider or local public health agency, Tam said.
The timing of the doses varies by province and territory, but generally children get their first doses of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine at 12 to 15 months of age and then a second dose before they start school.
“The measles-containing vaccines are very effective. (The) benefits far outweigh the risks,” Tam said.
“There’s no reason why children — who could get quite seriously sick from this illness — should be getting it because it’s vaccine-preventable,” she said.
Quebec has had 28 confirmed cases this year — the most in the country, Tam said. Ontario has had 10 cases; B.C. and Saskatchewan have had one case each.
The majority of people who have been infected with measles in Canada were unvaccinated and most of them were children.
Seven people have been hospitalized due to measles this year, Tam said.
She said although some people have been infected while travelling internationally, others have caught measles in Canada.
The Public Health Agency of Canada has previously urged people to check their measles vaccination status before the busy March Break travel season.
On Wednesday, Tam said it’s difficult to tell at this point if March break travel has contributed to an increase in cases, but wanted to get the message out again as people are preparing for family gatherings and religious celebrations.
The rise in measles this year is likely caused by increased measles activity worldwide, combined with “suboptimal vaccine uptake nationally,” Tam said.
She said there may have been a decrease in access to routine vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic, but local public health agencies have been “trying very hard to do catch up.”
There has been a recent “upswing in public interest in getting the vaccine, which is great,” she said.
Symptoms of measles include fever, red watery eyes, runny nose and a cough at first. Those symptoms are followed by a red rash that starts on the face and moves to other parts of the body, the Public Health Agency of Canada said in a statement.
“Measles is more than a rash. Infection can lead to rare, but severe complications, including deafness and brain injury caused by inflammation of the brain, and can even be fatal,” the statement said.
A 95 per cent vaccination rate is needed to give communities herd immunity against measles.
The most recent available national data, which is from 2021, showed that 79 per cent of children had two doses of measles vaccine by age seven.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Nicole Ireland
Published Mar 27, 2024 • 2 minute read
Tam issued a statement Wednesday saying the Public Health Agency of Canada is aware of 40 measles cases in Canada so far this year.
Tam issued a statement Wednesday saying the Public Health Agency of Canada is aware of 40 measles cases in Canada so far this year.
The number of confirmed measles cases in Canada so far this year is more than three times higher than all infections recorded in 2023, the country’s chief public health officer said as she urged people to ensure their vaccinations are up to date.
The Public Health Agency of Canada is aware of 40 confirmed cases across the country in 2024, Dr. Theresa Tam said on Wednesday.
Tam said she is concerned that not enough school-aged children have been adequately vaccinated against the highly contagious virus.
“I strongly advise parents or caregivers to ensure that children in their care have received all measles vaccines according to schedule,” she said in an interview.
Those who aren’t sure about their child’s vaccination history should speak to their health-care provider or local public health agency, Tam said.
The timing of the doses varies by province and territory, but generally children get their first doses of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine at 12 to 15 months of age and then a second dose before they start school.
“The measles-containing vaccines are very effective. (The) benefits far outweigh the risks,” Tam said.
“There’s no reason why children — who could get quite seriously sick from this illness — should be getting it because it’s vaccine-preventable,” she said.
Quebec has had 28 confirmed cases this year — the most in the country, Tam said. Ontario has had 10 cases; B.C. and Saskatchewan have had one case each.
The majority of people who have been infected with measles in Canada were unvaccinated and most of them were children.
Seven people have been hospitalized due to measles this year, Tam said.
She said although some people have been infected while travelling internationally, others have caught measles in Canada.
The Public Health Agency of Canada has previously urged people to check their measles vaccination status before the busy March Break travel season.
On Wednesday, Tam said it’s difficult to tell at this point if March break travel has contributed to an increase in cases, but wanted to get the message out again as people are preparing for family gatherings and religious celebrations.
The rise in measles this year is likely caused by increased measles activity worldwide, combined with “suboptimal vaccine uptake nationally,” Tam said.
She said there may have been a decrease in access to routine vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic, but local public health agencies have been “trying very hard to do catch up.”
There has been a recent “upswing in public interest in getting the vaccine, which is great,” she said.
Symptoms of measles include fever, red watery eyes, runny nose and a cough at first. Those symptoms are followed by a red rash that starts on the face and moves to other parts of the body, the Public Health Agency of Canada said in a statement.
“Measles is more than a rash. Infection can lead to rare, but severe complications, including deafness and brain injury caused by inflammation of the brain, and can even be fatal,” the statement said.
A 95 per cent vaccination rate is needed to give communities herd immunity against measles.
The most recent available national data, which is from 2021, showed that 79 per cent of children had two doses of measles vaccine by age seven.
Measles cases in Canada are increasing, Canada’s chief public health officer warns
The Public Health Agency of Canada is aware of 40 confirmed cases across the country in 2024, Dr. Theresa Tam said on Wednesday.
Largest fresh egg producer in U.S. has found bird flu in chickens at Texas, Michigan plants
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Ken Miller
Published Apr 02, 2024 • 2 minute read
The largest producer of fresh eggs in the U.S. said Tuesday it had temporarily halted production at a Texas plant after bird flu was found in chickens, and officials said the virus had also been detected at a poultry facility in Michigan.
Ridgeland, Mississippi-based Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. said in a statement that approximately 1.6 million laying hens and 337,000 pullets, about 3.6% of its total flock, were destroyed after the infection, avian influenza, was found at a facility in Parmer County, Texas.
The plant is on the Texas-New Mexico border in the Texas Panhandle about 85 miles (137 kilometers) southwest of Amarillo and about 370 miles (595 kilometers) northwest of Dallas. Cal-Maine said it sells most of its eggs in the Southwestern, Southeastern, Midwestern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.
“The Company continues to work closely with federal, state and local government officials and focused industry groups to mitigate the risk of future outbreaks and effectively manage the response,” the statement said.
“Cal-Maine Foods is working to secure production from other facilities to minimize disruption to its customers,” the statement said.
The company said there is no known bird flu risk associated with eggs that are currently in the market and no eggs have been recalled.
Eggs that are properly handled and cooked are safe to eat, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The announcement by Cal-Maine comes a day after state health officials said a person had been diagnosed with bird flu after being in contact with cows presumed to be infected, and that the risk to the public remains low. The human case in Texas marks the first known instance globally of a person catching this version of bird flu from a mammal, federal health officials said.
In Michigan, Michigan State University’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory has detected bird flu in a commercial poultry facility in Ionia County, according to the Michigan’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The county is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) northwest of Detroit.
The department said it received confirmation of the disease Monday from the lab and that it is the fourth time since 2022 that the disease was detected at a commercial facility in Michigan.
Department spokesperson Jennifer Holton said Tuesday that state law prohibits the department from disclosing the type of poultry at the facility. The facility has been placed under quarantine and the department does not anticipate any disruptions to supply chains across the state, Holton said.
Dairy cows in Texas and Kansas were reported to be infected with bird flu last week — and federal agriculture officials later confirmed infections in a Michigan dairy herd that had recently received cows from Texas. A dairy herd in Idaho has been added to the list after federal agriculture officials confirmed the detection of bird flu in them, according to a Tuesday press release from the USDA.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Ken Miller
Published Apr 02, 2024 • 2 minute read
The largest producer of fresh eggs in the U.S. said Tuesday it had temporarily halted production at a Texas plant after bird flu was found in chickens, and officials said the virus had also been detected at a poultry facility in Michigan.
Ridgeland, Mississippi-based Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. said in a statement that approximately 1.6 million laying hens and 337,000 pullets, about 3.6% of its total flock, were destroyed after the infection, avian influenza, was found at a facility in Parmer County, Texas.
The plant is on the Texas-New Mexico border in the Texas Panhandle about 85 miles (137 kilometers) southwest of Amarillo and about 370 miles (595 kilometers) northwest of Dallas. Cal-Maine said it sells most of its eggs in the Southwestern, Southeastern, Midwestern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.
“The Company continues to work closely with federal, state and local government officials and focused industry groups to mitigate the risk of future outbreaks and effectively manage the response,” the statement said.
“Cal-Maine Foods is working to secure production from other facilities to minimize disruption to its customers,” the statement said.
The company said there is no known bird flu risk associated with eggs that are currently in the market and no eggs have been recalled.
Eggs that are properly handled and cooked are safe to eat, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The announcement by Cal-Maine comes a day after state health officials said a person had been diagnosed with bird flu after being in contact with cows presumed to be infected, and that the risk to the public remains low. The human case in Texas marks the first known instance globally of a person catching this version of bird flu from a mammal, federal health officials said.
In Michigan, Michigan State University’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory has detected bird flu in a commercial poultry facility in Ionia County, according to the Michigan’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The county is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) northwest of Detroit.
The department said it received confirmation of the disease Monday from the lab and that it is the fourth time since 2022 that the disease was detected at a commercial facility in Michigan.
Department spokesperson Jennifer Holton said Tuesday that state law prohibits the department from disclosing the type of poultry at the facility. The facility has been placed under quarantine and the department does not anticipate any disruptions to supply chains across the state, Holton said.
Dairy cows in Texas and Kansas were reported to be infected with bird flu last week — and federal agriculture officials later confirmed infections in a Michigan dairy herd that had recently received cows from Texas. A dairy herd in Idaho has been added to the list after federal agriculture officials confirmed the detection of bird flu in them, according to a Tuesday press release from the USDA.
Largest fresh egg producer in U.S. has found bird flu in chickens at Texas, Michigan plants
Largest producer of fresh eggs in the U.S. said it had temporarily halted production at a Texas plant after bird flu was found in chickens
Dinosaur Disease. It's gotta be an ancient virus.Largest fresh egg producer in U.S. has found bird flu in chickens at Texas, Michigan plants
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Ken Miller
Published Apr 02, 2024 • 2 minute read
The largest producer of fresh eggs in the U.S. said Tuesday it had temporarily halted production at a Texas plant after bird flu was found in chickens, and officials said the virus had also been detected at a poultry facility in Michigan.
Ridgeland, Mississippi-based Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. said in a statement that approximately 1.6 million laying hens and 337,000 pullets, about 3.6% of its total flock, were destroyed after the infection, avian influenza, was found at a facility in Parmer County, Texas.
The plant is on the Texas-New Mexico border in the Texas Panhandle about 85 miles (137 kilometers) southwest of Amarillo and about 370 miles (595 kilometers) northwest of Dallas. Cal-Maine said it sells most of its eggs in the Southwestern, Southeastern, Midwestern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.
“The Company continues to work closely with federal, state and local government officials and focused industry groups to mitigate the risk of future outbreaks and effectively manage the response,” the statement said.
“Cal-Maine Foods is working to secure production from other facilities to minimize disruption to its customers,” the statement said.
The company said there is no known bird flu risk associated with eggs that are currently in the market and no eggs have been recalled.
Eggs that are properly handled and cooked are safe to eat, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The announcement by Cal-Maine comes a day after state health officials said a person had been diagnosed with bird flu after being in contact with cows presumed to be infected, and that the risk to the public remains low. The human case in Texas marks the first known instance globally of a person catching this version of bird flu from a mammal, federal health officials said.
