June 17, 2011
HOSPICE CARE
Rt 92 South / PO Box 760
Arthurdale, WV 26520
PH: 304-864-0884 or 1-800-350-1161
FAX: 304-864-6306
Rt 92 South / PO Box 760
Arthurdale, WV 26520
PH: 304-864-0884 or 1-800-350-1161
FAX: 304-864-6306
Dear Hospice Care,
We are writing after learning that Hospice Care sponsored the 2011 Camp Nabe event which included a mass release of helium-filled balloons.
This release involved bunches of Mylar and latex balloons tethered together with ribbons and strings as well as single ribbon-tied balloons. Although the balloon industry tells the public their latex balloons are “environmentally friendly” and “100% biodegradable,” they concede this dissolution occurs at the same rate as an oak leaf, or 6 months. However, biodegradability of latex (and oak leaves) can actually take several years, especially when in water. In fact, Mylar, as well as the ribbons and strings fastened to those cute balloon bouquets are not at all biodegradable. Fallen balloons easily resemble jellyfish, plankton or kelp to hungry animals and they are actively pursued and ingested. While ribbons and strings entangle the feet, necks and bodies of wildlife, the indigestible materials block intestines and stomach processes, and the animal either chokes or starves to a painful death with the balloon (in whole or in fragments) inside. Baleen whales take in many thousands of gallons of water during feeding, yet they cannot pick the balloons or fragments out of their mouths. On the New Jersey coast, a rare pygmy sperm whale was found dead with a Mylar balloon lodged in its intestines. One sea turtle was found with 4 kinds of balloons in its body, while the dead bird below (center) was horribly strangled after entangling itself in a massive wad of fallen balloons.
 |
| [Photos: 10,000 pink balloons released during Dubai's annual Breast Cancer Walkathon. Seabird dead after being strangled by a mass of balloons and their ribbons. (Photo courtesy Ocean Conservancy.) Bloated and dead bird after swallowing fragments of helium balloons.] |
Although releasers rarely acknowledge any adverse effects on the environment, balloons released at an innocuous event like a memorial do end up killing wildlife and even livestock, polluting rivers, streams and the oceans, and persist in the environment for a very long time.
Helium-filled balloons rise because the gas is lighter than air. This rare noble gas took 4.5 billion years of radioactive decay to create, and its increasing scarcity is an emerging problem:
And then there’s the helium inside, which is totally benign – and totally irreplaceable.
At present rates of consumption, the world's supply of helium could be exhausted in three decades. "Once it is released into the atmosphere, it is lost to the earth forever," Nobel physicist Robert C. Richardson explained in a recent lecture. The world may be able to survive without Mylar party favors (which, if Richardson had his way, would cost $100 each), but helium is essential to many less-frivolous products: MRI machines, liquid-fueled rockets, microchips, and fiber-optic cables. Scientists are already complaining that helium shortages are delaying research and driving up cost.
After the fundraising party, race, or memorial event where the balloon release takes place, the burden falls on non-profit organizations who must bear the expense of cleaning up the mess, recovering the wildlife, performing necropsies and burials, or (for the fortunate few) costly rehabilitation.
The balloons released in West Virginia may and will travel hundreds of miles, depending on weather conditions, far from participant releasers, and unfairly become another organization and state’s litter problems. One organization’s balloon release only creates another problem.
As in every state, there are anti-littering laws in West Virginia, but the release of balloons doesn’t have to be an anti-litter enforcement issue. It does not have to involve fines and penalties from both the place of origin and the final destination. If balloons are filled with air, not helium, they will fall back to the earth quickly where they can be easily retrieved and disposed of properly. Sending the balloons up with helium is an exercise in littering, an environmental assault that equates to a death sentence for wildlife.
Ironically, balloons have been banned in many hospitals due to adverse reactions to latex, yet even health industry personnel continue to promote the close handling of balloons at releases, allowing skin-on-latex contact as children write messages on the latex before releasing. The American Latex Allergy Association warns us:
Latex allergy is problematic in that it gets worse with every exposure, symptoms can include life-threatening swelling of the airway, and there is no cure. Allergy shots have not been approved by the FDA.... The powdered gloves are especially problematic because the latex protein binds to the powder, which can then hang in the air after the gloves were used. The powder containing the latex protein can then be inhaled and cause allergic reactions.
Latex balloons also contain powder to facilitate inflation. The latex protein attached to the balloon powder and hangs in the air after the balloon is inflated or deflated. Many research studies have tested and proven this and most hospitals have banned latex balloons. Many schools are also banning latex balloons because of the choking hazard they present, as well as because increasingly larger numbers of children are testing positive for latex allergy. (It’s estimated that at least 50% of children with spina bifida have latex allergy because of frequent latex exposure from surgical procedures and medical supplies.) http://www.latexallergyresources.org/resourcemanual/section7/samplerestaurantletter.cfm
Lance Ferris, from Australian Seabird Rescue documents these balloon assaults on wildlife, at
The balloon (inset) was removed from inside the Giant Petrel
Below, is the SAME balloon, which was removed from the Giant Petrel in May 2006 -
10 MONTHS LATER.
(Image dated 25 March 2007)
10 MONTHS LATER.
(Image dated 25 March 2007)
This helium balloon travelled 660km [410 miles]
before it deflated and came to land
before it deflated and came to land
Ethically speaking, balloon releases send the wrong message to our children: - that one need not think about the consequences of our actions, that others will clean up the mess we leave behind, and that killing wildlife is well, just OK. Balloon releases have become “all the rage,” accompanying memorial services, sports, fundraising and organizational events of every kind. Balloon industry planners actually boast of the 1.4 million balloons released at one single event! Local law enforcement is now being asked by outraged residents everywhere to closely monitor events for litter law violations. Events in Morgantown, WV, including those by Camp Nabe and Timmy’s Fund, send tens of thousands of balloons into the air each year. While wildlife suffers and the events and parties go on, no one speaks of the releasers cleaning up their mess. No one mentions that distant non-profits have not been compensated for the cost of cleanup, or dealing with decimated wildlife.
Beside the planners of funerals and memorials, one of the greatest offenders of the global balloon litter environmental insult is the medical and especially hospice industry. We implore the Hospice Care Centers in West Virginia, Avalon and beyond, not to sponsor or engage in balloon releases, to discourage the wasteful loss of helium by prohibiting its use for any nonessential activity, to never release a balloon that it will not retrieve and dispose of properly, to insist that the facility, and its management and personnel take responsibility for the unseen effects of its actions and the assaults on wildlife and the environment that are incurred by taking an official position against balloon releases and promoting that position among their colleagues and member facilities.
We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Taffy Williams, Director
No comments:
Post a Comment