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Between September and March, up to 23,000 dolphins will be harvested in Japan, and most sold as ‘whale meat’ for human consumption. Ric O’Barry, an environmental activist, has recently premiered a documentary, “The Cove”,  he filmed about the annual slaughter of dolphins in the Japanese fishing port of Taiji. He hopes to raise awareness about the plight of these marine mammals and sever the sister-city relationship between Taiji and Broome. The Age produced an article here. However, it may not be economic or environmental debate that saves the dolphins from slaughter – it may be human health and safety. The documentary reveals that some of the dolphin meat tested had mercury contamination of up to 2000 ppm. Mercury poisoning causes serious birth defects, brain and kidney damage, sensory impariment and lack of co-ordination. Mercury contamination may prevent the consumption of dolphin meat – will it prevent the slaughter of these animals? And how does mercury effect the health of these intelligent creatures?

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More than 300 children in northern China have been diagnosed with lead poisoning, which may be linked to a lead and zinc smelter in the Changquing industrial park in Fengxiang county. The children were found to have up to twice the safe level of lead in their blood, according to China Daily. 

A child who ingests large amounts of lead may develop anemia, muscle weakness and brain damage. Where poisoning occurs, it is usually gradual. The children seemed to sleep more than usual, cannot concentrate and have slowed reaction times.

Washington Post article: “Lead poisoning hits 300 children near China factory“.

NPI fact sheets: Lead and compounds

Water discharge from Portland Aluminium

By now you should have all your information, including relevant data, about fluoride as a pollutant at Portland Aluminium. Your report should include the characteristics of fluoride, including strategies that reduce the risk of pollutants affecting human health and the environment as well as the direct and indirect effects on the health of humans and the environment.

“On completion of this unit the student should be able to describe the characteristics of pollutants and evaluate the management options for reducing the risk of a pollutant affecting the health of the environment and humans.”

It is important that you make an attempt to evaluate the management options that Portland Aluminium have implemented to reduce fluoride emissions at the smelter. Have they been successful? Could they  be improved? Compare emissions from Portland to other aluminium smelters – how do they measure up?

The Portland Aluminium smelter is situated on 600 hectares of land, 500 of which form “Smelter in the Park”, a once-barren area that has been revegetated with a large variety of indigenous plants. This area forms a buffer zone, that protects surrounding residents from the full impact of gaseous emissions from the smelter. There are five monitoring stations at different locations around the smelter that provide data on fluoride and sulfur emissions on a regular basis. Portland Aluminium also routinely test their workers, using urine and blood tests, as well as exposure badges, which monitor the levels of fluoride that staff have been subjected to.

Environmental scientists also do water testing and take tail-bone samples of the local kangaroos and teeth, bone and horn samples of the beef cattle , to test for long-term fluoride exposure. An international botanist expert visits annually to check for signs that toxic emissions may be affecting local vegetation. Signs of fluoride exposure include yellowing and curling of leaves and tissue death.

Portland Aluminium use several methods to prevent excessive fluoride emissions, including the A398 fluoride recovery system, in which fluoride emissions are captured from the hooded aluminium pots and forced through a conveyor of alumina, to form reacted or fluoride-enriched alumina. This is then added to the pots, which reduces the temperature (and therefor the energy required) to obtain the pure aluminium. The particulate and gaseous emissions are filtered through huge canvas bags, also coated with alumina, which traps 98% of fluoride.

In the potrooms, the major point source of fluoride emissions, Portland Aluminium have laser air monitoring of gaseous fluoride, with a traffic light system – green, amber and red. Between 045ppb and 600ppb, the lights are green; between 600ppb and 800ppb the lights are amber and above 800ppb the lights are red, which indicates an error in the process – too many hoods open at the same time.

The Victorian governmetn has produced this site, “Fluoride in the air environment“, which describes the sources of fluoride in Victoria and how it is monitored, including EPA limits.

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Electric and electronic waste, including computers, monitors, keyboards, mobile phones and games consoles, are an increasing problem, in many parts of the world. This article, “Where computers go to die — and kill” describes the situation in a province of south-eastern China, where tonnes of toxic waste continue to be dumped, threatening the health of workers and residents. There is another article here: “Poison PC’s“. Find out what pollutants are contained in e-waste. How are these pollutants transported through the environment and how persistent are they? What are some of the human and environmental health effects of these chemicals? How can this type of contamination be minimised or prevented?

