Logan and Albert Conservation Association
Coal Seam Gas industry development petition closes Friday 20 May - please sign E-Petition
http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/EPetitions_QLD/CurrentEPetition.aspx?PetNum=1592&lIndex=-1
requesting government to
Immediately implement an independent statutory body to oversee development of strict land and water legislation, based on science, with the objective of ensuring CSG does not adversely affect the environment or other existing water or property rights;
Ban all hydraulic fracturing and other means of stimulating gas flow until a proper risk analysis of the relevant coal formation and underground aquifers has been undertaken and appropriate supervision and conditioning implemented;
Employ additional regional compliance staff to audit all CSG activities as per the existing legislation;
Immediately commence maintenance of existing and new infrastructure, affected by the expansion of the CSG industries;
Call for the revocation of the Commonwealth Government LNG export licence approvals and
Immediately enact a moratorium on all future CSG activities until an independent peer-reviewed investigation into the long-term environmental, social and infrastructure consequences of the CSG industry in Queensland is undertaken
Hear Dr van Steenis tell of the research connecting human health and small toxic particles which are usaully not measured. These talks have been recorded by Lock the Gate
Dr Dick van Steenis - Public Health Advocate from the United Kingdom from LockTheGate on Vimeo.
Dr Dick van Steenis - Public Health Advocate from the United Kingdom
The human-health-impacts community forum held in Beaudesert Friday 18th March was well attended by local community . The main speaker was Dr Dick van Steenis a UK Public Health Advocate. His research looks at the health effects of particulate-generating operations such as power stations, rubbish incinerators and open cut coal mines. It was quite stark information on the many health effects these industries can have on communities let alone the damage it does to the environment. The seeming indifference of governments when all they want to see is the almighty dollars that are forthcoming.
The challenge now is for the community to do its homework - not been done by government - and prove that the decrease in human wellness and loss of income from a national tourism industry and Australia's Green Cauldron
There was a good turn out of residents concerned about these leases and after listening to the speakers there is definitely a need to worry and a need for continued action to try and prevent any exploration from going ahead in the Scenic Rim.
To keep in touch support and particiate visit http://www.keepthescenicrimscenic.com/ Contact the team at Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
WE ALL NEED TO VOICE OUR CONCERNS TO ALL POLITICIANS AT ALL LEVELS AND
MAKE A STAND TO PROTECT WHAT WE VALUE
As Dr Dick van Steenis says we need CLEAN AIR - CLEAN WATER - CLEAN FOOD to maintain our health and wellness.
LACA meets this Thursday 24th March 7.30 pm at Arts Centre Beaudesert. Check website www.laca.org.au
GASLANDS movie is coming to Beaudesert
Sunday 10 April 3pm
Venue is : St Mary's Centacare Community Centre (old leagues club)
Petersen Street Beaudesert
same as forum HEALTH HAZARDS OF COAL and CSG INDUSTRY
The forum was a huge success - especially to have confirmed by Richard Adams SRRC councillor that the local council is
opposed to the coal industry activities in the SCENIC RIM - lets KEEP THE SCENIC RIM SCENIC
Watch this space and and also eco news from Sunshine Coast Environment Council at www.econews.org.au free newspaper.
Copies of this free eco news will be available across the Scenic Rim and southern areas of Logan eg Jimboomba. Distribution points are being established now.
FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY COSTS NEED ALSO TO INCLUDE LONG TERM HEALTH IMPACTS FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES.
HOW CLEAN AND GREEN ARE WE? How do we maintain and improve on what we have?
We humans are not always aware when we are being exposed to toxic chemicals that are polluting our air. We in SEQ South East Queensland especially in Scenic Rim and the south-western bushier vegetated areas of Logan City enjoy the benefits of clean healthy air - maintained freely by our planet earth's ecosysyems. People of Jimboomba and Flagstone are familiar with odiforous vapours which blow in from industry in Beaudesert. Visual pollution to the natural environment as this aerial view of some ecological devestation in Hunter Valley NSW has more hazardous impacts to humans - and other creatures.
