Dear Readers,
When I worked at UNT, I did a little demonstration for the department chair to make a point. I wrote on several pieces of paper all the many responsibilities that made up my job. Then I tore the paper so each responsibility was on a separate piece about the size of a business card.
I had a lovely woven basket into which I placed the pieces of paper. But they wouldn’t all fit so I put the overflow into a bag.
I carried the basket into his office and set it on his desk. He eyed me warily–we had been together for about five years. I took handfuls of paper from the bag and placed them in the basket. The papers overflowed the basket and fell to the floor.
That day he requested my assistant.
My basket still overfloweth. Sometimes important pieces of paper fall on the floor and into cracks. I dug a couple of gems out of the cracks this week. So sorry for the delay.
The first item is an advertisement for a conference where attorneys can learn how to provide a Get Out of Jail Card for polluters.
Some of the items on the agenda will sound familiar to you as will the descriptions of those items.
What I found most interesting is that many of the law firms presenting at the conference helped the tobacco industry dodge responsibility for their cancer causing products. I’ve been telling you for years that the fracking industry is using the same playbook the tobacco industry used. What I didn’t realize is it’s practically the same industry with many of the same players and the same advertising campaign.
The next item I have for you is a roadmap for the industry to avoid responsibility for the benzene metabolites in your body.
MECHANISM OR CAUSATION? THE NEW BATTLE OVER BENZENE METABOLITES
If you have leukemia or some other type of cancer, look not at the gas wells in your backyard. Go look in your kitchen; but not under the kitchen sink where you keep all your fracking chemicals. Look in your pantry and refrigerator to see if you have any of this stuff:
- Coffee
- Milk
- Cheese
- Apples
- Cherries
- Asparagus
- Broccoli
- Onions
These are the culprits along with Pepto-Bismol and Chloraseptic lozenges.
In case you’ve been exposed to toluene, that won’t work either. Toluene actually suppresses benzene metabolites.
Is toluene the cure then? If toluene exposure reduces benzene metabolites, can it reduce cancer risk from exposure to fracking chemicals and hydrocarbons? Do we have a cure for leukemia right in our own backyards?
NOTE: I have no clue why the comments are closed. The Internets are behaving strangely today. Maybe I can fix it. Comments are fixed. See what happens when you don’t drink your coffee.
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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Toluene is methylbenzene (the best way to describe it to a non-chemist)
If you follow this link from INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME ON CHEMICAL SAFETY it gives quite a bit of information on the acute and chronic exposure of toluene, but in a nut shell this section should be of interest to you. ( link http://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc52.htm )
“The ability of toluene to interfere with biotransformation and
alter the toxic effects of several solvents has been documented by
several investigators. For example, toluene decreased n-hexane
metabolism and neurotoxicity, and also benzene metabolism and
effects on the haematopoietic system.”
By the way I worked for Mobil Oil toxicology department under Dr. Myron A. Mehlman, formerly Mobil’s Director of Toxicology. He was fired while I was there, and guess for what, disagreeing with Mobil’s management on the levels of Benzene in Mobil’s gasoline being too high for public safety!
He also was one of the leading opponents of the use of MTBE in gasoline, and we all know what a fiasco adding MTBE to gasoline was!
Thank you for your comments. I was, of course, being sarcastic about the toluene. Sometimes sarcasm is the only way I can cope with this insanity.
I have friends who ended up with MTBE in their water shortly after fracking. Fortunately, they had a baseline test that showed their water was clean and safe before fracking.
Again, thank you for the comments. I know they will help people who have pending litigation.
On the old blog “Martha Speak”, it was pointed out at least one driller in that area said (under Oath!) that Norm will stimulate the immune system in humans!
MTBE has been gone in gasoline for a while, due to know water pollution problems, it spreads like crazy in water, it’s shut down water wells in several areas. But, just because it can’t be added to gasoline does NOT make it illegal to use in fracking.