[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: Blade article
While having DNA symptoms is spooky, not having them is spookier.
At 08:36 AM 8/11/04 -0500, Richard L Whitman wrote:
>Great story until you got to the part about EPA/CDC surveying swimmings
>having DNA symptoms.
>
>Richard Whitman
>Chief, Lake Michigan Ecological Research Station
>219-926-8336 Ext. 424
>
>1100 North Mineral Springs Road
>Porter, IN 46304
>
>
>----- Forwarded by Richard L Whitman/BRD/USGS/DOI on 08/11/2004 08:33 AM
>-----
>
>
> Lyon.Johng@epamai
>
> l.epa.gov To:
> rwhitman@usgs.gov
> cc:
> Lunetta.Ross@epamail.epa.gov,
> 08/09/2004
> 08:56 endres.keith@epamail.epa.gov
> AM Subject: Beaches story -
> Daily R&D News Clips -- August 5,
> 2004
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Dear Richard:
>
>The Blade article may be of interest....jjjjj
>
>Bacterial levels lower at area beaches (Toledo Blade)
>By TOM HENRY
>August 1, 2004
>
>With the Dog Days of August upon us today, people generally have about a
>month left to enjoy themselves at area beaches before settling into fall
>activities after the Labor Day weekend.
>
>
>This August, they can take some comfort knowing that the bacteria levels
>at northwest Ohio's public beaches have - for the most part - been
>slightly lower than normal.
>
>
>With the exception of Lakeview beach in Lorain County and Catawba Island
>State Park in Ottawa County, the situation has been a little better than
>in past years. Swimming advisories have been in effect at Lakeview all
>but one day since June 8, while advisory signs went up at Catawba Island
>State Park on July 20.
>
>
>Swimming advisories also were posted Wednesday for the first time this
>summer at Maumee Bay State Park's inland pond. The park's Lake Erie
>beach had advisories posted for two brief interludes in June, but made
>it through July without warnings issued - one of the few times that has
>happened over the past decade.
>
>
>Overall, northwest Ohio has had fewer postings this year than in recent
>years. Port Clinton's beach, plagued by bacteria much of last summer,
>hasn't had a single posting this summer.
>
>
>Mike Oricko, Lucas County environmental health director, said he and
>other veteran bacteria-trackers are hardly patting themselves on the
>back and getting complacent. They acknowledge the low counts are largely
>a reflection of this summer's relatively calm weather.
>
>
>The general advice: Don't swim within 24 hours of a storm or if strong
>winds cause a lot of wave action. Both stir up sediment in which
>bacteria can hide, Mr. Oricko said.
>
>
>The always-fickle situation at Maumee Bay State Park has officials on
>their toes again. The park has recorded scattered, single-day bacteria
>spikes the past two weeks, as high as 308 colonies per 100 milliliters
>of E. coli bacteria at its Lake Erie beach on Monday and 365 colonies
>per 100 milliliters at its inland beach on Tuesday, records show.
>
>
>But the highs and lows have been somewhat erratic, rejuvenating the
>debate over whether the Ohio Department of Health's trending analysis
>sufficiently protects public health. The advisories are merely a warning
>and public access to the affected waters is not barred.
>
>
>The state health department makes its recommendations for postings based
>on a complicated logarithmic formula in which the five latest test
>results are converted into what's known as a geometric mean, with the
>average weighted by various factors.
>
>
>When the mean level exceeds 126 colonies per 100 milliliters of E. coli
>bacteria, the agency recommends that the signs go up. Critics have
>argued the time lag is too long, because it takes several days of
>sustained high readings to drive up the average.
>
>
>"Nobody likes it. But it's the best we have now," Mr. Oricko said. "We
>need something immediate."
>
>
>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is in the midst of a
>multiple-year study to develop a faster technique for determining beach
>bacteria - in as little as two hours - thereby providing swimmers the
>convenience of same-day results. The current protocol at Ohio's public
>beaches requires a turnaround time of more than 24 hours in the
>laboratory, then results get sent off to the state Department of
>Health's headquarters in Columbus for another day of review.
