Ukraine: UN experts warn of chemical disaster and water safety risk as conflict escalates in East

GENEVA (10 November 2017) – Ukraine is facing new risks of chemical disaster and water safety after an escalation of conflict near water supply facilities in the east of the country, two UN Special Rapporteurs have warned.
“We are alarmed by recent reports of shelling around water installations containing chlorine gas and other extremely dangerous chemicals in Donetsk region,” said Baskut Tuncak, an expert on human rights and hazardous substances, and Léo Heller, whose mandate covers safe drinking water and sanitation.
“Damaging installations containing substances such as chlorine gas and the destruction of water treatment facilities could have devastating consequences for the population and the environment of large areas in Eastern Ukraine,” they added.
Chlorine gas, which can cause severe health impacts and death by asphyxiation, has been used as a chemical weapon, but is not specifically listed as controlled under the Convention on Chemical Weapons. However, the use of any toxic chemical as a weapon, including chlorine, is forbidden under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The Donetsk water filtration station was reportedly shelled repeatedly between 3 and 4 November, causing damage to a back-up chlorine pipeline.
It is reported that if the main pipeline currently in use or any single 900kg bottle containing chlorine, stored in these facilities was hit, it could have killed anyone within a 200 metre radius, including the staff of the facility, and would have disrupted the water supply to almost 350,000 people on both sides of the contact line.
On 5 November, a second water filtration station, Verkhnokalmiuska, which supplies clean water to 800,000 people and stores 100 tons of chlorine gas, was hit by multiple shells. “Again, releasing toxic gas and destroying water supply facilities would have had devastating consequences for populated areas of Donetsk city, Makiivka and Avdiivka,” the experts said.
Mr. Tuncak, who has previously warned of the risks of chemical disasters in eastern Ukraine, added: “All parties involved in conflict must respect international humanitarian law, notably by taking into account the potential consequences of unleashing highly toxic chemicals on the civilian population.”
Mr. Heller noted: “Interference with water and sanitation supplies even in the context of conflict is entirely unacceptable. The rights of almost 1.1 million people’s access to safe drinking water and sanitation on both sides of the contact line are at risk of being affected if hostilities continue to hit water treatment facilities.”
Both experts called on the parties to hostilities to create and respect demilitarized zones around critical water sites in Donetsk region, as was agreed by the Trilateral Group on 19 July this year.
The experts also called for attention to structures at risk of collapse due to poor maintenance. A sludge collector at the phenol plant in Novhorodske has not been repaired after shell damage. Maintenance due every two weeks has not been carried out for a year. Reportedly, the dam around the collector is eroding, risking the release of liquid toxic waste into the Kryvyi Torets and Siverskyi Donets rivers.

“Ensuring access to, and adequate maintenance of, damaged sites containing hazardous substances is vital. We call on all parties to agree on and respect adequate security arrangements which would allow regular maintenance as well as repairs to be conducted safely,” concluded the human rights experts.

Non-drinking Water Guide – Microbiological and Chemical

SA Water is committed to managing our water supplies to ensure the protection of your health. This guide will help you understand how to safely use your non‐drinking water supply. The following information relates to human health only.
SA Water wishes to remind you that your mains water supply is not treated or disinfected. Your water supply may contain harmful microorganisms and natural chemicals. This means it may not conform to the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines and microbial and chemical quality may exceed guideline values.
SA Health advises that your water is not suitable for drinking, food preparation or teeth cleaning. Boiling the water will not reduce the chemical concentrations in your water supply.
What you need to know:
Do not use mains water for drinking, food preparation and cleaning teeth.
Do not connect your mains supply pipes to your drinking water source, e.g. rainwater tank.
Advise visitors to your home about the precautions required when using mains water.
Install and maintain signs specifying "WATER NOT SUITABLE FOR DRINKING" at all publicly accessible taps connected to mains water for which you are responsible. SA Water can provide signs or stickers upon request.
Landlords must provide a copy of this guide to their tenants.
Following these measures will also mitigate the health risks associated with the microorganism Naegleria fowleri, which may be present in your water supply:
Avoid swallowing water or allowing water to go up your nose e.g. when showering, bathing or through use of sinus irrigation products. Children should avoid swallowing water or getting water up their nose during bath time or water play activities including the use of garden hoses.
If mains water is used in children’s paddling pools, do not leave in pool for more than 24 hours.
If mains water is used in swimming pools, it should be properly disinfected with a product such as chlorine to limit the microbiological risks. Visit www.sawater.com.au to check requirements for permits under current Water Wise Measures.
The temperature of hot water system storages should be set at 60ºC or higher (applies to storage systems only, not instantaneous hot water systems). Care should be taken to avoid scalding.
We will continue to monitor water quality and can provide updated information about your mains water quality via our Customer Service Centre on 1300 650 950.