International expert Dr Dick van Steenis is our very special guest at our
Expert and Community Forum on the Human Health Impacts of Open-Cut Coal Mining and Coal-Seam Gas Mining
Beaudesert on this Friday 18 March 2011
This is a great opportunity to hear from and ask questions of Dr Dick van Steenis, the author of the UK Coal Health Study www.coalhealthstudy.org
Other speakers are Drew Hutton from the National Lock the Gate Campaign who will provide a broad picture of coal and coal seam gas development in Queensland, Dr Sandra Bayley from Doctors for Science, Sustainability and Social Justice who will talk about the impacts of coal-seam gas water contaminants and the impacts on human health and Emma Kate Rose with Food Connect who will speak on the impacts on food production, and food safety. After hearing from a spokesperson from Keep the Scenic Rim Scenic who will talk about the campaign to protect the Scenic Rim, the evening with close with a question and answer session with the expert panel.
Centacare St Mary's
Petersen Street Beaudesert
6.15 for 6.30 pm start
light supper - gold coin entry
RSVP to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 5541 3426
Dr. Paul Epstein from the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard’s Medical School has written an article quantifying the true costs of coal in terms of economic, health and environmental impacts. Dr. Epstein’s study details how each stage of coal’s life cycle (extraction, transportation, processing, and combustion) has enormous costs, all of which are directly borne by the public. Notably, the report estimates some $74.6 billion a year in public health costs for Appalachian communities, mainly from increasing healthcare burdens, injury and death.
Beyond the direct health damage coal extraction and burning has on communities, the American public is paying $187.5 billion due to air pollutants, $29.3 billion for mercury poisoning, and anywhere between $61.7 and $205.8 billion for global warming emissions. Although this is an American study we in Australia - and South East Queensland will be bearing similar impacts. Read more about this story or an executive summary here.http://wvgazette.com/static/coal%20tattoo/HarvardCoalReportSummary.pdf
This is timely research as our Queensland Government approves more mining exploration amidst the World Heritage listed Mt Barney. All over South East Queensland mining companies are wanting to extend the exploitation of our areas most valued for the richness of biodiversity. During the 2011 INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FORESTS for people which seeks to have members of the human species become more aware of our connections with healthy forest systems. Healthy forests equals a healthy life sustaining enviroment for healthy people.
Beyond dollar evaluations, qualitative impacts include harm to air quality,watersheds, land, plants, animals, families and communities. The proposed technology of CCS is costly and risky, and is projected to magnify the ecological and health footprint of coal. The extent of environmental harm is such that instead of more coal mines we should be phasing fossil fuel production out and bringing in renewable non degrading processes - especially where we can apply closed loop cycles - as does nature.
Xiang et al. show that in a Chinese village in an area endemic for fluorosis that the higher the fluoride in the children's blood the lower the IQ of the children studied. Pre-published by Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) on Dec 17, 2010. Fluoride Action Network FAN's Press Release: Fluoride in Water Linked to Lower IQ in Children can be read here.
The whole peer reviewed research article publihed online at EHP can be read and downloaded here. EHP is a publication of the U.S. government. Publication of EHP lies in the public domain and is therefore without copyright.
To be completed
Research findings of effects of Fluoride are reported worldwide - more warnings of deleterious harm from over dose.
In today's society with greater access to information becoming better informed is relatively easy. It is also easier to publish in our digital world - but care is always needed to verify the credentials of those who publish and who benefits from disclosure - or non disclosure of information.
Professor Paul Connett states that without studies to investigate and validate all safety concerns there is no assurity. Authorities made decisions which have not been based on sound science. If you don't look you don't find the connections between fluoride and public heath concerns. The practice of fluoridation has been and is being protected before public health.
How did our grandparents survive without all the modern conveniences 'mod cons' that we have access to today? This website www.theshoppe.com.au has an invaluable wealth of information on common kitchen ingredients that can be used for cleaning - these are what I use. This information is taken from a free downloadable newsletter.
In a new article published in the Barry Law Review, Science & Environmental Health Network SEHN Legal Director Joe Guth argues that we have long assumed we can tolerate the endless growth of small increments of environmental damage in the pursuit of economic growth. But now, the mounting cumulative impact of the human enterprise is threatening the long-term habitability of the biosphere. The law will have to abandon its use of cost-benefit analysis to justify individual environmental impacts and instead adopt the goal of maintaining the functioning ecological systems that we are so dependent upon.
The article can be read or downloaded here . 35 page article.
Degradation of ecosystems from human activities is worsening. Scientists are also explaining clearly that human beings are utterly dependent on a biologically functioning biosphere, and that to survive and prosper we need the very ecological systems that we are so quickly degrading.
