Impact of Chemicals
Contribution by R. J. Sigmund from his “environment, energy, & related news from the week ending April 5th.”
Chemicals
Shortly before we left Livingston County Michigan, there was a big exposé on the discovery and the amount of PFAS in the lakes and wells of the county. I have a rather lengthy piece on this issue here: “County shows higher levels of PFAS in blood than the U.S. population,” Angry Bear.
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R. J. Sigmund: PFAS are a family of chemicals used in firefighting foam. They are also in everyday consumer products like pizza boxes, fast food wrappers, shoes, cosmetics, clothing and non-stick cookware such as Teflon. The chemicals are complex, uniquely able to repel water, oil and stains. However, they are not easily broken down in the environment or our bodies.
As from nearby factory was found in dust of NC homes: In a Study, Researchers identified “forever chemicals” in household dust nearby a North Carolina factory, indicating the dust may be an additional source of exposure to these compounds.
The homes, located in southern North Carolina’s Cumberland and Bladen counties, are in the vicinity of the Fayetteville Works fluorochemical manufacturing facility, which has been a known source of contamination in the area’s Cape Fear River Basin. The chemicals in question are part of a massive group of substances called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are found in a variety of consumer goods, certain firefighting foams and industrial waste. Some types of PFAS, which are notorious for their persistence in the body and in the environment, are linked to cancers and other serious illnesses. Ingestion of PFAS via groundwater has been studied for years; however, scientists are beginning to look at dust as a potential exposure source.
“PFAS exposure via contaminated well water is relatively well studied,” senior author Nadine Kotlarz, an assistant professor in the civil, construction and environmental engineering department at North Carolina State University, said in a statement. “But, given the air emissions from the plant, we wanted to learn whether household dust was also a source of exposure,” added Kotlarz, who is also a member of the university’s Center for Human Health and the Environment. Kotlarz and her colleagues measured the concentrations of 48 types of PFAS in settled dust samples from 65 homes that participated in the institution’s broader GenX Exposure Study.
While that study was named for a particular kind of PFAS released for years into the river (called GenX), the project has involved numerous other types of the compounds as well.
As for the dust measurements — reported in a study released Monday — the scientists found eight types of PFAS were detected in more than 90 percent of the samples they took. Every dust sample had at least one PFAS detected, and GenX was present in 89 percent of the samples, according to the study published in Environmental Science & Technology. The authors were particularly interested in a category of PFAS called polyfluoroalkyl ether acids (PFEAs), which include GenX. They found seven of the 12 PFEAs they evaluated were present in more than 75 percent of the samples. Dust concentrations of six kinds of PFEAs, including GenX, decreased considerably as residential distance from the fluorochemical plant increased.
Honey Bee Colonies Face Losses
R. J. Sigmund: Strategically the loss of honey bees would have a great impact on crops in the United States. The results of which would play into higher costs for vegetables and fruits.
Honey bee colonies could face 70% losses in 2025, impacting agriculture. Colonies across the United States are facing record-breaking losses in 2025.
Scientists warning the impact could be felt in agricultural production. Washington State University entomologists announced this week the commercial honey bee colony losses are projected to reach between 60% and 70% in 2025. Over the past decade, annual losses for colonies have typically ranged between 40% and 50%, marking a significant jump this year.
Priya Chakrabarti Basu, an assistant professor of pollinator health and apiculture at WSU told ABC News the honey bee losses could stem from nutrition deficiencies, mite infestations, viral diseases and possible pesticide exposure during the previous pollinating season.
“I honestly think this is a combination of multiple stressors, which is why for years my lab has been focusing on understanding the impacts of and interactions of these stressors on bee pollinators.”
Basu said, adding America’s commercial beekeepers are under pressure to maintain colonies.
“The pollination demands haven’t gone down, so beekeepers face tremendous pressure to keep the same number of colonies to meet those needs.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture pollination is critical for food production. The agency stating about 35% of the world’s food crops depend on animal pollinators to produce. Crops depend on honey bees and other pollinators to grow include fruits and vegetables such as apples, strawberries, cucumbers and avocados. Also nuts, such as almonds and macadamia nuts also depend upon honey bees. Other affected plants include coffee, cocoa and vanilla.
“I don’t want to be a fearmonger, but this level of national loss could mean increased bankruptcies amongst beekeepers.” Brandon Hopkins, a professor of pollinator ecology at WSU stated this issue in a press release accompanying the research.
Hopkins said the effects could be felt the strongest in California’s almond production. California almonds are the biggest crop for honey bee pollination, which happens in February and March, according to Hopkins.
“The almond industry frequently asks for strong colonies,” Hopkins said in the release. “But this year, growers are desperate,” he added. “Anything with live bees in a box is in demand because the industry is short on supply. I haven’t heard of that since the early days of colony collapse around 2008.” Honey bees had a production value of nearly $350 million in 2023, according to the USDA. In order to combat such severe colony losses, WSU scientists are working on methods for widespread varroa mite control, awareness on commercial honey bee colony management practices and new research on bee nutrition in the hopes beekeepers will have better access to healthy food for their colonies, according to the release.
Short-staffed USDA seeks help on honeybee decline –Staff reductions at the Department of Agriculture may be cutting into the effort to figure out what’s killing honeybees.Stretched by staff departures and a freeze on spending, the USDA asked researchers at Cornell University for help in determining what led to a big dropoff in managed bees last year, according to the university.
The department reached out to Scott McArt, an associate professor of entomology, to test whether pesticides might have played a role. McArt said the Cornell labs can turn around results of the expensive tests within about two months, or faster than might be expected of the USDA, although the federal agency is still spearheading the research.The managed hives are critical to fruit and nut production, with as many as 70 percent of bees spending time in California to pollinate almonds and other crops, McArt said. He leads the university’s Dyce Lab for Honey Bee Studies.