In Michigan, Michigan State University’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory has detected bird flu in a commercial poultry facility in Ionia County, according to the Michigan’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The county is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) northwest of Detroit.
The department said it received confirmation of the disease Monday from the lab and that it is the fourth time since 2022 that the disease was detected at a commercial facility in Michigan.
Department spokesperson Jennifer Holton said Tuesday that state law prohibits the department from disclosing the type of poultry at the facility. The facility has been placed under quarantine and the department does not anticipate any disruptions to supply chains across the state, Holton said.
Dairy cows in Texas and Kansas were reported to be infected with bird flu last week — and federal agriculture officials later confirmed infections in a Michigan dairy herd that had recently received cows from Texas. A dairy herd in Idaho has been added to the list after federal agriculture officials confirmed the detection of bird flu in them, according to a Tuesday press release from the USDA.
Largest fresh egg producer in U.S. has found bird flu in chickens at Texas, Michigan plants
Largest producer of fresh eggs in the U.S. said it had temporarily halted production at a Texas plant after bird flu was found in chickens
American contracts bird flu after exposure to virus spreading in cows
Author of the article:Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Michelle Fay Cortez
Published Apr 03, 2024 • 1 minute read
A person in Texas contracted bird flu, most likely after being exposed to infected dairy cows, public health officials said, as an emerging outbreak among the animals spreads in the country.
The risk to the general population remains low, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. It is the second human case of bird flu, formally known as highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza, in the U.S. since 2022 when infections started gaining speed in wild and domesticated birds and other mammals.
Article content
The patient, who had no symptoms apart from red eyes suggestive of conjunctivitis, is receiving antiviral drugs and recovering, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The outbreak among dairy herds is relatively recent, with early reports of infected cows from Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico and Idaho. Unlike with chickens and other poultry flocks that are generally culled to prevent the spread of the virus, the U.S. Department of Agriculture isn’t recommending the destruction of infected cows “at this stage.”
The situation is “rapidly evolving,” the USDA said. The CDC is working with state health departments to monitor people and groups that may be at risk.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Michelle Fay Cortez
Published Apr 03, 2024 • 1 minute read
A person in Texas contracted bird flu, most likely after being exposed to infected dairy cows, public health officials said, as an emerging outbreak among the animals spreads in the country.
The risk to the general population remains low, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. It is the second human case of bird flu, formally known as highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza, in the U.S. since 2022 when infections started gaining speed in wild and domesticated birds and other mammals.
Article content
The patient, who had no symptoms apart from red eyes suggestive of conjunctivitis, is receiving antiviral drugs and recovering, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The outbreak among dairy herds is relatively recent, with early reports of infected cows from Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico and Idaho. Unlike with chickens and other poultry flocks that are generally culled to prevent the spread of the virus, the U.S. Department of Agriculture isn’t recommending the destruction of infected cows “at this stage.”
The situation is “rapidly evolving,” the USDA said. The CDC is working with state health departments to monitor people and groups that may be at risk.
American contracts bird flu after exposure to virus spreading in cows
A person in Texas contracted bird flu, most likely after being exposed to infected dairy cows, public health officials said.
Man who received pig kidney transplant leaves hospital, feels great
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Jennifer Hassan, The Washington Post
Published Apr 04, 2024 • 3 minute read
Pig Kidney Transplant
A pig kidney sits on ice, awaiting transplantation into a living human at Massachusetts General Hospital, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Boston, Mass. PHOTO BY MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL VIA AP
Just over two weeks after doctors placed a genetically edited kidney from a pig inside Richard Slayman, the 62-year-old is recovering at home and relishing “one of the happiest moments” of his life, according to a statement from the hospital that carried out the landmark four-hour surgery.
On March 16, Slayman became the first living person to receive such a transplant, according to doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital.
In a statement Wednesday, the hospital confirmed that Slayman had been discharged and was “recovering well.” The facility has credited “years of research, preclinical studies and collaboration” for the successful surgery.
“This moment – leaving the hospital today with one of the cleanest bills of health I’ve had in a long time – is one I wished would come for many years,” Slayman said in a discharge statement released by the hospital. “Now, it’s a reality and one of the happiest moments of my life.”
Slayman, who works for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, battled kidney disease for more than a decade. He had gone on dialysis and survived a human kidney transplant in 2018 but had since grown desperately ill and was near despair, The Washington Post reported last month.
As doctors planned the milestone surgery, they were required to seek approval from the Food and Drug Administration, which allowed the surgery under its “compassionate use” rules. The approval is granted in cases where a patient has a “serious or immediately life-threatening disease or condition” and there are no alternative treatments, according to the FDA.
Human and pig kidneys are of similar size. To reduce the risk of Slayman’s immune system attacking the transplanted pig’s organ, researchers needed to make 69 different edits to the pig’s genetic code.
For the more than 550,000 kidney patients in the United States receiving dialysis, Slayman’s story may offer a glimmer of hope. Leonardo V. Riella, medical director for kidney transplantation at Massachusetts General, has said he hopes that, as this science advances, dialysis will one day become obsolete.
Slayman said in his statement he was “excited to resume spending time” with his loved ones, “free from the burden of dialysis that has affected my quality of life for many years.”
As of February 2023, 88,658 people were on the waiting list for a kidney transplant in the United States, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
The institute notes that White people were more likely to receive a transplant within five years, compared to Black, Hispanic, and Asian people. Experts hope medical advances, including using pig kidneys, can help address this inequity, and address the gap between those waiting for transplants and the short supply of human organs available.
New technologies have been credited for recent advances in the field. They include CRISPR, the gene-editing tool recognized in 2020 with a Nobel Prize in chemistry, which can modify organs to make them less foreign to a recipient, reducing the chance of rejection.
Some scientists have also transplanted organs from animals into donated bodies, as part of their research into Xenotransplantation – the process of implanting organs from one species into another. They hope their findings will result in the FDA one day allowing formal Xenotransplant studies, the Associated Press reported.
In recent years, two patients have died after receiving organ transplants from animals.
In 2022, the first patient in the world to receive a genetically modified pig’s heart died around two months after the procedure, according to officials at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The patient, David Bennett Sr., suffered multiple complications, and traces of a virus that infects pigs were also found in his new heart, The Post reported.
In 2023, another patient died six weeks after receiving a pig heart transplant. Before the surgery, Lawrence Faucette was dying of heart failure and was deemed ineligible for a human heart transplant due to his advanced medical conditions. The pig transplant procedure was his last chance at life.
While Faucette initially showed “significant” signs of progress, his new heart began to show “signs of rejection” in the weeks that followed, officials at the University of Maryland School of Medicine said.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Jennifer Hassan, The Washington Post
Published Apr 04, 2024 • 3 minute read
Pig Kidney Transplant
A pig kidney sits on ice, awaiting transplantation into a living human at Massachusetts General Hospital, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Boston, Mass. PHOTO BY MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL VIA AP
Just over two weeks after doctors placed a genetically edited kidney from a pig inside Richard Slayman, the 62-year-old is recovering at home and relishing “one of the happiest moments” of his life, according to a statement from the hospital that carried out the landmark four-hour surgery.
On March 16, Slayman became the first living person to receive such a transplant, according to doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital.
In a statement Wednesday, the hospital confirmed that Slayman had been discharged and was “recovering well.” The facility has credited “years of research, preclinical studies and collaboration” for the successful surgery.
“This moment – leaving the hospital today with one of the cleanest bills of health I’ve had in a long time – is one I wished would come for many years,” Slayman said in a discharge statement released by the hospital. “Now, it’s a reality and one of the happiest moments of my life.”
Slayman, who works for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, battled kidney disease for more than a decade. He had gone on dialysis and survived a human kidney transplant in 2018 but had since grown desperately ill and was near despair, The Washington Post reported last month.
As doctors planned the milestone surgery, they were required to seek approval from the Food and Drug Administration, which allowed the surgery under its “compassionate use” rules. The approval is granted in cases where a patient has a “serious or immediately life-threatening disease or condition” and there are no alternative treatments, according to the FDA.
Human and pig kidneys are of similar size. To reduce the risk of Slayman’s immune system attacking the transplanted pig’s organ, researchers needed to make 69 different edits to the pig’s genetic code.
For the more than 550,000 kidney patients in the United States receiving dialysis, Slayman’s story may offer a glimmer of hope. Leonardo V. Riella, medical director for kidney transplantation at Massachusetts General, has said he hopes that, as this science advances, dialysis will one day become obsolete.
Slayman said in his statement he was “excited to resume spending time” with his loved ones, “free from the burden of dialysis that has affected my quality of life for many years.”
As of February 2023, 88,658 people were on the waiting list for a kidney transplant in the United States, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
The institute notes that White people were more likely to receive a transplant within five years, compared to Black, Hispanic, and Asian people. Experts hope medical advances, including using pig kidneys, can help address this inequity, and address the gap between those waiting for transplants and the short supply of human organs available.
New technologies have been credited for recent advances in the field. They include CRISPR, the gene-editing tool recognized in 2020 with a Nobel Prize in chemistry, which can modify organs to make them less foreign to a recipient, reducing the chance of rejection.
Some scientists have also transplanted organs from animals into donated bodies, as part of their research into Xenotransplantation – the process of implanting organs from one species into another. They hope their findings will result in the FDA one day allowing formal Xenotransplant studies, the Associated Press reported.
In recent years, two patients have died after receiving organ transplants from animals.
In 2022, the first patient in the world to receive a genetically modified pig’s heart died around two months after the procedure, according to officials at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The patient, David Bennett Sr., suffered multiple complications, and traces of a virus that infects pigs were also found in his new heart, The Post reported.
In 2023, another patient died six weeks after receiving a pig heart transplant. Before the surgery, Lawrence Faucette was dying of heart failure and was deemed ineligible for a human heart transplant due to his advanced medical conditions. The pig transplant procedure was his last chance at life.
While Faucette initially showed “significant” signs of progress, his new heart began to show “signs of rejection” in the weeks that followed, officials at the University of Maryland School of Medicine said.
Man who received pig kidney transplant leaves hospital, feels great
Slayman became the first living person to receive such a transplant, according to doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Norfolk Southern agrees to pay $600M in settlement related to train derailment in eastern Ohio
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Josh Funk
Published Apr 09, 2024 • 2 minute read
Train-Derailment-Ohio
Debris from a Norfolk Southern freight train lies scattered and burning along the tracks on Feb. 4, 2023, the day after it derailed in East Palestine, Ohio.
Norfolk Southern has agreed to pay $600 million in a class-action lawsuit settlement related to a fiery train derailment in February 2023 in eastern Ohio.
The company said Tuesday that the agreement, if approved by the court, will resolve all class action claims within a 20-mile radius from the derailment and, for those residents who choose to participate, personal injury claims within a 10-mile radius from the derailment.
Norfolk Southern added that individuals and businesses will be able to use compensation from the settlement in any manner they see fit to address potential adverse impacts from the derailment, which could include healthcare needs, property restoration and compensation for any net business loss. Individuals within 10-miles of the derailment may, at their discretion, choose to receive additional compensation for any past, current, or future personal injury from the derailment.
The company said that the settlement doesn’t include or constitute any admission of liability, wrongdoing, or fault.
