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Natural Awakenings Central New Jersey

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Birth Control Meds Foul Global Waters

After ethinylestradiol (EE2), the active ingredient in most birth control pills, has done its duty in preventing pregnancy, it can begin a second life as a pollutant that harms wildlife, creating “intersex” fish and amphibians, and is difficult and costly to remove from wastewater streams that carry it into natural waterways. EE2 is only one of many synthetic hormones that humans excrete into wastewater.

The European Union wants to upgrade 1,360 wastewater treatment plants to utilize necessary charcoal-filtering technology to tackle EE2 contamination across England and Wales. Meeting proposed limits will require expenditures of $41 billion to $47 billion, according to Richard Owen, a professor at the University of Exeter, in the UK.

In the journal Nature, Owen and Susan Jobling, Ph.D., an ecotoxicologist at London’s Brunel University, write that more public debate on EE2 regulation is needed. “Animals are exquisitely sensitive to it,” observes Jobling.

Owen queries: “Are we willing to pay this cost as a society or would we prefer to live with the environmental impact?”

Source: LiveScience.com

Birth Pollutant Global Briefs
Tick Talk

Spring officially sprung on March 21. We have turned our clocks ahead. We are looking forward to warm winds, sunny skies and the smell of fresh cut grass. The daffodils and tulips have recently bloomed and we are just starting with the yard work that comes with the warmer weather.  Sadly, another season has started ramping up.  Tick season.

•             The best form of protection is prevention. Educating oneself about tick activity and how our behaviors overlap with tick habitats is the first step.

•             According to the NJ DOH, in 2022 Hunterdon County led the state with a Lyme disease incidence rate of 426 cases per 100,000 people. The fact is ticks spend approximately 90% of their lives not on a host but aggressively searching for one, molting to their next stage or over-wintering. This is why a tick remediation program should be implemented on school grounds where NJ DOH deems high risk for tick exposure and subsequent attachment to human hosts.

•             Governor Murphy has signed a bill that mandates tick education in NJ public schools. See this for the details.  Tick education must now be incorporated into K-12 school curriculum. See link:

https://www.nj.gov/education/broadcasts/2023/sept/27/TicksandTick-BorneIllnessEducation.pdf

•             May is a great month to remind the public that tick activity is in full swing. In New Jersey, there are many tickborne diseases that affect residents, including Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Powassan, and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis.

•             For years, the focus has mainly been about protecting ourselves from Lyme disease. But other tick-borne diseases are on the rise in Central Jersey. An increase of incidence of Babesia and Anaplasma are sidelining people too. These two pathogens are scary because they effect our blood cells. Babesia affects the red blood cells and Anaplasma effects the white blood cells.

•             Ticks can be infected with more than one pathogen. When you contract Lyme it is possible to contract more than just that one disease. This is called a co-infection. It is super important to pay attention to your symptoms. See link.

https://twp.freehold.nj.us/480/Disease-Co-Infection

A good resource from the State:

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/tickborne.shtml

 

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