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院士蒲蟄龍先生: 農藥漂移環境汙染導致出現《寂靜的春天》                                                    精選                        

已有 10551 次閱讀 2013-2-28 09:05 |個人分類:Thought Leader|係統分類:海外觀察|關鍵詞:環境汙染 的 color style                   

中國科學院院士蒲蟄龍先生: 農藥漂移環境汙染導致出現《寂靜的春天》: 怪隻怪在征服自然的偉大科學運動中，人類自己都無可避免地成了科學實驗的“小白鼠”，而且現在仍然如此，而且仍然是不可避免的。這，想起來，免不了總有點悲哀。”
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中國科學院院士蒲蟄龍先生指出: 農藥漂移環境汙染導致出現《寂靜的春天》. 蒲蟄龍先生提出有遠見的“生物防治”, 比我們早看五十年環境汙染環保問題.

我後來讀《寂靜的春天》這本書時，深感蒲先生的敏銳,超前的智慧，理論與生產結合。蒲先生的宣導所堅持的的“生物防治”為人類環境意識的啟蒙點燃了一盞明亮的燈。

 閱讀《紐約時報》一篇關於《農藥：現在比以往任何時候都更多環境汙染》，我意識到蒲蟄龍先生比我們早看五十年。他的洞察力和生物防治領先超過50年。

 ((（照片--1963年6月4日，環境爭議的經典之作“寂靜的春天”出版後不到一年的時間，它的作者，瑞秋·卡遜（Rachel Carson）在參議院對農藥小組委員會的作證。她是56歲死於乳腺癌。她的骨盆骨折是如此千瘡百孔，幾乎是不可能的走到她在國會的木桌前座位。為了掩飾她的禿頭，她穿著一件深褐色的假發。卡遜所受的攻擊，絕對比得上當年出版《物種起源》時公眾對達爾文的攻擊。她所麵對的是全世界，她要喚醒的是全世界的人們。然而，時至今日，時間早已向世人證明了這一切，可是，誰又能想到卡遜在當時所曆經的磨難呢。一個柔弱的女子，身體上飽受了病痛的折磨，精神上還承受著來自傳統觀念的質疑與侮辱，在《寂靜的春天》出版兩年之後，卡遜與世長辭。更令人感慨的是，卡遜所患的乳腺癌後來也被證明是與有毒的化學藥物密切相關的一種病症，這也許是上天跟她所開的一個玩笑吧，而她，確實是在用自己的生命在寫作。))

 

謝國強的問題，如雷貫頂！“閱後心情不竟有些沉重，文中提出的環保問題，什麽是根源、起因？誰來解決、保護？將又可能把人類社會以及自然界引導到何處去？......諸如此類，都是問題，還有的是問題上的問題。太過複雜多變了，無法想象......。怪隻怪在征服自然的偉大科學運動中，人類自己都無可避免地成了科學實驗的“小白鼠”，而且現在仍然如此，而且仍然是不可避免的。這，想起來，免不了總有點悲哀。”

 

“人類自己都無可避免地成了科學實驗的“小白鼠”--更是發人深醒！”

劉再複:

“中國進入世界經濟結構和參與全球化的過程，是一件好事。我作此明確的判斷，不是不知道全球化可能帶來二種負麵效果：社會的變質、生態的破壞和人心的黑暗。大眾文化是“回到生活”的文化，是說明“生活有理”、“生活無罪”、“欲望無罪”的文化，將來一定會有大發展。不是人民的福祉。”“靠中國知識分子的認真研究，包括研究西方現代化的文化經驗與成果，尋找自己的道路，”

“十八世紀西方知識分子在明確欲望不能撲滅之後，發現可以用“欲望對抗欲望”的辦法製衡欲望，因此派生出政治上三權分立和多黨製的思想，不同利益集團互相製衡，又派生出言論自由、新聞自由的製衡機製、二十世紀在經濟上製訂反壟斷法及完成各種法製改革等。建立欲望的製衡形式，可能是本世紀中國文化界最根本的使命。（劉再複）”

50年前出版的“寂靜的春天”在卡遜的著作中，作者用血淋淋的事實，希望喚醒無知、愚昧的人們，不要再用使用蠻力，來對付也是地球一分子的昆蟲、植物。

“春天是鮮花盛開、百鳥齊鳴的季節，春天裏不應是寂靜無聲，尤其是在春天的田野。可是並不是人人都會注意到，從某一個時候起，突然地，在春天裏就不再聽到燕子的呢喃、黃鶯的啁啾，田野裏變得寂靜無聲了。”

卡遜還尖銳的指出了，環境問題的深層根源在於人類對於自然的傲慢和無知，因此，她呼籲人們要重新端正對自然的態度，重新思考人類社會的發展道路問題。也呼籲我們，要尊重生命，謙卑為上，不要自以為是，尊重大自然，反省並改正自己的錯誤，停止錯誤的方式，才有可能挽救人類自己。。否則將有一天，會為人類帶來無可挽救的災難，毀滅性的滅亡。

 