The settlement is expected to be submitted for preliminary approval to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio later in April 2024. Payments to class members under the settlement could begin by the end of the year, subject to final court approval.
Norfolk Southern has already spent more than $1.1 billion on its response to the derailment, including more than $104 million in direct aid to East Palestine and its residents. Partly because Norfolk Southern is paying for the cleanup, President Joe Biden has never declared a disaster in East Palestine, which is a sore point for many residents. The railroad has promised to create a fund to help pay for the long-term health needs of the community, but that hasn’t happened yet.
Last week federal officials said that the aftermath of the train derailment doesn’t qualify as a public health emergency because widespread health problems and ongoing chemical exposures haven’t been documented.
The Environmental Protection Agency never approved that designation after the February 2023 Norfolk Southern derailment even though the disaster forced the evacuation of half the town of East Palestine and generated many fears about potential long-term health consequences of the chemicals that spilled and burned. The contamination concerns were exacerbated by the decision to blow open five tank cars filled with vinyl chloride and burn that toxic chemical three days after the derailment.
The head of the National Transportation Safety Board said recently that her agency’s investigation showed that the vent and burn of the vinyl chloride was unnecessary because the company that produced that chemical was sure no dangerous chemical reaction was happening inside the tank cars. But the officials who made the decision have said they were never told that.
The NTSB’s full investigation into the cause of the derailment won’t be complete until June, though that agency has said that an overheating wheel bearing on one of the railcars that wasn’t detected in time by a trackside sensor likely caused the crash.
The EPA has said the cleanup in East Palestine is expected to be complete sometime later this year.
Shares of Norfolk Southern Corp., based in Atlanta, fell about 1% before the opening bell Tuesday.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Josh Funk
Published Apr 09, 2024 • 2 minute read
Train-Derailment-Ohio
Debris from a Norfolk Southern freight train lies scattered and burning along the tracks on Feb. 4, 2023, the day after it derailed in East Palestine, Ohio.
Norfolk Southern has agreed to pay $600 million in a class-action lawsuit settlement related to a fiery train derailment in February 2023 in eastern Ohio.
The company said Tuesday that the agreement, if approved by the court, will resolve all class action claims within a 20-mile radius from the derailment and, for those residents who choose to participate, personal injury claims within a 10-mile radius from the derailment.
Norfolk Southern added that individuals and businesses will be able to use compensation from the settlement in any manner they see fit to address potential adverse impacts from the derailment, which could include healthcare needs, property restoration and compensation for any net business loss. Individuals within 10-miles of the derailment may, at their discretion, choose to receive additional compensation for any past, current, or future personal injury from the derailment.
The company said that the settlement doesn’t include or constitute any admission of liability, wrongdoing, or fault.
The settlement is expected to be submitted for preliminary approval to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio later in April 2024. Payments to class members under the settlement could begin by the end of the year, subject to final court approval.
Norfolk Southern has already spent more than $1.1 billion on its response to the derailment, including more than $104 million in direct aid to East Palestine and its residents. Partly because Norfolk Southern is paying for the cleanup, President Joe Biden has never declared a disaster in East Palestine, which is a sore point for many residents. The railroad has promised to create a fund to help pay for the long-term health needs of the community, but that hasn’t happened yet.
Last week federal officials said that the aftermath of the train derailment doesn’t qualify as a public health emergency because widespread health problems and ongoing chemical exposures haven’t been documented.
The Environmental Protection Agency never approved that designation after the February 2023 Norfolk Southern derailment even though the disaster forced the evacuation of half the town of East Palestine and generated many fears about potential long-term health consequences of the chemicals that spilled and burned. The contamination concerns were exacerbated by the decision to blow open five tank cars filled with vinyl chloride and burn that toxic chemical three days after the derailment.
The head of the National Transportation Safety Board said recently that her agency’s investigation showed that the vent and burn of the vinyl chloride was unnecessary because the company that produced that chemical was sure no dangerous chemical reaction was happening inside the tank cars. But the officials who made the decision have said they were never told that.
The NTSB’s full investigation into the cause of the derailment won’t be complete until June, though that agency has said that an overheating wheel bearing on one of the railcars that wasn’t detected in time by a trackside sensor likely caused the crash.
The EPA has said the cleanup in East Palestine is expected to be complete sometime later this year.
Shares of Norfolk Southern Corp., based in Atlanta, fell about 1% before the opening bell Tuesday.
Norfolk Southern agrees to pay $600M in settlement related to train derailment in eastern Ohio
The company said that the settlement doesn't include or constitute any admission of liability, wrongdoing, or fault.
the place is called palestine thats why no one is doing shit to help them.Norfolk Southern agrees to pay $600M in settlement related to train derailment in eastern Ohio
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Josh Funk
Published Apr 09, 2024 • 2 minute read
Train-Derailment-Ohio
Debris from a Norfolk Southern freight train lies scattered and burning along the tracks on Feb. 4, 2023, the day after it derailed in East Palestine, Ohio.
Norfolk Southern has agreed to pay $600 million in a class-action lawsuit settlement related to a fiery train derailment in February 2023 in eastern Ohio.
The company said Tuesday that the agreement, if approved by the court, will resolve all class action claims within a 20-mile radius from the derailment and, for those residents who choose to participate, personal injury claims within a 10-mile radius from the derailment.
Norfolk Southern added that individuals and businesses will be able to use compensation from the settlement in any manner they see fit to address potential adverse impacts from the derailment, which could include healthcare needs, property restoration and compensation for any net business loss. Individuals within 10-miles of the derailment may, at their discretion, choose to receive additional compensation for any past, current, or future personal injury from the derailment.
The company said that the settlement doesn’t include or constitute any admission of liability, wrongdoing, or fault.
The settlement is expected to be submitted for preliminary approval to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio later in April 2024. Payments to class members under the settlement could begin by the end of the year, subject to final court approval.
Norfolk Southern has already spent more than $1.1 billion on its response to the derailment, including more than $104 million in direct aid to East Palestine and its residents. Partly because Norfolk Southern is paying for the cleanup, President Joe Biden has never declared a disaster in East Palestine, which is a sore point for many residents. The railroad has promised to create a fund to help pay for the long-term health needs of the community, but that hasn’t happened yet.
Last week federal officials said that the aftermath of the train derailment doesn’t qualify as a public health emergency because widespread health problems and ongoing chemical exposures haven’t been documented.
The Environmental Protection Agency never approved that designation after the February 2023 Norfolk Southern derailment even though the disaster forced the evacuation of half the town of East Palestine and generated many fears about potential long-term health consequences of the chemicals that spilled and burned. The contamination concerns were exacerbated by the decision to blow open five tank cars filled with vinyl chloride and burn that toxic chemical three days after the derailment.
The head of the National Transportation Safety Board said recently that her agency’s investigation showed that the vent and burn of the vinyl chloride was unnecessary because the company that produced that chemical was sure no dangerous chemical reaction was happening inside the tank cars. But the officials who made the decision have said they were never told that.
The NTSB’s full investigation into the cause of the derailment won’t be complete until June, though that agency has said that an overheating wheel bearing on one of the railcars that wasn’t detected in time by a trackside sensor likely caused the crash.
The EPA has said the cleanup in East Palestine is expected to be complete sometime later this year.
Shares of Norfolk Southern Corp., based in Atlanta, fell about 1% before the opening bell Tuesday.
Norfolk Southern agrees to pay $600M in settlement related to train derailment in eastern Ohio
The company said that the settlement doesn't include or constitute any admission of liability, wrongdoing, or fault.
Tsunami alert after a volcano in Indonesia has several big eruptions and thousands are told to leave
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Edna Tarigan
Published Apr 17, 2024 • 1 minute read
Indonesia-Volcano-Eruptions
In this photo released by Sitaro Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD Sitaro), hot molten lava glows at the crater of Mount Ruang as it erupts in Sanguine Islands, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Indonesian authorities issued a tsunami alert Wednesday after eruptions at Ruang mountain sent ash thousands of feet high. Officials ordered more than 11,000 people to leave the area. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Article content
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities issued a tsunami alert Wednesday after eruptions at Ruang mountain sent ash thousands of feet high. Officials ordered more than 11,000 people to leave the area.
The volcano on the northern side of Sulawesi island had at least five large eruptions in the past 24 hours, Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation said. Authorities raised their volcano alert to its highest level.
At least 800 residents left the area earlier Wednesday.
Indonesia, an archipelago of 270 million people, has 120 active volcanoes. It is prone to volcanic activity because it sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.
Authorities urged tourists and others to stay at least 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from the 725-meter (2,378 foot) Ruang volcano.
Officials worry that part of the volcano could collapse into the sea and cause a tsunami as in a 1871 eruption there.
Tagulandang island to the volcano’s northeast is again at risk, and its residents are among those being told to evacuate.
Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency said residents will be relocated to Manado, the nearest city, on Sulawesi island, a journey of six hours by boat.
In 2018, the eruption of Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano caused a tsunami along the coasts of Sumatra and Java after parts of the mountain fell into the ocean, killing 430 people.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Edna Tarigan
Published Apr 17, 2024 • 1 minute read
Indonesia-Volcano-Eruptions
In this photo released by Sitaro Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD Sitaro), hot molten lava glows at the crater of Mount Ruang as it erupts in Sanguine Islands, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Indonesian authorities issued a tsunami alert Wednesday after eruptions at Ruang mountain sent ash thousands of feet high. Officials ordered more than 11,000 people to leave the area. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Article content
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities issued a tsunami alert Wednesday after eruptions at Ruang mountain sent ash thousands of feet high. Officials ordered more than 11,000 people to leave the area.
The volcano on the northern side of Sulawesi island had at least five large eruptions in the past 24 hours, Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation said. Authorities raised their volcano alert to its highest level.
At least 800 residents left the area earlier Wednesday.
Indonesia, an archipelago of 270 million people, has 120 active volcanoes. It is prone to volcanic activity because it sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.
Authorities urged tourists and others to stay at least 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from the 725-meter (2,378 foot) Ruang volcano.
Officials worry that part of the volcano could collapse into the sea and cause a tsunami as in a 1871 eruption there.
Tagulandang island to the volcano’s northeast is again at risk, and its residents are among those being told to evacuate.
Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency said residents will be relocated to Manado, the nearest city, on Sulawesi island, a journey of six hours by boat.
In 2018, the eruption of Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano caused a tsunami along the coasts of Sumatra and Java after parts of the mountain fell into the ocean, killing 430 people.
Tsunami alert after a volcano in Indonesia has several big eruptions and thousands are told to leave
At least 800 residents left the area earlier Wednesday.
Cap on plastic production remains contentious as Ottawa set to host treaty talks
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Mia Rabson
Published Apr 21, 2024 • 5 minute read
Negotiators from 176 countries will gather in downtown Ottawa this week for the fourth round of talks to create a global treaty to eliminate plastic waste in less than 20 years.
Negotiators from 176 countries will gather in downtown Ottawa this week for the fourth round of talks to create a global treaty to eliminate plastic waste in less than 20 years. PHOTO BY PAUL CHIASSON /THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA — Negotiators from 176 countries will gather in downtown Ottawa this week for the fourth round of talks to create a global treaty to eliminate plastic waste in less than 20 years.
