Noise and Marine Life

Our Noise could be Killing Our Marine Life


(NaturalNews) Noise on the oceans has increased considerably since the 1960s. A 2006 study at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, showed that our underwater world has become a much noisier place than it once was. This noise could be killing ocean life.

The study compared acoustic data recorded by the US Navy in the same area of San Nicolas Island west of San Diego. Results showed that noise levels were 10 to 12 decibels higher in 2003-2004 than in 1964-1966,an increase of three decibels per decade.

This noise may be caused by ships, wind farms, drilling, pile driving, construction and seismic testing.

Marine life uses sounds from the natural environment for many aspects of life. Although marine animals use vision they also gain auditory information that is far more extensive than the visual sense. In fact, notes Dr. Popper of the University of Maryland, sounds provide marine animals with a three dimensional view of the world.

An article titled `Human-Generated Sounds May Be Killing Fish` reported that invasive human noise could alter behavior patterns and mean the difference between life and death for marine animals. Marine animals can suffer from stress or become disoriented due to noise pollution in the same way as humans or land animals.

The construction and maintenance of coral reefs depends on sound. Dutch researchers in Curacao found that coral larvae use sound to establish a colony. Coral reefs support a vast range of aquatic life. Now threatened by global warming, storms and ocean acidification, the effect of noise pollution caused by humans on coral reefs may be yet another crucial deciding factor in the life and death equation of ocean life.

Dr. Steve Simpson of the University of Bristol conducted research into baby reef fish and discovered that baby reef fish use sounds made by fish, shrimp and sea urchins to find coral reefs. This fish needs coral reefs in order to thrive.

But in the crucial early hours of life, exposure to artificial noise can cause this fish to make the wrong choices. Notes Dr. Simpson, ``If fish accidentally learn to follow the wrong sounds, they could end up stuck next to a construction site or follow a ship back out to sea.``

In `Lonely Whales Shout to Overcome Noise` North American right whales are reported to battle environmental noise by raising their voices just like people in a noisy bar. Susan Parks, assistant professor of acoustics, Penn State, says that in a noisy ocean, it is ``critical for successful communication in an increasingly noisy ocean`` to be able to alter sound production.

Whales produce `upcalls` when they are alone or when they are joining a group of whales. Parks` study determined that an increase in background ocean noise due to commercial shipping has produced a corresponding increase in whale upcalls.

But there are considerable risks for the whales in increasing their upcalls. They expend more energy and alter their signals and the information contained in a signal, and they increase the risk of predators. Also, increased ocean noise lowers the communication range; feeding and mating could shrink, and stress levels could rise.

``It may be appropriate to move shipping lanes away from areas where there are concentrations of marine animals,`` a researcher noted. ``The impact of ocean noise pollution may be minimized by diminishing the noise source or by separating the noise from things that are sensitive to it.``

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2006/0709-sounds_from_the_sea.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428140002.htm
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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100803212015.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080728221125.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090312093658.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100706204713.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060818173400.htm

Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/029658_marine_life_noise.html#ixzz1vtCBqtDn

Cows and drugs

Cows are pumped up on drugs

(NaturalNews) Writing in theNew York Times, former FDA Commissioner Donald Kennedy warns that the widespread use of antibiotics in livestock is a major threat to human health.

"More than 30 years ago ... we proposed eliminating the use of penicillin and two other antibiotics to promote growth in animals raised for food," Kennedy writes. "When agribusiness interests persuaded Congress not to approve that regulation, we saw firsthand how strong politics can trump wise policy and good science.

Already in the 1980s, Kennedy notes,scientistsknew that the non-therapeutic use ofantibioticsto prevent infection inhealthyanimals and make them grow faster was leading to the evolution ofdrug-resistant bacteria. To make matters worse, the antibiotics used inanimalsare largely the same as those used in humans, meaning that when these livestock-producedsuperbugsinfect humans, doctors have few ways to deal with them.

An estimated 90,000 people die from hospital-acquired infections in theUnited Statesevery year. Seventy percent of theseinfectionsare antibiotic resistant.

Thelivestockindustry insists that it needs to use antibiotics to keep its animals healthy. But according to the Union for Concerned Scientists, 70 percent of the antibiotics used inagricultureare given to healthy animals that are only at risk ofinfectionbecause they are kept in crowded, unsanitary confinement. And after Denmark banned non-therapeuticantibioticuse in the 1990s, the prevalence ofdrug-resistantbacteria in farm animals plummeted, while costs to livestock producers increased only slightly.

In 2005, the United States banned the use of fluoroquinolone antibiotics in poultry. Now the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act has been introduced, which wouldbanany non-therapeutic antibiotic use in animals unlessdrugcompanies could prove there was noriskof contributing to the development of superbugs.

A ban on non-therapeutic antibiotics in agriculture is supported by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Pharmacists Association, the Infectious Diseases Society ofAmerica, the American Public Health Association, and the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/029686_cows_drugs.html#ixzz1vtBJ7TvF

Cloned beef

Cloned beef has now entered the food supply

(NaturalNews) The U.K. Food Standards Agency (FSA) recently announced that the meat from a cloned cow has made its way into the food supply. According to a recent BBC report, a U.K. farmer purchased cloned bull embryos from the U.S., bred the animals and sold one of them as food back in July 2009.


The report states that Steven Innes, the farmer who purchased the cloned embryos and sold the cloned meat, did so in full accordance with the law.

"We investigated whether this was legal at the time and understood that there was no issue," he explained in a statement. "We acted in good faith throughout and have been fully compliant with the relevant authorities."

He went on to explain that the British government had expressly authorized theanimalsto enter the food chain. However, an investigation is currently underway as Innes did not properly notify authorities about thecloned meatnor identify it as such when selling it asfood, two very serious violations.

Tim Smith, chief at FSA, responded to the news by saying he has no specific concerns about the safety of cloned beef enteringthe food supply, but that European law requires those who supply it to get proper approval under "novel" food regulation guidelines before selling it toconsumers.

Smith also expressed that consumers "deserve to know the origin of all foods they purchase".

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration declared in 2008 that meat andmilkfrom cloned animals is safe for human consumption. Biotechnology companies have since been creating cloned animals for the expressed purpose of increasing milk andmeatyield.

Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/029411_cloned_beef_food.html#ixzz1viMXrfCO