“滴滴涕-DDT（Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane）是一種合成的有機殺蟲劑，作為多種昆蟲的接觸性毒劑，有很高的毒效，尤其適用於撲滅傳播瘧疾的蚊子。第二次世界大戰期間，僅僅在美國軍隊當中，瘧疾病人就多達一百萬，特效藥金雞納供不應求，極大地影響了戰爭的進展。後來，有賴於DDT消滅了蚊子，才使瘧疾的流行逐步得到有效的控製。DDT及其毒性的發現者、瑞士化學家保羅·赫爾滿·米勒因而獲1948年諾貝爾生理學或醫學獎。”

 

我們沉浸於自己創造了前人所無法企及的知識時代的輝煌之中，可我們真的知道自己在做什麽嗎，我們想過我們所做的一切將帶來的後果嗎？我們在短短幾十年的時間，創造的過去幾千年才能創造的物質文明，但我們的生活質量真的提高了嗎？麵對這兩個發人深省的問題，我們不能不承認自己在行事之前是多麽欠缺思考，我們在無法預知自己行為後果的情況下輕率地采取了許多看似高明實則愚蠢的行動，我們引以為豪的創造在某種程度上講就是作繭自縛、自掘墳墓。

 

確實，回想一下長期流行於全世界的口號——“向大自然宣戰”、“征服大自然”，在這兒，大自然僅僅是人們征服與控製的對象，而非保護並與之和諧相處的對象。人類的這種意識大概起源於洪荒的原始年月，一直持續到20世紀。沒有人懷疑它的正確性，因為人類文明的許多進展是基於此意識而獲得的，人類當前的許多經濟與社會發展計劃也是基於此意識而製定的。

 

我們人類因為脫離原始的生物社會太久，尤其在發展出所謂現代高科技之後，對於最原始的生物鏈結構已經放諸腦後，卡遜女士在書中用了一個例子讓我們不得不重新檢視人類與自然環境的相依相存關係，故事大致是這樣的，在一個風景優美的湖邊，人們很愛在那邊釣魚，但卻被飽受一種像蚊子的蚋蟲所苦，蚋蟲並不吸血隻是數量很多而擾人。

 

於是有人就把殺蟲劑投用到湖裡，之後就發現大批鳥類死亡，解剖後發現屍體內的殺蟲劑含量是當初施用濃度的好幾倍，同樣的情況也發生在湖裡的魚類身上發現，科學家終於解開這個謎，這些殺蟲劑被最小的浮遊生物所攝入，然後再被以他們為食的掠食者大量攝食，最後在湖泊生態係中食物鏈最高階的魚體內含有最高的毒物劑量，以魚為食的鳥類再捕食這些魚，不知情的民眾釣魚當晚餐，並取用湖裡的水，女性再用帶有DDT的母乳哺育其嬰孩，代代相傳永不止息。

 

而科學家發現這些化學毒物在大自然裡竟是永不消失，積聚在生物體中，隨著「小魚吃浮遊生物→大魚吃小魚→鳥吃大魚」的食物鏈不斷輪迴，毒物濃度會不斷濃縮累積，這是一個你我不得不正視且感到震驚的事實。我如果沒記錯的話，之後連在南極的企鵝身上，科學家也匪夷所思地發現DDT的存在。

 

卡遜第一次對這一人類意識的絕對正確性提出了質疑。這位瘦弱、身患癌症的女學者，她是否知道她是在向人類的基本意識和幾千年的社會傳統挑戰？《寂靜的春天》出版兩年之後，她心力交瘁，與世長辭。作為一個學者與作家，卡遜所遭受的詆毀和攻擊是空前的--曾遭到利益團體，化學藥品製造商們的打壓和抹黑。並指摘貶抑卡遜女士是一個想把地球拱手讓給昆蟲的更年期女人，然而時任美國總統的甘迺迪先生讀完本書後，要求對殺蟲劑的危害進行調查，而後美國國會立法全麵禁用DDT。

 

“環境保護，這個當今世界最重要的一個問題，而這在幾十年前卻是僅僅是一些生物學家腦子裏的想象，而真正使環保越來越受到人們的重視並直接導致後來將環保列入政策法規中的卻是一本大家似曾相識又不太熟悉的書——《寂靜的春天》，而這本書也是世界上第一本將環保作為主題的書。”

 

今日中國，一方麵是持續的經濟增長，另一方麵則是環境的持續惡化。環境汙染帶來的問題早就不是潛在問題而是觸目驚心的現實。

 

全世界十大嚴重汙染城市(太原、米蘭、北京、烏魯木齊、墨西哥城、蘭州、重慶、濟南、石家莊、德黑蘭)中，中國占7個。近三分之二的城市空氣達不到我們自己製定的(較低的) 國家二級標準。河流湖泊全麵汙染，已經危及日常用水。

 

由於環境汙染，癌症患者急劇增多，且有明顯低齡化趨勢。癌症村如雨後春筍般在中國的大地上湧現，成為與經濟起飛奇跡相伴隨的另一大奇跡。與如此惡劣的環境惡化相比，中國社會各階層的環境保護意識都遠遠沒有跟上。多數人希望通過科學和技術的發展來解決這些問題，而沒有意識到這些問題恰恰根源於我們現代性的存在方式。環境問題的徹底解決，要求一個從觀念、製度到生產生活方式的徹底改變，而第一步，是對問題本身有充分的意識。

