#watercontamination — Public Fediverse posts

#Cyclospora Spreads Through Human Feces. How Did It Get Into Our Food Supply?

The large number of cases suggests that excrement entered the food system on a “surprising scale.”

By Alice Callahan and Caroline Hopkins Legaspi
July 21, 2026

Excerpt: "Several cyclospora outbreaks linked to raspberries in the late 1990s illustrated one way the parasite can contaminate fresh produce, said Melvin Kramer, an epidemiologist who worked in several state and local public health departments before founding a food safety consulting group.

"In 1996, after collecting detailed food histories from people sickened with cyclospora, investigators traced the illnesses to raspberries from a few farms in Guatemala. There, investigators determined it was likely that the #insecticides and #fungicides sprayed onto the berries had been mixed with #ContaminatedWater. The farms had sourced the water from wells or a nearby river, both of which were vulnerable to #runoff from latrines, especially during the rainy season. Although the water was filtered, the filter removed only debris, not microbes like cyclospora.

"Before this year, the largest outbreak in the United States in recent history occurred in the summer of 2020, sickening 701 people in 14 states and hospitalizing 38. Federal officials linked it to Fresh Express bagged salads containing iceberg lettuce, red cabbage and carrots. They traced at least some of that produce to a farm in South Florida and detected cyclospora in a nearby #WaterCanal that had been used to irrigate crops on the farm. Later, genetic analysis confirmed that the cyclospora found in the canal water matched that found in people sickened in the outbreak, said Frank Yiannas, who was a top official at the #FDA from 2018 to 2023."

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/r7zv4

#WaterIsLife #Cyclosporasis #FoodContamination #BigAg #GrowYourOwnFood #WaterContamination

Scientists Thought #Parkinsons Was in Our Genes. It Might Be in the #Water

New ideas about #ChronicIllness could revolutionize treatment, if we take the research seriously.

By David Ferry, December 10, 2025

Excerpt: "Sometime before 1953, a massive plume of #trichlorethylene, or #TCE, had entered the groundwater beneath #CampLejeune. TCE is a highly effective solvent—one of those midcentury wonder chemicals—that vaporizes quickly and dissolves whatever grease it touches. The spill’s source is debated, but grunts on base used TCE to maintain machinery, and the dry cleaner sprayed it on dress blues. It was ubiquitous at Lejeune and all over America.

"And TCE appeared benign, too—you could rub it on your hands or huff its fumes and feel no immediate effects. It plays a longer game. For approximately 35 years, Marines and sailors who lived at Lejeune unknowingly breathed in vaporized TCE whenever they turned on their tap. The Navy, which oversees the Marine Corps, first denied the toxic plume’s existence, then refused to admit it could affect Marines’ health. But as Lejeune’s vets aged, cancers and unexplained illness began stalking them at staggering rates. Marines stationed on base had a 35 percent higher risk of developing kidney cancer, a 47 percent higher risk of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a 68 percent higher risk of multiple myeloma. At the local cemetery, the section reserved for infants had to be expanded.

"Meanwhile, Langston had spent the remainder of the 1980s setting up the California Parkinson’s Foundation (later renamed the Parkinson’s Institute), a lab and treatment facility equipped with everything needed to finally reveal the cause of the disease. 'We thought we were going to solve it,' Langston told me. Researchers affiliated with the institute created the first animal model for Parkinson’s, identified a pesticide called #Paraquat as a near chemical match to #MPTP, and proved that farm workers who sprayed Paraquat developed Parkinson’s at exceedingly high rates.

"Then they showed that identical twins developed Parkinson’s at the same rate as fraternal twins—something that wouldn’t make sense if the disease were purely genetic, since identical twins share DNA and fraternal twins do not. They even noted TCE as a potential cause of the disease, Langston says. Each revelation, the team thought, represented another nail in the coffin of the genetic theory of Parkinson’s."

Read more:
https://www.wired.com/story/scientists-thought-parkinsons-was-in-our-genes-it-might-be-in-the-water/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/w8kFq

#TCE #Solvents #DryCleaningFluid #Toxins #ToxicContamination #ParkinsonsDisease #WaterIsLife #WaterContamination

From my friend in Japan...

Two years after the release of treated water at the #FukushimaDaiichi #nuclear power plant began, more than a hundred thousand tons were washed into the sea, but new #contaminated water is occurring every day

August 24, 2025 at 06:00

"It has been two years since the ocean release of treated water accumulated at the #TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant began. The radioactive substance #tritium remains in the water even after the purification process. In June, China, which completely stopped importing Japanese seafood, resumed production in 37 prefectures, but Fukushima and other ten prefectures are still not eligible. There is no end to the ocean release, and the impact of the nuclear accident on the fishing industry continues.

"Tank treated water and contaminated water have been reduced by only fifty-six thousand tons.

"The ocean release was first released on August 24th, and the 14th time was launched on August 7th this month. Up to the 13th time, a total of one hundred and eighty-seven tons of treated water were released.

"The treated water and contaminated water stored in a tank on the site of the nuclear power plant before it was released into the ocean. So far, it has decreased to about fifty-six thousand tons, and it has not decreased by much the amount of release. The reason is that the contaminated water is generated about seventy tons every day, and the number of groundwater and rainwater increases due to the contact of molten nuclear fuel (debris) in the reactor building. Without the absence of contaminated water, we cannot stop releasing it into the ocean.

"As of July 30th, TEPCO paid about JPY790 billion in compensation in response to the slump in fish prices associated with ocean release. There is a possibility that some of China's resumption of imports will also change the price of fish, but Fukushima Prefecture continues to be stopped.

"37 Export application procedures for fishery products produced in Hokkaido Prefecture have begun. A person in charge of the processing and distribution section of the Fisheries Agency said, 'There are many applications, and the desire to resume is strong. We will continue to work with China to reopen the ten prefectures.' Riki Arai)

"The place where the 'sludge' due to the treatment of contaminated water is about to be full.

"Two years have passed since the release of treated water into the ocean due to the TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. The treated water stored in the nuclear power plant is gradually reduced by ocean release, while the storage and disposal of sludge contaminated with high concentrations that continue to occur in the process of treatment of contaminated water is becoming an issue.

"In the process of removing radioactive substances from contaminated water, sludge is produced by precipitating impurities with chemicals. Liquids and solids are mixed... " [Unfortunately, the rest is behind paywall]

Source:
https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/430612

#FukushimaIsntOver #TEPCOLied #TEPCOLies #WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife #WaterContamination #Radiation #Bioaccumulation #NoRadioactiveDumping #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukes #NoMoreFukushimas #NuclearWasteIsForever