Cancer clusters -- solo post


In Cottage Grove, Minnesota, there was a fear for many years that cancer cases in the area had been caused by chemicals in the water system. These per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were from a 3M factory that started in the 1950s. In 2017, the Minnesota state health department introduced a requirement that the chemical be at a lower level than what was found in Cottage Grove. PFAS has one of the strongest molecular bonds, meaning it doesn’t break down in the environment, and can also accumulate in people’s bodies. This type of water contamination has been found across the United States, due to military bases, fire stations, and airports that use firefighting foams, as well as factories such as the one in Cottage Grove that create the chemical. The mayor of Cottage Grove, Myron Bailey, did take action by declaring an emergency, making plans install water filters on the wells, and attempting to hold 3M responsible for the costs. 3M denied responsibility, even when Bailey showed contamination in the water from the wells. In another town, Oakdale, where waste was buried from 1956 to 1974, a child who died from 2003 to 2015 was 171% more likely to have had cancer than in other areas. In the Washington County area overall, there were 28% more cases of chronic lymphocytic leukemia from 1999 to 2013 and 7% more cases of breast cancer from 1988 to 2012 than the rest of the state. After 3M reformulated Scotchguard and other products in 2002, studies have shown that PFAS declined in the blood of the general population. It seems clear that 3M was responsible for the cancer clusters found in Cottage Grove and surrounding areas. Irresponsible waste management, as well as a tendency to delay action by both the state health department and 3M, seem to have resulted in cancer and irremovable chemicals in citizen’s bloodstreams.

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-3M-groundwater-pollution-problem/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Group 2

Ocean acidification is important because it impacts biodiversity. A falling ph level has detrimental impacts on species that build shells or skeleton based on carbonate. For example, tropical corals. Hence ocean acidification destroys ecosystems, resulting in the ultimate disappearance of certain species. The computer generated evidence predicts that if the carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise exponentially, this will result in the drastic increase in the ocean ph level. The levels of PH are predicted to rise as much as they have in the past 300 million years in the next 1000 years. The computer models used past historical and geographical evidence to see what the natural rise would be and compared it to the rate at which ph levels are rising today. It would be difficult for nature to compensate for these damages. Consequently, resulting in further reduction on the marine biodiversity, specifically, coral reefs. Aidan Coco Grace Miske Jingyi Li Ling Zheng
Read more
Group 5: We misidentified the metal as Iron, when it is in fact Zinc. This occurred because we calculated the volume incorrectly which thereby translated to the wrong density. In addition, we observed that the metal did not melt. Our metal also fell apart onto the table which could have been a sign of possible meltage. As for our mineral, we believed that it was quartz, when it was actually Fluorite. We did not believe it had dissolved into the test tube; however, it in fact was slightly soluble. The largest error we made, which would have helped us determine correctly what the quartz and the metal were, was incorrectly calculating the density. If we would have done this part correctly, we likely would have determined the correct mystery materials.
Read more