Science, Art, Litt, Science based Art & Science Communication
Things other than what we already know about which we should also know
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We are hearing a lot in recent times about farmer suicides in this part of the world. People are placing the blame on the high costs of seeds, natural calamities, loans repayment problems, GM seeds and several other things. Opposition parties say government is not doing enough to solve these problems.
Wait a minute, but these problems are around for several decades. But why suddenly the farmers are 'considering' suicides and going for them now only? Have they suddenly became 'weak' mentally? I came across several interesting observations in this regard.
There is growing evidence that long-term pesticide use is linked to alterations in farmers' mental health. In the US high rates of depression and suicides are linked to farmers' use of pesticides (2)!
During plantation period of crops, it seems, the farmers who were very calm, loving and caring earlier suddenly are becoming depressed and agitated and are taking their own lives. This sudden shift in behaviour, according to scientists, is because of the pesticide treated seeds! There is a growing evidence that pesticides may alter farmers’ mental health.
These chemicals do kill insects by ruining their nervous system. They can do the same thing to the farmer! Farming is a stressful job – uncontrollable weather, physical demands and economic woes intertwine with a personal responsibility for land that often is passed down through generations. But experts say that some of the chemicals used to control pests may make matters worse by changing farmers’ brain chemistry. Recent research has linked long-term use of pesticides to higher rates of depression and suicide. Evidence also suggests that pesticide poisoning – a heavy dose in a short amount of time – doubles the risk of depression (3). There are millions, even billions, of chemical reactions that make up the dynamic system that is responsible for your mood, perceptions, and how you experience life according to a Harvard Medical School report (6). Some research suggests that the chemicals - especially organochlorines and organophosphates - that farmers and their workers spread on fields may alter some of these brain chemicals (4, 5). 20 years of occupational use of the pesticide even at low levels can also cause depression.
And we see several people getting agitated and angry these days because of trivial things even in cities that are far away from farmlands. Road rages have become daily shows. I used to wonder very often why the world is changing so much and so badly. When I was very young people never used to be so angry, depressed and agitated like they are now. They rarely considered killing others and themselves. Divorce rate is low then and is increasing now. People are becoming selfish. Everybody is quarreling with everybody! I find sudden shift in peoples' behaviour now. "Why? What are the reasons?" I asked myself several times. Psychologists' reasons run like this: materialism, breaking up of families, degrading of the support system, egos, stress, economic independence of women etc. etc.
But has anyone considered pesticide residues in the food people consume and pollution in the air as some of the reasons too?
Update on the above observation of mine: Breathing dirty air can make you sick. But according to new research, it can also make you more aggressive. That's the conclusion from a set of studies recently authored by Colorado State University researchers. The team found strong links between short-term exposure to air pollution and aggressive behaviour, in the form of aggravated assaults and other violent crimes across the continental United States (17).
The research results show a 10 microgram-per-cubic-meter increase in same-day exposure to PM2.5 is associated with a 1.4% increase in violent crimes, nearly all of which is driven by crimes categorized as assaults. Researchers also found that a 0.01 parts-per-million increase in same-day exposure to ozone is associated with a 0.97% increase in violent crime, or a 1.15% increase in assaults. Changes in these air pollution measures had no statistically significant effect on any other category of crime.
The researchers are talking about crimes that might not even be physical -- assaulting someone verbally is on the increase too in these polluted places. The story is, when you're exposed to more pollution, you become marginally more aggressive, so those altercations -- some things that may not have escalated -- do escalate. Their results only show a strong correlative relationship between such crimes and levels of air pollution.
The team published a companion paper in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy with similar results that used monthly crime statistics. A third paper in Epidemiology, with lead author Jesse Berman at University of Minnesota and co-authors from CSU, used EPA pollution monitor databases and different statistical techniques and came to similar conclusions.
The researchers were careful to correct for other possible explanations, including weather, heat waves, precipitation, or more general, county-specific confounding factors.
And there can be another reason for the aggressiveness of people: The recreational drugs known as bath salts (a kind of synthetic drug with mood-altering and stimulant properties, typically in the form of crystals and containing MDPV or mephedrone) reduce communication between different areas of the brain in rats, new research finds. This decline may be tied to the depression and aggressive behavior that some users feel after taking the drugs.
Compared with control animals, rats dosed with one bath salt variant had less synchronized activity, or “functional connectivity,” among the 86 brain areas that the researchers examined.
“The higher the dose, the less connectivity you get in the brain,” says neuroscientist Marcelo Febo, who presented the research November 15 at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (10).
And do you know concussions can increase suicide rate several times?