Ottawa is hosting the fourth of five rounds of negotiations, with the aim of finalizing a deal by the end of the year.
The proliferation of plastics has been profound, as it is a preferred material largely for its affordability and longevity. But that also means it never goes away, and the impact on nature and growing concerns about human health are leading a push to get rid of plastic waste and eliminate the most problematic chemicals used to make it.
Canada’s environment minister, Steven Guilbeault, played a crucial role in getting the plastic treaty talks underway in 2022 when he helped push a resolution at the United Nations Environment Assembly in Kenya. He remains firm that a strong treaty is needed.
“We want to move as rapidly as possible to eliminate plastic pollution,” he said in an interview with The Canadian Press. “I mean, the collective goal we’ve set for ourselves is to do it by 2040, but I think both from an environmental and a health perspective, the sooner the better.”
But Guilbeault is still reluctant to take a definitive position on the elephant in the negotiating room: a cap on plastic production.
“We want an ambitious treaty,” he said.
“I don’t think right now is the time to start … getting bogged down on certain things and say, ‘OK, well, this is it.’ Let’s have the conversation and see where we land.”
For many environmental and health organizations observing the talks, the only way to solve the plastic crisis is to cut back on the amount produced in the first place.
But that’s a no-go zone for the chemical and plastic production industries, whose members argue alternatives to plastic are often more expensive, more energy intensive and heavier.
Karen Wirsig, senior program manager for plastics at advocacy organization Environmental Defence, said plastic production will double by 2050 if left unchecked. Plastic waste could triple by 2060, she added.
“Plastic pollution is a global crisis that intensifies every day when we let plastic production and use go unchecked,” she said.
“The Earth and our health cannot afford business as usual.”
The Organization for Economic Co-operation says global plastic production grew from 234 million tonnes in 2000 to 460 million tonnes in 2019, while plastic waste grew from 156 million tonnes to 353 million tonnes.
Globally about half of that waste ends up in landfills, one-fifth is incinerated, sometimes to create electricity, and almost one-tenth is recycled. More than one-fifth is “mismanaged,” meaning it ends up in places it is not supposed to be.
The mismanagement issue is far worse in developing economies, where waste management programs are limited if they exist at all. In some parts of Africa, the OECD said almost two-thirds of plastic waste is mismanaged, and in much of Asia almost half. That compares with less than one-tenth across the world’s richest countries.
Adding to that problem is that rich countries continue to export their garbage overseas despite international rules in place to prevent the practice. Last fall a Canadian Press investigation in partnership with Lighthouse Reports and journalists in Myanmar, Thailand and Europe found evidence of Canadian plastic food wrappers and plumbing parts in trash heaps encircling homes and gardens in a Myanmar town.
In Canada, the OECD reported, more than 80 per cent of plastic waste is landfilled, and only six per cent recycled. Seven per cent is mismanaged.
The evolving treaty has several areas of focus, including discussions on a cap on production, reducing the types of products most commonly found in nature, and what are known as chemicals of concern.
A UN report prepared ahead of the second round of treaty talks in Paris last June said more than 13,000 chemicals are used to make plastics, and 10 groups of those chemicals are highly toxic and likely to leech out of their products. That includes flame retardants, ultraviolet stabilizers and additives used to make plastics harder, waterproof or stain resistant.
Dr. Lyndia Dernis, a Montreal anesthesiologist and member of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, said most plastic additives are endocrine disrupters, which cause everything from diabetes and obesity to high blood pressure, infertility, cancer and immunologic disorders.
Plastic is extremely common in medicine. When she starts an intravenous for a pregnant patient, for instance, she said that material contains phthalates, “a very well studied endocrine disruptor.”
“Early in pregnancy the baby girl’s reproductive system is in place, including all the eggs for the rest of her life. This means that when I start an intravenous, I’m exposing three generations at once: the pregnant mom, her future baby girl, and the babies of that baby to be,” she said.
Greenpeace and other environmental groups are calling for plastic production to be cut 75 per cent from 2019 levels by 2040. Recycling, they argue, is a myth that doesn’t really happen. Most of what Canadians toss in their blue boxes still ends up in the landfill.
Isabelle Des Chenes, vice-president of policy for the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada, said society can’t ban or cap its way out of plastic waste.
For Des Chenes, the key component to the treaty is to create a “circular economy” where companies design products to be reused and recycled, rather than thrown away.
That includes investments in equipment to break plastics back down into their original compounds to be used again, as well as standardizing designs to make recycling possible, she said.
Des Chenes said if you just look at potato chip bags, which are made of layers of different plastic polymers, those layers differ depending on the brand. It is easier to recycle those bags if there is consistency.
Guilbeault has promised regulations in Canada to require both minimum amounts of recycled content in plastics and consistency in design. Both will increase a market for recycling, which is very limited in Canada. Updates on those promises could be expected during the treaty talks, he implied.
Some of Canada’s domestic efforts are on pause after the Federal Court ruled last fall that a government decision to designate all plastics as “toxic” was too broad. That designation is what Canada is using to ban the production and use of some single-use plastics like straws, grocery bags and takeout containers.
Canada is appealing that decision and Guilbeault said the case won’t have any influence on federal positions during treaty talks.
November treaty talks in Kenya saw the deal’s draft text balloon from 35 pages to more than 70. It currently contains a lot of repetition, with multiple options on line items reflecting varying viewpoints.
Guilbeault said he’d like to get that text “70 per cent clean” by the end of the Ottawa round, leaving the most difficult issues to be handled in side talks over the summer and then in the final discussions in Korea in the fall.
The treaty talks in Ottawa begin Tuesday and run for seven days.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Mia Rabson
Published Apr 21, 2024 • 5 minute read
Negotiators from 176 countries will gather in downtown Ottawa this week for the fourth round of talks to create a global treaty to eliminate plastic waste in less than 20 years.
Negotiators from 176 countries will gather in downtown Ottawa this week for the fourth round of talks to create a global treaty to eliminate plastic waste in less than 20 years. PHOTO BY PAUL CHIASSON /THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA — Negotiators from 176 countries will gather in downtown Ottawa this week for the fourth round of talks to create a global treaty to eliminate plastic waste in less than 20 years.
Ottawa is hosting the fourth of five rounds of negotiations, with the aim of finalizing a deal by the end of the year.
The proliferation of plastics has been profound, as it is a preferred material largely for its affordability and longevity. But that also means it never goes away, and the impact on nature and growing concerns about human health are leading a push to get rid of plastic waste and eliminate the most problematic chemicals used to make it.
Canada’s environment minister, Steven Guilbeault, played a crucial role in getting the plastic treaty talks underway in 2022 when he helped push a resolution at the United Nations Environment Assembly in Kenya. He remains firm that a strong treaty is needed.
“We want to move as rapidly as possible to eliminate plastic pollution,” he said in an interview with The Canadian Press. “I mean, the collective goal we’ve set for ourselves is to do it by 2040, but I think both from an environmental and a health perspective, the sooner the better.”
But Guilbeault is still reluctant to take a definitive position on the elephant in the negotiating room: a cap on plastic production.
“We want an ambitious treaty,” he said.
“I don’t think right now is the time to start … getting bogged down on certain things and say, ‘OK, well, this is it.’ Let’s have the conversation and see where we land.”
For many environmental and health organizations observing the talks, the only way to solve the plastic crisis is to cut back on the amount produced in the first place.
But that’s a no-go zone for the chemical and plastic production industries, whose members argue alternatives to plastic are often more expensive, more energy intensive and heavier.
Karen Wirsig, senior program manager for plastics at advocacy organization Environmental Defence, said plastic production will double by 2050 if left unchecked. Plastic waste could triple by 2060, she added.
“Plastic pollution is a global crisis that intensifies every day when we let plastic production and use go unchecked,” she said.
“The Earth and our health cannot afford business as usual.”
The Organization for Economic Co-operation says global plastic production grew from 234 million tonnes in 2000 to 460 million tonnes in 2019, while plastic waste grew from 156 million tonnes to 353 million tonnes.
Globally about half of that waste ends up in landfills, one-fifth is incinerated, sometimes to create electricity, and almost one-tenth is recycled. More than one-fifth is “mismanaged,” meaning it ends up in places it is not supposed to be.
The mismanagement issue is far worse in developing economies, where waste management programs are limited if they exist at all. In some parts of Africa, the OECD said almost two-thirds of plastic waste is mismanaged, and in much of Asia almost half. That compares with less than one-tenth across the world’s richest countries.
Adding to that problem is that rich countries continue to export their garbage overseas despite international rules in place to prevent the practice. Last fall a Canadian Press investigation in partnership with Lighthouse Reports and journalists in Myanmar, Thailand and Europe found evidence of Canadian plastic food wrappers and plumbing parts in trash heaps encircling homes and gardens in a Myanmar town.
In Canada, the OECD reported, more than 80 per cent of plastic waste is landfilled, and only six per cent recycled. Seven per cent is mismanaged.
The evolving treaty has several areas of focus, including discussions on a cap on production, reducing the types of products most commonly found in nature, and what are known as chemicals of concern.
A UN report prepared ahead of the second round of treaty talks in Paris last June said more than 13,000 chemicals are used to make plastics, and 10 groups of those chemicals are highly toxic and likely to leech out of their products. That includes flame retardants, ultraviolet stabilizers and additives used to make plastics harder, waterproof or stain resistant.
Dr. Lyndia Dernis, a Montreal anesthesiologist and member of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, said most plastic additives are endocrine disrupters, which cause everything from diabetes and obesity to high blood pressure, infertility, cancer and immunologic disorders.
Plastic is extremely common in medicine. When she starts an intravenous for a pregnant patient, for instance, she said that material contains phthalates, “a very well studied endocrine disruptor.”
“Early in pregnancy the baby girl’s reproductive system is in place, including all the eggs for the rest of her life. This means that when I start an intravenous, I’m exposing three generations at once: the pregnant mom, her future baby girl, and the babies of that baby to be,” she said.
Greenpeace and other environmental groups are calling for plastic production to be cut 75 per cent from 2019 levels by 2040. Recycling, they argue, is a myth that doesn’t really happen. Most of what Canadians toss in their blue boxes still ends up in the landfill.
Isabelle Des Chenes, vice-president of policy for the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada, said society can’t ban or cap its way out of plastic waste.
For Des Chenes, the key component to the treaty is to create a “circular economy” where companies design products to be reused and recycled, rather than thrown away.
That includes investments in equipment to break plastics back down into their original compounds to be used again, as well as standardizing designs to make recycling possible, she said.
Des Chenes said if you just look at potato chip bags, which are made of layers of different plastic polymers, those layers differ depending on the brand. It is easier to recycle those bags if there is consistency.
Guilbeault has promised regulations in Canada to require both minimum amounts of recycled content in plastics and consistency in design. Both will increase a market for recycling, which is very limited in Canada. Updates on those promises could be expected during the treaty talks, he implied.
Some of Canada’s domestic efforts are on pause after the Federal Court ruled last fall that a government decision to designate all plastics as “toxic” was too broad. That designation is what Canada is using to ban the production and use of some single-use plastics like straws, grocery bags and takeout containers.
Canada is appealing that decision and Guilbeault said the case won’t have any influence on federal positions during treaty talks.