This notice typically relates to water supplies in non‐urban areas. If you think you have received this notification in error, please call our Customer Service Centre to confirm before incurring any additional costs associated with using your water service in the ways set out in this document.

Pesticide residue on fruits and veggies tied to infertility

(Reuters Health) - Women who eat more fruits and vegetables with high levels of pesticide residue may be less likely to get pregnant than women whose diets don’t include a lot of this type of produce, a U.S. study suggests.
Researchers examined data on eating habits and pregnancy outcomes for 325 women who went through a total of 541 cycles of fertility treatments at a clinic in Boston. Overall, 228 of the fertility treatment cycles resulted in a live birth.
Based on women’s responses to dietary questionnaires, researchers ranked their pesticide residue exposure from fruits and veggies into five groups, from lowest to highest.
Compared with women who ate the lowest amounts of fruits and vegetables with high levels of pesticide residue – less than one serving a day – women who ate the highest amounts of these foods – more than two servings a day – were 18 percent less likely to have a baby.
“We already knew that women occupationally exposed to pesticides and women exposed to pesticides used in agriculture by virtue of living in or near agricultural production areas experience greater risk of infertility, pregnancy loss and other adverse reproductive outcomes,” said senior study author Dr. Jorge Chavarro, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
“Our study is the first to show that exposure to low doses of pesticide residues, such as those achieved by consuming conventionally grown fruits and vegetables, may also have adverse health effects,” Chavarro said by email. “This was actually very surprising to me.”
Women in the study were 35 years old on average. Most were white and had at least a college education. They all underwent fertility treatments between 2007 and 2016.
There didn’t appear to be a problem with fertilization or embryos implanting in the uterus based on what women ate, but eating more fruits and vegetables with high levels of pesticide residue was associated with an increased risk of miscarriages early in pregnancy.
Replacing one serving day of fruits and veggies with high levels of pesticide residue with different, lower-pesticide options could boost the odds of pregnancy by 79 percent and the chances of a live birth by 88 percent, researchers estimated.
Foods with high levels of pesticide residue can include apples, kale, strawberries and raw spinach. Low-pesticide produce includes avocados, corn and bananas.
Washing produce won’t reduce pesticide exposure, Chavarro said. But buying organic fruits and vegetables makes sense for foods that typically have high levels of pesticide residue, he said.
One limitation of the study is it only included women undergoing fertility treatment, so the results might be different for a broader population of couples trying to conceive, the authors note. Researchers also relied on women to accurately recall and report on what they ate.
More research is needed to confirm the study results in larger groups of women, and also to understand how exposure to pesticide residue on foods impacts fertility and pregnancy, said Tracey Woodruff, a reproductive health researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who wasn’t involved in the study.
“This is a very important study, because there is a portion of infertility that is ‘unexplained,’ but that just means we don’t know what are the risk factors, and the contribution of environmental pollutants, including pesticides, has not been sufficiently studied,” Woodruff said by email. “And pollutants, like pesticides, could be contributing to these ‘unexplained’ fertility problems.”
In the meantime, women can take steps to avoid pesticide exposure, said Dr. Philip Landrigan, author of an accompanying editorial and a researcher at the Arnhold Institute for Global Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.
This includes eating organic as much as possible, and washing fruits and vegetables, he said by email.

“Avoid using pesticides within homes or on lawns and gardens,” Landrigan added. “Join with friends and neighbors to urge reduction in pesticide use in schools, parks, playing fields an other areas used by children and pregnant women.”

