The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

PAGE 4 THE POLEMIC FORUM EMPHASIS ENVIRONMENT DETERGENTS Synthetic detergents are an important source of our water pollution. They are an ever-increasing problem because the more they are imoroved. the more they pollute. Every tew months .mme- additives are put in, additives which won't break down in water. One prr alem which has been worked on and solved is that of continuous ,;udsing. Prior to 1965, the suds wou Id not break down, leaving deep layers of foam on our lakes and rivers. By law, the manufacturers )!Vere forced to make the detergents bio-degradable. Now micro-organisms can metabolize them so the agitation of the lakes and rivers no longer results in massive white foam. The present pollution problem stems from the high phospoote content in the laundry detergents. The phosphate is important in the cleaning process be- ,cause it softens the water by im- mobilizing the hard water ions, it re- duces surface tension on the water and it suspends dirt particles. On the other hand, phosphate is very reactive and combines with many free ions, such as calcium and iron in water, to form a precipitate, a mass which settles rather than remaining suspended in solution. This can be seen as the sludge on river bottoms or the milky color in river water near factories. The major problem with phosphate is its ability to fertilize water plants, especially algae. The algae arows so raoidlv that at nioht wh,m there is no sunlight, most of it dies. When the dead plants decompose, they use up .valuable oxygen needed by other plants and animals. Consequently most of the life can no longer survive and the lake turns into an algae bed as Lake Erie did. An article on Lake Erie in the October 20th 1969 issue of Chemical and Engi~eering News stated that, "Control of phosphorous is the only effective re- medial measure against eutrophication (un-natural aging of lakes) that can feasibly be undertaken at present." Since more than half the waste phosphorous comes from detergents, the detergents must be controlled. Researchers are work- ing on possible substitutes for phosphate in detergent such as starch or citric acid. Meanwhile the consumer must do all he can to limit his output of waste phos- phorous. If everyone used only the re- commended amount of laundry detergent with each load, it would cut the waste by one third. However we can cut the amount of detergent used in each load by one fourth again without sacrificing the cleaning power of our detergent. One last way of lessening phosphate pollution is to check the accompanying table of deter- gents and begin using one with a iow phosphate content. Remember, every little bit helps. Cathy Popp Find your detergent on the following list and do your part. Detergent Manufa~ Amway Tri Enzyme AJlion Biz Bio-Ad Salvo Oxydol "Fide Bold Aj•x-Laundry Punch Drive Dreft Gain Duz Bonus Cheer Breeze Fab Cold Power Cold Water All Wisk Diaper Pure Trend Colgate-Palmo! ive Colgate-Palmolive Proctor & Gamble Colgate-Palmolive Proctor & Gamble Proctor & Gamble Proctor & Gamble Proctor & Gamble Colgate-Palmolive Colgate-Palmolive Lever Brothers Proctor & Gamble Proctor & Gamble Proctor & Gamble Proctor & Gamble Proctor & Gamble Lever Brothers Colgate-Palmolive Colgate-Palmolive Lever Brothers Lever Brothers Boyle-Midwest, Inc. Purex Corporation % Phosphate 52.5 43.7 40.4 35.5 35.3 30.7 30.6 30.2 28.2 25.8 25.3 24.5 24.4 23.1 22.4 22.3 22.2 21.6 19.9 9.8 7.6 5.0 1.4 April 28, 1970 AIR POLLUTION Many industrial companies have come up with the statement that air pollution does not cause any type of disease. Well, to be quite frank, they are absolutely correct! There is no scientific proof that air pollution causes lung cancer or any other respiratory disease. However, the point that these corporations do not bring out is that even though air pollution does not cause any diseases, it can irritate a respiratory condition to such a great extent that it will result in unrepairable damage and quite often death. Anyone who has had a cold or the flu has the potential of dying from air pollution. When your body contracts a cold, it damages tissue in your lungs and bronchial tubes. This damage usually goes unnoticed and will eventually heal itself. hlowever, if a person who has had a cold breathes contaminated air, the pollutants can obstruct the healing processes and eventually bring about chronic bronchitis, lung cancer, ·pu!mon° ary emphasema, and death. Many people in this area are under the impression that this unrepairable damage can only happen in citi"s like ™troit, where the pollution wnditions have reached the extreme. These people are greatly mistaken. In Alpena alone, ther.e are 14 000 automobiles. Everyday they emit 4U tons ot carbon JllOnoxide, 5 toi:is of hydrocarbons, and approximately 2 tons of nitrogen oxides. That totals to almost 50 tons of pollutants released everyday in Alpena. This figure grows even larger when industrial wastes and other forms of pollution are added. It is quite obvious that the degree of pol- luted air WP. breath in Alpena is high enough to irritate any damaged tissue in our lungs. Since we all have had our share of colds, this pollution problem affects every one of us, so it must be solved in the near future. We cannot let Industry play with our lives when they say that the problem will be cut by 50% in 1980. The problem must be solved now, before it's too late. Cathy Stump 7 Ways to Prevent Air Pollution 1. Stop Smoking. 2. Report any occurance of air pollution to your local air pollution control. 3. Install anti-pollution devices on cars. 4. Have car engines checked and tuned regularly. 5. Support local people working on anti-pollution. 6. Write letters to your congressman supporting stricter pollution laws. 7. GET INVOLVED!