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Yesterday in class we looked at the properties of fluoride compounds – thier appearance, properties, uses, natural, diffuse and point sources, sinks and human and environmental health effects. The National Pollutant Inventory gives fluoride compounds a total hazard score of 3.3 and a ranking of 31 for their effect on human and environmental health.

As the aluminium industry is one of the major users of fluoride for production and therefor both a point and diffuse source of this pollutant, we will be using Portland Aluminium “Smelter in the Park” in our case study of this pollutant. Fluoride has also recently been added to Warrnambool’s water supply, amid much community concern and controversy. The Alcoa site has some good information about the production of aluminium, including student notes as a pdf file.

student-notes-aluminium-production

portland-aluminium-eip

Thier 2003/04 Environmental Improvement Plan may also be useful, although more recent data should be quoted in your report. They have published a 2008 Sustainability report on-line, which may also be useful.

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Since Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring”, scientists and many consumers have become more aware of the dangers of pesticides such as DDT and dieldrin. Farmer’s markets and organic suppliers advocate for products that have been grown without the use of herbicides, pesticides and artificial fertilizers.  ”Recent scientific evidence points to the harmful effects of pesticides on people’s health, especially that of children and other vulnerable groups. Relatively low doses of hazardous pesticides can seriously affect human health, have long-term effects and may be a factor in the occurrence of various diseases including cancer, neurodevelopmental disorders, Parkinson’s and respiratory problems. Substantial legislative measures are therefore needed to protect human health and to address the special vulnerability of children, women of child-bearing age and pregnant women and to prevent their exposure to hazardous pesticides.” (From the “Health and Environment Alliance” website.)

 ”How Stuff Works” has a short, but informative video about bioaccumulation and biomagnification.

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What is the difference between bioaccumulation and biomagnification? Read an interesting article from the Scientific American – “Bald eagles succumb to poisin in rat eradication on Alaskan island” . Is this an example of bioaccumulation or biomagnification?

Local examples of bioaccumulation from the Australian government department of environment, water, heritage and the arts – uranium in freshwater mussles and fish in the Northern Territory. Bioaccumulation of copper and tungsten in northern Queensland. What types of toxins are most likely to bioaccumulate and biomagnify?

“Almost all mercury compounds are toxic and can be dangerous at very low levels in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Because mercury is a persistent substance, it can build up, or bioaccumulate, in living organisms, inflicting increasing levels of harm on higher order species such as predatory fish and fish eating birds and mammals through a process known as “biomagnification”. Although the long-term effects of mercury on whole ecosystems are unclear, the survival of some affected populations and overall biodiversity are at risk.” from Mercury and the Environment. Another resource about mercury in our environment here: “Methylmercury Contamination in Fish and Shellfish.” Health effects of mercury here: “Mercury in the body and health effects“.

Photo Source - Most of the anti-fluoride protest is scare-mongering and irrational – note the swastika!

As I will be with the Year 9/10 camp, at Rubicon during the first week back at school, you will need to work through Chapters 1 and 2 in class. The Area of study is pollutants, with case studies of mercury, sulphur and fluoride. In the previous post there are some worksheets for you to download and complete.

You may have heard about fluoride in the news recently – there have been bomb threats to Barwon South West Water and a Victorian MP is under police guard after fluoride has been intoruduced to Geelong’s water supply. Warrnambool received fluoride in the water supply last year after many months of contentious debate. Some people claim it is poison, while many scientists and dentists believe it reduces the incidence of tooth decay. Should we consider it as a pollutant?

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Over the two week study break and before you return to school on Monday 13th July, you need to have read Chapters 1 and 2 from the “Issues of Sustainability” textbook. This is an introduction to human health and the environmental effects of pollution in the air, water and soil. Try this worksheet to match various terms with their definitions: environmental-pollutants-worksheet.

Use the following to write notes about mercury, sulphur dioxide and fluoride: unit-4-pollutants-table