Breast cancer: The risks of brominated flame retardants

Brominated flame retardants may lead to early mammary gland development

INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE - INRS QUEBEC, CA 

Research News

 

IMAGE: MAMMARY GLAND OF A PREPUBESCENT FEMALE RAT STAINED TO SEE ITS DEVELOPMENT. view more 

CREDIT: ISABELLE PLANTE (INRS)

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are found in furniture, electronics, and kitchenware to slow the spread of flames in the event of a fire. However, it has been shown that these molecules may lead to early mammary gland development, which is linked to an increased risk of breast cancer. The study on the subject by Professor Isabelle Plante from the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) made the cover of the February issue of the journal Toxicological Sciences.

Part of the flame retardants are considered to be endocrine disruptors, i.e. they interfere with the hormonal system. Since they are not directly bound to the material in which they are added, the molecules escape easily. They are then found in house dust, air and food.

This exposure can cause problems for mammary glands because their development is highly regulated by hormones. "BFRs pose a significant risk, particularly during sensitive periods, from intrauterine life to puberty and during pregnancy," says Professor Plante, co-director of the Intersectoral Centre for Endocrine Disruptor Analysis and environmental toxicologist. Endocrine disruptors, such as BFRs, can mimic hormones and cause cells to respond inappropriately.

The effects of environmental exposure

In their experiments, the research team exposed female rodents to a mixture of BFRs, similar to that found in house dust, prior to mating, during gestation and during lactation. Biologists were able to observe the effects on the offspring at two stages of development and on the mothers.

In pre-pubertal rats, the team noted early development of mammary glands. For pubescent rats, the results, published in 2019, showed a deregulation of communication between cells. Similar consequences were observed in female genitors in a 2017 study. All of these effects are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer.

Professor Isabelle Plante points out that peaks in human exposure to BFRs have been observed in the early 2000s. "Young women exposed to BFRs in utero and through breastfeeding are now in the early stages of fertility. Their mothers are in their fifties, a period of increased risk for breast cancer," says Professor Plante. This is why the team is currently studying endocrine disruptors related to a predisposition to breast cancer, funded by the Breast Cancer Foundation and the Cancer Research Society.

Debate over legislation

In all three studies, most of the effects were observed when subjects were exposed to the lowest dose, from dust, and not the higher doses. This observation raises questions about the current legislation for endocrine disruptors. "To evaluate the "safe" dose, experts give an increasing dose and then, when they observe an effect, identify it as the maximum dose. With endocrine disruptors, the long-term consequences would be caused by lower doses" reports Professor Plante.

Although counter-intuitive, this observation comes from the fact that high doses trigger a toxic response in the cells. When the body is exposed to lower doses, similar to the concentration of hormones in our body, the consequences rather consist in the deregulation of the hormonal system.

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About the study

The article "In Utero and Lactational Exposure to an Environmentally Relevant Mixture of Brominated Flame Retardants Induces a Premature Development of the Mammary Glands", by Rita-Josiane Gouesse, Elham Dianati, Alec McDermott, Michael G Wade, Barbara Hales, Bernard Robaire and Isabelle Plante, has been published in the journal Toxicological Sciences. The study received support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and Health Canada.

About INRS

INRS is a university dedicated exclusively to graduate level research and training. Since its creation in 1969, INRS has played an active role in Quebec's economic, social, and cultural development and is ranked first for research intensity in Quebec and in Canada. INRS is made up of four interdisciplinary research and training centres in Quebec City, Montreal, Laval, and Varennes, with expertise in strategic sectors: Eau Terre Environnement, Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications, Urbanisation Culture Société, and Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie. The INRS community includes more than 1,500 students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty members, and staff.

Source :

Audrey-Maude Vézina
Service des communications de l'INRS
418 254-2156
audrey-maude.vezina@inrs.ca

Sea-level rise drives wastewater leakage to coastal waters

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA

Research News

 

IMAGE: HIGH TIDE NUISANCE FLOODING IN MĀPUNAPUNA IS A HAZARD TO VEHICULAR AND PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC. view more 

CREDIT: TRISTA MCKENZIE

When people think of sea level rise, they usually think of coastal erosion. However, recent computer modeling studies indicate that coastal wastewater infrastructure, which includes sewer lines and cesspools, is likely to flood with groundwater as sea-level rises.

A new study, published by University of Hawai'i (UH) at Mānoa earth scientists, is the first to provide direct evidence that tidally-driven groundwater inundation of wastewater infrastructure is occurring today in urban Honolulu, Hawai'i. The study shows that higher ocean water levels are leading to wastewater entering storm drains and the coastal ocean--creating negative impacts to coastal water quality and ecological health.

The study was led by postdoctoral researcher Trista McKenzie and co-authored by UH Sea Grant coastal geologist Shellie Habel and Henrietta Dulai, advisor and associate professor in the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST). The team assessed coastal ocean water and storm drain water in low-lying areas during spring tides, which serve as an approximation of future sea levels.

To understand the connection between wastewater infrastructure, groundwater and the coastal ocean, the researchers used chemical tracers to detect groundwater discharge and wastewater present at each site. Radon is a naturally occurring gas that reliably indicates the presence of groundwater, while wastewater can be detected by measuring specific organic contaminants from human sources, such as caffeine and certain antibiotics.