 

50年前出版的這本書對美國人而言或許有些過時，對中國人來說卻顯得是一篇委婉的時事報告文學。環境是屬於全體人民的，但歸根結底是屬於青年人的。願青年讀者，通過閱讀本書優美的英文，不僅提高了英文水平，而且感受到作者苦心孤詣的生命謳歌和未來憂思，從而反省現代人的存在方式，肩負起拯救人類未來的偉大責任。

 

作品評論

 

一封信，一本書，一場運動

 

與一次戰爭、一場疾風暴雨般的政治運動甚至一次騷亂相比，書籍一般都難以產生那麽大的作用。但是有時候，一本書的確能掀起一場運動，引起社會的改革，甚至重大的改革。

 

就在美國的曆史上，出生在英國的美國政論家托馬斯·潘恩的一本隻有五十頁的小冊子《常識》，於1776年1月出版後，幾個月裏即銷售五十萬冊，在獨立戰爭初期極大地刺激了人們的情緒，為半年之後通過的《獨立宣言》鋪平了道路。

 

美國女作家哈裏亞特·伊麗莎白·比徹，即通常稱她斯托夫人的小說《湯姆叔叔的小屋》，或《下層人的生活》，先是於1851年在哥倫比亞特區一家反奴隸製的報紙《民族時代》上連載發表，第二年出版後，第一天銷售量即創前所未有的三千冊的紀錄，第一年售出三十萬冊，至1860年就至少被譯成二十三種文字，被公認為是美國“南北戰爭”的起因之一。據說，在1862年“南北戰爭”高潮之時，美國第十六任總統亞伯拉罕·林肯會見她時，曾這麽對她說：“那麽您就是寫了那本書引發這場偉大戰爭的那個小女人了！”（“So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this Great War！”）

 

別以為這類傳奇式的故事都離今天太遠了，事實是半個世紀之前，一位作家，也起到類似的作用。

 

美國的瑞秋·卡遜有這種特殊的敏感性。在《寂靜的春天》一書中以女性作家特有的生動筆觸，詳盡細致地講述了以DDT為代表的殺蟲劑的廣泛使用，給我們的環境所造成的巨大的、難以逆轉的危害。正是這個最終指向人類自身的潛在而又深遠的威脅，讓公眾突然意識到環境問題十分嚴重，從而開啟了群眾性的現代環境保護運動。不僅如此，生於賓夕法尼亞斯普林代爾的瑞秋·卡遜從小就對大自然、對野生動物有濃厚的興趣。她的大部分時間都是一個人在樹林和小溪邊度過的，觀賞飛鳥、昆蟲和花朵。她總是想將來做一個作家，並在十一歲那年就發表了一篇短故事。她聲稱，是她母親將她引進了自然界，才使她對它們富有激情。

 

卡遜最早是按做一位作家的初衷進了當地賓夕發尼亞婦女學院的，但不久便改變主意，把主要學習的內容——英語改為學習生物學。接著，在1932年獲得約翰斯·霍普金斯大學的文科碩士學位，並一邊教書、一邊在馬薩諸塞州的伍茲霍爾海洋生物實驗室讀研究生，最後於1936年進了“美國漁業局”，擔任“水下羅曼斯”這個專題廣播的撰稿作家；“漁業局”自1940起改名為“美國魚類和野生生物署”後，她仍留在這裏直至1952年。

 

描繪和表現大自然的強度、活力和能動性、適應性是卡遜的最大樂趣。上世紀四十年代開始，她根據自己對當時還不為多數人所了解的海底生活的觀察開始寫作，並取得相當的成績。以她1937年發表在《大西洋月刊》上的一篇隨筆為基礎而寫的《在海風的吹拂下》，於1941年出版後，因其一貫的科學準確性和深刻性與優美的抒情散文風格的奇妙結合而頗獲好評，登上《紐約時報》的暢銷書排行榜。1943、1944年又出版了《來自海裏的食物：新英格蘭的魚類和水生有殼動物》和《來自海裏的食物：南大西洋的魚類和水生有殼動物》。1951年的《圍繞我們的海洋》為她帶來了很大的榮譽：不但連續數十周登《紐約時報》暢銷書排行榜，還獲得了“國家圖書獎”，被翻譯成三十種文字。

 

卡遜1952年離開“美國魚類和野生生物署”是為了能夠集中精力、把時間全都用到她所喜愛的寫作上去。當然她獲得的回報也是十分優厚的，她不僅寫出了《海角》和她去世之後於1965年出版的《奇妙的感覺》，更主要的是她那為後來被稱為“生態運動”發出起跑信號的《寂靜的春天》。

 

1958年1月，卡遜接到她的一位朋友，原《波士頓郵報》的作家奧爾加·歐文斯·哈金斯寄自馬薩諸塞州的一封信。奧爾加在信中寫到，1957年夏，州政府租用的一架飛機為消滅蚊子噴灑了DDT歸來，飛過她和她丈夫在達克斯伯裏的兩英畝私人禽鳥保護區上空。第二天，她的許多鳥兒都死了。她說，她為此感到十分震驚。於是，哈金斯女士給《波士頓先驅報》寫了一封長信，又給卡遜寫了這個便條，附上這信的複印件，請這位已經成名的作家朋友在首都華盛頓找找什麽人能幫她的忙，不要再發生像這類噴灑的事了。