November treaty talks in Kenya saw the deal’s draft text balloon from 35 pages to more than 70. It currently contains a lot of repetition, with multiple options on line items reflecting varying viewpoints.
Guilbeault said he’d like to get that text “70 per cent clean” by the end of the Ottawa round, leaving the most difficult issues to be handled in side talks over the summer and then in the final discussions in Korea in the fall.
The treaty talks in Ottawa begin Tuesday and run for seven days.
Cap on plastic production remains contentious as Ottawa set to host treaty talks
"The Earth and our health cannot afford business as usual."
Bed bugs, bats and other pests found in federal government buildings
26 Crown-owned buildings had some unwelcome visitors between Jan. 1 and March 31
Author of the article:Catherine Morrison
Published Apr 22, 2024 • Last updated 19 hours ago • 3 minute read
The C.D. Howe Building at 240 Sparks St. in Ottawa.
The C.D. Howe Building at 240 Sparks St. in Ottawa.
The federal government has solved the housing crisis for a handful of critters, with Public Services and Procurement Canada receiving 256 service calls about the potential presence of pests in buildings across the National Capital Region already this year.
A list from PSPC showed that 26 Crown-owned buildings had some unwelcome visitors between Jan. 1 and March 31.
Pests found in the buildings included mice, bed bugs, bats, ants, a skunk, raccoons and insects like silverfish, drain flies, beetles and sand ants.
“Unfortunately, pests are a nuisance commonly faced in commercial real estate, which can be concerning to building occupants,” PSPC spokesperson Alexandre Baillairgé-Charbonneau said. “The number of service calls related to pests can fluctuate depending on levels of occupancy in the building, weather, food sources and other factors.”
The most pest-friendly building in the region has been the C.D. Howe Building on Sparks Street. The presence of mice there has been confirmed 14 times this year, with the presence of insects confirmed once. Treatments included installing mouse traps, with PSPC noting in once instance that calls for mice were mainly attributed to a garage repair project that “disrupted” the mice.
Geomatics Canada Building
The Geomatics Canada Building at 615 Booth St. in Ottawa.
Several other government structures in the capital region have also been entered by mice in recent months, including the Lester B. Pearson Building A, the Exhibition Commission Office, the Sir William Logan Building and the Geomatics Canada Building.
In addition to mice, bats were discovered in offices of the Geomatics Canada Building on Booth Street three times since January; captured by pest control, they were released offsite. PSPC said bat houses had been installed on the building’s roof to “provide an alternative” for the creatures.
Baillairgé-Charbonneau said integrated pest management programs were incorporated into building operations and all reports of pests were taken “very seriously and promptly investigated.”
The spokesperson also said that, when pests were reported, an investigation was initiated and pest control professionals were hired to advise on treatment options.
“Proactive monitoring is often used to determine the effectiveness of the treatment,” Baillairgé-Charbonneau said. “Treatment plans are unique to every building and type of pest, but each report is taken very seriously by PSPC and their service providers, prompting action as quickly as possible.”
Last summer, when bed bugs and other pests were reported in buildings across the capital region, Public Service Alliance of Canada’s regional executive vice-president Alex Silas said their presence was “disappointing,” but not a new problem.
“Unfortunately, it’s become the norm to hear stories like this in federal public-service workplaces, especially in the NCR,” Silas said then, adding the issue should have been addressed while federal buildings were largely empty during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Place du Centre
The Place du Centre Office Tower at 200 Promenade du Portage in Gatineau.
Over the past few months, bed bugs have been found in three federal buildings: once at Les Terrasses de la Chaudière Jules Léger South and North buildings in Gatineau; three times at Place du Centre Office Tower in Gatineau; and three times at the Major-General G. R. Pearkes Building, which houses the Department of National Defence headquarters in downtown Ottawa.
A special visitor made its way to Sir Leonard Tilley building, Annex E, on Heron Road on March 3, when the presence of a skunk was reported. That animal was caught with a cage and relocated.
Later in March, five raccoons were captured and relocated from other sections of the Tilley building.
In addition, it’s possible a squirrel may still be on the loose in one building.
In February, there was a report of a squirrel in R.H. Coats Building (Building 1) on Tunney’s Pasture Driveway. PSPC said the animal was “not found upon inspection and was then never seen since.”
While there were a few instances of cockroaches being reported in buildings across the region, there was only one case where one of those bugs was found.
PSPC said that, in January, no bugs or cockroaches were found after an inspection of the Main Statistics Building on Tunney’s Pasture Driveway, although a tenant had “a live cockroach in a zip-lock bag.”
torontosun.com
26 Crown-owned buildings had some unwelcome visitors between Jan. 1 and March 31
Author of the article:Catherine Morrison
Published Apr 22, 2024 • Last updated 19 hours ago • 3 minute read
The C.D. Howe Building at 240 Sparks St. in Ottawa.
The C.D. Howe Building at 240 Sparks St. in Ottawa.
The federal government has solved the housing crisis for a handful of critters, with Public Services and Procurement Canada receiving 256 service calls about the potential presence of pests in buildings across the National Capital Region already this year.
A list from PSPC showed that 26 Crown-owned buildings had some unwelcome visitors between Jan. 1 and March 31.
Pests found in the buildings included mice, bed bugs, bats, ants, a skunk, raccoons and insects like silverfish, drain flies, beetles and sand ants.
“Unfortunately, pests are a nuisance commonly faced in commercial real estate, which can be concerning to building occupants,” PSPC spokesperson Alexandre Baillairgé-Charbonneau said. “The number of service calls related to pests can fluctuate depending on levels of occupancy in the building, weather, food sources and other factors.”
The most pest-friendly building in the region has been the C.D. Howe Building on Sparks Street. The presence of mice there has been confirmed 14 times this year, with the presence of insects confirmed once. Treatments included installing mouse traps, with PSPC noting in once instance that calls for mice were mainly attributed to a garage repair project that “disrupted” the mice.
Geomatics Canada Building
The Geomatics Canada Building at 615 Booth St. in Ottawa.
Several other government structures in the capital region have also been entered by mice in recent months, including the Lester B. Pearson Building A, the Exhibition Commission Office, the Sir William Logan Building and the Geomatics Canada Building.
In addition to mice, bats were discovered in offices of the Geomatics Canada Building on Booth Street three times since January; captured by pest control, they were released offsite. PSPC said bat houses had been installed on the building’s roof to “provide an alternative” for the creatures.
Baillairgé-Charbonneau said integrated pest management programs were incorporated into building operations and all reports of pests were taken “very seriously and promptly investigated.”
The spokesperson also said that, when pests were reported, an investigation was initiated and pest control professionals were hired to advise on treatment options.
“Proactive monitoring is often used to determine the effectiveness of the treatment,” Baillairgé-Charbonneau said. “Treatment plans are unique to every building and type of pest, but each report is taken very seriously by PSPC and their service providers, prompting action as quickly as possible.”
Last summer, when bed bugs and other pests were reported in buildings across the capital region, Public Service Alliance of Canada’s regional executive vice-president Alex Silas said their presence was “disappointing,” but not a new problem.
“Unfortunately, it’s become the norm to hear stories like this in federal public-service workplaces, especially in the NCR,” Silas said then, adding the issue should have been addressed while federal buildings were largely empty during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Place du Centre
The Place du Centre Office Tower at 200 Promenade du Portage in Gatineau.
Over the past few months, bed bugs have been found in three federal buildings: once at Les Terrasses de la Chaudière Jules Léger South and North buildings in Gatineau; three times at Place du Centre Office Tower in Gatineau; and three times at the Major-General G. R. Pearkes Building, which houses the Department of National Defence headquarters in downtown Ottawa.
A special visitor made its way to Sir Leonard Tilley building, Annex E, on Heron Road on March 3, when the presence of a skunk was reported. That animal was caught with a cage and relocated.
Later in March, five raccoons were captured and relocated from other sections of the Tilley building.
In addition, it’s possible a squirrel may still be on the loose in one building.
In February, there was a report of a squirrel in R.H. Coats Building (Building 1) on Tunney’s Pasture Driveway. PSPC said the animal was “not found upon inspection and was then never seen since.”
While there were a few instances of cockroaches being reported in buildings across the region, there was only one case where one of those bugs was found.
PSPC said that, in January, no bugs or cockroaches were found after an inspection of the Main Statistics Building on Tunney’s Pasture Driveway, although a tenant had “a live cockroach in a zip-lock bag.”
Unwelcome visitors: Bed bugs, bats and other pests found in federal government buildings
Pests found in the office buildings included mice, bed bugs, bats, ants, a skunk, raccoons and insects.
im suprised that the pests didnt call for someone to remove the pests working in the federal buildings.Bed bugs, bats and other pests found in federal government buildings
26 Crown-owned buildings had some unwelcome visitors between Jan. 1 and March 31
Author of the article:Catherine Morrison
Published Apr 22, 2024 • Last updated 19 hours ago • 3 minute read
The C.D. Howe Building at 240 Sparks St. in Ottawa.
The C.D. Howe Building at 240 Sparks St. in Ottawa.
The federal government has solved the housing crisis for a handful of critters, with Public Services and Procurement Canada receiving 256 service calls about the potential presence of pests in buildings across the National Capital Region already this year.
A list from PSPC showed that 26 Crown-owned buildings had some unwelcome visitors between Jan. 1 and March 31.
Pests found in the buildings included mice, bed bugs, bats, ants, a skunk, raccoons and insects like silverfish, drain flies, beetles and sand ants.
“Unfortunately, pests are a nuisance commonly faced in commercial real estate, which can be concerning to building occupants,” PSPC spokesperson Alexandre Baillairgé-Charbonneau said. “The number of service calls related to pests can fluctuate depending on levels of occupancy in the building, weather, food sources and other factors.”
The most pest-friendly building in the region has been the C.D. Howe Building on Sparks Street. The presence of mice there has been confirmed 14 times this year, with the presence of insects confirmed once. Treatments included installing mouse traps, with PSPC noting in once instance that calls for mice were mainly attributed to a garage repair project that “disrupted” the mice.
Geomatics Canada Building
The Geomatics Canada Building at 615 Booth St. in Ottawa.
Several other government structures in the capital region have also been entered by mice in recent months, including the Lester B. Pearson Building A, the Exhibition Commission Office, the Sir William Logan Building and the Geomatics Canada Building.
In addition to mice, bats were discovered in offices of the Geomatics Canada Building on Booth Street three times since January; captured by pest control, they were released offsite. PSPC said bat houses had been installed on the building’s roof to “provide an alternative” for the creatures.
Baillairgé-Charbonneau said integrated pest management programs were incorporated into building operations and all reports of pests were taken “very seriously and promptly investigated.”
The spokesperson also said that, when pests were reported, an investigation was initiated and pest control professionals were hired to advise on treatment options.
“Proactive monitoring is often used to determine the effectiveness of the treatment,” Baillairgé-Charbonneau said. “Treatment plans are unique to every building and type of pest, but each report is taken very seriously by PSPC and their service providers, prompting action as quickly as possible.”
Last summer, when bed bugs and other pests were reported in buildings across the capital region, Public Service Alliance of Canada’s regional executive vice-president Alex Silas said their presence was “disappointing,” but not a new problem.
