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EnglishPOLLUTION
Insecticides, pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, fertilizers, urine, faeces, drugs, hormones, hydro-alcoholic gels, macro micro nano, pico, fanto plastics, sticky plastic film, straws, cigarette butts, surgical masks, synthetic nano-micro fibers released by our washing machines, gloves latex, vinyl gloves, extreme anti-tanning creams toxic to biofauna, ideal culture medium for bacteria, viruses in water, on pebbles, heavy metals from old mines, deep layers released by climate change, radionuclides from Chernobyl , Saharan dust from the nuclear tests of the 1950s, eternal polyfluoroalkyls, carbon dioxide which forms carbonic acids in contact with the already acidic waters of our Cévennes, circulates in our rivers to flow into the sea.
Whose fault is it? To those who find them biomagnified on their plates. All of these pollutants are transmitted from water to plants, animals and humans at the end of the food chain.
A new polluter: the surgical mask made of polypropylene micro-fibers abandoned in cities and in Nature.
Both surgical and FFP2 masks are made from polypropylene, a polymer that is similar to plastic. Largely legitimate from a health perspective, its use generates unprecedented pollution. ”Polypropylene is not biodegradable in nature, nor compostable. It will degrade by the action of UV, oxidation in a process that can take 500 years. But without ultimately being biodegraded,” Ludwik Leibler, member of the Academy of Sciences and laboratory director at CNRS-ESPCI, explains to HuffPost.
These are in fact the same problems that arise with the plastic bag which takes almost 450 years to degrade, agrees Etienne Grau, teacher-researcher at the University of Bordeaux.
Masks, gloves, gel bottles, all this COVID waste continues to be dumped into rivers and oceans without control or repression from the authorities. 100% of fresh and salt water is polluted by these micro fibers and plastics. These pollutants now enter the food chains all the way to humans.
https://www.radiofrance.f...-la-mer-7809910
An ignored pollutant: the butt.
A cigarette butt contains 12,000 fibers which release into the environment 4,000 toxic, 250 harmful chemicals, 50 carcinogens including nicotine, insecticides, pesticides in tobacco and a heavy metal very dangerous for flora, fauna, human beings: cadmium, a neuro- toxic. The filter of cigarettes was designed so that the fragments of tobacco leaves do not pass into the mouth of human beings but they pass through the mouths of fish, birds. Slaughter showed in 1985 that all the elements resulting from the combustion of tobacco and cigarette paper adsorb and are enough to make the butts very toxic for cold-blooded animals.
The acute toxicity of cigarette butts to many animals is mainly due to their content of organic compounds; 14 of them are well known toxicants, mainly nicotine and ethylphenol. But other compounds (heavy metals, metalloids and radionuclides such as the very toxic polonium, radium, cesium) participate in ecosystem effects that have long been underestimated. This toxicity increases as the cigarette is smoked, and the butt is even more toxic if there is a bit of unburned tobacco in front of the filter. Certain pollutants such as furans or benzene (carcinogenic) come from the combustion of tobacco.
In a puddle, a cigarette butt releases on average 7.3 mg of nicotine per gram of cigarette butt, 50% of which is emitted in the first 27 minutes. For cigarette butts simply exposed to a cycle of 15 rains (1.4 mm each) the cumulative release of nicotine is 3.8 mg per gram of cigarette butt, with 47% of this nicotine released during the first rain. A single butt can thus contaminate 1,000 liters of water, pollute 1 cubic meter of snow at concentrations higher than the predicted no-effect dose which is only 2.4 × 10−3 mg L − 1 according to Valcárcel et al. (2011).
The authors concluded that "given the quantity of cigarette butts discarded and given the speed at which they release their nicotine, they are to be considered as a significant threat for the quality of urban water and therefore for drinking water".
The runoff from the rains drains every year in our rivers 2 to 5 million cigarette butts which end up in the Mediterranean Sea. In 2011: 766,571 tonnes of cigarette butts were dumped in the environment in France. It takes 15 to 50 years for Nature to degrade a butt so nothing organic because during all these years it releases toxic substances!
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21504921/
Cocktails of eternal pollutants in rivers, air, soil: PFAS.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl compounds - or PFAS - constitute a complex chemical family bringing together nearly 10,000 distinct compounds (OECD). They are widely used by manufacturers due, among other things, to their waterproofing and non-stick properties, their resistance to extreme heat and chemical agents. They are found in many everyday consumer products (textiles, kitchen utensils, cosmetic products, etc.). Known as “eternal pollutants”, they are extremely persistent and accumulate in terrestrial, aerial and aquatic ecosystems. which poses a threat to current and future generations.