"Our results confirm that indeed, both groundwater inundation and wastewater discharge to the coast and storm drains are occurring today and that it is tidally-influenced," said McKenzie. "While the results were predicted, I was surprised how prevalent the evidence for these processes and the scale of it."

In low-lying inland areas, storm drains can overflow every spring tide. This study demonstrated that at the same time wastewater from compromised infrastructure also discharges into storm drains. During high tides, storm drains are becoming channels for untreated wastewater to flood streets and sidewalks. In addition to impeding traffic, including access by emergency vehicles, this flooding of contaminated water also poses a risk to human health.

The team also found evidence that many of the human-derived contaminants were in concentrations that pose a high risk to aquatic organisms. This has negative consequences to coastal organisms where the groundwater and storm drains discharge.

"Many people may think of sea-level rise as a future problem, but in fact, we are already seeing the effects today," said McKenzie. "Further, these threats to human health, ocean ecosystems and the wastewater infrastructure are expected to occur with even greater frequency and magnitude in the future."

This project demonstrates that actions to mitigate the impact from sea-level rise to coastal wastewater infrastructure in Honolulu are no longer proactive but are instead critical to addressing current issues. Through its multi-partner effort, the Hawai'i State Climate Commission also raises awareness around the variety of impacts of sea level rise, including those highlighted by this study.

"Coastal municipalities should pursue mitigation strategies that account for increased connectivity between wastewater infrastructure and recreational and drinking water resources," said McKenzie. "We need to consider infrastructure that minimizes flooding opportunities and contact with contaminated water; and decreases the number of contaminant sources, such as installation of one-way valves for storm drains, decommissioning cesspools, monitoring defective sewer lines, and construction of raised walkways and streets."

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This study led to McKenzie being awarded the L&O Letters Early Career Publication Honor, given in recognition of the high quality of research conducted by excellent early career scientists.

BYE BYE BOLSONARO
For Brazil's Bolsonaro, Lula's return a double-edged sword

AFP 

3/12/2021

There were whispers when Brazilian leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made his political comeback this week that President Jair Bolsonaro was licking his chops, seeing an easy foil for his reelection bid.

© Miguel SCHINCARIOL Brazilian former president (2003-2011) Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, waves as he arrives for a press conference in Sao Bernardo do Campo, in metropolitan Sao Paulo, Brazil, on March 10, 2021

But it only took two days for the far-right leader to start looking worried at the prospect of a heavyweight showdown years in the making: Bolsonaro vs. Lula in 2022.

The first sign of concern in the president's camp was an extremely rare sighting: Bolsonaro, who has regularly flouted expert advice on Covid-19, dutifully wearing a face mask Wednesday.

Speaking at an official ceremony, he defended his handling of the pandemic, which has claimed 273,000 lives in hard-hit Brazil.

"This is a government of seriousness and responsibility," Bolsonaro said, signing a bill to accelerate vaccine purchases -- the same vaccines he had vowed not to take himself and joked could "turn you into an alligator."

© EVARISTO SA Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro coughs at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, on March 10, 2021

The about-face came hours after Lula tore into Bolsonaro's record on the pandemic.

"Brazil has no government," he said, attacking Bolsonaro's "imbecile" handling of Covid-19 in a speech marking his return to politics.

Lula, the alternately revered and reviled leftist who led Brazil through an economic boom from 2003 to 2010, regained the right to run for office Monday when a Supreme Court judge annulled his corruption convictions on procedural grounds, sending them to another court.

That put the charismatic steelworker-turned-president back in the political game for the first time since 2018, when he was jailed for taking bribes from companies seeking juicy contracts with state oil giant Petrobras.

He spent 18 months in prison and was barred from the 2018 presidential election, in which he had been the front-runner -- and which Bolsonaro ultimately won, riding a wave of outrage with Lula and his Workers' Party (PT).

Lula, who claims he is innocent, wasted no time making what looked very much like a stump speech -- though he stopped short of formally announcing his candidacy for October 2022.

A key question now for Latin America's most-populous country and largest economy is how its president will play the new political gameboard.

- Battle of extremes? -

On the one hand, Lula's return to politics looks like fuel to the fire for Bolsonaro, the divisive polemicist dubbed the "Tropical Trump."

"Bolsonaro is a politician forged in the flames of confrontation. He has to have an enemy. He was dreaming of Lula's return to the ring," said political scientist Marcio Coimbra of the Mackenzie School in Brasilia.

Many Brazilians are fearing a campaign of polarizing extremes, at a time when the deeply divided country is already suffering from the pandemic and its economic fallout.

Bolsonaro, 65, let fly some of his trademark invective Thursday, calling Lula, 75, a "convict" and "piece of decaying meat" in a live Facebook video.

But if his first reactions are any indication, Lula's return could force Bolsonaro to move toward the center.

More than halfway into his term, Bolsonaro's hardline, polarizing style has given him few concrete achievements to boast.

And like Trump, his political role model, he will no longer be able to run as the outsider arriving to drain the swamp.