“Unfortunately, it’s become the norm to hear stories like this in federal public-service workplaces, especially in the NCR,” Silas said then, adding the issue should have been addressed while federal buildings were largely empty during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Place du Centre
The Place du Centre Office Tower at 200 Promenade du Portage in Gatineau.
Over the past few months, bed bugs have been found in three federal buildings: once at Les Terrasses de la Chaudière Jules Léger South and North buildings in Gatineau; three times at Place du Centre Office Tower in Gatineau; and three times at the Major-General G. R. Pearkes Building, which houses the Department of National Defence headquarters in downtown Ottawa.
A special visitor made its way to Sir Leonard Tilley building, Annex E, on Heron Road on March 3, when the presence of a skunk was reported. That animal was caught with a cage and relocated.
Later in March, five raccoons were captured and relocated from other sections of the Tilley building.
In addition, it’s possible a squirrel may still be on the loose in one building.
In February, there was a report of a squirrel in R.H. Coats Building (Building 1) on Tunney’s Pasture Driveway. PSPC said the animal was “not found upon inspection and was then never seen since.”
While there were a few instances of cockroaches being reported in buildings across the region, there was only one case where one of those bugs was found.
PSPC said that, in January, no bugs or cockroaches were found after an inspection of the Main Statistics Building on Tunney’s Pasture Driveway, although a tenant had “a live cockroach in a zip-lock bag.”
Unwelcome visitors: Bed bugs, bats and other pests found in federal government buildings
Pests found in the office buildings included mice, bed bugs, bats, ants, a skunk, raccoons and insects.
Canada to force plastic makers to report how much they make, reuse and recycle
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Published Apr 22, 2024 • Last updated 23 hours ago • 1 minute read
OTTAWA — Canada is seeking to get a better handle on how much plastic is being produced in the country by forcing companies that make it to report annually on what they produce.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is announcing the national plastics registry the day before negotiations for a global treaty to end plastic waste gets underway in Ottawa.
Guilbeault is a key player in the talks, which aim to establish an international agreement to eliminate plastic waste by 2040.
Canadians throw away more than four million tonnes of plastic every year, and less than one-tenth of it is actually recycled.
The registry will first apply to makers of plastic packaging, electronics and single-use plastic products, with plans to extend in later years to cover producers of resins, tires and agricultural products.
They will be required to report every year on how much plastic they make, and where those products end up.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Published Apr 22, 2024 • Last updated 23 hours ago • 1 minute read
OTTAWA — Canada is seeking to get a better handle on how much plastic is being produced in the country by forcing companies that make it to report annually on what they produce.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is announcing the national plastics registry the day before negotiations for a global treaty to end plastic waste gets underway in Ottawa.
Guilbeault is a key player in the talks, which aim to establish an international agreement to eliminate plastic waste by 2040.
Canadians throw away more than four million tonnes of plastic every year, and less than one-tenth of it is actually recycled.
The registry will first apply to makers of plastic packaging, electronics and single-use plastic products, with plans to extend in later years to cover producers of resins, tires and agricultural products.
They will be required to report every year on how much plastic they make, and where those products end up.
Canada to force plastic makers to report how much they make, reuse and recycle
Canada is forcing makers of plastic products and packaging to report annually on what they produce.
Consciousness a ’realistic possibility’ in birds, fish, squid and bees, scholars say
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Published Apr 22, 2024 • 1 minute read
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Biologists, cognitive scientists and philosophers across the globe say there is a reasonable possibility the vast majority of creatures on Earth are sentient in some way.
The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness was released Friday with 39 signatories from universities from Canada to Australia who say there is “at least a realistic possibility” that all vertebrates and many invertebrates have consciousness.
Article content
The declaration rests on recent studies that show garter snakes can recognize their own scent, crows can report what they see, octopi can avoid pain and fruit flies can sleep — and they sleep best when they’re with other fruit flies.
Kristin Andrews, a philosophy professor at York University, says scientific evidence supports the assumption that it “feels like something” for a fish to be caught with a hook, but it’s not yet clear if that something is pain or distress.
She says the evidence shows it is reasonable to treat these creatures accordingly, by adopting harvesting methods that kill fish quickly or by abandoning the practice of boiling lobsters alive.
Andrews was one of three main organizers of the declaration and says a better understanding of sentience in crayfish or crabs helps scholars understand consciousness in more complex animals like humans.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Published Apr 22, 2024 • 1 minute read
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Biologists, cognitive scientists and philosophers across the globe say there is a reasonable possibility the vast majority of creatures on Earth are sentient in some way.
The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness was released Friday with 39 signatories from universities from Canada to Australia who say there is “at least a realistic possibility” that all vertebrates and many invertebrates have consciousness.
Article content
The declaration rests on recent studies that show garter snakes can recognize their own scent, crows can report what they see, octopi can avoid pain and fruit flies can sleep — and they sleep best when they’re with other fruit flies.
Kristin Andrews, a philosophy professor at York University, says scientific evidence supports the assumption that it “feels like something” for a fish to be caught with a hook, but it’s not yet clear if that something is pain or distress.
She says the evidence shows it is reasonable to treat these creatures accordingly, by adopting harvesting methods that kill fish quickly or by abandoning the practice of boiling lobsters alive.
Andrews was one of three main organizers of the declaration and says a better understanding of sentience in crayfish or crabs helps scholars understand consciousness in more complex animals like humans.
Consciousness a ’realistic possibility’ in birds, fish, squid and bees, scholars say
Scientists across the globe say there is a reasonable possibility the vast majority of creatures on Earth are sentient in some way.
Quebec Health Ministry reports 28 cases of eye damage following eclipse
Reported damage varies from inflammation of corneas to dry eyes and permanent burns to retinas
Author of the article:La Presse Canadienne
La Presse Canadienne
Katrine Desautels
Published Apr 22, 2024 • Last updated 22 hours ago • 1 minute read
After closely monitoring potential eye damage following the total solar eclipse this month, Quebec’s Health Ministry has reported 28 cases of eye damage.
Reported damage varies, including keratitis, an inflammation of the cornea; keratoconjunctivitis sicca, which results in dry eyes; and solar retinopathy, which Dr. Cynthia Qian, an ophthalmologist specializing in retinas, described to Presse Canadienne as a permanent burn of the retina.
This is the first time the health monitoring directorate of the Ministry of Health and Social Services has set up surveillance for eye injuries linked to a solar eclipse. It has been monitoring various indicators in collaboration with the Ordre des optométristes du Québec, which has been reporting patients visiting optometry clinics in connection with the eclipse.
According to the most recent data from the ministry, as of April 17, 28 cases of eye damage linked to the eclipse have been confirmed by optometrists via the declaration form. The ministry says the number of cases may be underestimated since data is collected by optometry clinics on a voluntary basis, and there may be a delay in the reporting of cases. Additionally, patients who believe they may have suffered eye damage from observing the eclipse don’t necessarily visit optometry clinics.
The ministry is still working to analyze the impact of the eclipse on emergency room visits.
torontosun.com
Reported damage varies from inflammation of corneas to dry eyes and permanent burns to retinas
Author of the article:La Presse Canadienne
La Presse Canadienne
Katrine Desautels
Published Apr 22, 2024 • Last updated 22 hours ago • 1 minute read
After closely monitoring potential eye damage following the total solar eclipse this month, Quebec’s Health Ministry has reported 28 cases of eye damage.
Reported damage varies, including keratitis, an inflammation of the cornea; keratoconjunctivitis sicca, which results in dry eyes; and solar retinopathy, which Dr. Cynthia Qian, an ophthalmologist specializing in retinas, described to Presse Canadienne as a permanent burn of the retina.
This is the first time the health monitoring directorate of the Ministry of Health and Social Services has set up surveillance for eye injuries linked to a solar eclipse. It has been monitoring various indicators in collaboration with the Ordre des optométristes du Québec, which has been reporting patients visiting optometry clinics in connection with the eclipse.
According to the most recent data from the ministry, as of April 17, 28 cases of eye damage linked to the eclipse have been confirmed by optometrists via the declaration form. The ministry says the number of cases may be underestimated since data is collected by optometry clinics on a voluntary basis, and there may be a delay in the reporting of cases. Additionally, patients who believe they may have suffered eye damage from observing the eclipse don’t necessarily visit optometry clinics.
The ministry is still working to analyze the impact of the eclipse on emergency room visits.
Quebec Health Ministry reports 28 cases of eye damage following eclipse
Reported damage varies from inflammation of corneas to dry eyes and permanent burns to retinas.
More Than Just Fool’s Gold: Scientists Uncover Hidden Treasure in Pyrite
TOPICS:European Geosciences UnionGeosciencePopularRenewable Energy
By EUROPEAN GEOSCIENCES UNION APRIL 17, 2024
Pyrite
Recent research led by West Virginia University explores new sources of lithium, such as mine tailings and drill cuttings, in light of the increased demand for this critical mineral, essential for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles and storing renewable energy. The findings reveal unexpectedly high concentrations of lithium in pyrite minerals within shale. This discovery could lead to sustainable mining practices that do not require new mines, emphasizing the potential for lithium-sulfur batteries and promoting environmentally friendly resource extraction.
There’s a reason airlines won’t let you put your laptop in your checked luggage; the lithium-ion battery poses a serious fire hazard. But why? Lithium is incredibly reactive.
For instance, pure lithium violently interacts with seemingly innocuous water, releasing heat and forming highly flammable hydrogen. This reactivity, however, is exactly why lithium makes a great material for batteries, and why it is a critical mineral for the green energy transition.
Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in electric vehicles. Plus, they can store energy produced by renewable resources like solar and wind.
The Increasing Demand for Lithium
In recent years, lithium demand has skyrocketed. Primary sources for lithium like pegmatites and volcanic clays are well understood, but finding other stores that are safe and economical to exploit would be helpful.
To that end, a team led by researchers from West Virginia University is exploring whether previous industrial operations (e.g., mine tailings or drill cuttings) could serve as a source of additional lithium without generating new waste materials.
Shailee Bhattacharya, a sedimentary geochemist and doctoral student working with Professor Shikha Sharma in the IsoBioGeM Lab at West Virginia University, will present the team’s findings next week during the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2024.
New Discoveries in Lithium Extraction
The study focuses on 15 middle-Devonian sedimentary rock samples from the Appalachian basin in the U.S. The team found plenty of lithium in pyrite minerals in shale, Bhattacharya said, “which is unheard of.”
Though the geologic literature lacked information on the intersection between lithium and sulfur-rich pyrite, the electrochemical and engineering world has already begun to look at how lithium-sulfur batteries could replace lithium-ion ones, Bhattacharya said. “I am trying to understand how lithium and pyrite could be associated with one another.”
As it turns out, organic-rich shale may show potential for higher lithium recovery as a result of that curious interaction between lithium and pyrite. However, whether the observations can be extrapolated beyond samples from the current study site is not known. “This is a well-specific study,” Bhattacharya cautioned. But, this work is promising because it hints at the possibility that certain shales could be a lithium source that doesn’t require new mines. “We can talk about sustainable energy without using a lot of energy resources,” she said.