Emissions of PFAS into the environment occur throughout their life cycle, mainly during their manufacturing and industrial use. Diffuse emissions, throughout the territories, also occur during the use of products containing PFAS and during the waste management phase. In 2020, nearly 75,000 tonnes of PFAS were released into nature in Europe. If nothing is done, experts estimate that within 30 years, 4.4 million tonnes of PFAS will be emitted in environments in Europe. Their presence in all compartments of the environment (groundwater, rain, surface or marine water, air, soil, sediments, glaciers, rivers including the Gardons des Cévennes, etc.) and in living beings no longer needs to be proven.
This planetary contamination also affects humans. The ESTEBAN study (2014-2016) showed that 100% of people (children and adults) had PFOA and PFOS in their blood. According to the EFSA, a significant part of the European population would be exposed to levels causing harmful effects.
This chronic exposure at low doses has been associated with numerous serious adverse health effects: cancers (brains, liver, etc.), harmful effects on the cardiovascular, reproductive and hormonal systems (some are endocrine disruptors) as well as on the immune system (including reduced vaccine immune response)
Ref PFAS: Future generation report (2023/2024)
More recently, scientific studies show that the nano-micro particles of a plastic/hydrocarbon/heavy metal mixture released by the friction of tires on bitumen pollute 3000 times more than the nano-micro particles from the exhaust pipes of diesel engines. This sneaky pollution is as important as it is ignored.
According to a 2020 report by the Pew Charitable Trust, 78% of microplastics in oceans and rivers come from tires. The mass disappearance of salmon from U.S. West Coast waterways two decades ago was one of the first signs of the environmental dangers posed by tires. In 2020, researchers finally established that the deaths were caused by a chemical called 6PPD, added to tires to prevent them from cracking. When exposed to ground-level ozone, 6PPD transforms into multiple other chemicals, including a compound that has been shown to be extremely toxic to a number of fish and shellfish species including the endemic crayfish. whitefoot of our waterways. In total, tire rubber contains more than 400 chemicals and compounds, many of which are carcinogenic. Research is only beginning to show the extent of the risks associated with tire dust, according to "Yale Environment 360." The known statistics are shocking. According to Emissions Analytics, nearly 2 billion tires are manufactured each year worldwide, enough to reach the moon, if stacked on their side. This British company claims that a car's four tires emit 1 trillion ultrafine particles per kilometer driven. These particles are so tiny that they can pass through lung tissue into the bloodstream and cross the blood-brain barrier, leading to worrying health consequences. In some cases, tire dust pollution even rivals exhaust emissions. Study shows that emissions of PM (Suspended Particles) 2.5 and PM 10 from tires and brakes far exceed the mass of these emissions from exhaust pipes. A recent study from Imperial College London indicates that reducing tire wear particles (TWP) is as important as reducing exhaust emissions.
https://fr.euronews.com/g...s#:~:text=Selon un rapport publié en,les océans proviennent des pneus
Whose fault is it? To those who find them biomagnified on their plates. All of these pollutants are transmitted from water to plants, animals and humans at the end of the food chain.
A new polluter: the surgical mask made of polypropylene micro-fibers abandoned in cities and in Nature.
Both surgical and FFP2 masks are made from polypropylene, a polymer that is similar to plastic. Largely legitimate from a health perspective, its use generates unprecedented pollution. ”Polypropylene is not biodegradable in nature, nor compostable. It will degrade by the action of UV, oxidation in a process that can take 500 years. But without ultimately being biodegraded,” Ludwik Leibler, member of the Academy of Sciences and laboratory director at CNRS-ESPCI, explains to HuffPost.
These are in fact the same problems that arise with the plastic bag which takes almost 450 years to degrade, agrees Etienne Grau, teacher-researcher at the University of Bordeaux.
Masks, gloves, gel bottles, all this COVID waste continues to be dumped into rivers and oceans without control or repression from the authorities. 100% of fresh and salt water is polluted by these micro fibers and plastics. These pollutants now enter the food chains all the way to humans.
https://www.radiofrance.f...-la-mer-7809910
An ignored pollutant: the butt.
A cigarette butt contains 12,000 fibers which release into the environment 4,000 toxic, 250 harmful chemicals, 50 carcinogens including nicotine, insecticides, pesticides in tobacco and a heavy metal very dangerous for flora, fauna, human beings: cadmium, a neuro- toxic. The filter of cigarettes was designed so that the fragments of tobacco leaves do not pass into the mouth of human beings but they pass through the mouths of fish, birds. Slaughter showed in 1985 that all the elements resulting from the combustion of tobacco and cigarette paper adsorb and are enough to make the butts very toxic for cold-blooded animals.
The acute toxicity of cigarette butts to many animals is mainly due to their content of organic compounds; 14 of them are well known toxicants, mainly nicotine and ethylphenol. But other compounds (heavy metals, metalloids and radionuclides such as the very toxic polonium, radium, cesium) participate in ecosystem effects that have long been underestimated. This toxicity increases as the cigarette is smoked, and the butt is even more toxic if there is a bit of unburned tobacco in front of the filter. Certain pollutants such as furans or benzene (carcinogenic) come from the combustion of tobacco.