 

但是應用DDT這類殺蟲劑，就像是與魔鬼做交易：它殺滅了蚊子和其他的害蟲，也許還會使作物提高了收益，但同時也殺滅了益蟲。更可怕的是，在接受過DDT噴撒後，許多種昆蟲能迅速繁殖抗DDT的種群；還有，由於DDT會積累於昆蟲的體內，這些昆蟲成為其他動物的食物後，那些動物，尤其是魚類、鳥類，則會中毒而被危害。所以噴灑DDT就隻是獲得近期的利益，卻犧牲了長遠的利益。

 

在“魚類和野生生物署”工作時，卡遜就了解有關DDT對環境產生長期危害的研究情況。她的兩位同事於四十年代中就曾經寫過有關DDT的危害的文章。她自己在1945年也給《讀者文摘》寄過一篇關於DDT的危險性的文章，在文章中，她提出是否可以在該刊上談談這方麵的故事，但是遭到了拒絕。現在，哈金斯提到大幅度噴灑殺蟲劑的事使她的心靈受到極大的震撼，隻是奧爾加的要求，她覺得她無力辦到，於是，她決定自己來做，也就是她自己後來說的，哈金斯的信“迫使我把注意力轉到我多年所一直關注的這個問題上來”，決定要把這個問題寫出來，讓很多人都知道。

 

今天，瑞秋的舊臥室窗口的Springdale，你可以看到的煙囪的切斯威克煤炭的燃煤電力廠不到一英裏遠：老紅 - 和 - 白色，糖果，條紋棧和一個更新的，稱為洗滌器在2010年。

 

References: Various articles were excerpted from Newspapers and internet sources from different times 

“The present moment is the substance with which the future is made. Therefore, the best way to take care of the future is to take care of the present moment. What else can you do?” 
― Thich Nhat Hanh, Art of Mindful Living: How to Bring Love, Compassion, and Inner Peace Into Your Daily Life
------------------
Syncronistic meetings are like mirrors that reflect something of ourselves. If we want to grow spiritually, all we have to do is take a good look. Synchronicity holds the promise that if we want to change inside, the patterns of our external life will change as well. 
― Jean Shinoda Bolen

syn·chro·nism  (s  ng  kr  -n  z    m, s  n  -) n.

1. Coincidence in time; simultaneousness.

2. A chronological listing of historical personages or events so as to indicate parallel existence or occurrence.

3. Representation in the same artwork of events that occurred at different times.

syn  chro·nis  tic, syn  chro·nis  ti·cal (-t  -k  l) adj.

syn  chro·nis  ti·cal·ly adv.

a·nach·ro·nism  (  -n  k  r  -n  z    m)

n.

1. The representation of someone as existing or something as happening in other than chronological, proper, or historical order.

2. One that is out of its proper or chronological order, especially a person or practice that belongs to an earlier time: 

a·nach  ro·nis  tic, a·nach  ro·nous (-n  s) adj.

a·nach  ro·nis  ti·cal·ly, a·nach  ro·nous·ly adv.

------------------

“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.
Cultivate beauty in your sourrounds” 
― Wayne W. Dyer, The Power of Intention: Learning to Co-create Your World Your Way.

DODTBIETG

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  [19]???  2015-3-12 03:14         

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  [18]???  2015-3-11 12:52         

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  [17]???  2015-3-5 02:52         

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  [16]???  2015-3-5 02:51         

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  [15]???  2014-9-27 02:16         

??????????: ??????????????????????????levant information: ??????????http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-847277-829243.html

    

  [14]???  2014-9-20 01:15         

White House Releases Plan to Fight Antibiotic Resistance

September 19, 2014, 11:55 am ET by David Hoffman and Emma Schwartz



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The world is at ??dire risk?? of losing the remarkable power of antibiotic drugs that have saved millions of lives say prominent scientists who delivered a new report to President Obama on Thursday on the growing threat and how to fight it.

The report, which makes for sober reading, is the culmination of an 11-month study by the President??s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology.

??The evolution of antibiotic resistance is now occurring at an alarming rate,?? the scientists reported. ??This situation threatens patient care, economic growth, public health, agriculture, economic security and national security.??

Watch Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria online now, and sign up for our newsletter for a reminder about The Trouble with Antibiotics, airing Oct. 14 (check local listings).

Last year, FRONTLINE??s Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria showed how drug-resistant bacteria were spreading across the United States and around the globe. We documented the outbreak of a deadly bacteria at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health and told the stories of two young people who fought desperate battles to survive infection. We also explored the reasons why there??s a dearth of new antibiotics coming to market, and we pointed out the government??s lack of focus on the problem.

Although known for decades, the danger of antibiotic resistance has never been a high priority in Washington. But the crisis has taken on new dimensions as fewer new antibiotics came to market. A report last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 23,000 people die annually in the U.S. and more than 2 million are sickened by resistant infections.