"Bolsonaro isn't a novelty any more," said law professor Michael Mohallem of the Getulio Vargas Foundation.

If the race goes to a Bolsonaro-Lula runoff, voters in the middle -- many of whom dislike both -- would likely lean Lula if the elections were today, he said.

"Bolsonaro is the one who looks like a radical," he told AFP.

Lula, who presented himself as a market-friendly, Covid-concerned moderate in Wednesday's speech, "looks like a mature, relatively reasonable politician by comparison," Mohallem said.

Bolsonaro's future handling of the pandemic could be a weathervane.

Sensitive to complaints from the business sector about the economic cost of Brazil's badly delayed immunization campaign, he looks poised to abandon his anti-vaccine rhetoric.

His senator son, Flavio, sought to rally Bolsonaro supporters on social media this week to republish a picture of the president with the caption, "the vaccine is our weapon."

"You don't win votes by being against the vaccine," said Mohallem.

"It might be easier for (Bolsonaro) to look like a flip-flopper than to pay the political price of that."

- Desperate for 'middle way' -

The latest twist has left some Brazilians longing for a third option -- and less-polarized politics.

Newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo called in an editorial for political, business and civil society leaders to settle on a candidate that "can speak to voters who are tired of both Lula's corruption and Bolsonaro's craziness."

But with more than a half-dozen lesser-known candidates jockeying for the centrist vote, for now Brazil 2022 is looking like a clash of the titans.

Barring a new surprise from the judiciary, of course.

jhb/mdl

Test drilling for oil in Namibia’s Okavango region poses toxic risk

The Canadian oil and gas company ReconAfrica began exploratory drilling in Namibia upstream of the wildlife-rich Okavango Delta in January. 

According to the company’s aerial imagery and an independent review, they don’t appear to have taken what experts say is an environmentally responsible measure to protect the local water supply from contamination.

© Photograph by Danita Delimont, Alamy Stock Photo Botswana. Okavango Delta. Khwai concession. Pack of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) looking out for prey.

Jeffrey Barbee 

3/12/2021

Namibia is a water-scarce country, and when news of the company’s project became more widespread, communities expressed concern that contaminants from drilling would seep into shallow aquifers that supply drinking water and irrigation for crops.

Conservationists also worry that contamination from the test drilling could affect wildlife in the vicinity—elephants, Temminck’s ground pangolins, African wild dogs, martial eagles—and in the UNESCO-recognized Okavango Delta some 160 miles downstream.

A large waste, or reserve, pit next to the first test well appears in a video that ReconAfrica posted on its website on January 10. Such pits are for storing the mud, fluids, and other materials—which may contain dangerous chemicals or be hypersaline—that come up when drilling for oil or natural gas. In British Columbia, Canada, where ReconAfrica is based, it’s standard industry practice to line these pits with an impermeable barrier that prevents chemicals from seeping into the earth and groundwater.\

© Photograph by John Grobler tktk

ReconAfrica spokesperson Claire Preece told National Geographic in October 2020 that drill cuttings would “be managed in lined pits.” She also said that “ReconAfrica follows Namibian regulations and policies as well as international best practices.” According to Namibian law, the company must “control the flow and prevent the waste, escape or spilling” of petroleum, drilling fluid, water or any other substance from the well.

In the company’s video, no lining is visible.

Namibian journalist John Grobler, who visited the site on January 23, confirmed to National Geographic that the reserve pit was unlined and had liquid pooling in it.

“From an environmental aspect this is grossly unacceptable, and from a social aspect [it] is reckless and disgraceful,” says Jan Arkert, a consulting engineering geologist based in Uniondale, South Africa, who has worked for decades on drilling-related projects. “The communities are totally dependent on groundwater for domestic and agricultural purposes, and any contamination to the aquifer will be all but impossible to contain and clean up.

Arkert says that if the company chose to line the pit now, after drilling has started, it would be complicated. It would involve multiple steps, including removing the waste already there and disposing of it at a suitable facility, preparing the underlying gravel layer to ensure it won’t puncture the liner, and then installing the liner itself, which might have to be imported. Each step, Arkert says, is time consuming and likely would take at least three to four weeks.

“It looks to me like drilling fluids from the rig are being discharged into the unlined reserve pit,” says Matt Totten, Jr., a former exploration geologist for the oil and gas industry who has worked on projects in the United States, after he examined ReconAfrica’s video and still images. “Notice the dark brown discolored areas in the pond next to the rig where drilling fluids would be discharged.”

After reviewing another aerial video from drill site published by the German news program VOX on March 4, Totten confirmed that the now very full pit still “appears unlined and likely filled with a mixture of rainwater and drilling fluids.”

ReconAfrica did not respond to multiple requests for comment about its reserve pit.

To get permission from the Namibian government to drill exploratory wells, ReconAfrica had to do an assessment of their environmental impacts. The company’s resulting report referred to a waste “pond” and noted that it would “scrape all waste that has collected in the pond and dispose of these and the pond lining at a suitable site.”

Arkert, who joined a Zoom conference on oil and gas development in Africa on February 17 hosted by the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers, asked Scot Evans, the CEO of ReconAfrica, why the company didn’t line the pit.