A recent research work has shown that a single concussion to the brain can triple the long term risk of suicides. concussions are now known to be much more serious injuries than once thought. And the danger may not be limited to the immediate repercussions. Researchers have already linked more severe traumatic brain injury to later suicide—particularly in military veterans and professional athletes—and have more recently explored the connection between concussion and depression.
New research published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal shows that even mild concussions sustained in ordinary community settings might be more detrimental than anyone anticipated; the long-term risk of suicide increases threefold in adults if they have experienced even one concussion. That risk increases by a third if the concussion is sustained on a weekend instead of a weekday—suggesting recreational concussions are riskier long-term than those sustained on the job.
The usual circumstances for acquiring a concussion are not while playing; it is when driving in traffic and getting into a crash, when missing a step and falling down a staircase, when getting overly ambitious about home repairs—the everyday activities of life.
Neuro-scientists identified nearly a quarter of a million adults in Ontario who were diagnosed with a mild concussion over a timespan of 20 years—severe cases that resulted in hospital admission were excluded from the study—and tracked them for subsequent mortality due to suicide. It turned out that more than 660 suicides occurred among these patients, equivalent to 31 deaths per 100,000 patients annually—three times the population norm. On average, suicide occurred almost six years after the concussion. This risk was found to be independent of demographics or previous psychiatric conditions, and it increased with additional concussions.
Another study conducted in 2014 found that sustaining a head injury leads to a greater risk of mental illness later in life.
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People have attributed body deformities to defective genes several times. But here is another view: Plastic Chemical Linked to Changes in Baby Boy's Genitals
The study of nearly 200 Swedish babies is the first to link the chemical di-isononyl phthalate (DiNP) to changes in the development of the human male reproductive tract (7).
Previous studies of baby boys in three countries found that a similar plastics chemical, DEHP, was associated with the same type of changes in their genitalia. Less is known about the reproductive risks of DiNP, a chemical which scientists say may be replacing DEHP in many products such as vinyl toys, flooring and packaging. In mice, high levels block testosterone and alter testicular development. This study raises concern about DiNP, which is being used in increased amounts in products that contain vinyl plastics, and the impact on the developing fetus. Considered a sign of incomplete masculinization, shortened anogenital distance in men has been associated with abnormal testicular development and reduced semen quality and fertility. In men, this measurement is typically 50 to 100 percent longer than in women.
Plastics we use daily in our lives can cause havoc in our lives too!
And a new study suggests that chemicals in sunscreen may impair men’s ability to father children (12) although it is not clear yet whether the chemicals ( benzophenone-2, known as BP-2, and 4-hydroxybenzophenone, known as 4-OH-BP )– for use in sunscreens wound up in men’s urine from sunscreen or through another route. BP-2 does show up as an ingredient in aftershaves, colognes, antiperspirant and other personal-care products.
Researchers from the US National Institutes of Health and the New York State health department studied 501 couples from Michigan and Texas who stopped using contraceptives between 2005 and 2009 and wanted to get pregnant.
Each participant provided a single urine sample and kept daily journals on sex, menstruation and pregnancy testing, according to a report in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Women had higher urine concentrations of each of five chemical compounds tested, the study found, but their exposures did not significantly delay pregnancy.
Among the men, however, those with the highest urine levels of BP-2 had a 30 percent lower chance of impregnating their partners within a year, the research found. Couples in which the man had high urine concentrations of 4-OH-BP also had significantly reduced odds of pregnancy within a year.
Advice of scientists: Studies are still going on this. So keep using sunscreen but read labels to know what chemicals are used in the sunscreens you are using on your skin if you are trying to have children and cover as much of your bodies as possible to protect yourself from harmful UV radiation.
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We blame children for not paying attention to teachers and not learning properly in schools. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a psychiatric disorder of the neuro-developmental type in which there are significant problems of attention, hyperactivity, or acting impulsively that are not appropriate for a person's age. In school-aged individuals inattention symptoms often result in poor school performance. ADHD is diagnosed approximately three times more in boys than in girls.
But there is a link between this disorder and air pollution. A recent research shows children exposed in the womb to high levels of pollutants in vehicle exhaust had a five times higher risk of attention problems at age 9, according to research by Columbia University scientists. The results suggest that exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons encountered in New York City air may play a role in childhood Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder behavior problems.
The study adds to earlier evidence that mothers' exposures to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are emitted by the burning of fossil fuels and other organic materials, are linked to children's behavioral problems associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). “Air pollution has been linked to adverse effects on attention span, behavior and cognitive functioning in research from around the globe. There is little question that air pollutants may pose a variety of potential health risks to children of all ages, possibly beginning in the womb,” said Dr. Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Steven & Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York. These chemicals damage DNA. They also mimic natural hormones and may interfere with placental growth which could deplete oxygen and nutrients for the developing fetus (8).