Reference: “Potential lithium enrichment in pyrites from organic-rich shales” by Shailee Bhattacharya, Michael C. Dix, Shikha Sharma, Albert S. Wylie and Tom Wagner, 15 April 2024, EGU General Assembly 2024.
DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-egu24-369
If it were me, I'd be testing the slag pits of copper smelters that cooked chalcopyrites.
TOPICS:European Geosciences UnionGeosciencePopularRenewable Energy
By EUROPEAN GEOSCIENCES UNION APRIL 17, 2024
Pyrite
Recent research led by West Virginia University explores new sources of lithium, such as mine tailings and drill cuttings, in light of the increased demand for this critical mineral, essential for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles and storing renewable energy. The findings reveal unexpectedly high concentrations of lithium in pyrite minerals within shale. This discovery could lead to sustainable mining practices that do not require new mines, emphasizing the potential for lithium-sulfur batteries and promoting environmentally friendly resource extraction.
There’s a reason airlines won’t let you put your laptop in your checked luggage; the lithium-ion battery poses a serious fire hazard. But why? Lithium is incredibly reactive.
For instance, pure lithium violently interacts with seemingly innocuous water, releasing heat and forming highly flammable hydrogen. This reactivity, however, is exactly why lithium makes a great material for batteries, and why it is a critical mineral for the green energy transition.
Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in electric vehicles. Plus, they can store energy produced by renewable resources like solar and wind.
The Increasing Demand for Lithium
In recent years, lithium demand has skyrocketed. Primary sources for lithium like pegmatites and volcanic clays are well understood, but finding other stores that are safe and economical to exploit would be helpful.
To that end, a team led by researchers from West Virginia University is exploring whether previous industrial operations (e.g., mine tailings or drill cuttings) could serve as a source of additional lithium without generating new waste materials.
Shailee Bhattacharya, a sedimentary geochemist and doctoral student working with Professor Shikha Sharma in the IsoBioGeM Lab at West Virginia University, will present the team’s findings next week during the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2024.
New Discoveries in Lithium Extraction
The study focuses on 15 middle-Devonian sedimentary rock samples from the Appalachian basin in the U.S. The team found plenty of lithium in pyrite minerals in shale, Bhattacharya said, “which is unheard of.”
Though the geologic literature lacked information on the intersection between lithium and sulfur-rich pyrite, the electrochemical and engineering world has already begun to look at how lithium-sulfur batteries could replace lithium-ion ones, Bhattacharya said. “I am trying to understand how lithium and pyrite could be associated with one another.”
As it turns out, organic-rich shale may show potential for higher lithium recovery as a result of that curious interaction between lithium and pyrite. However, whether the observations can be extrapolated beyond samples from the current study site is not known. “This is a well-specific study,” Bhattacharya cautioned. But, this work is promising because it hints at the possibility that certain shales could be a lithium source that doesn’t require new mines. “We can talk about sustainable energy without using a lot of energy resources,” she said.
Reference: “Potential lithium enrichment in pyrites from organic-rich shales” by Shailee Bhattacharya, Michael C. Dix, Shikha Sharma, Albert S. Wylie and Tom Wagner, 15 April 2024, EGU General Assembly 2024.
DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-egu24-369
If it were me, I'd be testing the slag pits of copper smelters that cooked chalcopyrites.
Is your tech killing you?
Backaches, eyestrain, ‘texting neck,’ and wrist pain are all dangers with your digital devices
Author of the article:Marc Saltzman
Published Apr 20, 2024 • Last updated 4 days ago • 4 minute read
Consider it one of the downsides of our increased reliance on technology: the toll it takes on your body.
Because we’re so attached to our computers, smartphones, tablets and e-readers – for work or play, or both – many of us risk repetitive stress injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome; back, eye and neck strain; and other problems associated with a general lack of exercise.
Moderation in using devices is key, of course, but whether you’re working from home or in a “hybrid” arrangement (a mix of at-home and in-office work), or if you simply want to minimize any physical problems when you’re on your laptop or phone for recreation, here are more than a dozen easy-to-apply pointers.
SIT STRAIGHT
Invest in a decent chair. While sitting at a desk, workers need a chair with lower-back support.
A chair with wheels is also a good idea, so you can position yourself easily for more comfort.
Your mouse and keyboard should be at about elbow level. And your feet should be flat on the floor. Use a milk crate for your feet if you’re “vertically challenged,” like yours truly. This also should help prevent you from hunching over at your desk.
POSITION YOUR SCREEN
If you need to place your computer monitor to the left or right side of the desk, position your chair so you’re not turning your head to see the screen; over time, this could put unnecessary strain on your neck. Your head should be centered with your body, and you should be looking straight ahead at eye level to see your monitor.
You can use stacks of thick hardcover books to help you raise the laptop and monitor to the proper height.
Better light, bigger font
Make sure you have adequate lighting, to minimize straining to see the keyboard, monitor or papers on your desk.
If you find yourself squinting to see the text on-screen, enlarge the font. In your favourite web browser, email program or word processor, simply select a larger text size or zoom level. Bigger monitors, which are cheap these days, fit more words on the screen.
PICK A GOOD MOUSE
When shopping for a mouse, try it out at a store first, to make sure it’s comfortable for you. This includes the size and shape of the mouse, because many brands come in small, medium, and large.
If you do buy one online, check the seller’s return policy.
Some mice may be ideal for both left and right-handed users. Your mouse should have a curved hump on top to comfortably fit the underside of your palm.
When using a mouse, try to limit your wrist movement, focusing on keeping your wrist straight and your elbow pivoted and moving only your forearm.
If using a mouse causes you wrist discomfort, consider a trackball. These devices don’t require wrist movement at all; rather, you simply rest your hand on top and use your fingertips to move the ball.
And your mousepad doesn’t have to be flat. Some come with a foam or gel pad that conforms to your wrist for support.
ERGONOMIC KEYBOARDS
Keyboards come in all shapes and sizes. More ergonomically designed ones could help prevent or reduce repetitive strain injuries, as they have a split and slightly angled keyboard that tilts inward to better fit our natural wrist-resting position.
Another tip: Try to keep your wrists almost floating above the keyboard so that your hands can easily reach all keys, instead of stretching your fingers to reach them.
Some computer users prefer a padded or gel wrist rest that sits in front of the keyboard.
Especially if you use a laptop, consider getting an external keyboard for your home office or for when you’re in one place for a long time. A bigger or curved keyboard will be better for your wrists than the more compact ones on portable PCs.
WIRELESS HEADSETS
If you talk frequently on the phone, purchase a headset so you’re not trying to hold the phone between your neck and ear while typing. Or you can use a pair of Bluetooth wireless earbuds, so long as they have an integrated microphone. Or go hands-free, via a speaker phone.
Neck strain also increases when you look straight down at a smartphone or other mobile device while emailing, playing games or texting.
Instead, raise your hands so you’re not looking straight down. Or place your elbows onto a table (never mind what your mom told you), so you can look ahead when using a smartphone or tablet.
TAKE FREQUENT BREAKS
Stretch. Do some neck, back and arm exercises. Close your eyes for five seconds. Stand up and get a drink of water.
I also like the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, look at something at least 20 feet away, for 20 seconds, to reduce fatigue and eye strain. (This is often referred to as the “microbreak concept,” developed by optometrist Dr. Jeffrey Anshel.)
Remember, you could be damaging your body without realizing it when using technology – but small adjustments can make a big difference.
torontosun.com
Backaches, eyestrain, ‘texting neck,’ and wrist pain are all dangers with your digital devices
Author of the article:Marc Saltzman
Published Apr 20, 2024 • Last updated 4 days ago • 4 minute read
Consider it one of the downsides of our increased reliance on technology: the toll it takes on your body.
Because we’re so attached to our computers, smartphones, tablets and e-readers – for work or play, or both – many of us risk repetitive stress injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome; back, eye and neck strain; and other problems associated with a general lack of exercise.
Moderation in using devices is key, of course, but whether you’re working from home or in a “hybrid” arrangement (a mix of at-home and in-office work), or if you simply want to minimize any physical problems when you’re on your laptop or phone for recreation, here are more than a dozen easy-to-apply pointers.
SIT STRAIGHT
Invest in a decent chair. While sitting at a desk, workers need a chair with lower-back support.
A chair with wheels is also a good idea, so you can position yourself easily for more comfort.
Your mouse and keyboard should be at about elbow level. And your feet should be flat on the floor. Use a milk crate for your feet if you’re “vertically challenged,” like yours truly. This also should help prevent you from hunching over at your desk.
POSITION YOUR SCREEN
If you need to place your computer monitor to the left or right side of the desk, position your chair so you’re not turning your head to see the screen; over time, this could put unnecessary strain on your neck. Your head should be centered with your body, and you should be looking straight ahead at eye level to see your monitor.
You can use stacks of thick hardcover books to help you raise the laptop and monitor to the proper height.
Better light, bigger font
Make sure you have adequate lighting, to minimize straining to see the keyboard, monitor or papers on your desk.
If you find yourself squinting to see the text on-screen, enlarge the font. In your favourite web browser, email program or word processor, simply select a larger text size or zoom level. Bigger monitors, which are cheap these days, fit more words on the screen.
PICK A GOOD MOUSE
When shopping for a mouse, try it out at a store first, to make sure it’s comfortable for you. This includes the size and shape of the mouse, because many brands come in small, medium, and large.
If you do buy one online, check the seller’s return policy.
Some mice may be ideal for both left and right-handed users. Your mouse should have a curved hump on top to comfortably fit the underside of your palm.
When using a mouse, try to limit your wrist movement, focusing on keeping your wrist straight and your elbow pivoted and moving only your forearm.
If using a mouse causes you wrist discomfort, consider a trackball. These devices don’t require wrist movement at all; rather, you simply rest your hand on top and use your fingertips to move the ball.
And your mousepad doesn’t have to be flat. Some come with a foam or gel pad that conforms to your wrist for support.
ERGONOMIC KEYBOARDS
Keyboards come in all shapes and sizes. More ergonomically designed ones could help prevent or reduce repetitive strain injuries, as they have a split and slightly angled keyboard that tilts inward to better fit our natural wrist-resting position.
Another tip: Try to keep your wrists almost floating above the keyboard so that your hands can easily reach all keys, instead of stretching your fingers to reach them.
Some computer users prefer a padded or gel wrist rest that sits in front of the keyboard.
Especially if you use a laptop, consider getting an external keyboard for your home office or for when you’re in one place for a long time. A bigger or curved keyboard will be better for your wrists than the more compact ones on portable PCs.
WIRELESS HEADSETS
If you talk frequently on the phone, purchase a headset so you’re not trying to hold the phone between your neck and ear while typing. Or you can use a pair of Bluetooth wireless earbuds, so long as they have an integrated microphone. Or go hands-free, via a speaker phone.
Neck strain also increases when you look straight down at a smartphone or other mobile device while emailing, playing games or texting.
Instead, raise your hands so you’re not looking straight down. Or place your elbows onto a table (never mind what your mom told you), so you can look ahead when using a smartphone or tablet.
TAKE FREQUENT BREAKS
Stretch. Do some neck, back and arm exercises. Close your eyes for five seconds. Stand up and get a drink of water.