Evans didn’t answer the question directly but said that in Canada the fluid “is used as fertilizer.” He added, “We are going to have a little experiment when we are done with the local [agriculture] people to introduce fertilizers to the community.”

According to Arkert, that answer “can only be described as bizarre,” because Evans is referring only to the drill fluid. But what’s particularly dangerous are naturally occurring compounds such as benzene, ethylene, toluene, and zylene, as well as radioactive water, which come to the surface if petroleum is discovered. The “brew that is stored in the unlined containment pond will be a cocktail of toxic liquid waste, fit only for disposal in a hazardous landfill site,” Arkert says.

Other experts agree. Water coming up the well when drilling into oil and gas formations “is typically saline, contains oil and grease, and can contain toxic organic and inorganic compounds, and naturally occurring radioactive materials,” says Surina Esterhuyse, a geohydrologist with the University of the Free State, in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Some of those chemicals have been proven to cause cancer, birth defects, and reproductive disorders in people, according to a 2016 study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

According to a 2009 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report, reserve pits can contaminate farmland, streams, and drinking water sources and “can entrap and kill migratory birds and other wildlife.”

It is unclear what protocols ReconAfrica has followed for its first Namibian test well reserve pit to protect the area’s fragile ecosystem.


Wildlife Watch is an investigative reporting project between National Geographic Society and National Geographic Partners focusing on wildlife crime and exploitation. Read more Wildlife Watch stories here, and learn more about National Geographic Society’s nonprofit mission at nationalgeographic.org. Send tips, feedback, and story ideas to NGP.WildlifeWatch@natgeo.com.

First study of all Amazon greenhouse gases suggests the damaged forest is now worsening climate change

Craig Welch 

3/12/2021

The Amazon rainforest is most likely now a net contributor to warming of the planet, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis from more than 30 scientists

The Amazon rainforest is most likely now a net contributor to warming of the planet, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis from more than 30 scientists.

© Photograph by Jak Wonderly, Nat Geo Image Collection Sunrise creating a halo in the early morning mist over the canopy of the rainforest. Alta Floresta, Southern Amazon, Mato Grosso, Brazil.

For years, researchers have expressed concern that rising temperatures, drought, and deforestation are reducing the capacity of the world’s largest rainforest to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and help offset emissions from fossil-fuel burning. Recent studies have even suggested that some portions of the tropical landscape already may release more carbon than they store.

But the inhaling and exhaling of CO2 is just one way this damp jungle, the most species-rich on Earth, influences the global climate. Activities in the Amazon, both natural and human-caused, can shift the rainforest’s contribution in significant ways, warming the air directly or releasing other greenhouse gases that do.

Drying wetlands and soil compaction from logging, for example, can increase emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. Land-clearing fires release black carbon, small particles of soot that absorb sunlight and increase warmth. Deforestation can alter rainfall patterns, further drying and heating the forest. Regular flooding and dam-building releases the potent gas methane, as does cattle ranching, one chief reason forests are destroyed. And roughly 3.5 percent of all methane released globally comes naturally from the Amazon’s trees.

Yet no team had ever tried to assess the cumulative impact of these processes, even as the region is being rapidly transformed. The research, supported by the National Geographic Society and published today in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, estimates that atmospheric warming from all of these sources combined now appears to swamp the forest’s natural cooling effect.

“Cutting the forest is interfering with its carbon uptake; that’s a problem,” says lead author Kristofer Covey, a professor of environmental studies at New York’s Skidmore College. “But when you start to look at these other factors alongside CO2, it gets really hard to see how the net effect isn’t that the Amazon as a whole is really warming global climate.”

The damage can still be reversed, he and his colleagues say. Halting global emissions from coal, oil, and natural gas would help restore balance, but curbing Amazon deforestation is a must, along with reducing dam building and increasing efforts to replant trees. Continuing to clear land at current rates appears certain to make warming worse for the entire world.

“We have this system that we have relied on to counter our mistakes, and we have really exceeded the capacity of that system to provide reliable service,” says co-author Fiona Soper, an assistant professor at McGill University.
A complicated ledger

The same richness that makes the Amazon so wonderfully biodiverse, home to tens of thousands of insects per square mile, makes understanding it extremely hard. Shimmering green leaves suck CO2 from the sky, converting it through photosynthesis into carbohydrates that end up in woody trunks and branches as trees grow. In trees and carbon-rich soils, the Amazon stores the equivalent of four or five years worth of human-made carbon emissions, up to 200 gigatons of carbon.

But the Amazon is also super wet, with floodwaters rising dozens of feet a year across the forest floor. Microbes in those drenched soils make methane, which is 28 to 86 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2. Trees act like smokestacks, channeling that methane to the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, moisture from the Atlantic Ocean that falls as rain gets sucked up by plants, used for photosynthesis, and exhaled by leaves through the same pores that take up CO2. Back in the atmosphere, it falls as rain again.

Humans complicate these natural cycles not just through climate change but through logging, reservoir-building, mining, and agriculture. Deforestation in Brazil has exploded in recent years, hitting a 12-year high in 2020, increasing nearly 10 percent from the year before.

