Purple Squirrels Found in PA and England

As reported in many newspapers and television news shows, Percy and Connie Elmert in Jersey Shore, PA, found a purple squirrel in a humane trap they set on their property. They showed it to a few neighbors, took photos and then released it. The squirrel, like one identified in England in 2008 is really purple, and it became purple from the inside out.

What would turn a squirrel purple? Conservative Fox news writes that when you don't know something (as we don't know what chemicals are in PA waters) it is hard to prove. They're right, because our federal and state laws, don't place the burden of proof on chemical industries to first prove that the chemicals they sell are safe, and that means, gas companies, drillers, and farmers, among others, who use a quagmire of chemicals and pesticides are permitted to put poison in our food, air, water, homes... us.  Does this sound believable to you? I am not a conspiracy theory person, but here we are, with poison gas and poisoned food and purple squirrels to show for it. Disease from industrial chemicals is a horrid thought, a sometimes slow death, and reality. Maybe you already know this and are making lifestyle changes to keep the chemicals at bay: joining a CSA, or going organic, exercising, loosing weight... purging your home of chemical cleansers, hair care products, all the seemingly innocent and not so innocent "product" that get poured down drains and ends up recirculating through water supplies. Lots of people are making responsbile changes to make a difference! But will all of these improvements really protect you from disease from toxic chemicals?

It is true that toxins are stored in our body fat, that eating organic and buying local, or from a CSA supports a move away from industrial agriculture, chemicals, and a reliance on fossil fuels (especially when chemical fertilizers cannot be made without using fossil fuels*). Americans in droves are supporting health! The trouble is, with water contamination, such as with conventinal farming and current methods of shale gas drilling, the challenge to stay healthy and cancer free is severely challenged. Our skin is our biggest organ, and showering and bathing allow us to absorb whatever is in our water. Private well owners and municipalities don’t test for the plethora of chemicals that have the potential to be in water, and for the chemicals that are tested, percentages of them are considered "safe". Pennsylvanians don't have the right to be informed about what chemicals are used in fracking and farming, so how can they be water tested, and if we did know, at what cost? Many of us make these important changes and are aware of the importance of living a simpler, chemical free life. Lots of people now use vinegar to kill weeds, and clean household surfaces, instead of using toxic Roundup or a brand name household cleaner. But the truth is many people do not recognize that toxic chemicals as dangerous, toxic chemicals are apathetically accepted by many people, as "a fact of life" or supported despite their destructiveness, because the chemical industries provide jobs and a taxes... We water our yards and gardens, boil our spaghetti, have the morning cup of coffee, wash our children, and clothes... Water is a staple, which if you have to do without, as I recently did, you will apprecate even more. Regional farms can and will contain the by-product chemicals from gas drilling in the Marcellus region, so it will be in our food, too as it waters vetgetables and animals. There has been an public outcry to have these chemicals regulated. Should our government step in and regulate these chemicals?

I am, and many people are opposed to the government being excessively involved in business and regulations. My reasons are simple, the regulations and taxes become burdensome to the business that don't need them and frequently can't survive them, and the business that do need restraints continuously find ways to get around them, and then there's the inefficiency of government. Government finds a way to support that which most supports it. And, when legislators fail to pass regulations that work, they pass more regulations and expect us to pay for them. For the most part, our government just doesn't work, so I do not lean on relying on it more. So I ask, what is the alternative? Can we vote it away by voting out politicians? That doesn't seem to be working, but we can keep at it. Can we vote the chemicals themselves away? We, the people, are a Republic. As currently governed, we do not have the right to vote on this issue of chemicals in our water, that turn squirrels purple and give us cancer. In a democracy, we could just call a vote and the majority would win. A Republic means that our representatives, like Kate Harper, vote for us. With our vote for her, or any representative, we give our trust that she cast a vote that relies on the views of her constituents, and her own wisdom. Kate has consistently supported fracking and has not made an issue of the chemicals, at least not as witnessed by her most recent vote for Bill 1950. Will Kate Harper stand against her party on this one? We can make our voices heard, but the bottom line is that Kate Harper like every other representative, casts a vote based on her decision, and while she is representing a perceived financial boom, she is also representing all the hidden costs, costs that many Pennsylvanians, either don't realize, or as with many politicians, do not want to admit. It is easy to draw lines based on politics, but, to be a good human being, to raise healthy children, to see them have their own kids and live an honest life are the real challenges. These things: raising kids, surviving cancer or heart disease, and caring about our health make the decision to recognize the issue of toxic chemical simple. We don't need them, they are counter productive and energy hogs in themselves, and they have to go. It is our reality, that no matter what political party we align with, that we are drinking, consuming chemicals from fracking and farming. Cancer rates are soaring. We can “race for a cure” but when dangerous compounds like brominated trihalomethanes and other “unknown” chemical cocktails are in our water, how much faster can we go in this race? (I find it odd that we don’t see the Susan Komen Foundation take a stand against fracking chemicals.) I will not be happy to be a Pennsylvanian, when my taxes rise because other states and municipalities sue us, due to pollution, healthcare costs from fracking chemicals, and environmental cleanup. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that PA laws need to be changed to allow a vote, or referendum on fracking. I have seen referendums in districts at voting time, but to specifically have a vote to allow or ban fracking, that is not during a primary or general election is not allowed. Am I right or wrong? The way I see it, is that without regulation, representation, or the right to vote, we are helpless. The fracking chemicals are literally being jammed down our throats.  

