The Battalion
cience
Thursday, August 6,1992
'The Year of the Gulf of Mexico
EPA, state groups sponsor environmental awareness campaign
By Erin Bradley
The Battalion
The Year of the Gulf of Mexico, which
officially began last month, will seek to
promote awareness of the environmental
issues and the economic importance of the
Gulf to the entire country until the end of July
1993.
The program, titled "America's Sea. Keep
It Shining," has identified eight issues with
both environmental and economic impact on
the vast Gulf region.
Five states, including Texas, Mississippi,
Alabama, Florida and Louisiana, share the
Gulf coastline, as do Mexico and Cuba.
The Environmental Protection Agency
founded the Gulf of Mexico Program in 1988
to unite represent
atives of the five
states, and from the
program came the
eight issues cur
rently in focus
during the Year of
the Gulf.
"We take the Gulf for granted without
fully appreciating the benefits that
this vast natural resource provides."
Chesapeake Bay and New England areas
combined.
But on the negative side. Gulf statistics
include the fact that Texas, Louisiana and
Florida all exceed the national average for
plastics found in waste.
Also, 460 municipalities and industrial
facilities pipe pollutants directly into the Gulf,
with more than one billion gallons from
sewers and septic tanks flowing into Gulf
waters each day.
In Galveston Bay, 95 percent of seagrasses
are dead due to sewage and toxic
contamination. As a result, half of the
oystering in that area has been closed.
The Gulf program is seeking to involve
participants from federal, state and local
agencies, private organizations, educators and
academicians, civic groups, businesses,
scientists and
Operation in Galveston.
Sponsoring the program aretheHi
Marine Laboratory, Roberts Communica:
& Marketing, Inc., The Gulf of "
Foundation, The Harlequin Group, and
EPA.
- Buck Wynne, regional administrator of
the EPA
technicians, the
media, and
concerned citizens.
Mote Marine
Laboratory, a non
profit marine and
environmental
DARRIN HILL/The Battalion
After the dive
Derek Davis, a junior history major from Houston, grimaces
from the shock of a high dive at the Wofford Cain Pool on
Tuesday.
"We take the Gulf for granted without fully
appreciating the benefits that this vast natural
resource provides," said Buck Wynne,
Regional Administrator of the EPA, in a
released statement.
"The importance of the Gulf is clear.
Everyone must play a part in protecting this
national treasure."
Statistics, such as the 170 million tons of
freight which New Orleans, the busiest port in
the nation, handles each year, indicate in part
the importance of Gulf waters.
The Gulf is the ninth largest body of water
on earth and is traveled by almost half of all U.
S. import and export cargo. It produces more
than half of the U. S. seafood market,
including more finfish, shellfish and shrimp
each year than the South and mid-Atlantic,
research and education center in Florida,
which is in charge of the public outreach
aspect of the program, wants the public to stay
informed.
"Before assuming, however, that the entire
Gulf is a simmering stewpot overflowing with
toxic wastes and suffocating doses of
nutrients, it is encouraging to recognize that
the farther offshore one goes, the cleaner the
Gulf gets," according to Pamela Casteel, editor
of Texas Shores, a quarterly published by
Texas A&M University's Sea Grant College
Program in her Summer 1992 issue which is
dedicated to the Gulf.
"I think our main problem is probably the
cleanup of near-shore areas," said Dean E.
Letzring, Port Captain of the Texas A&M
Oceanography Department's Marine
The Year of the Gulf is focusing oneit
issues:
• Marine debris, or anything from
human waste to plastic
• Toxic substances and pesticides
• Coastal erosion
• Public health, or toxins found in
water and seafood
• Nutrient enrichment, or nutrient
overabundance in water
• Freshwater inflow, which is vital to
the mix with saltwater
• Habitat degradation, or the loss of
organisms’ homes
• Living aquatic resources, or any
organism depending on Gulf areas fori
Tattoo safety depends on artist's
precautions, medical officials say
By Ursula Simms
The Battalion
Although an investigation into
the rumor of a relationship
between the occurrence of
hepatitis and tattoos turned out to
be false, Texas A&M medical
officials at A.P. Beutel Health
Center warn of the dangers of
tattoos.