Some of these processes draw down greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, while others cause the gases to rise, and they all influence one another. But until recently, no had attempted to understand that balance. “It’s this system of interacting parts, and they’re all measured in different ways, on different time scales, by different people,” Soper says.

What’s clear is that the forest has been changing fast and in alarming ways. Rain now falls in massive bursts more frequently than it once did, triggering record floods. Droughts come more often and, in some areas, last longer. Trees that fare better in wet places are being outcompeted by tall, drought-tolerant species. Illegally set fires are on the rise again. About 5.4 million acres burned in 2019, an area roughly the size of New Jersey.

So, in 2019, the National Geographic Society brought Covey, Soper, and a team of other Amazon experts together to begin trying to dissect how all of these pieces fit together. They didn’t take new measurements—they looked for new ways to analyze existing data with an eye toward a comprehensive picture.
Looking beyond CO2

While the results include some uncertainty, they make clear that focusing on a single metric—CO2—simply doesn’t paint an accurate picture. “As important as carbon is in the Amazon, it’s not the only thing that’s going on,” says Tom Lovejoy, a senior fellow in biodiversity with the United Nations Foundation, who has worked in the Brazilian Amazon for decades. “The only surprise, if you can call it that, is how much more there is when you add it all up.”

Resource extraction, damming rivers, and the conversion of forest for soybean and livestock production all alter the natural systems in a variety of ways. But most serve to warm the climate. Methane is a particularly important player. While the largest sources of methane are still from natural forest processes, the Amazon’s capacity to take up carbon used to do far more to offset its methane emissions. Humans have diminished that capacity.

Rob Jackson, an earth systems scientist at Stanford University and a leading expert on global greenhouse emissions, considers the new research a worthwhile contribution. “The Amazon is vulnerable, and we tend to get tunnel vision about one greenhouse gas alone,” he says.

Patrick Megonigal, associate director of research at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, agreed. “What the authors do that’s important is to expand the conversation beyond carbon dioxide, which is what 90 percent of public conversation is centered around,” he says.

“CO2 is not a lone actor. When you consider the whole cast of other characters, the outlook in the Amazon is that the impacts of human activities will be worse than we realize.”

Many questions remain. The biggest for Megonigal is one that Lovejoy also worries about: How do all of these factors influence the local Amazon climate? That’s important because the Amazon supplies much of its own moisture, with a single water molecule cycling through the forest five or more times as moist air moves from the Atlantic west over the continent.

A recent analysis by Lovejoy and Carlos Nobre, a climate scientist with the University of São Paulo's Institute for Advanced Studies, suggests that rising deforestation might so alter the flow of that moisture that it could push large stretches of the Amazon toward a permanent transition to a drier woodland savanna. The duo believes that tipping point could be reached if as little as 20 to 25 percent of the rainforest is cleared.

That would spell big trouble for the climate, substantially reducing even more the forests’ potential to scrub the skies of some of our fossil-fuel emissions. By the Brazilian government’s own measure, forest clearing already tops 17 percent.

What happens in Brazil (and neighboring countries in the Amazon) affects the whole world. In the United States, a group of environmental leaders from four previous presidential administrations, both Democratic and Republican—Bush senior, Clinton, Bush junior, and Obama—recently called on President Joe Biden to demand that Brazil’s government reduce deforestation. They urged Biden to use trade with the U.S. as leverage.

Brazil and the U.S. are currently in negotiations.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The photo caption and headline on this article have been corrected to clarify that the Amazon rainforest still stores carbon and that the net warming effect it is likely having on climate is a result of human disturbance.

U.S. white SPRING wheat growers cash in as China snaps up supplies

By Julie Ingwersen and Hallie Gu 

© Reuters/Julie Ingwersen FILE PHOTO: Spring wheat is inspected in central North Dakota

CHICAGO/BEIJING (Reuters) - China is scooping up supplies of U.S. white wheat to feed livestock, pushing export forecasts for the grain usually used to make sponge cakes and noodles to a 27-year-high.

The purchases are the latest disruption in commodities markets caused by Chinese buying of grains and oilseeds during the coronavirus pandemic, pushing prices of major commodity crops to multi-year highs.

China has booked more U.S. white wheat this year than any country besides the Philippines, the top buyer of the grain. While U.S. producers have long tried to woo the growing Chinese market for confectionary foods made from white wheat flour, the recent purchases reflect a need for animal feed, Chinese traders and analysts said.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) raised its forecast for exports of U.S. white wheat to 245 million bushels, the most since 1994, due to strong demand from China and South Korea.

Graphic: China on course for highest purchases of U.S. wheat in more than 6 years 

 https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/ce/ygdpzgqgrvw/USWheatexportstoChina.png

In a sign of the varied pace of global economic recoveries, USDA lowered its export forecast for the most common U.S. wheat class, hard red winter wheat, citing lower demand to "several Western Hemisphere markets."

While white wheat is not typically fed to animals, high corn prices - benchmark U.S. futures hit 7-1/2-year highs last month - made it a viable alternative in China.

China is scouring the globe for feed grains as it rebuilds the world's largest hog herd, which was ravaged by African swine fever.

