Is Cloud Seeding Harmful?
by
Johnny Micou
When studying the
efficacy and consequences of cloud seeding experiments, the experimenters tend
to be biased in saying cloud seeding with silver iodide enhances precipitation
without negative consequences. However, much of the literature substantiates
that not only does cloud seeding fail to achieve the desired effect, it also
yields harmful consequences. Some of these consequences include rain
suppression, flooding, tornadoes, and silver iodide toxicity. (1,2,3)
The harm of rain
suppression is obvious to everyone. For farmers and ranchers, this would mean
no rain, no gain -- an economic loss. Losses would include poorer crop harvest,
lack of range vegetation, and a loss of hunting lease income due to wildlife
reduction. This is particularly true for ranches in western Potter County, an area PGCD has called geographically
handicapped.(2) Most ranchers and farmers do not choose to take the
gamble on their land and livelihood based on experimentation.(1,2)
The harmful effects of silver iodide are insidious.(3) Yet, according to the web site of the PGCD, the effects are
so minimized that the following is stated: The concentration of iodide in
iodized salt used on food is far above the concentration found in rainwater
from a seeded cloud.(4) In addition, in early December of 2002, at the
Amarillo meeting jointly conducted by the Panhandle Groundwater and the North
Plains Groundwater Conservation Districts, one representative stated that
silver iodide was good for the heart. In a private conversation, another
explained that silver miners live longer. Iodized salt may seem benign;
however, some states such as Colorado have outlawed the use of salting icy
roads.(5) Among harmful effects, salt is toxic to
the water and land.(5)
The Office of
Environment, Health and Safety, UC Berkeley, rates silver iodide as a Class C,
non-soluble, inorganic, hazardous chemical that pollutes water and
soil.(8) It has been found to be highly toxic to fish, livestock and
humans.(6,7,8,9) Numerous medical articles demonstrate that humans absorb
silver iodide through the lungs, nose, skin, and GI tract.(7,8,9) Mild
toxicity can cause GI irritation, renal and pulmonary lesions, and mild argyria (blue or black discoloration of the skin). Severe
toxicity can result in hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, shock, enlarged heart,
severe argyria, and death by respiratory depression.(8)
Moreover, a key
manufacturer of silver iodide for weather modification, Deepwater Chemicals,
warns of potential health effects of silver iodide in their Material Safety
Data Sheet as follows:
Chronic Exposure/Target Organs:
Chronic ingestion of iodides may produce iodism, which may be manifested by skin rash, running
nose, headache and irritation of the mucous membranes. Weakness, anemia, loss
of weight and general depression may also occur. Chronic inhalation or
ingestion may cause argyria characterized by
blue-gray discoloration of the eyes, skin and mucous membranes. Chronic skin
contact may cause permanent discoloration of the skin. (10)
Under the guidelines of
the Clean Water Act by the EPA, silver iodide is considered a hazardous
substance, a priority pollutant, and as a toxic pollutant.(10)
Some industries have learned this all too well.
Obviously the
cloud-after-cloud, year-after-year use of cloud seeding could lead to an insidious,
cumulative effect. Especially when the same area is
repeatedly seeded. If the toxicity manifests in pollution and illnesses,
the effects may not be reversible. At this point, the PGCD monitoring of silver
iodide toxicity is so small as to be nonexistent and flawed. C.E. Williams states, water samples taken after rain from
seeded clouds have revealed no silver iodide.(11) This is misleading.
According to the PGCD, Every
year, two viable samples of rainwater must be sent to a laboratory for analysis
and in return forwarded to TNRCC to ensure that the water is not contaminating
the area.(4) This is faulty sampling and testing over a
seven county area. If PGCD can not control where the
seeded clouds dumps water, how can they take only two rain samples per year to
test for silver concentrates of the clouds they seeded? At least it is an
admission that silver toxicity is an issue. Such misleading statements based on
faulty data are not uncommon to the PGCD. In 2001, rainfall amounts were
grossly overinflated in multiple rain gauges.(2,11) Such overstatements are
to prop up the benefits of their program while denying the adverse effects.
To effectively monitor
the levels of silver toxicity, at the very minimum, water samples should be
taken on a monthly basis from every dam, creek, stock
tank, and other water capture places in the respective district while cloud
seeding is being conducted. Also, soil samples should taken.
According to the Colorado National Park Service and the Federal Remediation Technologies
Roundtable, the result of cloud seeding with silver iodide
and runoff have adverse effects on the water, soil, and flora and fauna.
(7,9) Elevated silver concentrations in biota
occur in the vicinities of sewage outfalls, electroplating plants, mine waste
sites, and silver iodide-seeded areas.(12) In fact, in the 1980s the
CDC had hoped that silver toxicity would be reduced nationally based on a
reduction of cloud seeding activity.(13)
Fallout from cloud
seeding with silver iodide is not always confined to local precipitation;
silver residuals have been detected several hundred kilometers downwind of
seeding events.(7,13) Anthropogenic sources associated with the
elevated concentrations of silver in nonliving materials include smelting, hazardous
waste sites, cloud seeding with silver iodide, metals mining, sewage outfalls,
and especially the photoprocessing industry.(7,13) Silver leaches into groundwater, streams, soil,
and the root systems of plants.(7,13)
Silver was
measured in particular samples from rural and urban area both adjacent to and
removed from activities such as metal smelting, refining, and silver iodide
cloud seeding and found concentrations in precipitation resulting
from seeding clouds with silver iodide were 10-450 ng/L
compared with concentrations of 0-20ng/L without cloud seeding (Cooper and
Jolly 1970).(13) That translates in 10 to 225 times
greater silver concentration in those areas.
The most likely
sources of higher than background levels of silver for the general population
are ingestion of contaminated food and drinking water (Letkiewicz
et al. 1984).(13) Additionally, crops grown on soils with elevated
silver concentrations or exposed to high ambient atmospheric concentration are
likely to become enriched with silver (Ragaini et al.
1977; Ward et al., 1979).(13)
If the public is to
allow the spreading of this toxic material on an experimental basis, monitoring
should be required and published to protect the public health and private
lands. The cloud seeding program is designed with the use of public money over
private land without voter approval or landowners
permission. If private land or public health is compromised, then the program
should be held liable. In the past, a Texas rancher was able to stop cloud
seeding over private land based on trespassing and nuisance law. However, there
are greater issues at stake.
The question is not that
is cloud seeding harmful, but how harmful. It is obvious that it is
significantly harmful. So far, programs such as PGCD have not provided
effective monitoring and sampling to demonstrate that the silver concentrations
in the water and soil caused by cloud seeding are at safe levels.
To test for silver in the water and soil, the methods are sophisticated and
require the latest in technology, along with standards set by such agencies as
the EPA.(7) Without such testing, such programs must be stopped immediately.
There is too much at risk for their experimentation.
http://ranches.org/experiment.htm
(1)
http://ranches.org/rainmaking_experiment_endangers.htm
(2)
http://webserv.chatsystems.com/~doswell/wxmod/wxmod.html
(3)
http://www.panhandlegroundwater.org/
(4)
http://www.cerf.org/pdfs/reports/40410ch1.pdf
(5)
http://www.ehs.berkeley.edu/pubs/guidelines/draindispgls.html
(6)
http://www.nature.nps.gov/hazardssafety/toxic//silver.pdf