What's Polluting Colorado's Air? If You Plan To Move Here You Owe It To Yourself To Know

Top: Main air pollution locations in the state of Colorado. Bottom the top 10 greenhouse gas emitters projected through 2030.

As my respiratory problems have grown increasingly worse over the past five years, I found this information from a Denver Post expose (January 19, p. 1A), e.g.   
 

What's polluting Colorado's air? 125 million tons a year of heat ...

Excerpt:

"Effects of fossil fuels Fossil fuels producers in Colorado — the expanding oil and gas industry that runs more than 53,000 wells around the state along with processing facilities, storage and pipelines — have emerged collectively as a major polluter, emitting about 15.6 million tons a year, state records show"

to be especially informative.   And we learn further:

"More than 125 million metric tons of hazardous and heat-trapping gases pollute Colorado’s air every year, hurting public health and accelerating warming of the planet at a time when world leaders are trying to clean up the atmosphere and fight climate change."

Watching me cough one night in a particularly spasmodic way, almost like a flu cough, Janice asked what was wrong. I mentioned a constant 'tickle' in the chest which triggered a similar cough that was most productive each morning. By that I meant coughing up thick plugs of phlegm and mucus.  Five years ago I experienced nothing like what I am dealing with currently.  What changed? Well, fracking and its incessant injection of pollutants into Colorado's air. 

As The Post article notes, the state's expanding oil and gas industry operates more than 53,000 wells across the state along with processing and storage facilities. Collectively these emit more than 15.6 million tons of pollutants per year.  These include hazardous chemicals such as: thousands of tons of sulfur dioxide, benzene, hydrogen cyanide, nitric oxide, perchloroethylene,  - as well as thousands of tons or particulates which cause heart and lung problems.   Add in 130, 670 tons a year of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and you indeed have a toxic brew.  One which now adversely affects nearly 17 percent of state residents, including me. (One reason I often kid Janice about moving back to Barbados.)

The Post expose shows:  "the top VOC polluters emit 5,376 tons a year and the top nitrogen oxide polluters emit 12, 145 tons."   Adding: "This pollution causes respiratory problems, headaches and nausea, as well as irritating the eyes, nose and throat.  VOCs also damage the liver, kidneys and central nervous system."

And to think that 19 years ago when we first moved here from Maryland, the state had pristine skies and atmosphere. Visitors like my sister-in-law Krimhilde marveled at how beautiful the setting was and how they didn't have to breathe the diesel fumes like in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.  Alas, had Krimhilde lived and visited us now she'd be appalled.    

The Post piece notes that EPA data show that Colorado joined 14 other states (North Dakota, Montana, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, South Dakota, Wyoming, Arkansas, Texas, Minnesota, Utah, Idaho and Oklahoma) where "increased overall emissions increased from 2005 through 2014."   Colorado officials also have disclosed the latest inventory shows overall air pollution peaking at around 132 million tons before closure of coal-fired power generators led to a leveling and slight decline of overall pollution.  Well, we must be thankful for small mercies as it declined to 125.7 million tons per year.   

The top twenty polluters' sites are shown in the map at top, from The Post article.  The top 20 greenhouse gas polluters include: Xcel Energy's Comanche, Craig, Pawnee, Hayden, Cherokee and Ft. St. Vrain power plants - along with a mix of other industrial sources. The latter include the Swiss-owned Holcim cement factory near Florence, and the Canadian-owned Suncor energy oil refinery north of Denver.  

 Meanwhile, the biggest VOC polluters include the crude oil pipeline company Plains Marketing (with a base in Denver) and the Suncor oil refinery. THe biggest nitrogen oxide polluters include power plants run by the Tri-State facility in Craig and Colorado Springs' Martin Drake coal plant along with multiple other oil and gas industry polluters.   

Yes, folks, the oil and gas industry is terrific for the state economy and some of the best paying jobs, as the Colorado Oil and Gas Association never ceases to tell us.  But the $64 question is whether this great fossil fuel economy will be sufficient to provide the funds to take care of all the health issues that erupt in the state's residents in the years to come.  