“Most of the imported wheat is going to the feed sector as corn prices are high and there is profit (to import)," said Li Hongchao, a senior grains analyst with trade website Myagric.com.

China signed a trade deal with the United States in January 2020. More recent trade tensions between China and Australia, which grows a slightly different hard white wheat, have also sent China seeking alternative wheat supplies.

Nine months into the 2020/21 wheat marketing year begun June 1, 2020, China's purchases of all U.S. wheat classes are at a seven-year high of 2.9 million tonnes, according to USDA's weekly export sales data. White wheat bookings represent about a third of the total, at 947,863 tonnes as of March 4.

Chinese purchases of U.S. white wheat began ramping up in November, after grinding to a near halt in 2018 and 2019 when Beijing and Washington were in the thick of a trade war.

Prior to 2018, China had been building its U.S. white wheat purchases, booking 228,000 tonnes in 2016/17 and 307,000 tonnes in 2017/18. The U.S. wheat industry, anticipating the growth of China's economy, has spent years cultivating a relationship with China's flour millers and bakers.

"It's a growing middle class, and their interest (is) in diversifying their diet," said Randy Fortenbery, an agricultural economist at Washington State University.

Most U.S. white wheat is soft white wheat, grown in the Pacific Northwest and beloved by bakers for its pale color and low gluten strength, ideal for cakes and steamed breads.

'GOOD RUN-UP IN PRICES'

While the wheat has been cheaper than corn in China, where feed grains are in high demand, it is earning U.S. farmers a premium. The booming export market for white wheat has sent cash prices at the Portland, Oregon, export hub hovering around $7.50 a bushel, up about $2 or 35% from July post harvest.

Idaho grower Cordell Kress says he sold about a third of his expected 2021 white wheat harvest and has even pre-sold some of his 2022 crop.

"That is more than usual. But we have had a pretty good run-up in prices," said Kress, who grows about 3,000 acres (12 square kilometers) of wheat each year in southeast Idaho.

Graphic: U.S. wheat, corn prices push higher after strong buying from China 

 https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/ce/yxmpjwkxxvr/USWheatCornPrices.png

Even so, grain merchandisers and farmers do not expect much of a jump in U.S. white wheat acres this spring, given strong prices for competing crops like canola. While most of the U.S. white wheat crop was planted last autumn, before the price rally, a smaller portion is seeded each spring.

"Lots of things go into crop selection besides price," said Kress. "I do what is best for my farm and the soil, and typically that involves sticking to crop rotations."

(Reporting by Julie Ingwersen and Hallie Gu; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Marguerita Choy)

COVID-19 pandemic adds urgency to fight against climate change: Mark Carney

© Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images Mark Carney, who serves as the UN's special envoy for climate change and finance, said in an interview on CBC's Rosemary Barton Live airing Sunday that he believes the COVID-19 pandemic adds urgency to the global fight…

Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney says the world's response to the COVID-19 pandemic could build momentum for a collaborative approach to the other great global crisis: climate change.

In an interview on CBC's Rosemary Barton Live airing Sunday, Carney said the fact that virtually no country has escaped the health and economic effects of the coronavirus is leading to a broader recognition that global problems require collective solutions.

"We can't self-isolate from climate change," Carney told host Rosemary Barton. "Ultimately, we'll all be affected. So we all have to act."


His comments come as Canada and the world mark one year since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries shut down schools and workplaces, closed borders to travellers, procured massive amounts of personal protective equipment and enforced public health measures, such as physical distancing, to contain the virus.

The year also saw unprecedented scientific collaboration as scientists and public health experts around the world sought to understand how the virus spreads and find the best ways to fight it. Vaccines — which offer the best hope of bringing the pandemic to an end — were developed in record time.
Bringing science to the fore

Carney said the pandemic brought science and public health expertise to the fore in public policy, highlighting the vital role that scientists and expert advice play in solving large problems.

"There's a recognition that the advice of scientists should be listened to. They advised on the risks of pandemics and we didn't fully listen to them anywhere in the world," said Carney.

"They've been advising for a long time of the risks on climate change. It is time to listen."

In a new book to be released next week — Value(s): Building a Better World for All — Carney argues that the pandemic has given people an opportunity to "sit back and reflect" on what they value most. He said the values he's seen emerging are sustainability, solidarity and fairness across generations — all of which, he said, require more comprehensive action on climate change.

"During this [pandemic], quite rightly, governments have taken big steps, a lot of borrowing," said Carney. "That is borrowing from the future unless we now focus on the future and build a better future."
'Huge economic opportunity'

Carney, who serves as a special envoy to the United Nations for climate and finance, is advising the United Kingdom's government as it prepares to host the next UN climate summit, known as COP 26, in Glasgow, Scotland in November.

He said that part of the meeting will focus on how the private financial sector can "retool" so that companies take climate change into account when making financial decisions.

In Canada, Carney said, the move to a sustainable, low-carbon economy offers a "huge economic opportunity." Carney said Alberta's energy industry, which is one of the country's largest industrial emitters, could help to drive that transition through investments in research and development.

