Is EPA smoke contaminating YOUR colon?

This would be a good starter for a deep consuming conversation about the Kyoto Treaty or any of the environmental problems addressed by legislation in the past four years.

With the indication that dust is thickly distributed around the globe, it would be greatly in the world’s interest to concentrate on tracking the Depleted Uranium dust that is emanating from the Middle East (and the Balkans) these days.

(From USA Today)

Air pollution from other countries drifts into USA


(Excerpt)

• Mercury emitted by power plants and factories in China, Korea and other parts of Asia wafts over to the USA and settles into the nation's lakes and streams, where it contributes to pollution that makes fish unsafe to eat.

• Dust from Africa's Sahara Desert blows west across the Atlantic Ocean and helps raise particle levels above federal health standards in Miami and other Southern cities.

• Haze and ozone from factories, power plants and fires in Asia and Mexico infiltrate wilderness spots such as California's Sequoia National Park and Texas' Big Bend National Park, clouding views and making the air less healthy.

Scientists who study air quality have long known that air pollution seeps into the USA from abroad. But only recently have they realized that the problem has an enormous reach - an idea that at first met with resistance.

"A lot of scientists were skeptical," says Daniel Jaffe of the University of Washington at Bothell, recalling the reaction to his early findings. "There was a lot of, 'Oh, come on now.' "

But aerial and ground-based sensors that detected the chemical fingerprints of pollutants floating across oceans helped erase doubts. So did new satellites that in the last 10 years gave scientists a bird's-eye view of clouds of pollution drifting from continent to continent.