What You Should Know about NPK and Fertilizers

Chemical fertilizers and organic fertilizers show their nutrient content with three bold numbers on the package. These numbers represent three different compounds: Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potash (Potassium), which we can also describe with the letters N-P-K. The three numbers listed on fertilizer labels correspond to the percentage of these materials found in the fertilizer. What does each nutrient do? In addition to other properties, Nitrogen helps plant foliage to grow strong. Phosphorous helps roots and flowers grow and develop. Potassium (Potash) is important for overall plant health. Be aware that high nitrogen fertilizers will make for quick growth but weaker plants that are more susceptible to attacks by diseases and pests. Fast, showy growth is not necessarily the best thing for your plants.
German scientist Justus Von Liebig was responsible for the theory that Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium levels are the basis for determining healthy plant growth. However, this theory, which dates to the 1800s, doesn't take into account the dozens of other nutrients and elements that are essential to plant growth such as sulfur, hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, magnesium, etc. Nor does the theory talk about the importance of beneficial soil organisms that help your plants to flourish and to fight off pests and diseases.
While Von Liebig's work was unquestionably important to the science of plant growth and agriculture, other ways of looking at how plants utilize nutrients have largely been ignored, especially by those companies who produce the chemical fertilizers commonly on the market today. For example, if you properly aerate the soil, earthworms, beneficial microbes, and other critters found underneath your garden and lawn will have better access to the oxygen they need to thrive. As they live and digest organic matter, they help to create soil that is healthy and fertile. Healthy soil is the basis for healthy plants. Additionally, if we look at nature, compost in the form of organic humus is ever present in natural plant communities, providing lots of the nutrients that plants need to grow and thrive. Compost contains Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, and a great abundance of other trace elements that will benefit your plants.
It is clear that Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium are not necessarily the most important elements you need for your plants to grow well. In fact, elements such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur, magnesium, copper, cobalt, sodium, boron, molybdenum, and zinc are just as important to plant development as N-P-K. (Source: http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/excerpts/exgarhow.html) Over the years, Justus Von Liebig's theory developed into the dominant paradigm for how we grow our ornamental and edible plants. The bad news is that this has lead to a vast amount excess nutrients building up in our streams, lakes, and rivers, because chemical fertilizers are often over-applied. Surprisingly, much of this overuse of chemical fertilizers is actually from homeowners, and not from farmers, who typically carefully measure and apply the least amount of fertilizer necessary to get the job done in order to grow their crops in the most cost effective way possible.

Many homeowners who aren't growing to make a profit end up inadvertently overusing chemical fertilizers (and pesticides too!). They think that if a little bit is good, then more must be better. It isn't! According to the National Academy of Sciences, even though farmers uses pesticides more widely, homeowners uses 10 times more fertilizer per acre. If you only take away one thing from this article, please let it be that you should only use the proper amount of any fertilizer, and not anything more. This will save you money, and it will also keep your yard and garden healthier at the same time. This is extremely important with chemicals, but it also applies to organics! Organic gardeners can look to the work of Sir Albert Howard for solid research and ideas on how to grow plants more naturally. His ideas consider chemical processes that occur in nature. He then applies them to agriculture and home gardening.

What Is a Color Additive?

A color additive is any dye, pigment or substance which when added or applied to a food, drug or cosmetic, or to the human body, is capable (alone or through reactions with other substances) of imparting color. FDA is responsible for regulating all color additives to ensure that foods containing color additives are safe to eat, contain only approved ingredients and are accurately labeled.

Color additives are used in foods for many reasons: 1) to offset color loss due to exposure to light, air, temperature extremes, moisture and storage conditions; 2) to correct natural variations in color; 3) to enhance colors that occur naturally; and 4) to provide color to colorless and "fun" foods. Without color additives, colas wouldn't be brown, margarine wouldn't be yellow and mint ice cream wouldn't be green. Color additives are now recognized as an important part of practically all processed foods we eat.
FDA's permitted colors are classified as subject to certification or exempt from certification, both of which are subject to rigorous safety standards prior to their approval and listing for use in foods.
Certified colors are synthetically produced (or human made) and used widely because they impart an intense, uniform color, are less expensive, and blend more easily to create a variety of hues. There are nine certified color additives approved for use in the United States (e.g., FD&C Yellow No. 6. See chart for complete list.). Certified food colors generally do not add undesirable flavors to foods.

Colors that are exempt from certification include pigments derived from natural sources such as vegetables, minerals or animals. Nature derived color additives are typically more expensive than certified colors and may add unintended flavors to foods. Examples of exempt colors include annatto extract (yellow), dehydrated beets (bluish-red to brown), caramel (yellow to tan), beta-carotene (yellow to orange) and grape skin extract (red, green).

What Is a Food Additive?

In its broadest sense, a food additive is any substance added to food. Legally, the term refers to "any substance the intended use of which results or may reasonably be expected to result -- directly or indirectly -- in its becoming a component or otherwise affecting the characteristics of any food." This definition includes any substance used in the production, processing, treatment, packaging, transportation or storage of food.

Yoghurt Starter Culture

The purpose of the legal definition, however, is to impose a premarket approval requirement. Therefore, this definition excludes ingredients whose use is generally recognized as safe (where government approval is not needed), those ingredients approved for use by FDA or the U.S. Department of Agriculture prior to the food additives provisions of law, and color additives and pesticides where other legal premarket approval requirements apply.