"If we can take this opportunity as Canadians to address the issue, respect that there are multiple ways to improve sustainability in this country, build a sustainable future but also build a very strong economy alongside, that would be a tremendous outcome from what has been an extraordinarily difficult year," said Carney.

You can watch full episodes of Rosemary Barton Live on CBC Gem, the CBC's streaming service.
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Simu Liu Speaks Out Against Anti-Asian Hate Crimes: ‘I Fear For My Parents’
Shakiel Mahjouri 1 day ago

Simu Liu is not keeping quiet about anti-Asian sentiment.

© Provided by ET Canada Simu Liu. Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tijana Martin

Liu opens up in a new op-ed for Variety published on Thursday. The feature was released amid rising anti-Asian violence in the U.S.

The "Kim's Convenience" actor will star in Disney and Marvel's upcoming superhero movie "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings".

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“I worry a lot about my parents these days. It used to be the other way around; they’d be the ones nitpicking at me, always finding something to fuss about whenever I visited home," Liu wrote. "Now, much to their chagrin, the tables have turned and I am the one who worries."

"Did you hear what happened to the Thai American man who was out on his morning walk? Do you know what’s happening out there?" he added. "You have to stay away from people!!!”

Liu expressed his concern for his loved ones, sharing statistics from Stop AAPI Hate, a website that tracks violence against Asian Americans.

RELATED: Canadian Actor Simu Liu Surprises Widowed Dad And Kids

“I fear for my parents’ safety because of a virus, although perhaps not the one you’re thinking of," the actor wrote. "I’m talking about the hate crimes being committed against Asian people at an alarming rate over the past year."

"There were over 2,800 reported cases of racism and discrimination between March 19 and Dec. 31 of last year,” he continued. “When I see photos of these Asian elders who have been attacked, I see the embodiment of my own parents’ journey; their dreams and their struggles, their sorrow and their unwavering optimism.”

World's largest carbon stores found in Australian World Heritage Sites (msn.com)

While the intrinsic value of lush marine ecosystems is undeniable, scientists are racing to save these areas for a different reason — the vegetation stores billions of tons of greenhouse gases and if they are released, it could have a staggering impact on global temperatures. A report from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) states that six marine World Heritage Sites in Australia are among the largest carbon stores on Earth and reinforces the need for greater conservation efforts.


VIDEO Climate change is now the biggest threat to natural World Heritage sites


Out of all the UNESCO sites, 40 per cent of the world’s carbon that resides in mangrove, seagrass, and tidal marsh ecosystems are stored in six Australian sites, which cover just 0.57 per cent of the Earth’s surface. These types of marine and coastal ecosystems are what scientists call “blue carbon ecosystems,” and are some of the largest carbon sinks on the planet because the decaying plant material stores the carbon in its biomass and soil, preventing it from escaping into the atmosphere.

© Provided by The Weather NetworkShark Bay, Australia.

 Credit: Bruce R. Mitchell/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

While forests and terrestrial ecosystems are the first examples that many think of when picturing carbon sinks, scientists have discovered that blue carbon ecosystems are essential for managing the changing climate. Oceans are one of the largest carbon sinks on the planet and roughly half of the carbon they capture are courtesy of the plants in blue carbon ecosystems, such as algae. These plants also help improve water quality, create a healthy habitat for thousands of different species, and reduce coastal wave energy, which minimizes the impacts of storms and other extreme weather events.

UNESCO’s World Heritage List features “the world’s most iconic marine protected areas, recognized by the international community for their outstanding biodiversity, beauty, geology and natural habitats.” The World Heritage areas in Australia that contain the highest stores of carbon include the Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo Coast, and Shark Bay.

  

© Provided by The Weather NetworkGreat Barrier Reef, Australia. Credit: Pixabay

Despite the international recognition and current conservation efforts, UNESCO’s report says that these areas have experienced an increasing amount of strain from the changing climate. For example, a marine heatwave in 2011 caused widespread seagrass loss in Shark Bay, which released up to nine million tons of carbon dioxide.

Seagrass is one of the many plants that researchers say are critical for maintaining healthy marine environments due to their extensive ecosystem services, such as trapping tiny bits of plastic and washing them ashore.

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 "Seagrass ‘Neptune balls’ remove millions of plastics from the oceans"

In addition to being easily disturbed by abnormally warm temperatures, blue carbon ecosystems are susceptible to human development due to their pristine conditions, stunning views, and abundance of natural resources. If the soil and vegetation at these sites are disrupted, or if they are not properly managed and protected, blue carbon ecosystems can become a massive source of carbon emissions, the UNESCO report warns.

“If these habitats are disturbed, billions of tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases such as methane are at risk of being emitted to the atmosphere.” The release of the five billion tons of carbon dioxide that are stored in UNESCO marine World Heritage sites and their immediate surroundings would increase annual greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 10 per cent.

The report outlines several recommendations to protect blue carbon ecosystems, one of which highlights the potential for a global carbon trading market to fund conservation and restoration efforts.

Thumbnail credit: Maico Presente. Moment. Getty Images.