Another study says prenatal exposure to chemicals is responsible for lower IQ at age 7.
Now, parents and teachers, before punishing your child for not doing well in school think about what you had done that might have caused this problem.
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Some couples who are unable to have children visit doctors and hospitals and when told there is nothing wrong with their reproductive systems, visit temples and street corner pundits and do everything possible to conceive. But still their wishes won't be fulfilled. Why?
Here is some interesting research I came across recently:
Worrying molecule found in bottled water!
German researchers have used a combination of bioassay work and high-resolution mass spectrometry to pin down the source of endrocrine-disrupting behaviour in 18 bottle.... Of 24,520 suspect chemicals, the one that showed consistent results across all tests and displayed anti-androgenic and anti-estrogenic activity is di(2-ethylhexyl) fumarate (DEHF) (14). Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which interfere with an organism's hormonal systems, have been implicated in developmental and reproductive effects seen in nature and human medicine. More recently, suspicions have been raised that they might also increase the risk of cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. Of particular concern and public controversy have been bisphenol A (BPA) and the phthalates, organic compounds that mimic sex hormones.Non-stick surfaces are metal pans (such as aluminum pans) coated with a synthetic polymer called polytetrafluoroetheylene (PTFE), also known as Teflon.
Toxic fumes from the Teflon chemical released from pots and pans at high temperatures may kill pet birds and cause people to develop flu-like symptoms (called "Teflon Flu" or, as scientists describe it, "Polymer fume fever").
If you can't avoid using non-stick pans and pots at least follow these precautions:
- Never preheat nonstick cookware at high heat -- empty pans can rapidly reach high temperatures. Heat at the lowest temperature possible to cook your food safely.
- Don't put nonstick cookware in an oven hotter than 500 degrees.
- Use an exhaust fan over the stove.
- Keep pet birds out of the kitchen -- the fumes from an overheated pan can kill a bird in seconds. Learn more here.
- Skip the self-cleaning function on your oven. It cleans by heating to high temperatures, which can release toxic fumes from non-stick interior oven parts.
- Choose a safer alternative when buying new cookware.
But recently I came to know about another polluting agent that is equally responsible for pollution at the same time. It causes smog too. It seems the rice crop in the fields of Punjab and Haryana are (is) harvested about this time of Diwali. While the paddy is consumed or stored, the straw and ground stubble obtained as by products are a big problem. As labour is too expensive in these states for ploughing the straw into the fields to enrich the soil is not an option. Also the cattle (buffaloes) will not eat the straw of the particular rice varieties grown in the region. Rice straw has too high a silica content for it to be safely burnt in biomass power generators. Therefore, the rational option for the farmer in this situation is to burn the straw on site causing pollution and smog ( 1).
A latest study has concluded that increased farm production has increased the CO2 level in the atmosphere. Though they haven’t directly said that it is going to add to the climate change, but this is what they ultimately mean (11). But this one is a controversial news because plants, even agricultural ones, take CO2 to produce carbohydrates. But if the overall CO2 increases in the atmosphere due to agricultural activity because of less consumption by plants than production, this is possible!
Now we know not only Diwali, large amount of vehicles and industries, but also some farm practices too cause pollution!
-----------VI-----------
Have you heard about the link between Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder and ovarian cancer?
Jury in Missouri ordered the pharmaceutical company to pay damages up to $72 million to family of deceased woman who claimed talcum powder caused her cancer!
In the last few decades, some studies have suggested a possible link between talc and ovarian cancer. Levin recently wrote an article outlining the long-held concerns and the hundreds of lawsuits filed on behalf of women or their survivors against Johnson & Johnson.
These studies go back, he says, to a British study in 1971. Researchers reported that microscopic analysis of 13 ovarian tumors found talc particles in 10 of them. Several other studies followed in the early 1980s in the United States and Europe and suggested that women who use talc feminine hygiene products may have up to a 35% higher risk of ovarian cancer than women who don’t those products.
Researchers who believe there is a definite causal link estimate that talcum powder use could cause about 2,100 cases, or 10 percent, of those ovarian cancers (15). But findings have been mixed and researchers don't have a clear mechanism that might lead talc to cause cancer. One theory, says Levin, is that talc causes inflammation. “The idea is that the talc can travel through the genital track to the ovaries and that the inflammation that then is caused by talc particles being deposited there leads to cancer.