Think about that the next time you consider uprooting and moving to our once quality air state.

"Female Viagra" In A Little Pink Pill? - Women Had Best Not Bet Their Sex Lives On That PR Claim

Evidently, millions of American women, suffering from low libido (some of them even in their twenties as shown last night and this morning on the news) can't wait to be able to buy what is being marketed as "female Viagra" which is nothing of the sort. Ladies, if you are counting on this pink pill to boost your sex drive you may be sadly disappointed, and before you buy it  (est. $75/month) you need to separate marketing BS from scientific reality.

Viagra, like Cialis,  belongs to a drug class known as PDE5 inhibitors.  Recall the chemical pathways here: the cavernous nerves close to the prostate gland secrete nitric oxide which stimulates release of an enzyme (cyclic GMP) inside the penile smooth muscle cells. This promotes relaxation of smooth muscles and erection. An enzyme known as PDE5 prevents this, since else there may be a prolonged erection. Hence, a PDE5 inhibitor works to suppress secretion of the PDE5 enzyme.

Men use it to get a "boost" before sexual contact, and it generally takes from 1-2 hrs. to work. The experience and effects are entirely "below the belt", i.e. in the genital region. Most males are good for several hours after taking the blue pill because the blood flow assures good connection. Male prostate cancer survivors are also asked to take it - if only to prevent deformation of the penis (say after radical prostatectomy) to enable O2 to get into the tissues.

Indeed, the pre-op use of PDE5 inhibitors is now widely indicated by oncologists for endothelial preconditioning, whereby the endothelium (the lining of the erection spaces) is in some way protected by pre-treatment. Typically, the patient then gets a prescription for a PDE5 inhibitor the day the Foley catheter is removed post-surgery/.  He is then "told to take a full dose of Viagra (100 mg) or Levitra (20 mg) once per week with adequate accompanying stimulation.

These genital mechanics and chemical aspects have not one iota to do with the "little pink pill" called Addyi now on offer to women suffering from low libido. And to believe so is to delude oneself, and hence Addyi is NOT "female Viagra". Moreover, there are more significant side effects while the main one for Viagra may be some indigestion and temporarily blurry vision and higher blood pressure.

The main difference from Viagra is that Addyi works on specific hormones in the woman's brain such as dopamine, serotonin. The increase in libido arrives after the relative strengths of these brain chemicals are "adjusted" by Addyi. There is NO concomitant blood flow to the genital region as there is for males. Also it can take much longer for the effect to kick in. As One Dr. Berman put it this morning on CBS Early Show, "the drug's risks are greater than its benefits" and also:

"It increased the number of sexually satisfying events by less than one event per month".

So, if a woman suffering from hypoactive sexual desire disorder now has sex once a month, Addyi can expect to help her increase that to twice a month. Also,  she can't take it just before a planned encounter like a man can take Viagra. No, she needs to take it "weeks or months" before the effects kick in, according to sex therapist Leonore Tiefler quoted in today's Denver Post.

Meanwhile, she will have to be on guard for the most common side effects, including:

- Dizziness
- Nausea
-Fatigue

And when combined with alcohol, it can cause fainting. Thus the FDA is also requiring a strong warning to women that they should never drink alcohol while taking the drug and stressing the risk that it can cause sudden fainting - a special danger for drivers.

 Fortunately, this pink pill  which goes by the name flibanserin, is only supposed to be issued to specially trained doctors and pharmacists to dispense it. They are also  to keep track of any problems with women taking the drug. Only trained physicians will be allowed to write prescriptions for the pill.              

                     

Alarmist? Hardly. Dr. Susan Wood, a former FDA official now at George Washington University, said she was disappointed by the approval.  She said:

"This is a product that is neither very effective nor particularly. safe. It won't benefit many women and at the same time the approval comes with a lot of restrictions, setting a precedent that a drug for women's sexual health has to be treated in a very special way."

Women desperate for a low libido "cure" would be well advised to take notice. When will this sexual salvation be ready? Sprout Pharmaceuticals' CEO Cindy Whitehead said this morning the planned roll out date is October 17th.