'The bill for spills': U.S. lawmakers propose tax on oilsands that could cost Canadian oil producers US$665M over ten years

Geoffrey Morgan 1 day ago

CALGARY – A bill that would impose an additional tax on Canadian oilsands crude could emerge as a new flashpoint between Canada and the United States.

© Provided by Financial Post U.S. Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who is sponsoring a bill to slap an excise tax on oilsands crude to be paid into a fund for cleaning up oil spills.

On Mar. 8, Earl Blumenauer, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives from Oregon, and Ed Markey, a senator from Massachusetts, introduced a bill that aims to slap an excise tax on oilsands crude to be paid into a fund for cleaning up oil spills. That could amount to a 5.5 U.S. cents tax on a barrel of oilsands crude, according to Canadian energy lawyers and industry observers.

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service ruled in 2011 that oilsands crude is not technically considered crude oil and therefore not subject to an excise tax, but Blumenauer’s bill seeks to amend the language in the tax code to specifically label oilsands products as crude oil once again.

“The facts are clear: we are in a climate emergency and must take action. It is past time we hold fossil fuel polluters accountable for the impact they have on the environment,” Rep. Blumenauer said in a release, adding that the excise tax would generate US$665 million in additional taxes for the U.S. government over 10 years.

“We cannot allow any oil company to evade the bill for spills,” Sen. Markey said in a release.

The Tar Sands Loophole Elimination Act is still in its early stages but has won the backing of influential members of Congress including Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and from the House’s Natural Resources Chairman Raul Grijalva.

Oilsands aren't the weakest link: Lessons we learned during crude's year of near oblivion

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Crude oil is Canada’s largest export category. Total oilsands production averaged 1.8 million barrels per day last year, a significant chunk of the 4.5 million of various oil blends produced, according to Canada Energy Regulator data.

Canada is the largest exporter of crude oil to the United States, shipping 3.63 million barrels of petroleum products to U.S. refineries daily last week, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Alberta government is monitoring the bill’s progress through U.S. Congress, said Kavi Bal, spokesperson for Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage.

“The hundreds of millions of Americans who depend on Canadian oil should know that such a move would ultimately result in their paying this tax at the pumps,” Bal said in an emailed statement.

Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan’s office declined to comment on the bill, citing a policy of not discussing domestic legislation in another country.

Faced with a rising tax bill for its members, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said it wants a tax policy in the U.S. that “is not discriminatory toward the Canadian energy sector.”

“We’ll continue to support efforts to open the door for collaboration with (U.S.) President Joe Biden and his administration in this vein,” Ben Burnnen, CAPP vice-president, fiscal and economic policy, said in an email. CAPP members include Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and Suncor Energy Inc., the two largest oilsands producers.

Markey has introduced a version of this bill several times in recent years without it passing into law, said Edouard Markson, a partner in tax law at King & Spalding LLP in New York, “but the political winds have shifted in the last few months,” under a progressive Democratic administration led by Biden focused on climate change.

Markson said that every barrel of crude oil produced in the U.S. is currently subject to a 9 U.S. cents per barrel excise tax and this bill aims to level the playing field.

“We (in the U.S.) have this weird statute where we divided the world into petroleum products that are taxable and that are not taxable,” Markson said.

The Canadian oil industry currently pays roughly 3 U.S. cents per barrel excise tax on diluent, a lighter oil used as a blending agent to lighten the viscosity of oilsands bitumen so it can flow through a pipeline, according to Canadian energy lawyers. When that diluent is added to the bitumen produced in the oilsands, the resultant product is called dilbit. Every barrel of dilbit is a mix that’s roughly one-third diluent and two-thirds bitumen.

Blumenauer’s bill would be “an additional burden,” as it will also tax the bitumen in the barrel, which “further erodes the economics” of selling oil to the U.S., said Vivek Warrier, partner and co-lead of the national energy industry team at Bennett Jones LP in Calgary.

Energy oil producers are closely watching the bill, Warrier said.

Suncor and Cenovus Energy Inc. declined requests for comment and CNRL did not provide a response before press time.

In total, Warrier said the new excise tax would bring the total tax burden on every barrel of dilbit sold into the U.S. up to roughly 9 U.S. cents — a significant tax burden that his clients in the oilpatch are considering challenging under USMCA rules.

“There were great pains taken in negotiating the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement to ensure that bitumen would be freely moveable through the continent without having to pay any kind of tariff and certainly this excise tax could be interpreted as such,” Warrier said.

Article 2.4 of the new USMCA trade agreement states that “unless otherwise provided in this Agreement, no Party shall increase any existing customs duty, or adopt any new customs duty, on an originating good,” said Mark Warner, principal at MAAW Law in Toronto, adding that the Blumenauer’s bill may not be permitted under the agreement.

Despite cordial relations between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Biden, the energy-trading relationship between Canada and the U.S. has been strained in the early weeks of the Biden’s government. The new U.S. administration cancelled TC Energy Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline project as one of its first acts in office, meanwhile, Enbridge Inc. is fighting an order by Michigan’s governor to shutdown the Alberta-to-Ontario Line 5 pipeline through Michigan that could disrupt oil supplies to Eastern Canada and the United States.

• Email: gmorgan@nationalpost.com | Twitter: geoffreymorgan