Regulating Genetically Modified Foods: Is Mandatory Labeling the Right Answer?

Thank you. It’s a very common mistake to believe that consumers could only have a choice if the government requires mandatory labeling of genetically engineered food. My question back to you, Jean, is, exactly what kind of information do consumers get if all you do is label the product as “Genetically Engineered?” We can take this up later in the debate part of our panel discussion. I think the one thing that we can all agree on, however, is that the food label is a very important source of information to consumers

A Comparison of Metals in Several Ahermatypic Corals and Surficial Sediments: Mobile Pinnacles and Hoffa Reef, Northcentral Gulf of Mexico

Metal concentrations in marine sediment and carbonate secreting invertebrates are representative of surrounding environmental chemistry. Aluminum, Ba Ca, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sr, and Zn were measured in carbonate and terrigenous phases of the $\u3c$63 um fraction of sediment samples from two locations in the northcentral Gulf of Mexico. Enrichment factors indicate that Al, Ba, Cu, Cr, Mg, Mn, and Ni are all slightly depleted in these sediments relative to crustal abundances. Discriminant function analyses shows that the concentrations of five elements differ between locations. Ahermatypic coral (106 specimens) from five genera collected from the study sites were analyzed for Cd, Cu, Cr, Pb, Zn, Mn, Sr, Ba, Fe, Ca and Mg. Eight elements vary between some genera, Al and Ba also vary in concentration in corals between either location. All elements except Sr are significantly depleted in the coral with respect to Ca in the sediment

Panel Remarks on Regulating Genetically Modified Foods: Is Mandatory Labeling the Right Answer?

Thank you to all of our speakers. I can assure everybody in the audience that you will not be specialists on this topic after today, since we can easily spend a whole afternoon on this topic. Let me ask Jean first of all, do you want to respond to anything you’ve heard from the speakers after you

Landscape Ecotoxicology of Coho Salmon Spawner Mortality in Urban Streams

In the Pacific Northwest of the United States, adult coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) returning from the ocean to spawn in urban basins of the Puget Sound region have been prematurely dying at high rates (up to 90% of the total runs) for more than a decade. The current weight of evidence indicates that coho deaths are caused by toxic chemical contaminants in land-based runoff to urban streams during the fall spawning season. Non-point source pollution in urban landscapes typically originates from discrete urban and residential land use activities. In the present study we conducted a series of spatial analyses to identify correlations between land use and land cover (roadways, impervious surfaces, forests, etc.) and the magnitude of coho mortality in six streams with different drainage basin characteristics. We found that spawner mortality was most closely and positively correlated with the relative proportion of local roads, impervious surfaces, and commercial property within a basin. These and other correlated variables were used to identify unmonitored basins in the greater Seattle metropolitan area where recurrent coho spawner die-offs may be likely. This predictive map indicates a substantial geographic area of vulnerability for the Puget Sound coho population segment, a species of concern under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Our spatial risk representation has numerous applications for urban growth management, coho conservation, and basin restoration (e.g., avoiding the unintentional creation of ecological traps). Moreover, the approach and tools are transferable to areas supporting coho throughout western North America