Jash Botanicals Natural Health Corner

I was watching KQED last night when a program came on in regard to the plight of the sea otters, so I decided to see what they had to say.  I have to say that I was glad that I did and wanted to share it with you.

It seems that a California Democratic Assemblyman (Dave Jones) and his family took a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium not too long ago.  During their visit, they were made aware of the fact that 200 + dead sea otters were showing up on the coastal shores.  In case you are not aware of this already, sea otters are on the endangered species list, so to have that many show up dead is not good news.  Autopsies were performed and one thing kept coming up in common with almost all the dead sea otters. 

The common thread is a parasite called Toxoplasma gondi, and is a resilient and cunning one-celled freeloader that forms cysts within its host, usually in the brain and muscles.  Here is where the problems occur.  In its egg-like condition, the parasite is very strong and sturdy and withstands just about anything.  In fact, Pat Conrad, a professor of parasitology at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, says you can soak them in pure bleach for hours and hours and they still come out fit and ready to move on to other things. 

The next topic of conversation blew me away because I was guilty of the crime and didn’t even know what I was doing was causing a problem.  How many of you flush your cat poop down the toilet?  I know I did.  I would scoop out the cat feces so that the cat had a clean place to go and flushing it down the toilet seemed the most appropriate thing to do.  Well, here is the rest of the story.  When you flush your cat feces down the toilet, it actually survives all the chemical treatments your sewage plant has to offer and arrives alive and ready to find a host in our oceans.  That has been a grim consequence for sea otters, which have not been doing so well anyway.  A team that was led by Pat Conrad, examined 305 dead sea otters and 257 live ones between 1998 and 2004.  Of the dead ones, 52% were infected with Toxoplasma and 38% of the live ones as well.

First of all, I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to Calfornia Assemblyman Dave Jones, his Son Will and Assemblyman John Laird for the following assistance they have given to help the plight of the sea otters.  A bill was approved by lawmakers, signed by the governor and went into effect January 1^st that establishes a voluntary check-off on state income tax returns to raise funds for the otter protection and research.  In addition, the bill requires that cat litter sold in California carry a label suggesting that cat poop be put in the garbage rather than down the toilet.

I for one, will never put my cat poop down the john again, and I am hoping that you will do the same.