Now, after years of relatively little attention to the issue, the White House is ramping up an effort to do something about antibiotic resistance. The president signed an executive order Thursday that calls for setting up a five-year national ??action plan?? by next February. The White House also issued a ??national strategy?? and Obama established a cabinet-level task force to help move things along. The administration also announced a $20 million prize for the development of rapid diagnostic tests to help spot highly resistant infections.

While the president has promised to take action, there??s no telling whether Congress or the administration will be able to muster new spending, legislation or regulatory changes. That heavy lifting will come later??in decisions about how to provide new resources and methods for the fight against drug resistant superbugs.

Here??s some of what the presidential advisers suggested needs to be done:
•Improve the ability to track antibiotic resistant bacteria. Knowing where resistant bugs exist and where they are spreading has been a major challenge. The science advisers suggest creating a high-tech nationwide network that would use the latest whole-genome sequencing technology. This would give clinicians and public health officials a much better map about the bacteria and where they are showing up. But it will require $190 million a year.
•Boost fundamental research to find out why and how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics. Although some mechanisms are known??the bacteria can pump out or destroy the antibiotic drugs??the science advisers say that we could learn more, especially about the behavior of the so-called Gram-negative bacteria, a kind of bacteria that are showing the most resistance modern antibiotics.
•Make it easier to test new antibiotics in clinical trials. For a long time, pharmaceutical companies have said a lengthy, difficult regulatory process discourages the development of new drugs. The science advisers suggest setting up a faster, more efficient way to conduct clinical trials??a key step in testing new drugs for safety and efficacy??just for new antibiotics.
•Encourage the pharmaceutical industry to develop new antibiotics. While not endorsing anything specific, the science advisers floated some very ambitious ideas, such as big government rewards or incentives that would attract private investment. But they pointed out that such incentives won??t come cheap. The price tag might be $800 million to get one new antibiotic a year.
•Incentivize the health care industry to use antibiotics more carefully. Hospitals have become reservoirs of resistant bacteria and the science advisers suggest that the government could make a big difference by using federal reimbursement for Medicare and Medicaid to force better stewardship of antibiotics. This means making sure that doctors curb overuse of antibiotics, a leading cause of resistance.
•Antibiotics are also widely used in American agriculture and more needs to be done to curb their use in raising farm animals. The science advisers suggest that the government seek ??substantial changes?? in the use of antibiotics on the farm. However, they don??t suggest changes beyond the measures already announced by the Food and Drug Administration, which has asked pharmaceutical companies to voluntarily phase out the use of the antibiotics for promoting growth in farm animals over three years and put antibiotics under the supervision of a veterinarian. The drugs would still be permitted to be added routinely to feed for cattle, swine and poultry for the purpose of disease prevention, which critics have said is still at low doses that would likely drive resistance.

Next month, we will be looking closely at the widespread use of antibiotics in food animals and whether it is fueling the growing crisis of antibiotic-resistance in The Trouble With Antibiotics, scheduled to air Oct. 14 [check local listings].

David Hoffman is the correspondent and Emma Schwartz is the associate producer and reporter on The Trouble With Antibiotics and Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria.

    

  [13]???  2013-11-6 01:19         

Pesticide exposure linked to increased endometriosis risk

Tuesday 5 November 2013 - 8am PST

Women's Health / GynecologyFertilityWater - Air Quality / AgricultureemailFeatured ArticleAcademic Journal
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Endometriosis is a common condition that affects around 10% of women in their reproductive years. New research has found that two organochlorine pesticides - once widely used in the US for pest control and agriculture but now banned - are linked to an increased risk of the chronic condition.

Researchers from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, WA, published the results of their study in Environmental Health Perspectives, a journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).

They note that though endometriosis is noncancerous, it is characterized by tissue - which normally lines the inside of the uterus or womb - growing outside and attaching to other areas or organs, affecting the ovaries, fallopian tubes and lining of the pelvic cavity.

Common symptoms typically include painful menstrual periods, pelvic pain and infertility.

Kristen Upson, PhD, a study author who is now a postdoctoral fellow at the Epidemiology Branch of the NIEHS, says:

"For many women, the symptoms of endometriosis can be chronic and debilitating, negatively affecting health-related quality of life, personal relationships and work productivity."

Because endometriosis is a condition led by estrogen, Upson notes that they "were interested in investigating the role of environmental chemicals that have estrogenic properties, such as organochlorine pesticides, on the risk of the disease."

Pesticides raise endometriosis risk to 30-70%Farmer spraying his crops with pesticides
In the US, certain pesticides that are no longer in use are still in blood samples of women today, and this recent study links the chemicals to an increased risk of endometriosis.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), organochlorine pesticides are man-made chemicals that were used in the recent past for agricultural and household pest problems.

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is one of the most well-known organochlorines, and it was "heavily applied in agricultural regions," says the USGS. Although these types of pesticides are no longer used in the US, the organization notes that they are still present in the environment.

To conduct their study, the researchers used data from the Women's Risk of Endometriosis study, which is a population-based case-control study of endometriosis in women aged 18- to 49-years-old.

There were 248 women who had recently been diagnosed with endometriosis and 538 women without the condition who served as controls.

Results of the research showed that women who had higher exposures to two organochlorine pesticides - beta-hexachlorocyclohexane and mirex - had a 30-70% increased risk of endometriosis.

