AFRICAN DUST DUMPED ON THE CARIBBEAN WORRIES SCIENTISTS

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Friday August 30, 2013 – Clouds of African dust have been sprinkling their contents across the Caribbean for as long as there's been sand in the Sahara Desert. The phenomenon is nevertheless attracting increasing attention from regional scientists who believe that the clouds have grown, even if there's no global consensus on the issue.

Recently, an unusually large cloud dusted the Eastern Caribbean, generating hazy skies and vivid sunsets before drifting over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and moving on to be detected as far away as Wyoming in the United States.

Satellite images from NASA show these huge, smoky clouds wafting westward from Africa and blanketing hundreds of square miles.

Although the microscopic dust particles sent aloft by African sandstorms have hitherto been accorded little more than moderate interest, experts are now saying that the particulate matter may be cause for health concerns and merit more study to understand their potential impact.

According to Braulio Jimenez-Velez, a specialist in molecular and environmental toxicology at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, "It is a matter of great magnitude, interest and importance for health." 

So far this year, Sahara dust has prompted two health alerts in Puerto Rico for asthma sufferers and people with allergies. The Dominican Republic also issued a warning.

Many Caribbean territories, including Puerto Rico, have high asthma rates, but no direct link has been established between African dust and higher rates of asthma or lung cancer.

Over time, human activity has changed the composition of the clouds, with scientists saying that they now contain trace amounts of metals, microorganisms, bacteria, spores, pesticides and faecal matter, although no evidence exists that the quantities are sufficient to pose a threat.

African dust sampled in Barbados also had elevated levels of arsenic and cadmium, according to Joseph M. Prospero, professor emeritus of marine and atmospheric chemistry at the University of Miami.

"The specific impact on health is not known here or anywhere else. It has been extremely difficult to link specific particle composition to health effects," said Prospero, who is lead author of a paper on the dust to be published in September by the bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

"So it cannot be said what effect all this dust has, but there is reason for some concern," the expert added.

Eugenio Mojena of Cuba's Institute of Meteorology said the particles are believed to originate in the semi-arid Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert, where farmers raise livestock and employ chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Experts also worry that chemicals in the clouds may pose a threat to coral, although the theory is still a subject of debate.

The dust clouds can also complicate air traffic by reducing visibility to less than 3 miles, said Jason Dunion, a researcher at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

On a more positive note, the dust-laden clouds may inhibit the formation of hurricanes and other tropical weather systems in the Caribbean.

According to Prospero, lower rainfall in West Africa presumably causes more dust, which reduces sunlight, lowers water temperatures and cuts evaporation, all factors in cyclonic formation

SOURCE: http://www.caribbean360.com/

UWI PROFESSOR WARNS OF SERIOUS IMPLICATIONS IF US ATTACKS SYRIA

PROFESSOR BRIAN MEEKS

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Tuesday September 3, 2013 – Professor of Social and Political Change at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Brian Meeks, has warned that if the United States takes military action against Syria, Jamaica’s fragile economy could be in serious trouble.

Over the weekend, Professor Meeks said a more dangerous Middle East is a more dangerous world and inevitably this would lead to even more instability in Jamaica.

“One thing that we are already feeling is oil prices. Once there is instability in the Middle East, and there is a lot of it now, oil prices will go up and have continued to go up . A more dangerous Middle East is a more dangerous world, the world will become more unstable and that can have tremendous impact on our economy if war spreads and more particularly on the price of oil.”

He believes that a decision to take military action is not the best one for the United States.

“The United States should wait to hear what the United Nations has found and should operate clearly in the bounds of the United Nations and multilateralism. I frankly think that the United States went the unilateral route in Iraq and paid the price for it. I think they should wait until the international community clearly identifies what happened in Syria” he said.

On Sunday, the Obama Administration in the United States called on Congress to support a move to take military action against Syria.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said evidence collected independently of a United Nations probe shows that Syria used sarin gas in an attack on its people.

According to Kerry, the United States has to act. "If you don't do it, you send a message of impunity,” he said.

The United Nations has argued that world leaders should wait until UN investigators determine whether chemical weapons were used.(CMC)

SOURCE: http://www.caribbean360.com/