Quicksilver כספית

Technologies diagnosed recently under Jewish law...

Touching and thoughtful post about ultrasound: Does Jewish law permit the use of ultrasound to diagnose the condition of the fetus? ADDeRabbi mentions one Rabbi's view: "His rationale is based on anecdotal evidence of stress caused by misdiagnosis, and some examples of cases where misdiagnosis resulted in unnecessary operations, from which the infant died. He felt that the potential costs far outweighed the potential benefits that may result from such a procedure." Read ADDeRabbi's sound rebuttal here.

"Leading Torah authorities signed the proclamation, including but not limited to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv and the Rebbe of Gur." What was the occasion? Approval under Jewish law for "kosher" cellphones. HT to Town Crier.

And this just in time for the Days of Awe and awesome diets: Maalox is among the pharmaceuticals getting a kashrut certification. HT again to TC.

Shanah tovah u-metukah, a sweet and happy new year,

Kaspit

Bioremediation of Katrina flood waters

As New Orleans' toxic waters get pumped out, Jewish activists are among those advocating for the bioremediation treatment of flood waters. The flood waters are highly polluted by oil, toxic wastes, and biological hazards (e coli, etc). As an alternative to chlorine bleach or other chemical treatments, bioremediation involves the use of microorganisms to break up pollutants (USGS fact sheet).

In particular, the use of Effective Microorganisms (EM) technology has been debated by participants with COEJL (Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life) and elsewhere. Circulating in the internet, this memo claims that EM was used for the recent tsunami and saved many lives. The company also claims EM was used for the giant 2002 Elbe flood. (Hat tip to Terry Gips at Alliance for Sustainability.)

{New} Here is a link to their database of research on EM. I can't vouch for the quality of the research but it is extensive.

As posted earlier, it is problematic that the toxic flood waters are being pumped into ecologically-sensitive waters without any treatment.

However, it is unclear that bioremediation of any sort would be effective in the New Orleans situation. [1]

Kaspit

[1] Alan Ismond, P.Eng. gave permission for me to cite his comment: "I have worked with microbial / enzyme / nutrient products for remediating wastewater. I agree ... that this is a complex field and not as simple as pouring a product down the drain to unclog a pipe. I do not believe that one single product can be a panacea that will address all of the issues in contaminated water. For example the contaminated water in the disaster area could contain widely diverse pollutants ranging from heavy metals to harmful bacteria to fuels and hydrocarbons. There may be specific organisms that can break down specific pollutants.... However, I do not know of one organism or mix of organisms that can do everything under the sun.

Another important concern is the dose rate of a remedial product and controlling the environment so that the product can work effectively. Sewage treatment plants are a controlled environment that are maintained for optimal performance. Acres and acres of wastewater in contact with an endless supply of pollutants and wastewater volumes of millions and millions of gallons is hardly a controlled environment. With the concentration and mix of pollutants and volume of wastewater to be treated being unknown or constantly changing, and no ability to control the environment that remediation products will be exposed to, I am skeptical of a quick fix. I would be thrilled if a vender could provide documented, controlled and reproducible test data and independent studies or case histories."

[UPDATED NEWS] Jewish environmental journalist as Jonah: Mark Schleifstein on catastrophic hurricane risk

Prophecy was not the intent of Pulitzer-prize winning Mark Schleifstein, an environmental reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Still, Schleifstein hit the nail on the head when he warned that a hurricane could have a catastrophic impact. He co-authored: "Washing Away: How south Louisiana is growing more vulnerable to a catastrophic hurricane" (Eye-opening journalism. Awards for the series listed below.)

{ADDED} Mark Schliefstein is Jewish and non-partisan. He tells me that he serves both as the gabbai in his Conservative shul (Shir Chadash, Metairie) and "I try to be as available as I can, considering my work schedule, for filling in at evening minyan at the Orthodox shul around the corner on Canal St. in New Orleans." Here's his understated precis of the last few days:

My house has about 10 feet of water in it, based on satellite photos I've seen, as does Beth Israel [DovBear]. Don't know yet about my synagogue. We stored our torahs in a third floor room in our Jewish Community Center, across the parking lot from us, and expect they survived. We stayed at the paper during the storm, safe place, and ended up evacuating the next day when water was rising a bit too quickly around the building. Loaded into the back of newspaper delivery trucks, I went to Houma, La., 65 miles southwest, where we put out our web edition of the paper the next two days, and my wife went to Baton Rouge and then flew out to her dad in Atlanta. He's in the Jewish Tower. I'm now in Baton Rouge, sharing a dorm room with 10 staffers at Louisiana State University.

{ADDED} Of course, now Mark's series is getting a storm of attention for exposing the danger and the flaws and negligence with preparedness efforts, e.g., Cox News, SLC editorial, Ronda Hauben on the negligence of prevention, Eric Zorn, and The Wall Street Journal (HT Romenesko on journalism).

Gristmill reports on what Mark says the press should cover now (i.e., coastal wetlands not yet the questionable global warming connection).

