Join the Great Florida Beach Walk November 6th in Santa Rosa County! In order to promote Florida’s beaches, Visit Florida and coastal counties throughout the state are organizing the Great Florida Beach Walk.
Walkers are asked to walk one mile on Navarre Beach, take a picture at the mile marker flag (we will have these placed on the beach) and upload the picture to visitflorida.com/beachwalk between 6 am and 10 am. Then vote for your favorite beach and get a chance to win a Mazda Miata and a $5,000 gift card.
Registered participants for Navarre Beach will receive a t-shirt. The registered participating group with the
most participants will win $250.00 and a trophy! Sponsored by SAFER Santa Rosa and the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP).
****You will need to register at www.volunteerflorida.org. You can register as an individual or a group by November 4, 2010.
Saturday November 6, you will check in on the Navarre Beach at the pavilion just to the east of the Navarre Beach Pier between 6 am and 9:30 am for breakfast and a map of where the flags are located and beach access points.
For more information contact Brenda Roland at 983-5200.
Register by 5 pm Eastern, November 4, 2010!!!!!!!!!! http://www.volunteerflorida.org/.
*********************************************************************************And check out:
First Meeting of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force
Monday, November 8, 2010 --- 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Pensacola Civic Center, 201 E. Gregory Street, Pensacola, Florida
Please RSVP at http://yosemite.epa.gov/r1/videolen.nsf/GulfCoastTaskForce
The meeting space is fully accessible. If you have special needs or require translation, please note in the
registration form. Please visit www.restorethegulf.gov for more information. If you have questions please email gulfcoasttaskforce@epa.gov or call 1-800-241-1754.
The Executive Order Recognizing the Gulf Coast as a national treasure, on October 5, 2010 President Obama issued an Executive Order creating the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, continuing the Administration's ongoing commitment to the region. The mission of the Task Force is to efficiently integrate Federal efforts with those of local stakeholders and state and tribal governments so as to better implement Gulf Coast ecosystem restoration and to facilitate appropriate accountability and support throughout the restoration process. The President's Executive Order establishing the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force is available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/10/05/executive-order-gulf-coast-ecosystem-restoration-task-force
And Finally,
Check out this announcement from the FDA on Seafood Safety!
FDA NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: October 29, 2010
Media Inquiries: Meghan Scott, FDA, 240-507-0466, meghan.scott@fda.hhs.gov; Christine Patrick, NOAA, 301-713-2370, christine.patrick@noaa.gov
Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA
NOAA and FDA announce chemical test for dispersant in Gulf seafood
All Samples Test Within Safety Threshold
Building upon the extensive testing and protocols already in use by federal, state and local officials for the fishing waters of the Gulf, NOAA and FDA have developed and are using a chemical test to detect dispersants used in the Deepwater Horizon-BP oil spill in fish, oysters, crab and shrimp. Trace amounts of the chemicals used in dispersants are common, and levels for safety have been previously set.
Experts trained in a rigorous sensory analysis process have been testing Gulf seafood for the presence of contaminants, and every seafood sample from reopened waters has passed sensory testing for contamination with oil and dispersant. Nonetheless, to ensure consumers have total confidence in the safety of seafood being harvested from the Gulf, NOAA and FDA have added this second test for dispersant when considering reopening Gulf waters to fishing.
Using this new, second test, in the Gulf scientists have tested 1,735 tissue samples including more than half of those collected to reopen Gulf of Mexico federal waters. Only a few showed trace amounts of dispersants residue (13 of the 1,735) and they were well below the safety threshold of 100 parts per million for finfish and 500 parts per million for shrimp, crabs and oysters. As such, they do not pose a threat to human health.
The new test detects dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate, known as DOSS, a major component of the dispersants used in the Gulf. DOSS is also approved by FDA for use in various household products and over-the-counter medication at very low levels. The best scientific data to date indicates that DOSS does not build up in fish tissues.
“The rigorous testing we have done from the very beginning gives us confidence in the safety of seafood being brought to market from the Gulf,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., Under Secretary for Commerce and NOAA Administrator. “This test adds another layer of information, reinforcing our findings to date that seafood from the Gulf remains safe.”
“This new test should help strengthen consumer confidence in Gulf seafood,” said Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. “The overwhelming majority of the seafood tested shows no detectable residue, and not one of the samples shows a residue level that would be harmful for humans. There is no question Gulf seafood coming to market is safe from oil or dispersant residue.”
The 1,735 samples tested so far were collected from June to September and cover a wide area of the Gulf. The samples come from open areas in state and federal waters, and from fishermen who brought fish to the docks at the request of federal seafood analysts. The samples come from a range of species, including grouper, tuna, wahoo, swordfish, gray snapper, butterfish, red drum, croaker, and shrimp, crabs and oysters.
Previous research provided information about how finfish metabolize DOSS, and at FDA’s Dauphin Island, Alabama lab, scientists undertook further exposure experiments on fish, oysters and crab; similar experiments on shrimp were held at NOAA’s Galveston, Texas lab. These exposure studies further support that fish, crustaceans and shellfish quickly clear dispersant from their tissues, and provided samples with known concentrations for use as standards for validating the methodology. Samples undergoing chemical analysis are always accompanied by standards with known concentrations of DOSS, to verify the equipment continues to measure the compound accurately.
Nearly 9,444 square miles, or about 4 percent of the federal waters in the Gulf are still closed to commercial and recreational fishing.