The study authors say they found it interesting that these types of chemicals were found in the blood samples of women from the study, despite the fact that organochlorine pesticides have been banned in the US for several decades.

"The take-home message from our study," says Upson, "is that the persistent environmental chemicals, even those used in the past, may affect the health of the current generation of reproductive-age women with regard to a hormonally driven disease."

'Another piece of the puzzle'
This research is important, say the authors, because the medical community still does not entirely understand why some women develop endometriosis while others do not.

Study co-author Prof. Victoria Holt adds that their study "provides another piece of the puzzle."

They point to other lab studies of human tissue that have shown organochlorine pesticides display "estrogenic properties" and "adverse reproductive effects," which can alter the uterus, ovaries and hormone production.

"Given these actions," says Upson, "it's plausible that organochlorine pesticides could increase the risk of an estrogen-driven disease such as endometriosis."

Medical News Today recently reported that pesticides have been linked to type 2 diabetes.

Written by Marie Ellis

Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without the permission of Medical News Today.

References
Additional Information
Citations
Organochlorine Pesticides and Risk of Endometriosis: Findings from a Population-Based Case?CControl Study, Kristen Upson, Victoria L. Holt, et al., Environmental Health Perspectives, published 5 November 2013, Abstract.

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Release via Eurekalert, accessed 5 November 2013.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/268399.php

    

  [12]???  2013-11-3 01:55         

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??????????http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-615675-711985.html

    

  [11]???  2013-10-27 09:02         

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  [10]???  2013-10-27 09:01         

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  [9]???  2013-10-18 07:14         

Humans don't know what impacts they may have with these engineer-design species out there. if evolution, whatever exists achieve certain balance in harmony; whatever we introduce, tackle the balance, impacting the environment. Hello! Do you know what you're doing? Humans!?
-------------------------------------
Ecology: Gene tweaking for conservation
Michael A. Thomas, Gary W. Roemer, C. Josh Donlan, Brett G. Dickson, Marjorie Matocq& Jason Malaney
25 September 2013
It is time to weigh up the pros and cons of using genetic engineering to rescue species from extinction, say Michael A. Thomas and colleagues.

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Subject terms:
Conservation Environmental sciences Genetics

An endangered Florida panther population was bolstered through hybridization with a related subspecies ?? a technique that could be refined using genomic tools.
THOMAS KITCHIN/VICTORIA HURST/GETTY
Even the most conservative estimates predict1 that 15?C40% of living species will be effectively extinct by 2050 as a result of climate change, habitat loss and other consequences of human activities. In the face of such drastic losses, scientists are debating the pros and cons of various, and often controversial, interventions. These include moving populations to help track hospitable habitats, and reinstating keystone species ?? those that have a large effect on ecosystem structure and function, such as top-level predators ?? into areas where they have long been absent2, 3. Even the revival of species that have recently gone extinct is being explored.

So far, an increasingly viable (and potentially less risky) option, which we call facilitated adaptation, has been little discussed. It would involve rescuing a target population or species by endowing it with adaptive alleles, or gene variants, using genetic engineering.

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Over the past 30 years, genetic engineering in agriculture has received substantial attention. Today, 12% of arable land worldwide is planted with genetically modified (GM) crops; the GM seed market alone is valued at US$15 billion. As techniques become ever more sophisticated, more possibilities will open up.

We believe that these combined factors mean that conservationists will almost certainly be tempted to apply genetic engineering to safeguard biodiversity. Facilitated adaptation might be less logistically challenging than moving entire populations, and less fraught with ecological and socio-economic complications ?? relocation could introduce harmful invasive species, for example, or unleash outbreaks of disease. But facilitated adaptation is likely to be beset with other challenges and pitfalls. Now is the time to consider what those might be.

Three options
There are at least three ways to avert extinction using facilitated adaptation. First, animals or plants from a threatened population could be crossed or hybridized with individuals of the same species from better-adapted populations to introduce beneficial alleles into the threatened population. Second, specific alleles drawn from a well-adapted population could be directly transferred into the genomes of threatened populations of the same species. And third, genes taken from a well-adapted species could be incorporated into the genomes of endangered individuals of a different species. Each approach carries its own set of challenges, complications and risks.

Back from the brink
Related stories
Agriculture: Feeding the future
Re-wilding North America
The New Yorker: Recall of the wild
Conservationists have already tried hybridizing individuals to aid the recovery of vulnerable populations. For instance, in an isolated population of the viper Vipera berus in Sweden, the number of inviable offspring produced as a result of inbreeding plummeted when male vipers from a healthy population were introduced4. Similarly, the size of a remnant Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) population effectively increased by 100% after conservationists introduced eight cats of a related subspecies, Puma concolor stanleyana, from Texas. Heterozygosity, a measure of genetic variation, also rose in the Florida population, from around 18% to more than 25% in 12 years5.

This practice of injecting lost genetic diversity into a threatened population could be refined using genomic tools. For instance, conservationists could screen potential donor populations for individuals with alleles that would, say, yield physiological tolerance of warmer temperatures, or resistance to a catastrophic disease.

The potential risks of this approach, as with relocating entire populations, include the introduction of wildlife diseases, the dilution of locally adaptive alleles and the disruption of co-adapted gene complexes that impart advantages crucial in the threatened population's local habitat.