Transparent Grid recaps the "Washing Away" series' worst case scenario, see also TG's part II and part III (Bush budget cuts).

Mark Schleifstein is a splendid journalist and environmental hazard investigator. I couldn't find on the web all his excellent earlier work, e.g., on chemical industry pollution in Louisiana. His prior articles and accomplishments include:

Have evacuation plan, will travel  (Dec 2004)

Biggest mercury polluter in La. to clean up its act  (August 5, 2005) (You can be sure I wouldn't skip his work on quicksilver, which PPG uses in Lake Charles, Louisiana to make chlorine. More on mercury air pollution here.)

Washing Away: How south Louisiana is growing more vulnerable to a catastrophic hurricane, notes the SJE bio, "won the American Society of Civil Engineers' 2003 Excellence in Media award and the 2003 National Hurricane Conference media award. It also was a finalist for the 2003 Edward J. Meeman Award for Environmental Reporting for newspapers with over 100,000 circulation. He also recently received the Governor's Award from the Louisiana Wildlife Federation, presented annually to the person or organization deemed to have made the most outstanding contribution toward the protection and wise use of the state's natural resources."

Mark's "2001 series, Unequal Opportunity: How local programs to help disadvantaged businesses are enriching wealthy entrepreneurs, won the 2002 Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism ...  The 1998 series, Home Wreckers: How the Formosan termite is devastating New Orleans, was a finalist for the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting and won awards from the [AAAS] .... A 1996 series, Oceans of Trouble: Are the World's Fisheries Doomed? won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service .... The 1994 series, Stacking the Deck: The Birth of Louisiana Gambling, won .... The 1991 series, Louisiana in Peril, was a finalist for the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism. .... Before joining The Times-Picayune, he worked for the Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger, the Norfolk, Va., Virginian-Pilot, and the Suffolk, Va., News-Herald. He is married and has two children." Source: Society of Environmental Journalists w/ Photo credit.

Katrina, hurricanes and global warming

I caution against blaming Katrina on global warming, as does Ross Gelbspan (generally a good environmental journalist). Granted, oil and energy policies should change, but Arthur Waskow overplays the Katrina card.

See the analysis, links and debate at RealClimate. Here's a scientific paper on hurricanes and climate change courtesy of Prometheus. Gristmill debates this connection, too. (Cp. enviro law who sees a connection.)

My 2 cents is that there is a macro relationship but we are too prone to articulate a spurious correlation.

You can donate via UJC, the Orthodox Union, or see Miriam's list. A Chabad effort. Prayers...

Kaspit

For a halakhic argument regarding climate change, see Eliezer Diamond's paper. The Harvard publisher claims:

He convincingly argues that halakhic reasoning about notions of conventionality and equity in environmental matters could be applied meaningfully to the problem of global warming. Such application requires a careful analysis of concrete human situations as well as a creative analysis of Jewish legal sources.

My own tongue-in-check post on energy policy and halakhah here.

While here I've looked the global warming connection, other Jewish bloggers properly compare Katrina to the tsunami (Mystical Politics) and refute Jews who connect hurricane Katrina's refugees to divine punishment for Israel's evacuation of Gaza (DovBear, Hirhurim, Miriam at Bloghead, and Orthomom).  Cp. Christians who say that Katrina is divine retribution New Orleans and gays. Hat tip Gristmill.

The world of Rabbinic cures and punishments, according to Artscroll

Talmudic medicine does not guide Orthodox Jewish doctors today. Doctors glean neither remedies nor bioethics from the Talmudic cures in recent daf yomi (ch 14 Shabbat). So, how does Artscroll annotator R. Yosef Davis explain Talmudic folk medicine? In a note on “The efficacy of Talmudic remedies” (109b2:10), R. Davis begins: “Over the next few pages (109a-111a), a number of remedies for various physical disorders are recorded. Many of these cures, however, are not consistent with the known laws of nature.”  Here’s how R. Davis smooths over the Talmud’s conflict with science:

Beyond human reason. “… during the Creation, God invested various herbs, minerals and procedures with the power to effect remedies, some in ways that are comprehended by human reason and some in ways that are beyond our understanding” (Rashba I:413)

Known only to the wisest. Some remedies “are comprehensible only to those who are able to plumb the depths of the Sages’ words [Maharasha]. In particular , many of the various herbs recommended by the Gemara cannot be accurately identified.”

Do not try this at home. “Consequently, one should not attempt these remedies nowadays, since it is unlikely that anyone today will fathom the Talmud’s intentions, and one who finds his application of a remedy ineffective may come to belittle the words of the Sages” (Maharil, R. Akiba Eiger)

Ban on trying. “… one who does rely on Talmudic remedies in our era is punishable by excommunication” (Yam Shel Shlomo) More punishment below.