Due to the overwhelming success of last years 2008 'Are you poisoning yourself?' seminar, Griffith University EcoCentre repeated the event in May 2009. The following presentations provide information about the potentially dangerous toxins we expose ourselves to everyday. These toxins are easily avoidable when you know what to look for.
The EcoCentre has published the presentations on its website and they can be accessed from this page.
Lisa Malcolm is an environmental scientist at the EcoCentre. Lisa's presentation1 will assist you to create a healthier home by making informed choices on cleaning products and safer use of plastics.
Narelle Chenery, back by popular demand, is a world wide educator and activist. She revolutionsed the beauty industry by creating the world's first certified organic skin and personal care range. Narelle's presentation2 outlines the hidden dangers of the cosmetic industry.
Dr Greg Emerson is the founder and Medical Director of the Emerson Health and Wellness Centre and co-director of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine QLD. Dr Emerson's presentation3 demonstrates the body's intrinsic ability to heal itself if the underlying cause of the illness (which can include environmental toxins) is removed.
A groundbreaking review of 10 years' worth of adverse-reaction reports filed with American Environmental Protection Agency by pesticide manufacturers, which found that pyrethrins and pyrethroids - used in thousands of supposedly "safer" pesticides - accounted for more than 26 percent of all fatal, "major," and "moderate" human incidents reported to the EPA in 2007. Based on information from the previously unreleased EPA pesticide incident-reporting system, this investigation spurred the director of the EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs to announce the agency would begin a broad study of the human health effects of pyrethrins and pyrethroids.
Pyrethrins, extracted from the chrysanthemum plant, and their synthetic relatives, pyrethroids, have exploded in popularity over the last decade. They are now used in thousands of consumer products. These chemicals are found in bug-repellant clothing, flea collars, automatic misting devices, lawn-care products, and carpet sprays. ‘Safe' Pesticides Now First in Poisonings will rekindle the debate about the safety of modern pesticide use.
The Center for Public Integrity is dedicated to producing original, responsible investigative journalism on issues of public concern in the USA and around the world. The Center's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) is a collaboration of some of the world's leading investigative reporters. ICIJ extends globally the Center's style of watchdog journalism, working with 100 reporters in 50 countries to produce long-term, transnational projects.
Will our own and global governments increase regulations and ban all those chemicals where adverse reactions occur? What risks of exposure are acceptable? How safe is it to hug your dog wearing flea collars or after being rinsed with insecticde? Some thoughts here.
Fluoridation of our drinking water is a contentious issue around the world and in now Queenslanders are faced with this dilemna. Unfortunately residents were not consulted on this recent decision. Although many people may be quite happy to drink fluoridated water others are not as they have genuine concerns about the potential health risks imposed by water fluoridation.
Australia's National Toxics Network reports that a new position paper from the US National Kidney Foundation concludes that individuals with chronic kidney disease should be notified of the potential risk from exposure to fluorides. The document acknowledges gaping holes in research concerning kidney impacts from fluorides, and thus further undermines the myth that fluoridation has been proven safe for everyone. In addition to advising that kidney patients be notified of their vulnerability to fluoride, the Kidney Foundation officially withdrew from the American Dental Association's list of organizations which support fluoridation.
To read more about this development, and to watch a FAN video discussing the issue visit Fluoride Action Network. Daniel Stockin is a career public health professional now at The Lillie Center, Inc, a Georgia-based public health training firm that is working to end water fluoridation. Email: stockin2[at]yahoo.com
Why is our country proposing to export 6,000 of the 22,000 tonnes of hazardous hexachlorobenzene (HCB) waste for incineration to the Nyborg Incinerator in Denmark?
As a developed country and a signatory to the
We cannot understand why Hon. Peter Garrett AM, MP Minister for the Environment would approve a permit to send the toxic waste on such a dangerous and potentially disastrous journey across the oceans to be disposed of in
ABC online news provides coverage of the issues surrounding use of agricultural chemicals across Australia. Our local area is not alone with these concerns. The Tasmanian forestry industry has described proposed changes to chemical spray regulations as a knee-jerk reaction to please a vocal minority. Buffer areas and prior notification, no go zones near schools homes and workplaces may become mandatory. Time to comment has been extended to end July 2008. Read more here. Image from ABC TV file photo.