Success with the second approach ?? directly transferring specific alleles drawn from a well-adapted population into individuals from a threatened population ?? would similarly depend on introducing enough 'better-adapted' individuals with a sufficient selective advantage to increase the mean fitness of the threatened population. This would require conservationists first to work out which genes are controlling relevant adaptive traits. Earlier this year, aquaculture researchers identified6 alleles associated with heat tolerance in a commercial rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss. These gene variants could potentially be inserted into the genomes of fish eggs or embryos in populations threatened by rising water temperatures because of climate change.

This strategy has promise if one or a few genes have a drastic impact on the trait of interest. For instance, some amphibians are resistant to the fungal disease chytridiomycosis, which has been linked to massive population declines and several extinctions. If one or a few genes are found to increase resistance, they might make excellent targets for transfer.

This form of genetic engineering is probably the least risky of the approaches described here, because it involves the movement of alleles within the same species, without the attendant risks of moving diseases or parasites. But again, the challenge is that numerous genes tend to be associated with complex traits. Interactions between genes and the environment, and between introduced alleles and existing genetic diversity, will also be difficult to predict. And, as with the hybridization approach, well-adapted combinations of alleles could be disrupted.

??Well-adapted combinations of alleles could be disrupted.??
The third transgenic approach ?? transferring genes between different species ?? has been used for more than a decade to improve resistance to crop stressors, including drought and extreme temperatures7. Certain genes from rice and the cress plant Arabidopsis, for instance, make tomato plants more tolerant of cold temperatures. A few years ago, developmental biologists produced mice with exceptionally long digits by replacing a limb-specific transcriptional enhancer of the mouse Prx1 gene locus with the homologous bat sequence8. Conservationists could use similar approaches to explore the use of other genes, to augment, for example, resistance to white-nose syndrome, a rapidly spreading and deadly fungal disease in North American bats.

The effects of moving genetic variants between species, however, are likely to be even harder to predict than those of transferring variants within species, and a major concern is that such an approach could bring unintended and unmanageable consequences.

Preservation programmes
To begin the process of identifying adaptive genes and alleles, and predicting how they will behave in the target genomic and environmental contexts, conservationists can tap several resources. Natural history museum and herbarium collections worldwide, for example, can provide basic data on biogeography and genetics for many animal and plant species.

Large-scale preservation projects could provide the actual tissues needed to explore adaptations among organisms in different ecological contexts. One such project is the Global Genome Biodiversity Network ?? an effort to preserve and provide open access to genomic information and DNA samples from various collections, including those of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC (see www.mnh.si.edu/ggi).

Ultimately, successful facilitated adaptation will require unprecedented collaboration between organismal, ecological and molecular biologists and climate scientists9. Biorepositories ?? such as seed banks, natural history museums and zoological parks, including the Frozen Zoo at San Diego Zoo in California, which houses around 9,000 frozen cell samples from endangered species ?? will need to be integrated with advances in biotechnology and efforts to explore the genomic mechanisms underlying adaptive traits associated with climate change10, catastrophic diseases and so on.

Facilitated adaptation will also require a change in people's views about biodiversity conservation and its ethics, practices and impact on society. Even moving members of the panther subspecies from Texas into the Florida panther's ecosystem incited misgivings over the appropriateness of meddling directly with organisms rather than with their habitat.

A serious concern is that even the possibility of using genetic-engineering tools to rescue biodiversity will encourage inaction with regard to climate change. Before genetic engineering can be seriously entertained as a tool for preserving biodiversity, conservationists need to agree on the types of scenario for which facilitated adaptation, managed relocation and other adaptation strategies might be appropriate, and where such strategies are likely to fail or introduce more serious problems.

For some species, facilitated adaptation could turn out to be the only viable remedy.

Nature 501, 485?C486 (26 September 2013) doi:10.1038/501485a
References

Thomas, C. D. & Williamson, M. Nature 482, E4?CE5 (2012).
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Donlan, J. et al. Nature 436, 913?C914 (2005).
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Hoegh-Guldberg, O. et al. Science 321, 345?C346 (2008).
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Madsen, T., Stille, B. & Shine, R. Biol. Conserv. 75, 113?C118 (1996).
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Johnson, W. E. et al. Science 329, 1641?C1645 (2010).
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Rebl, A. et al. Mar. Biotechnol. 15, 445?C460 (2013).
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Zhang, J. et al. In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol. Plant 36, 108?C114 (2000).
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Cretekos, C. J. et al. Genes Dev. 22, 141?C151 (2008).
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Redford, K. H., Adams, W. & Mace, G. M. PLoS Biol. 11, e1001530 (2013).
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Related stories and links

From nature.com
Agriculture: Feeding the future
03 July 2013
Re-wilding North America
17 August 2005
From elsewhere
The New Yorker: Recall of the wild
Author information