Sucralose

Direct food additives are those that are added to a food for a specific purpose in that food. For example, xanthan gum -- used in salad dressings, chocolate milk, bakery fillings, puddings and other foods to add texture -- is a direct additive. Most direct additives are identified on the ingredient label of foods.

High Fructose Syrup


Indirect food additives are those that become part of the food in trace amounts due to its packaging, storage or other handling. For instance, minute amounts of packaging substances may find their way into foods during storage. Food packaging manufacturers must prove to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that all materials coming in contact with food are safe before they are permitted for use in such a manner.

water chemicals

Foam is a mass of bubbles created when certain types of gas are dispersed into a liquid. Strong films of liquid than surround the bubbles, forming large volumes of non-productive foam.

Trichloro Isocyanuric Acid (TCCA)

The cause of foam is a complicated study in physical chemistry, but we already know that its existence presents serious problems in both the operation of industrial processes and the quality of finished products. When it is not held under control, foam can reduce the capacity of equipment and increase the duration and costs of processes.

Polyaluminium Chloride (PAC)


Antifoam blends contain oils combined with small amounts of silica. They break down foam thanks to two of silicone's properties: incompatibility with aqueous systems and ease of spreading. Antifoam compounds are available either as powder or as an emulsion of the pure product.

Risk = ToxicityX Exposure

Low-toxicity pesticide products are labeled with a signal word of "CAUTION", rather than "WARNING" or "DANGER". No matter how toxic a pesticide may be, it's important to follow all of the label directions.

The Introduction of Ethephon

You can reduce the risk by taking steps to keep the pesticide from being touched, inhaled or eaten by anyone in your household.
Make sure your treatment works by selecting the right approach and the right product. Do your homework by learning about the pests in your area.

The Introduction of Paclobutrazol

You may be able to get free pest control advice from a Master Gardener or another local expert by calling your local Cooperative Extension Service or visiting their website. You can search for local offices and resources by clicking here.
In the United States, minimum risk pesticides do not need to be registered by the EPA. There is no list of minimum risk pesticides available, but you can look for pesticides with these active ingredients and these other/inert ingredients.

Forchlorfenuron (KT-30)

Low-risk pesticide recommendations may be available from some of the additional resources below. NPIC does not provide product recommendations.

If you have questions about this, or any pesticide-related topic, please email us at yutongjie1@gmail.com

New Handbook Offers Soil Health Guidance

Paris, France, 29 March 2017 – Experts publish best approaches for effective nutrient management in the face of climate change
A brand new handbook detailing the best ways to effectively manage nutrients on farms has been released, in an effort to help farmers achieve the triple win of boosting productivity, achieving resilience and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The new 25-page manual is co-published by the International Fertilizer Association (IFA), the World Farmers Organization (WFO) and the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture (GACSA). It analyses different methods of crop nutrition and provides farmers with useful and straightforward information on how to manage nutrients efficiently. The techniques have been proven to improve soil health in the face of climate change, while meeting Sustainable Development Goal two to end hunger, achieve food security, improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

Potassium Sulfate (SOP)

The handbook answers critical questions such as:
Which nutrients are essential for plant growth?
Are organic or mineral fertilizers more effective?
What are the challenges of nutrient management, and how can they be tackled?
How does water interact with plant nutrients?
How can farmers apply the principles of integrated soil fertility management in a way that will lead to a “climate-smart agriculture”?
Best management practices (BMPs) for farmers and effective nutrient stewardship guiding principles are outlined as central themes throughout the handbook.

Used as agricultural fertilizer, also used to make compound fertilizer.

Charlotte Hebebrand, Director General of IFA, said: “The global fertilizer industry is committed to working with farmers both large and small, to help them improve nutrient uptake and therefore reduce environmental losses. The “4R Principles” of nutrient management - using the ‘right nutrient source’ at the ‘right rate’, at the ‘right time’ and in the ‘right place’ form the foundation of this task and are explained at length in this new guide.”
The handbook also helps farmers to establish a direct link between efficient nutrient management techniques and strategies to both mitigate and adapt to changing climatic conditions.

Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (CAN)


“The world’s farmers are on the frontline of tremendous challenges threatening the agricultural sector in the 21st Century,” comments Marco Marzano de Marinis, Secretary General of WFO. “A steep rise in the demand of food to feed a growing world population, price volatility; changing diets and the negative effects of climate change will have dramatic effects on the world’s agricultural farmlands and markets. This comprehensive, easy-to-use tool helps farmers and extension trainers to understand the positive results of converting their farming practices to climate-smart agriculture.”

Why Are Food and Color Ingredients Added to Food?

