New Sea Pollutant

[kloudie1]

saw this and wondered if they were going to ban coffee as was proposed for copper??
Researchers find caffeine in waters off Oregon
By Melissa Gray, CNN
updated 11:34 PM EDT, Wed August 1, 2012
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The caffeine appears to come from sewers and septic tanks
It means there may be other human-caused contaminants in the water
The caffeine amounts are well below a lethal dose for marin

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

don't screw with coffee

 

[Slow Mo^cean]

Crap, so now reeling in that 200lb marlin is gonna be a little tougher....

 

[weinie]

Hmmm, I sense a new business opportunity....

A new, all natural energy drink.

I think I'll call it Red Bull Shark.

(I'm gonna be rich!)

 

[Dunham]

I am with @Don. Don't screw with coffee!!!! They want us alert on the waters - don't they?

 

[RichH]

Expect soon that the vaunted EPA to begin to ban 'humans'.
Humans drink coffee; therefore, HUMANS are causing harm to the 'environment' and must be banned !!!!!!

Next ... the same ideologues will probably soon note that there are tannins leaching into the ocean. Tannins come from trees and therefore also trees must be banned. :-o

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

I always though humans and tress were, as defined in the relevant statutes exempt as "naturally occurring" pollutants

 

[Rob2435]

Let's just ban the researchers! I think the caffeine was most likely leaching from their boat!!! Sort of like that "Big Bang Theory" episode where the boys got to the arctic and they got positive results for their experiment by turning on the can opener.

 

[kpgraci]

There is the science of ecology, the business of ecology, and the politics of ecology. Each has a different goal: conservation, money, and power, respectively. Much of this dialog has been hijacked by the latter two. I knew we were in trouble when CO2 was declared a pollutant, and human caused climate change became indisputable. Maybe the west coasters should layoff the Starbucks for a while.

 

[justsomeguy]

There is the science of ecology, the business of ecology, and the politics of ecology. Each has a different goal: conservation, money, and power, respectively. Much of this dialog has been hijacked by the latter two. I knew we were in trouble when CO2 was declared a pollutant, and human caused client change became indisputable. Maybe the west coasters should layoff the Starbucks for a while.

Well said! Client change?

 

[SEMIJim]

The bump in shark attacks off the N.E. coast, d'ya suppose...?

 

[Bob S]

When you think it's pollution / poison it just might turn out good for you!

http://www.newser.com/story/71902/deadly-carbon-monoxide-may-also-be-good-for-you.html

 

[fox islander]

...90% of it probably drifted down from Seattle.

 

[shemandr]

Client change?

I think its a typo for "climate." I took ecology, the science, and I'd be hard pressed to define it. I can say its got nothing to do with business or politics and little to do with conservation. From Wikipedia: Ecology (from Greek: οἶκος, "house"; -λογία, "study of") is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount (biomass), number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems. Ecosystems are hierarchical systems that are organized into a graded series of regularly interacting and semi-independent parts (e.g., species) that aggregate into higher orders zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! And that's why I don't remember any of it.

 

[justsomeguy]

I think its a typo for "climate." I took ecology, the science, and I'd be hard pressed to define it. I can say its got nothing to do with business or politics and little to do with conservation. From Wikipedia: Ecology (from Greek: οἶκος, "house"; -λογία, "study of") is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount (biomass), number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems. Ecosystems are hierarchical systems that are organized into a graded series of regularly interacting and semi-independent parts (e.g., species) that aggregate into higher orders zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! And that's why I don't remember any of it.

I know. It's probably the result of "predictive text" on their computer.

 

[rgranger]

Well there is another possible explanation ... there are more than sixty-three known terrestrial plant species throughout the world that contain caffeine (1). It is not that big of a stretch to speculate on the existence of caffeine containing aquatic fauna. Or that the trace caffeine in the ocean isn't due to natural run-off from these other plants.

It is really bad science to assume that the source of caffeine in the ocean is due to sewage and/or septic run-off. It is plausible but it would be unwise to assume. To make that assessment they would have to test effluent discharge from a sewage plant for caffeine. And if they found caffeine make reasonable assumptions regarding the quantity and dilution factors to determine if the discharge could account for what is being found in the ocean. Finding caffeine in the ocean is interesting but more work has to be done before you can claim the source is anthropogenic.

1. http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/2138/Caffeine-SOURCES-CAFFEINE.html