Affiliations
Michael A. Thomas is professor of biology at Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho.
Gary W. Roemer is associate professor in the Department of Fish, Wildlife & Conservation Ecology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico.
C. Josh Donlan is executive director of Advanced Conservation Strategies, Midway, Utah, and a visiting fellow in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Brett G. Dickson is president and chief scientist at the Conservation Science Partners, Truckee, California, and assistant research professor at the School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona.
Marjorie Matocq is associate professor of biology in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada.
Jason Malaney is a research associate in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada.
Corresponding author
Correspondence to: Michael A. Thomas
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Comments
3 commentsSubscribe to comments
Avatar for Kristof NordinKristof Nordin•2013-09-28 06:14 AM
Using GM to address issues of ??conservation?? is one of the most contradictory ideas I have heard in a long time. If we look at the reasons that we are currently genetically engineering crops and animals we find that we are simply trying to adapt organisms to the problems that we, as humans, have been creating. Many of these problems have arisen directly as a result of the loss of natural biodiversity. For instance, as we have pushed our agriculture in the direction of monocropping, natural habitat and natural predators have been displaced giving rise to the use of pesticides (and now Bt-modified crops that produce their own pesticides). As pioneer species try to reclaim the land that we have been clearing, we have declared these pioneer species to be ??weeds?? and manufacture herbicides to kill them (and now genetically engineer ??RoundUp-Ready?? crops to withstand ever-larger doses of these herbicides). As dietary choices have been displaced by a limited handful of crops, nutrition has become compromised, leading to nutritional deficiencies and the push for the genetic engineering of grain crops (such as Golden Rice) to contain nutrients such as Vitamin A (only one of many nutrients that have become compromised). If humanity is truly concerned about ??conservation?? we should recognize the fact that our agricultural systems need to move in the direction of integrated, diverse, perennial, and seasonal systems of production which work in harmony with the other elements of nature (including animals, insects, plants, microorganisms, etc). We don??t need to change the genetics of any of these incredible natural resources, we simply need to appreciate their inherent value and learn how to fully integrate them into resilient, functional, and abundant systems of design.
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Avatar for Jason GreyJason Grey•2013-09-26 10:45 PM
I've been pumping putting everything??s genome on disk since 1992. Its now partially feasible with whole genome chip sequencing. Additionally, its even more feasible with single pour whole genome 1 day sequencing which is possible but held back for 10 years as it competes with current sales. My main dilemma is, we as a species seem to think money is more important than life. An example, the state of Oregon in the US cut down every single tree in a temperate rainforest in a 30 year period, making over 4000 animals and plants extinct, which are not even recorded properly. A further example, they found the last of a jaguar like cat that was dead, as it's environment was cut down to sell to Europe for wood products...thus I am sick of "what we should do or talk about" versus actual action, as in the next 30 years we most likely as a stupid monkey species kill ourselves along with 95% of the other life on our tiny planet barely above the size necessary to hold liquid water based on planetary mass...Sincerely, Steve
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Avatar for Matt ChewMatt Chew•2013-09-26 02:05 PM
As the practical potential for genetic manipulation of failing populations increases, so does the potential for controversy over the goals and objectives of conservation biology. When does an organism become an artifact, and how does that affect its value, or the value of its offspring? How much human agency is too much, and how (if at all) do we rank various interventions along a continuum? These questions have legal as well as biological significance. The nearly 180-year history of attempts to categorize introduced species suggests that clarity in such matters is elusive, and time is not on our side. There, a hodgepodge of criteria are combined and recombined in the literature, idiosyncratically and ad hoc, while the importance of nativeness is presented to the public as simple and essential. The targets are moving. The number of taxa involved are increasing. The number of possible philosophical positions increases with the number of techniques and technologies in the conservation tool kit. Expect this to get harder, not easier.

    

  [8]???  2013-9-21 07:25         

Human beings are in the middle: Try to coexist with animals and plants, a wise choice.
Science 20 September 2013:
Vol. 341 no. 6152 pp. 1332-1335
DOI: 10.1126/science.341.6152.1332
NEWS FOCUS
Predators in the 'Hood
Virginia Morell
Once hunted nearly to extinction in the lower 48, America's biggest predators are making a remarkable comeback. Their return has sparked a range of emotions, from surprise and joy to demands that the animals be harshly controlled, if not shot outright. So scientists, conservationists, and wildlife managers are all scrambling to figure out how to best manage animals that literally live next door and are capable of killing humans.

Read the Full Text
The editors suggest the following Related Resources on Science sites

In Science Magazine

NEWS FOCUS
Man in the Middle
Virginia Morell
Science 20 September 2013: 1334-1335.
Summary Full Text Full Text (PDF)
PODCASTS
Science Podcast: 20 September Show
Science 20 September 2013: 1409.
Summary Full Text Transcript

    

  [7]???  2013-8-9 01:23         

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  [6]???  2013-4-10 03:06         

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  [5]???  2013-2-28 16:24         

?Щ???????????????????????????????????

        

??????(2013-3-19 00:47)??Thanks so much for your positive attitude. The world is a global village, however; so sooner or later, it drifts (????) everywhere.   

    

  [4]?С?  2013-2-28 15:01         

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  [3]??  2013-2-28 12:16         

?????????????????????塣

        

??????(2013-3-19 00:48)??Ha, ???????????? Who is your teacher? Thanks for showing up. What do you know about ????   

    

  [2]???  2013-2-28 11:39         

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  [1]????  2013-2-28 10:32         

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