California Coast Oil Pipeline Rupture Spills 21,000 Gallons of Crude in the Ocean and on the Beach

""An estimated 21,000 gallons (79,500 liters) of crude oil dumped into the ocean from a broken pipeline just off the central California coast before it was shut off on Tuesday, creating a spill stretching about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) along the beach, the US Coast Guard said.

Santa Barbara County health officials have shut down Refugio State Beach, the central site of the spill, though many had abandoned the site already because of the foul smell.

That smell brought county firefighters to the beach earlier in the day to discover the spill.

"They found about a half-mile slick of dark, black crude oil in the ocean," fire Capt. Dave Zaniboni said.

A few hours later the pipeline had been shut off, but the spill had stretched to about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) of beach for about 50 yards (45 meters) out into the water, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Andrea Anderson.They traced the oil to the onshore pipeline that spilled into a culvert that ran under the U.S. 101 freeway and through a storm drain into the ocean.

The 24-inch (60-centimeter) pipeline is owned by Plains All American Pipeline, which said it shut down the flow of oil and the culvert carrying the oil to the ocean was blocked.

"Plains deeply regrets this release has occurred and is making every effort to limit its environmental impact," the company said in a statement.

The scenic stretch of coastline about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of the pricey real estate of Santa Barbara is dotted with state-run beaches that are popular with campers, and the spill comes just a few days before the Memorial Day holiday weekend and subsequent summer camping season begin.

The stretch of coastline is also home to many oil rigs and drilling operations, and small amounts of tar and seepage show up on beaches, but in much smaller amounts.

The Coast Guard, county emergency officials and state parks officials had begun cleaning up the spill.

Boats from the nonprofit collective Clean Seas were being used in the cleanup.

There was no immediate estimate of how long the cleanup might take.

The Santa Barbara-based Environmental Defense Center said such a spill was inevitable with coastal oil development, but still unwelcome.

"To see this level of spill into such a sensitive and treasured environment is devastating to watch," the EDC said in a statement. The group expressed special worry for the many species of whale that migrate through the area.""

http://www.firstpost.com/world/oil-pipeline-spills-off-california-coast-dumps-21000-gallons-crude-oil-ocean-2253586.html

Powerful Antioxidant of Olive Oil Able to Kill Cancer Cells in Hours

""The major antioxidant compound found in olive oil is capable of killing cancer cells in less than an hour while leaving healthy cells unharmed, according to a study conducted by researchers from Rutgers University and Hunter College and published in the journal Molecular & Cellular Oncology.

The researchers hope that this may lead to a targeted cancer therapy based on this molecule.

"The Mediterranean diet is known to be associated with a reduced risk of many different kinds of cancer," researcher Paul Breslin said. "Whereas the entire diet likely has many benefits, this study points directly to the olive oil phenolic, oleocanthal, as playing an especially important role in these observations. As more people turn to the Mediterranean diet as a healthy life option, oleocanthal is growing in its significance as a key active component of this diet."

Makes "all hell break loose" for cancer

Many healthful plant compounds are known to induce apoptosis, or programmed cell death, in cancer cells by targeting a specific protein that controls the process. Yet apoptosis typically takes between 16 and 24 hours to complete, and prior studies had shown that cancer cells exposed to oleocanthal died within 30 to 60 minutes of exposure. The oleocanthal was acting much too fast, suggesting some mechanism other than apoptosis.

"We needed to determine if oleocanthal was targeting that protein and causing the cells to die," Breslin said.

In the new study, the researchers discovered that oleocanthal was indeed killing cancer cells by a different mechanism. Rather than targeting the apoptosis protein, oleocanthal was breaking apart the lysosomes of cancer cells. These organelles are responsible for processing cellular waste, and are much larger and more fragile in cancer cells than in healthy cells.

"Once you open one of those things, all hell breaks loose," Breslin said.

The study showed that once the lysosomes burst apart, critical life-sustaining functions in the cancer cells began to break down.

Significantly, oleocanthal did not harm nearby healthy cells. Instead, it put them into a kind of stasis or hibernation for about a day. After that time, the cells resumed normal, healthy functioning with no apparent lasting effects.

"The mechanism of killing cancer cells and sparing healthy cells, lysosomal membrane permeabilization, has been hypothesized as a possible mechanism of effectively killing cancer cells and sparing healthy tissues but has never been realized before," Breslin said. "Our realization of this makes this paper of particular therapeutic interest for cancer treatment."It will still be many years, however, before an oleocanthal treatment could become available. That's because complete organisms are much more complex than cell cultures, and the olive oil compound may act differently in the human body.""

http://www.naturalnews.com/049132_olive_oil_cancer_antioxidant.html