However, The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, considered talc in 2005-2006 and came to a finding that talc is “possibly carcinogenic to humans” (classified as Group 2B ) when used in this manner. Research in this area continues. You can come to your own conclusions now.
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Washing your hands with antibacterial soap containing triclosan – the most common microbe-killing ingredient used in these soaps – may be no better than ordinary plain soap, according to South Korean researchers (16). This confirms previous studies which have reached similar conclusions and could help settle the controversy of triclosan use.
Triclosan is widely known for its antimicrobial properties, and was first introduced in hospital scrub soap in the 1970s. Currently, 0.3% triclosan is the maximum amount permitted in consumer soaps in most countries and several studies under lab conditions have shown that soaps containing this amount tend to be no more effective at killing bacteria on hands than plain soap.
Furthermore, triclosan remains controversial with reports of various adverse effects, including allergies and carcinogenic impurities.
Min-Suk Rhee and colleagues at Korea University, Seoul, say they have found compelling evidence that triclosan-containing soap is no better than plain soap. They believe their study is more accurate than previous work because they only used one variable – the presence or absence of 0.3% triclosan – and fixed all of the other factors which can affect the results.
The team exposed 20 bacterial strains to plain and triclosan-containing soaps for 20s at room temperature and then slightly warmer temperatures – conditions that were chosen to simulate home hand washing. They also contaminated the hands of volunteers with Serratia marcescens bacteria to test how well each soap removed bacteria.
The results revealed there was no significant difference in bactericidal activity between plain soap and antibacterial soap at either test temperature, although after 9 hours the soap containing triclosan showed significantly greater bactericidal effects.
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Do you know the traditional smoke and ash-emitting tandoors using coal can also cause air pollution? And converting to electric or gas-based appliances can reduce the pollution?
Coal and fly ash together contribute the highest to PM10 and PM2.5 during summers-3,493kg/day out of the total 37,171 kg/day of PM 10, and 1,758kg/day out of 18,369 kg/day of PM 2.5, says the IIT study. Using alternates can reduce this air pollution. The IIT-K report said under commercial activities, diesel generators and tandoors in restaurants are the most prevailing sources for air pollution in the city. The average consumption of coal in tandoor based on survey was 30 kg/day. But it is possible only by improving access to clean fuel like liberalising grant of LPG licences and providing various other subsidies. Owners of most of the eateries like dhabas are poor and it is a question of their livelihood if tandoors are banned. So they should get assistance to convert their medium of cooking to gas or electricity. Ban on tandoors and conversion to electricity and gas stoves is a good idea. But the big question is whether it is practicable given that both cooking gas and electricity are short in supply here. The only solution is popularising the use of renewable energy like solar energy. Some of the state governments in India where pollution levels are high have already agreed to grant subsidy for those willing to install the solar apparatus.
References:
1. TOI, 27th Oct., 2014
2. http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2014/oct/pesticides...
3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19079725
4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16457470
5. http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/07/11/aje.kwt089
6. http://www.health.harvard.edu/special_health_reports/Understanding_...
7. http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2014/oct/plastics-c...
8. http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2014/nov/attention-...
9. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/environment/pollution/biom...
10. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/%E2%80%98bath-salts%E2%80%99-re...
11. http://nvonews.com/agriculture-production-ups-climate-change-chances/
12. http://bit.ly/1ELILG3 American Journal of Epidemiology, online November 13, 2014.
13. http://bit.ly/1Bz1Dcj PLOS ONE, online December 10, 2014
14. http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2013/09/worrying-molecule-bottled...
15. http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-05-24/women-are-suing-johnson-johns...
16. http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2015/09/antibacterial-soap-triclo...
17. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191003114007.htm
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Latest BPA replacement seeps into people’s blood and urine
Cashiers handling receipts had potentially risky concentrations of BPA, two chemical relatives
Two chemicals in receipt paper that replace the toxic compound bisphenol A, or BPA, are just as capable of soaking into the human body as their predecessor, researchers report August 25 in Environmental Health Perspectives. The study marks the first time that one of the two compounds, BPSIP, or 4-hydroxyphenyl 4-isoprooxyphenylsulfone, has been documented in consumer goods and humans, says coauthor Kristina Thayer, a toxicologist.The findings raises concern because the two chemicals, BPSIP and its relative bisphenol S, or BPS, may have the same health risks as BPA. BPA is used to make tough, durable plastics and epoxy resins, but it is also a hormone-mimicking chemical associated with cancer, obesity and cardiovascular diseases.
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1409427/ -
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Micro-beads and the harm they cause: http://ow.ly/Ss1v4
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