Thursday, March 06, 2008

Pesticides In National Parks

I used to live by Glacier Park in Montana. I was
reading today that Parks like that are showing up
with having a lot of pesticides in the air and
water, even if not used within the boundaries of
the Parks.

The reason being that the air currents are carrying
in the Pesticides from as far away as China and the
surrounding areas may be using the pesticides.

"BILLINGS, Mont. - Pesticides, heavy metals and other
airborne contaminants are raining down on national
parks across the West and Alaska, turning up at some
times dangerously high levels in lakes, plants and fish.

A sweeping, six-year federal study released Tuesday
found evidence of 70 contaminants in 20 national parks
and monuments _ from Denali in Alaska and Glacier in
Montana, to Big Bend in Texas and Yosemite in California.

Contaminants that accumulated in fish exceeded human
consumption thresholds at the eight parks that researchers
focussed on most: Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Mount Rainier,
Olympic, Glacier, Rocky Mountain, Gates of the Arctic and
Denali national parks and Alaska's Noatak National Preserve."


Read more here

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