Monday, March 21, 2005
Pollution...
Today we look at mountains being made out of mole hills....
FIRST ITEM
This piece from the NYTimes concerning testing done at Yucca Mountain in Nevada in efforts to open it as a waste site for nuclear waste. The piece points out "failures."
SECOND ITEM
This piece on tatoo ink.
The testing is just humorous. Of course the inks contain heavy metals. Virtually all colorants, or tints, are based on heavy metals. Besides, the ink manufacturers are required by law to disclose any hazardus materials in their products. Why couldn't they just ask?
ITEM THREE
This pretty well speaks for itself:
FIRST ITEM
This piece from the NYTimes concerning testing done at Yucca Mountain in Nevada in efforts to open it as a waste site for nuclear waste. The piece points out "failures."
For example, in 2000, James Raleigh, an Energy Department employee, pointed out in one message that records showed some instruments that were apparently used to measure conditions inside the mountain were certified as having been calibrated before the procedure was performed, and even before the equipment was received.If you have ever worked anywhere where it is necessary to keep quality control records, you will be aware that this sort of thing is common. It is hardly reasonable to use a paperwork issue as a reason to continue to have nuclear waste housed all over the country in facilities far less secure than Yucca Mountain.
SECOND ITEM
This piece on tatoo ink.
Dirty needles may be the chief health concern with tattoos, but preliminary research suggests the inks used to make the body art may harbor potentially toxic heavy metals.This has got to be Reuters trying to make a problem where none exists. Look at the qualifiers in the first sentence, "may harbor potentially toxic heavy metals." Have you ever read a sentence less sure about its subject?
In an analysis of 17 tattoo inks from five manufacturers, researchers found evidence of a number of different metals, such as nickel and copper, in the products. It's unclear how much metal may be in the different inks - or whether there is any health risk.
The testing is just humorous. Of course the inks contain heavy metals. Virtually all colorants, or tints, are based on heavy metals. Besides, the ink manufacturers are required by law to disclose any hazardus materials in their products. Why couldn't they just ask?
ITEM THREE
This pretty well speaks for itself:
Even if people stopped pumping out carbon dioxide and other pollutants tomorrow, global warming would still get worse, two teams of researchers reported on Thursday.(HT: BOTWT)Ah.. so as we skeptics have been saying all along, mankind may not be the real issue here. So how come this paragraph appears?
That makes immediate action to slow global warming even more vital, the teams at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado report in the journal Science.Seems to me they need a problem so they can push the solution, because the solution is their real desire regardless of if there is a problem or not. In other words, "we'll just ignore the data and push the agenda." Agenda science indeed!