If needles are not cleaned
properly, those who get tattoos
risk getting hepatitis, AIDS,
septicemia and excessive scarring.
Sharon Arnold, a Registered
Nurse at the A.P. Beutel Health
Center, said she does not approve
of tattoos medically and "all
needles should be used and
thrown away."
"If people do not do proper
cleaning techniques or change
needles, you will get hepatitis,"
said Dr. Don Freeman, also of the
health center.
The risk is such, said Freeman,
that if blood can be transferred
from one patient to another, then
the risk of hepatitis and FIIV is
real.
It all depends on if the tattoo
artist is using proper sterilization
procedures if risk is there or not.
Freeman said.
"The most common problem
with students with tattoos is how
to get rid of them," said Freeman.
Professional tattoos are deeper
and are harder to get rid of. Their
removal depends on their location
and size, said Freeman.
There are basically three
removal procedures. Freeman
said. Small tattoos can be cut out
and the area sewn up. Larger
tattoos may require the use of a
laser, which superficially burns
the skin, removing the tattoo.
A tattoo can also be removed
by a tattoo artist by injecting the
tattoo with a natural skin color
paint that covers up the tattoo.
Professor researches post-polio syndrome
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By Robin Roach
The Battalion
An almost extinct disease in
today's day and age, polio
myelitis (polio) once claimed
thousands of lives nearly 30
years ago. But today, polio
survivors may be faced with
post-polio syndrome.
Dr. William P. Fife, professor
of hyperbaric medicine at the
Texas A&M Health Science
Center, is conducting exper
iments to test his hypothesis that
breathing high-pressure oxygen
in a hyperbaric chamber will
relieve the symptoms of post-
polio syndrome.
"With post-polio syndrome,
what I think we're doing is
providing more oxygen so that
the nerve can produce more
acetylcholine. ThatXis my
working hypothesis," Fife said.
Polio is a viral disease which
attacks and destroys nerves at
random, When the nerve is
destroyed, there is a scarcity of
acetylcholine, a neurotransmit
ter, which causes pain in the
muscles that are affected.
Supplying a post-polio
sufferer with hyperbaric oxygen
will supply the body with more
oxygen and produce more
acetylcholine to alleviate the
pain associated with post-polio
syndrome.
"They start getting pain
usually in the same musclesfc
were hit with paralysis befoc
but not always. Sometime:
muscles, that they didn't nolle
had any trouble before, get !k'
pain," Fife said, "It is pair l
stiffness, very quick fatigue e
exhaustion, so they can't real;
do anything."
Although polio was
extremely contagious and easilt
transmittable in the past, post-
polio syndrome is not. Whet
post-polio sets in, it is no I
classified as a virus.
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See Syndrome/Page6
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The Battalion
TODD STONE, Editor-in-Chief
MACK HARRISON, Opinion Editor GARY CARROLL, City Editor
JAYME BLASCHKE, Lifestyles Editor MARK EVANS, Asst. City Editor
MEREDITH HARRISON, News editor J. DOUGLAS FOSTER, Sports Editor
HEIDI SAUER, News Editor ROBERT REED, Photo Editor
Staff Members
Reporters — Robin Roach, Chris Carroll, Robin Goodpaster, Juli Phillips, Christi Ray,
Tanya Williams, Julie Chelkowski, Susan Westmoreland, Ursula Simms, and Erin Bradley.
Copy editors — Kyle Burnett, Kenneth McWatters, Ali Steere, David Thomas and Lauri
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Photographers — Darrin Hill, Sandra Alvarado, Nick Pena, Michael Marshall, and Huy
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Lifestyles writers — Anas Ben-Musa, Tricia Martinez and Kim McGuire.
Sports writers— Michael Plumer and Don Norwood.
Columnists — Anthony LoBaido, Stacy Feducia, John Deshazo, and Paul Greco.
Assistant to the Editor - Darra Dees
Editorial Cartoonist — William Harrison
Graphic Artist — Jennifer Maxwell
Clerks — Allison Lewis, Shelley Rowton and Carrie Miura.
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spring semesters and Monday through Thursday during the summer session (except
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