I also like the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, look at something at least 20 feet away, for 20 seconds, to reduce fatigue and eye strain. (This is often referred to as the “microbreak concept,” developed by optometrist Dr. Jeffrey Anshel.)
Remember, you could be damaging your body without realizing it when using technology – but small adjustments can make a big difference.
SALTZMAN: Is your tech killing you?
Consider it one of the downsides of our increased reliance on technology: the toll it takes on your body.
A dentist found an ancient human jawbone embedded in his parents’ tile floor
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Carolyn Y. Johnson, The Washington Post
Published Apr 23, 2024 • 5 minute read
Reddit user Kidipadeli75 posted this image of a jawbone in a tile floor.
Reddit user Kidipadeli75 posted this image of a jawbone in a floor tile. PHOTO BY KIDIPADELI75 /Reddit
A dentist was visiting his parents’ newly renovated home in Europe when he noticed something odd: One of the floor tiles in a corridor leading to a terrace held what looked like a human mandible, sliced through at an angle, including a cross section of a few teeth.
Not knowing exactly what steps to take, the dentist posted a photo of the discovery on Reddit. The internet exploded with enthusiasm, interest and ick.
“It’s not so much the teeth that I noticed but the shape of the mandible that is very recognizable,” the dentist, known as Reddit user Kidipadeli75, wrote in an email. He spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his family’s privacy.
He pointed out that the object in the tile bears a striking similarity to a slice of an image taken with a form of CT scan used in dentistry. “As I am specialized in implant dentistry I work with this kind of image everyday and it looked very familiar,” he said.
The tile, made of a type of limestone called travertine, was imported from a quarry in Turkey. Scientists are now working with the dentist to make sure the tile is properly studied – along with a few other suspicious-looking tiles installed in the house.
While this all may seem quite shocking, paleoanthropologists were both fascinated and a little unsurprised. Travertine can form quickly, but the stones used for commercial purposes tend to come from deposits that have formed over hundreds of thousands of years, ruling out a recent death.
This tile came from a quarry in the Denizli Basin in western Turkey, where the stone has previously been dated to 1.8 million to 0.7 million years ago, according to Mehmet Cihat Alcicek, a professor at Pamukkale University in Turkey who is part of the scientific team that plans to study the mandible.
This viral photo is a reminder that travertine, which forms near hot springs and is valued as an architectural material, often contains old fossils, and that digging it up can unearth ancient treasures. Those fossils can be anything that washes into the spring, from plants, freshwater crabs, deer and reptiles to – on occasion – human remains.
John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, titled his blog post on the matter: “How many bathrooms have Neanderthals in the tile?”
“Every time I am in Home Depot, I go through the travertine tile looking for fossils!” said John W. Kappelman Jr., a paleoanthropologist at the University of Texas at Austin.
Scientists have found a menagerie of ancient fossils embedded in travertine from the Denizli Basin, including remains of mammoths, rhinos, giraffes, horses, deer, reptiles and turtles, according to Alcicek.
Researchers have also found at least one other ancient human in tile. In 2002, Alcicek began studying the formation of travertine in the Denizli Basin. Workers in a tile factory had been cutting stone when they noticed an ancient human fossil, part of a skull. The travertine had been sliced into a slab a little more than an inch thick, so parts of the skull had probably been destroyed – but fragments of the skull cap were recovered.
Alcicek and Kappelman studied the skull fragments, now known as the Kocabas hominin, and found it was the first specimen of Homo erectus to be discovered in Turkey. The skull fragments bore small lesions that were an indicator of tuberculosis, showing evidence of that pathogen in an ancient human. Recent efforts to date the specimen suggest it is more than a million years old.
“Who knows how much of the rest of it from the inferior portion of the cranium on down went unnoticed? We joke that maybe it was a complete skeleton, all the way to the tip of its toes,” Kappelman said in an email. “We literally spent weeks going through the discard pile at the factory looking for any additional bits but no go.”
It’s possible that other parts of the remains went on to be installed in kitchens.
Quarries elsewhere in the world have yielded similar finds. Parts of two hominin skulls and a mandible were discovered during excavations at a quarry in Bilzingsleben, Germany. Hawks said in his blog that they are thought to have been early Neanderthals or a different early human, Homo heidelbergensis.
But how common are incidental finds of ancient human remains in architectural tile?
“It’s twice as common as it was last week!” Hawks said in an email.
The latest find created immediate buzz among scientists who study ancient humans. Several paleoanthropologists said it was too tricky to hazard a guess from a photo as to the age or the precise species, but said it was absolutely worth following up on.
“It is clearly a human relative of some kind, but to rule out modern human or find out which ancient population it may belong to will take detailed study,” Hawks said.
Kappelman suggested that follow-up studies could include taking CT scans and 3D-printing the mandible, or perhaps even trying to see if ancient DNA could be recovered. The enamel of the teeth could be scrutinized to learn about what this individual ate.
The dentist who discovered the mandible said that he was inundated with interest from researchers from multiple universities after his Reddit post, and he is working with them now in hopes of learning more about the specimen. He said those researchers have also reached out to the company that sold the travertine to track the batch to the quarry and look for more pieces there.
Hawks said that, in general, if people see what might be human remains in their tile, they should contact local authorities. Laws vary, but in the United States, the process might involve a call to the state archaeologist or historical society.
Alcicek said that after the Homo erectus found in a factory was thoroughly studied, it was given to authorities and is now on exhibit in the Denizli Museum. He expected something similar would happen after the new specimen is carefully examined.
The entire episode is a reminder that construction projects and quarries have what Hawks calls an “uneasy symbiosis” with archaeologists. They can both expose and destroy ancient remains.
“The main constraint on finding the fossils is whether the travertine is being quarried!” Hawks wrote in an email.
![jawbone[1].jpg](https://forums.canadiancontent.net/data/attachments/20/20170-d7cee8ccf8de967813264ea4f5d4e616.jpg "jawbone[1].jpg")
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Carolyn Y. Johnson, The Washington Post
Published Apr 23, 2024 • 5 minute read
Reddit user Kidipadeli75 posted this image of a jawbone in a tile floor.
Reddit user Kidipadeli75 posted this image of a jawbone in a floor tile. PHOTO BY KIDIPADELI75 /Reddit
A dentist was visiting his parents’ newly renovated home in Europe when he noticed something odd: One of the floor tiles in a corridor leading to a terrace held what looked like a human mandible, sliced through at an angle, including a cross section of a few teeth.
Not knowing exactly what steps to take, the dentist posted a photo of the discovery on Reddit. The internet exploded with enthusiasm, interest and ick.
“It’s not so much the teeth that I noticed but the shape of the mandible that is very recognizable,” the dentist, known as Reddit user Kidipadeli75, wrote in an email. He spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his family’s privacy.
He pointed out that the object in the tile bears a striking similarity to a slice of an image taken with a form of CT scan used in dentistry. “As I am specialized in implant dentistry I work with this kind of image everyday and it looked very familiar,” he said.
The tile, made of a type of limestone called travertine, was imported from a quarry in Turkey. Scientists are now working with the dentist to make sure the tile is properly studied – along with a few other suspicious-looking tiles installed in the house.
While this all may seem quite shocking, paleoanthropologists were both fascinated and a little unsurprised. Travertine can form quickly, but the stones used for commercial purposes tend to come from deposits that have formed over hundreds of thousands of years, ruling out a recent death.
This tile came from a quarry in the Denizli Basin in western Turkey, where the stone has previously been dated to 1.8 million to 0.7 million years ago, according to Mehmet Cihat Alcicek, a professor at Pamukkale University in Turkey who is part of the scientific team that plans to study the mandible.
This viral photo is a reminder that travertine, which forms near hot springs and is valued as an architectural material, often contains old fossils, and that digging it up can unearth ancient treasures. Those fossils can be anything that washes into the spring, from plants, freshwater crabs, deer and reptiles to – on occasion – human remains.
John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, titled his blog post on the matter: “How many bathrooms have Neanderthals in the tile?”
“Every time I am in Home Depot, I go through the travertine tile looking for fossils!” said John W. Kappelman Jr., a paleoanthropologist at the University of Texas at Austin.
Scientists have found a menagerie of ancient fossils embedded in travertine from the Denizli Basin, including remains of mammoths, rhinos, giraffes, horses, deer, reptiles and turtles, according to Alcicek.
Researchers have also found at least one other ancient human in tile. In 2002, Alcicek began studying the formation of travertine in the Denizli Basin. Workers in a tile factory had been cutting stone when they noticed an ancient human fossil, part of a skull. The travertine had been sliced into a slab a little more than an inch thick, so parts of the skull had probably been destroyed – but fragments of the skull cap were recovered.
Alcicek and Kappelman studied the skull fragments, now known as the Kocabas hominin, and found it was the first specimen of Homo erectus to be discovered in Turkey. The skull fragments bore small lesions that were an indicator of tuberculosis, showing evidence of that pathogen in an ancient human. Recent efforts to date the specimen suggest it is more than a million years old.
“Who knows how much of the rest of it from the inferior portion of the cranium on down went unnoticed? We joke that maybe it was a complete skeleton, all the way to the tip of its toes,” Kappelman said in an email. “We literally spent weeks going through the discard pile at the factory looking for any additional bits but no go.”
It’s possible that other parts of the remains went on to be installed in kitchens.
Quarries elsewhere in the world have yielded similar finds. Parts of two hominin skulls and a mandible were discovered during excavations at a quarry in Bilzingsleben, Germany. Hawks said in his blog that they are thought to have been early Neanderthals or a different early human, Homo heidelbergensis.
But how common are incidental finds of ancient human remains in architectural tile?
“It’s twice as common as it was last week!” Hawks said in an email.
The latest find created immediate buzz among scientists who study ancient humans. Several paleoanthropologists said it was too tricky to hazard a guess from a photo as to the age or the precise species, but said it was absolutely worth following up on.
“It is clearly a human relative of some kind, but to rule out modern human or find out which ancient population it may belong to will take detailed study,” Hawks said.
Kappelman suggested that follow-up studies could include taking CT scans and 3D-printing the mandible, or perhaps even trying to see if ancient DNA could be recovered. The enamel of the teeth could be scrutinized to learn about what this individual ate.
The dentist who discovered the mandible said that he was inundated with interest from researchers from multiple universities after his Reddit post, and he is working with them now in hopes of learning more about the specimen. He said those researchers have also reached out to the company that sold the travertine to track the batch to the quarry and look for more pieces there.
Hawks said that, in general, if people see what might be human remains in their tile, they should contact local authorities. Laws vary, but in the United States, the process might involve a call to the state archaeologist or historical society.
Alcicek said that after the Homo erectus found in a factory was thoroughly studied, it was given to authorities and is now on exhibit in the Denizli Museum. He expected something similar would happen after the new specimen is carefully examined.
The entire episode is a reminder that construction projects and quarries have what Hawks calls an “uneasy symbiosis” with archaeologists. They can both expose and destroy ancient remains.
“The main constraint on finding the fossils is whether the travertine is being quarried!” Hawks wrote in an email.
A dentist found an ancient human jawbone embedded in his parents’ tile floor
A dentist was visiting his parents' newly renovated home in Europe when he noticed something odd.