Additives perform a variety of useful functions in foods that consumers often take for granted. Some additives could be eliminated if we were willing to grow our own food, harvest and grind it, spend many hours cooking and canning, or accept increased risks of food spoilage. But most consumers today rely on the many technological, aesthetic and convenient benefits that additives provide.

Citric Acid Monohydrate

Following are some reasons why ingredients are added to foods:
To Maintain or Improve Safety and Freshness: Preservatives slow product spoilage caused by mold, air, bacteria, fungi or yeast. In addition to maintaining the quality of the food, they help control contamination that can cause foodborne illness, including life-threatening botulism. One group of preservatives -- antioxidants -- prevents fats and oils and the foods containing them from becoming rancid or developing an off-flavor. They also prevent cut fresh fruits such as apples from turning brown when exposed to air.

Calcium Propionate

To Improve or Maintain Nutritional Value: Vitamins and minerals (and fiber) are added to many foods to make up for those lacking in a person's diet or lost in processing, or to enhance the nutritional quality of a food. Such fortification and enrichment has helped reduce malnutrition in the U.S. and worldwide. All products containing added nutrients must be appropriately labeled.

Sodium Cyclamat


Improve Taste, Texture and Appearance: Spices, natural and artificial flavors, and sweeteners are added to enhance the taste of food. Food colors maintain or improve appearance. Emulsifiers, stabilizers and thickeners give foods the texture and consistency consumers expect. Leavening agents allow baked goods to rise during baking. Some additives help control the acidity and alkalinity of foods, while other ingredients help maintain the taste and appeal of foods with reduced fat content.

Clean Water for Bangladesh

Shilina Muring is a single mother who lives in Naogaon, Bangladesh. Her husband died three years ago and she could no longer afford to pay rent in her one room house, which led her and her two children to a very small village of 21 families in Naogaon.

Sodium Dichloro Isocyanurate(SDIC)

The village had no clean water. The women and their families risked waterborne diseases, insect borne diseases and skin irritation from the dirty water. Shilina’s son suffered from constant painful rashes and she worried that she would need medicine which she could not afford.

The use of chlorine dioxide

Through generous support, ERDO with The Pentecostal mother and son at wellAssemblies of Bangladesh provided a brand new deep tube well along with community education on water and hygiene to the village where Shilina and her children live.

What's chlorine dioxide tablets advantage ?


The well is in the centre of the village and everyone who lives there has access to clean, fresh drinking water. Shilina uses the fresh water for drinking, food preparation, cooking, bathing and many other household-chores. Shilina and the families in her village are very grateful for the gift of clean water and says, “it comes from God.”

Biopesticides

Biopesticides are certain types of pesticides derived from such natural materials as animals, plants, bacteria, and certain minerals. For example, canola oil and baking soda have pesticidal applications and are considered biopesticides. Biopesticides fall into three major classes:

6-Benzylaminopurine (6-BA)

Microbial pesticides which consist of bacteria, entomopathogenic fungi or viruses (and sometimes includes the metabolites that bacteria or fungi produce). Entomopathogenic nematodes are also often classed as microbial pesticides, even though they are multi-cellular.

Azoxystrobin

Biochemical pesticides or herbal pesticides are naturally occurring substances that control (or monitor in the case of pheromones) pests and microbial diseases.

Thiophanate methyl

Plant-incorporated protectants (PIPs) have genetic material from other species incorporated into their genetic material (i.e. GM crops). Their use is controversial, especially in many European countries.

Phosphate fertilizers

All phosphate fertilizers are obtained by extraction from minerals containing the anion PO43−. In rare cases, fields are treated with the crushed mineral, but most often more soluble salts are produced by chemical treatment of phosphate minerals.

DIAMMONIUM PHOSPHATE (DAP)

The most popular phosphate-containing minerals are referred to collectively as phosphate rock. The main minerals are fluorapatite Ca5(PO4)3F (CFA) and hydroxyapatite Ca5(PO4)3OH.
Double Super Phosphate (DSP)

These minerals are converted to water-soluble phosphate salts by treatment with sulfuric or phosphoric acids. The large production of sulfuric acid as an industrial chemical is primarily due to its use as cheap acid in processing phosphate rock into phosphate fertilizer. The global primary uses for both sulfur and phosphorus compounds relate to this basic process.

Single Super Phosphate (SSP)

In the nitrophosphate process or Odda process (invented in 1927), phosphate rock with up to a 20% phosphorus (P) content is dissolved with nitric acid (HNO3) to produce a mixture of phosphoric acid (H3PO4) and calcium nitrate (Ca(NO3)2). This mixture can be combined with a potassium fertilizer to produce a compound fertilizer with the three macronutrients N, P and K in easily dissolved form.