Transcript Healthy Oceans, Healthy Humans

“This world is a water world, a planet dominated by
its covering mantle of ocean,
in which the continents are but transient intrusions
of land above the all-encircling sea.”
- Rachel Carson, the Sea Around Us
Studies in Ocean and Human
Health
• From Monsoons to Microbes: Understanding the
Ocean’s Role in Human Health (National
Academy of Sciences)
• Marine Ecosystems: Emerging Diseases as
Indicators of Change - the Health, Ecological and
Economic Dimensions (CHGE/Harvard)
Studies in Ocean and Human
Health
• NSF/NIEHS
•
•
•
•
University of Hawaii
University of Miami
University of Washington
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)
• NOAA
• The Hollings Laboratory (Charleston, South Carolina)
• NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center in (Seattle, Washington)
• NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (Ann Arbor,
Michigan)
Healthy Oceans, Healthy
Humans Exhibit
Oceans Protect
Oceans Nourish
Oceans Heal
Solutions
Oceans Heal
• Over 50% of the
most prescribed
medicine in U.S. is
derived or patterned
after compounds
from nature
Pacific Yew Tree - Taxol
Medicine from the Sea
Compound
Source
Disease Area
Ziconotide
Cone Snail
Chronic Pain
AM336
Cone Snail
Chronic Pain
GTS21
Nemertine Worm
Alzheimer’s/ Schizophrenia
LAF389
Sponge
Cancer
Bryostatin
Bryozoan
Cancer
OAS1000
Soft Coral
Wound Healing/ Inflammation
Doalastin
Sea Slug
Cancer
Yondelis
Sea Squirt
Cancer
IPL512602
Sponge
Inflammation/ Asthma
Cone Snails
•500 Species
•Reef dwellers
•
•
•
•
1000 times more potent than morphine
No tolerance
No addiction
Specific
Reefs: Medicine Chest of the Sea
Global Distribution of Reefs
Coral
Bleaching
• 26% of all corals
are bleached
• 11% destroyed
• 60% at
significant risk
Coral Disease
Black-band
disease
Coral Plague
Unknown
Oceans Nourish
• 16% of global
animal protein
• Asia’s primary
source of protein
• Omega-3s help
protect against
heart disease
US Consumption
Estimates say
per capita
consumption of
seafood will rise
to 16 pounds
(from 14.8
pounds in 2001)
by 2020, up 4
billion pounds
per year.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Seafood Industry
28 million Americans. MA alone: $200 million in 1998
Mercury emissions
2000-4000 metric tons yearly
Geochemical Cycle of Mercury
Air Emissions are
10- 80% of Water
Burden!
Adapted from US Dept. of Interior’s Report on Hg in the Florida Everglades
Worldwide mercury emissions
(Data from Pacyna)
Total annual deposition
(UNEP, 2002)
Mercury effect as delay in
development (months, age 7) for
each doubling of exposure
Motor (Finger tapping, PH)
Attention (CPT-reaction time)
Visuospatial (Bender errors)
Language (Boston Naming)
Verbal memory (CVLT short delay)
0.9
1.3
0.6
1.6
2.0
Prolonged III-V interval on
brainstem auditory evoked
potentials at recent exposure
(hair-Hg) in 14-yr-old children
New WHO exposure limit
U.S.EPA exposure limit
Murata et al., Journal of Pediatrics, in press
FDA
exposure
limit
Recommended Fish Meals per Month
Based on Methylmercury Fish Tissue Levels
MeHg (mg/kg fish)
Meals per Month (8 oz)
0.1
0.2
9
4.5
0.3
0.4
3.0
2.3
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
1.8
1.5
1.3
1.1
0.9
1
One serving per
week is safe for
an adult woman
if below 0.5 ppm
One serving per
week is safe
for a child if
below 0.17 ppm
Overfishing
Of the 157 stock groups in
U.S. waters, 56 (36 %) are
known to be over-exploited,
while 70 (44 %) are fished
at the maximum level.
Oceans Protect
Warming: Atmosphere and
Oceans
Ocean Warming
Extreme Weather
Droughts and Floods,
in US and around the
world, increasing
(IPCC)
Solutions
Healthy Oceans, Healthy Humans
IS A 700 SQUARE FOOT, WALK-THROUGH, TRAVELING EXHIBIT
AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
Adaptable: the flexibility to
accommodate a number of
institutions
Interactive: Engaging the
user/inquiry-based
Experiential: Evoking senses
and achieving
Narrative: Employing stories to
educate
For healthy humans, we need healthy marine ecosystems