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Global Warming -- Can't Convince 'em With Floods? Try Poison Ivy

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Ben:
Apparently the National Academy of Sciences is hoping poison ivy strikes more fear into the masses than previous global warming related disaster predictions did.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060529/ap_on_sc/poison_ivy_2

 Study: global warming boosts poison ivy

53 minutes ago

Another reason to worry about global warming: more and itchier poison ivy. The noxious vine grows faster and bigger as carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere rise, researchers report Monday.

And a CO2-driven vine also produces more of its rash-causing chemical, urushiol, conclude experiments conducted in a forest at Duke University where scientists increased carbon-dioxide levels to those expected in 2050.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas  a chemical that traps heat similar to the way a greenhouse does  that's considered a major contributor to global warming. Greenhouse gases have been steadily increasing in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution.

Poison ivy is common in woods around the country, making it a bane of hikers, campers, fighters of forest fires, even backyard gardeners. Its itchy, sometimes blistering rash is one of the most widely reported ailments to poison-control centers, with more than 350,000 reported cases a year.

Compared to poison ivy grown in usual atmospheric conditions, those exposed to the extra-high carbon dioxide grew about three times larger  and produced more allergenic form of urushiol, scientists from Duke and Harvard University reported.

Their study appears in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"The fertilization effect of rising CO2 on poison ivy ... and the shift toward a more allergenic form of urushiol have important implications for the future health of both humans and forests," the study concludes.

Guest:
My BS claxon is going off the scale....

Sergeant Bob:
Yeah but, just think how much better the strawberries will grow!

Headless Thompson Gunner:
This is just one more pitiful attempt to make the population care about whacko leftist enviromental politics.

And to think, Algore expects this stuff to propel him into the White House...  

Headless Thompson Gunner:

--- Quote from: Sergeant Bob ---Yeah but, just think how much better the strawberries will grow!The last time the global climate experienced a warming trend was about 500 years ago.  Some researchers theorize that the resulting explosion in food production levels was partially responsible for ending of the Dark Ages and initiating the Renaissance period.

Wanna end hunger and famine and poverty world-wide?  Create more global warming.

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