In a puddle, a cigarette butt releases on average 7.3 mg of nicotine per gram of cigarette butt, 50% of which is emitted in the first 27 minutes. For cigarette butts simply exposed to a cycle of 15 rains (1.4 mm each) the cumulative release of nicotine is 3.8 mg per gram of cigarette butt, with 47% of this nicotine released during the first rain. A single butt can thus contaminate 1,000 liters of water, pollute 1 cubic meter of snow at concentrations higher than the predicted no-effect dose which is only 2.4 × 10−3 mg L − 1 according to Valcárcel et al. (2011).
The authors concluded that "given the quantity of cigarette butts discarded and given the speed at which they release their nicotine, they are to be considered as a significant threat for the quality of urban water and therefore for drinking water".
The runoff from the rains drains every year in our rivers 2 to 5 million cigarette butts which end up in the Mediterranean Sea. In 2011: 766,571 tonnes of cigarette butts were dumped in the environment in France. It takes 15 to 50 years for Nature to degrade a butt so nothing organic because during all these years it releases toxic substances!
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21504921/
Cocktails of eternal pollutants in rivers, air, soil: PFAS.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl compounds - or PFAS - constitute a complex chemical family bringing together nearly 10,000 distinct compounds (OECD). They are widely used by manufacturers due, among other things, to their waterproofing and non-stick properties, their resistance to extreme heat and chemical agents. They are found in many everyday consumer products (textiles, kitchen utensils, cosmetic products, etc.). Known as “eternal pollutants”, they are extremely persistent and accumulate in terrestrial, aerial and aquatic ecosystems. which poses a threat to current and future generations.
Emissions of PFAS into the environment occur throughout their life cycle, mainly during their manufacturing and industrial use. Diffuse emissions, throughout the territories, also occur during the use of products containing PFAS and during the waste management phase. In 2020, nearly 75,000 tonnes of PFAS were released into nature in Europe. If nothing is done, experts estimate that within 30 years, 4.4 million tonnes of PFAS will be emitted in environments in Europe. Their presence in all compartments of the environment (groundwater, rain, surface or marine water, air, soil, sediments, glaciers, rivers including the Gardons des Cévennes, etc.) and in living beings no longer needs to be proven.
This planetary contamination also affects humans. The ESTEBAN study (2014-2016) showed that 100% of people (children and adults) had PFOA and PFOS in their blood. According to the EFSA, a significant part of the European population would be exposed to levels causing harmful effects.
This chronic exposure at low doses has been associated with numerous serious adverse health effects: cancers (brains, liver, etc.), harmful effects on the cardiovascular, reproductive and hormonal systems (some are endocrine disruptors) as well as on the immune system (including reduced vaccine immune response)
Ref PFAS: Future generation report (2023/2024)
More recently, scientific studies show that the nano-micro particles of a plastic/hydrocarbon/heavy metal mixture released by the friction of tires on bitumen pollute 3000 times more than the nano-micro particles from the exhaust pipes of diesel engines. This sneaky pollution is as important as it is ignored.
According to a 2020 report by the Pew Charitable Trust, 78% of microplastics in oceans and rivers come from tires. The mass disappearance of salmon from U.S. West Coast waterways two decades ago was one of the first signs of the environmental dangers posed by tires. In 2020, researchers finally established that the deaths were caused by a chemical called 6PPD, added to tires to prevent them from cracking. When exposed to ground-level ozone, 6PPD transforms into multiple other chemicals, including a compound that has been shown to be extremely toxic to a number of fish and shellfish species including the endemic crayfish. whitefoot of our waterways. In total, tire rubber contains more than 400 chemicals and compounds, many of which are carcinogenic. Research is only beginning to show the extent of the risks associated with tire dust, according to "Yale Environment 360." The known statistics are shocking. According to Emissions Analytics, nearly 2 billion tires are manufactured each year worldwide, enough to reach the moon, if stacked on their side. This British company claims that a car's four tires emit 1 trillion ultrafine particles per kilometer driven. These particles are so tiny that they can pass through lung tissue into the bloodstream and cross the blood-brain barrier, leading to worrying health consequences. In some cases, tire dust pollution even rivals exhaust emissions. Study shows that emissions of PM (Suspended Particles) 2.5 and PM 10 from tires and brakes far exceed the mass of these emissions from exhaust pipes. A recent study from Imperial College London indicates that reducing tire wear particles (TWP) is as important as reducing exhaust emissions.
https://fr.euronews.com/g...s#:~:text=Selon un rapport publié en,les océans proviennent des pneus