Changes in nature voids remedies. R. Davis says, “In addition, changes have occurred in the state of nature (nishtanu teva'im) since Talmudic times, and therapies which were efficacious in those times are not necessarily so nowadays.” [1]

Artscroll’s R. Davis is caught in the bind of the less-modern Orthodox. On the one hand, he admits that scientific knowledge rejects Talmudic medicine. He knows that even pious readers will find the remedies implausible. On the other hand, like much rabbinic discourse, he presupposes that one ought not deny outright the literal truth of a Talmudic statement. This may be due to etiquette, respect for elders, faith, epistemological humility, or the mythos of a legal hermeneutics. By stipulating the literal truth of Rabbinic utterances, the collision with science can lead Orthodoxy into controversial doctrines like da’as Torah, mystical pre-modern wisdom, and changes in nature (Hebrew data). Such Orthodox doctrines have been a Jewish blogging topic (see Hirhurim, Jewish Worker), esp. since the ban on R. Slifkin’s books about science and Torah.

Rabbinic clout. Why would a government official die of a snakebite if the (magical) remedy was apparently available? Abaye says that “perhaps he was bit by a Rabbinic (d’rabbanan) snake, for which there is no cure.” (bShab 110a) Artscroll’s R. Yosef Davis uses Abaye’s obscure explanation as a teaching moment. “Abaye surmised that the officer had violated some Rabbinic law…. Although some Biblical transgressions carry the death penalty and some do not, all Rabbinic offenses are punishable by death [at the hand of God] (Eruvin 21b and Rashi).  Etc.” [2] In Jewish lore, God’s death penalty is often executed by animals, here via snake bite.
 
In sum, Talmudic remedies do not conform with modern science. To have faith in the infallibility of Talmudic texts, you can rely on several controversial doctrines. However, Jewish law requires that we use modern doctors. We are forbidden to use Talmudic folk cures. If the cures don’t kill you, a snake bite might do the trick.

Shavua tov,

Kaspit  כספית

[1] Tosafot (Moed Qatan 11a), Hagahot R. Emden (Shab 129b), Magen Avraham (OH 173) and Kesef Mishneh (Hil. Deot 4:18) 

[2] All rules in Halakhah may be fundamentally divided into the categories of Biblical i.e. revealed rules (d’oraita) and supporting Rabbinic rules (d’rabbanan). Transgressions of revealed law are punished by fines, flogging, offerings, exile, etc. and the death penalty. Rabbinic rule transgressions carry various earthly penalties, too, but here we learn that all d’rabbanan violations incur divinely-administered capital punishment.

Connect the dots… technology and Talmudic un-readings

In Mexico, it’s called timbiriche. The dots and boxes game came to mind when reading this page of Talmud (Shabbat 85a). For this post, I’ve gathered are some disconnected ideas from recent daf yomi. Each idea is three tefach (handbreadths) apart and I doubt I'll have time to turn any into coherent blog posts. Guest bloggers welcome. Imagined themes: how rabbinic culture sheds light on our challenges with technology, science, industry and regulation. Maybe you can fill some in or connect the dots?

• Categories of Sabbath work focus on production operations. Also factor in  products, raw materials (liquid and solid forms, 80b), equipment/techniques, processing stages (79a tanning) etc. Basis for a hermercurial critique of product-based SIC codes (etcetera) in EPA and OSHA regulations? (Shab Ch. 7)
• Technology of funnel and sieve, etc. (cp. Pirqe Avot) (Shab 74a)
• Compare selecting food waste (borer) and modern waste management? (74a)
• Rabbis strive to harmonize different Talmudic category schemes – comparable to the need to harmonize regulatory classifications and permissible toxic exposure limits (PELs) between EPA and OSHA? (Ch. 7)
• When pressed, the amoraim can defend distinction between primary categories and subcategories (avot, toldot) based on a seemingly arbitrary limit of 39 primaries. (74a)
• Astronomy is approved, even required. (75a) Science & Torah debate?
• Relative scope of the Sabbath work categories. “Striking with a hammer” as an example of a broad, overarching category for finishing operations. (75b)
• Storage as key indicator of threshold significance. Cp. RCRA hazardous materials and solid waste storage regulation? (75b-76a ff.)
• Only like units of measurement can be combined (mishnah 76a), scientific method.
• Contextual aspect of product vs. wastes (atiqi bean shells) (76b)
• Industrial use of material keyed to its significance. Cp. industrial ecology? (76b)   Also, relation of viscosity, volume and significance. 77a
• Non-hazardous wastewater de minimus rules; recycling. (Clean Water Act) 78a
• Ought we to set regulatory levels for the common or exceptional case? 78a
• Dual use of khol as both cosmetic and medicinal. Cp. FDA jurisdiction! (78b)
• Gold refiners as regulated trade. Even today, poorly-regulated gold refining pollutes air and workers with mercury (i.e., Quicksilver). (78b)
• Raw commodities include: pitch, sulfur, adhesives, oil, lime (see: harmful dose) , sulfur, wax (78b mishnah), and dyes (79a), and “fertilizer” (80b)
• Idolatrous proto-nanotechnology and the ethics of nanotechnology (83b)

Good shabbos,

Kaspit כספית

Talmud page from Edaf.com.