Current law is also written so that the burden of proof lies with the person or persons who are damaged. Seems reasonable, on the surface, but then add greed and government complicity to the mix. Harrisburg is pro-gas and that means they favor the use of the chemicals used to get it. Our government turns a blind eye: We are by law, required to get sick, and then fight for our rights. Try this on: Sit in a cancer support group, or at Fox Chase Cancer center during an IV administration of a trial drug, or worse, face cancer without care.  The prospect of cancer seems to make Harrisburg's politics about gas drilling and chemicals irrelevant, but they're not. (Ever see the movie. Erin Brockovich, starring Julia Roberts). If you are a Republican who thinks this issue of chemicals killing us is just those "environmental wackos" then you need to understand that even Obama is backed by chemical companies. Obama' food "czar" came from Monsanto. Democratic, Republican Obama, Bush, Clinton... and our Governor have not and will not do what is necessary to prevent chemical contamination. We will get cancer from chemicals and they will continue to get elected through funding from the companies that make, sell and use the chemicals. No political party is immune to this greed disease! That is why we must stand up and call for a public vote in PA for a moratorium on fracking. Our govenment is so corrupt, and so immoral, that in a very unkind moment, I'd like to suggest the all the politicians who support chemicals in our food and water, drink the cocktail they are mixing. A nice green smoothie of algae from the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico (that is the size of New York State from plains states ammonium nitrate fertilizer runoff), combined with bromine from the gas industry, a dash of chlorine, some Roundup from Monsanto, along with a dose of crude oil, who knows what else, and what the heck, add a little natural gas, so it is flambé.

What is agreed, no matter what one's political affiliations, is that mammals don't turn purple without ingesting something that turns them purple. Krish Pillai, a professor at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania states: "This is not good at all. That color looks very much like Tyrian purple. It is a natural organobromide compound seen in molluscs and rarely found in land animals. The squirrel has too much bromide in its system possibly from all the bromide laced frack water it's been drinking. I would raise the alarm. This could mean bladder cancer for humans down the road."
 
This is a moral choice. You decide. Should the process of extracting natural gas and the chemicals used in fracking have to be proven safe now, or should our PA government and gas extraction continue as planned, so that we will then pay our gas bill and increased taxes to support gas company lawyers, to compensate other states and municipalities for fracking pollution, and to counter sue and bury sick Pennsylvanians? What price are you willing to pay for natural gas?

Marie Crawford, Registered Republican so I could vote for a presidential candidate in the Primary election, Independent by heart = issue by issue voter.

Sources:

* Michael Pollan, The Omivore's Dilemma "An acre of chemically fertilized corn uses 50 gallons of oil."

Liberal rag: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08/purple-squirrel-jersey-shore-pennsylvania-released_n_1263767.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

Conservative rag: www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/10/pennsylvanias-purple-squirrel-rainbow-colored-riddle

Local view:http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/gas-drilling/study-finds-bromide-but-no-fracking-impacts-in-water-after-drilling-1.1223413#axzz1lpSHXSfJ