>
>
>The potential for a new evaluation technique is being researched by a
>U.S. EPA laboratory in Chapel Hill, N.C. The study is expected to take
>at least four years, with the first two years spent in the field at four
>freshwater Great Lakes beaches.
>
>
>Huntington Beach in Cleveland was one of two studied last year. The
>other was West Beach in Indiana, part of the Indiana Dunes National
>Lakeshore. Silver Beach in St. Joseph, Mich., and Washington Park beach
>in Michigan City, Ind., were used for this summer's pilot studies, said
>Dick David, a U.S. EPA spokesman.
>
>
>Timothy J. Wade, a U.S. EPA epidemiologist involved with the study, said
>the research will move on to saltwater beaches the next two years.
>
>
>While results from Huntington and other Great Lakes beaches are too
>preliminary to discuss in detail, they "seem promising, but there are
>caveats to that statement," Mr. Wade said. He said he plans to present
>an outline of the project Tuesday at the International Society for
>Environmental Epidemiology in New York.
>
>
>The potential new evaluation technique would shorten the time lag by
>having lab scientists focus on the DNA of a specific strain of bacteria
>other than E. coli. The longstanding protocol requires waterborne
>bacteria samples to be cultured and grown overnight for study.
>
>
>The U.S. EPA interviewed more than 5,000 swimmers last year and hopes to
>interview at least another 5,000 this summer and in future years.
>Participants receive follow-up phone calls 10 to 12 days after they have
>visited beaches to determine if they contracted any health problems.
>U.S. EPA scientists then evaluate whether any DNA symptoms they might
>have found during their two-hour lab research can be relied upon to
>predict whatever health problems swimmers may have encountered, such as
>nausea, cramps, or vomiting, Mr. Wade said.
>
>
>Numerous Great Lakes beaches have been plagued for years by high
>bacteria counts, leading people to wonder if pollution has gotten worse
>or if the scientific ability to detect a problem has just become more
>sophisticated.
>
>
>Maumee Bay State Park's Lake Erie beach has traditionally been one of
>the problem areas. Yet 30 miles to the east, one of the state's oldest
>public beaches at East Harbor State Park has consistently ranked among
>the cleanest.
>
>
>Theories about the bacteria problem at Maumee Bay State Park's Lake Erie
>beach have ranged from animal runoff in nearby ditches to human waste
>from faulty septic tanks. Many of the septic problems have been
>resolved, officials have said. They have broadened their search at times
>to include sewage discharges from the Detroit River, and the interplay
>between Maumee River runoff and the powerful Lake Erie water intake of
>FirstEnergy Corp.'s coal-fired Bay Shore power plant.
>
>
>But none of those theories has provided a smoking gun. The search
>continues for the primary bacteria sources.
>
>
>The problem at Maumee Bay's man-made inland beach has been easier to
>control, because it has been attributed largely to excessive droppings
>from ducks and geese. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed for a
>mild August.
>
>
>"The weather has been cooler. We haven't had the major storm events
>driving the waves into the shorelines and up from ditches," Jim Brower,
>park manager, said.
>Mr. Oricko agreed: "To be perfectly honest, the weather deserves some
>credit here."
>
> ***********************************************
> The Daily R&D News Clips may contain copyrighted materials and are for
> the use of the designated recipients only. Neither the Daily R&D News
> Clips nor any individual articles may be distributed further.
> ***********************************************
>
>
>
>----- Forwarded by JohnG Lyon/LV/USEPA/US on 08/09/2004 07:01 AM -----
>
>
>
>
>
>
>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
>beachnet is hosted by the Great Lakes Information Network:
>http://www.great-lakes.net
>To unsubscribe from this list: send mail to majordomo@great-lakes.net
>with the command 'unsubscribe beachnet' in the body of your message. No
>quotes or subject line are required.
>About : http://www.great-lakes.net/lists/beachnet/beachnet.info
>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
beachnet is hosted by the Great Lakes Information Network:
http://www.great-lakes.net
To unsubscribe from this list: send mail to majordomo@great-lakes.net
with the command 'unsubscribe beachnet' in the body of your message. No
quotes or subject line are required.
About : http://www.great-lakes.net/lists/beachnet/beachnet.info
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *