4.2 earthquake near Aguanga shakes Southern California

• April 1, 2023

A 4.2-magnitude earthquake struck at 6:16 p.m. on Friday, March 31, four miles from the southwest Riverside County community of Aguanga.

The earthquake was reported at a depth of about 8 miles.

The quake was felt in Hemet, Riverside, Rialto, Orange County, Oceanside, San Diego and Encinitas, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

An earthquake of that intensity is often widely felt but usually does not cause more than minor damage.

The quake was initially reported on some apps at a 4.5 magnitude.

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​ Orange County Register 

Steve Torrence seeking bounce-back year in NHRA’s Top Fuel division

• April 1, 2023

POMONA — By standards established by drag racer Steve Torrence, 2022 was an off year. He finished sixth in the NHRA’s Top Fuel division after winning an astounding four consecutive national titles from 2018 to ’21.

After two races on the 2023 NHRA circuit, he was back on top of the Top Fuel division – barely.

He now leads Mike Salinas by 11 points and hopes to increase that lead this weekend at the 63rd Winternationals being held at the newly renamed In-N-Out Pomona Dragstrip.

The slim lead isn’t bad for someone who twice blew an engine during the season’s second event last weekend in Phoenix – once during qualifying and again in the elimination final, which enabled Salinas to claim the event title.

Torrence is hoping for fewer blown engines and more blow-out victories this year.

“We learned some things last year that we can build on,” Torrence said prior to making his lone qualifying run Friday. There are two qualifying runs Saturday, with Pro Stock qualifying scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m.

Sunday’s elimination finals begin at 11 a.m.

In Friday’s qualifying round before a sparse crowd on a picture-perfect day, Torrence covered the 1,000-foot distance in 3.737 seconds with a top speed of 331.36 mph. That put him in the fifth-seeded spot going into Saturday’s qualifying.

The No. 1 Top Fuel qualifier on Friday was last year’s national titleholder, Brittany Force. Her numbers were 3.712 seconds and 328.86.

The top qualifier in Funny Car was Cruz Pedregon at 3.665 seconds and 302.28 mph.

A Funny Car driver in the spotlight is Robert Hight, the defending Winternationals champion and a winner in Phoenix last weekend. Last year, Hight finished three points behind national champion Ron Capps.

Asked prior to his run Friday if there was a rivalry between him and Capps, Hight said, “The NHRA is trying to make it one, a big one. So, I guess there is.”

Hight qualified third on Friday at 3.892 seconds and 329.99 mph. Capps smoked his tires and qualified 15th.

Brittany Force was later asked if she has a rival in Top Fuel.

“Yeah, all of them,” she said.

Steve Torrence could be that rival down the road. He admits to being more mellow since becoming a father two years ago.

“I look at things differently now,” he said. “I have to make sure this little girl grows up to be a good person.”

“He is more responsible,” said his mother Kay.

Torrence is sponsored by Capco Contractors, the family’s pipeline company based in Texas. His traveling party includes wife Natalie (formerly Natalie Jahnke of Rancho Cucamonga) and their daughter Charli. Father Billy Torrence is sometimes part of the traveling party. He still competes part-time and will be back on the track by mid-season, according to Steve.

Steve also pointed out an interesting stat. Charli turns 2 on April 7, he turns 40 on April 17 and Kay and Billy also celebrate birthdays in April.

The Torrence gang hopes to be celebrating more than birthdays in April. One possibility is a Winternationals victory on April 2. It would be the 58th of Torrence’s NHRA career.

​ Orange County Register 

Here are some new ways thieves are scamming people

• April 1, 2023

Don’t get fooled

April Fools’ Day is Saturday, April 1, but schemers and scammers are out to get your money year-round. Here are the statistics for past years and how technology is helping the swindlers.

A few things to look out and listen up for:

According to the Federal Trade Commission, scammers are making more than ever. In 2022, the number of people who got scammed was down, but the amount of money lost is estimated to be $8.8 billion, more than any year.

If that’s not bad enough, the type of scams are more diabolical too. If you’re familiar with the “Help me Grandma” scams where an impostor calls saying they need money to help a grandchild, now it’s gone high tech.

New generative artificial intelligence tools with just a snippet of someone’s voice to work with can create speech that sounds convincingly like a particular person. If thieves can find 30 seconds of your voice somewhere online such as Instagram, there’s a good chance they can clone it — and make it say anything.

How can you tell if a family member is in trouble or if it’s a scammer using a cloned voice? Don’t trust the voice. Call the person who supposedly contacted you and verify the story. Use a phone number you know is theirs. If you can’t reach your loved one, try to get in touch with them through another family member or their friends.

Other voice scams

In 2021, the FTC warned people of another scam called the Google Voice verification scam. Scammers target people who post things for sale on sites like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. They also prey on people who post looking for help finding their lost pet.

The scammers contact you and say they want to buy the item you’re selling — or that they found your pet. But before they commit to buying your item, or returning your pet, they feign hesitation. They might say they’ve heard about fake online listings and want to verify that you’re a real person. Or they might say they want to verify that you’re the pet’s true owner.

They send you a text message with a Google Voice verification code and ask you for that code. If you give them the verification code, they’ll try to use it to create a Google Voice number linked to your phone number. The scammer might use that number to rip off other people and conceal their identity.

Other notable scams the FTC is warning of

Fraudulent emails and unwanted mail can be deleted or tossed in the trash, telephone calls are tougher to tune out. And because telephone calls are still considered a secure form of communication, voice phishing scams take advantage of consumers’ trust to steal money and personal information.

In voice phishing — or “vishing” — scams, callers impersonate legitimate companies to steal money and personal and financial information. And these scams are on the rise. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission reports that 77% of its fraud complaints involve contact with consumers by telephone.

The following list of what to look out for is from the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office:

“Card Services” Scam

“Paul” receives several prerecorded calls each month that state it is his last chance to reduce the interest rate on his credit card. The calls prompt him to press “1” to speak with a representative. Paul called his credit card company, which stated that it did not place the calls. Rather, a “visher” was trying to get his financial information.

Phony Debt Collection Scam

“Cindy” and her family members received calls from an individual who claimed she owed a debt. The individual demanded payment within 24 hours, but refused to provide any information about the debt in writing. Cindy checked her credit report and saw that the debt was satisfied. She told her family to ignore the fraudster’s calls.

Medical Alert Device Scam

“Maureen” received a recorded call that asked her to schedule the delivery of a medical alert device ordered by her doctor. She pressed “5” as instructed, and the representative asked for her credit card information. After hanging up, Maureen called her doctor’s office, which told her the call was a scam.

Bogus Gift Card Offer

“Bill” received a call from an individual who claimed to be associated with his bank and told him he could receive a $100 gift card and a free iPad if he paid a small shipping and handling fee. Bill told the individual that he wanted to double-check the offer with his bank. Bill called his bank using the telephone number listed on his account statement and sure enough, the bank said it wasn’t giving anything away. Bill blocked the visher’s telephone number on his phone.

Vishing for Financial Information

“Sonja” received an automated call that claimed her VISA card had been deactivated and instructed her to press “9” to speak with a representative. Sonja does not have a VISA card and hung up before the visher could try to steal her personal information.

High-tech Computer Scam

“Stan” received a call from an individual who identified herself as a computer technician and claimed Stan’s operating system security needed updating. Stan allowed the individual to access his computer, but when she asked for his credit card information to pay a $200 fee, he hung up. Stan brought his computer to a trusted local technician the next day who told him his operating system security was already up to date.

Work-at-home Scam

“Mary” received a call from a consulting company representative who offered her a job operating a website. Mary provided her credit card information to pay the $600 start-up fee. After talking it over with her son, who found an alert for the company on the Better Business Bureau website, Mary called her credit card company to cancel the charge.

Government Grant Scam

“Meg” kept receiving calls from individuals who claimed she had been awarded $5,000 in government grants. Meg knew she hadn’t applied for a grant, so she asked her phone company to block the calls from the vishers.

New Medicare Card Scam

“Robert” received a call from an individual who claimed he was due to receive a new Medicare card and asked him to confirm his Medicare number. Knowing that his Medicare number was the same as his Social Security number, Robert refused to provide it to the individual and thwarted an attempt to steal his identity.

Sources: The Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Sentinel Network data book 2002, The Associated Press.

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County restaurants shut down by health inspectors (March 23-30)

• April 1, 2023

Restaurants and other food vendors ordered to close and allowed to reopen by Orange County health inspectors from March 23 to March 30.

Salt Creek Grille, 32802 Pacific Coast Highway, Dana Point

Closed: March 28
Reason: Vermin infestation (other than cockroaches or rodents)
Reopened: March 29

KFC, 1345 S. Main St., Santa Ana

Closed: March 28
Reason: Rodent infestation
Reopened: March 29

Bueno Bueno Mexican Kitchen, 26762 Verdugo St., Suite C, San Juan Capistrano

Closed: March 28
Reason: Rodent infestation
Reopened: March 29

BJ’s, 22022 El Paseo, Rancho Santa Margarita

Closed: March 28
Reason: Rodent infestation
Reopened: March 28

Jack In The Box, 1502 S. Main St., Santa Ana

Closed: March 27
Reason: Cockroach infestation
Reopened: March 29

Yang’s Braised Chicken Rice, 13824 Red Hill Ave., Tustin

Closed: March 24
Reason: Insufficient hot water
Reopened: March 25

Sonny’s Pizza & Pasta, 429 N. El Camino Real, San Clemente

Closed: March 23
Reason: Rodent infestation
Reopened: March 23

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This list is published weekly with closures since the previous week’s list. Status updates are published in the following week’s list. Source: OC Health Care Agency database.

​ Orange County Register 

Baldwin’s codefendant gets 6 months probation on gun charge

• April 1, 2023

By Morgan Lee | Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. — A codefendant in the case against actor Alec Baldwin in the fatal 2021 shooting of a cinematographer on a movie set in New Mexico was convicted Friday of unsafe handling of a firearm and sentenced to six months of probation.

Safety coordinator and assistant director David Halls also must pay a $500 fine, complete a gun-safety course and 24 hours of community service after agreeing to the conviction related to the death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western movie “Rust.”

Under the plea agreement, Halls agreed to testify truthfully at any upcoming hearings or trials. That includes criminal proceedings against Baldwin and movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who have pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death.

Halls appeared briefly by video to waive his right to challenge the negligence charge, as state District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer approved terms of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Defense attorney Lisa Torraco urged the court not to impose a prison sentence — the maximum possible penalty was 6 months behind bars — noting that Halls was “extremely traumatized and “rattled” with guilt.

Hutchins died shortly after she was shot on Oct. 21, 2021, during rehearsals on a film-set ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe. Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins when the weapon went off; a single live round killed her and wounded director Joel Souza.

If convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed could face a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison and fines.

Torraco said Halls had checked the rounds in the revolver before handing it to Baldwin to see whether they were dummies or blanks with an explosive. She said it was “never in anyone’s imagination” that live rounds would be in the gun.

“When Ms. Gutierrez-Reed brought the firearm … on set into the church, he did check the firearm,” she said of Halls. “He wouldn’t have even thought that there was a live round in that, in that gun. … And he, like many others, is extremely traumatized.”

But prosecutor Kari Morrissey said Halls, a veteran filmmaker of more than 30 years, failed in his duty as the last line of defense for firearms safety, and that the fatal shooting took place after two earlier weapons misfires on set.

“Mr. Halls did not check every round that was in the gun to confirm that it was a dummy round and not a live round,” she said. “He then handed the gun to Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Baldwin began to practice his cross draw. And during that action of practicing the cross draw, the gun went off. And obviously Mrs. Hutchins was struck by the bullet and was killed. That is the factual basis for Mr. Halls taking the no contest plea to the unsafe handling of a deadly weapon.”

In separate regulatory proceedings, workplace safety authorities have asserted Halls shared responsibility for identifying and correcting any hazardous conditions related to firearms safety in the movie’s production.

Halls’ sentencing took place on the 30th anniversary of the death of Brandon Lee. The son of martial-arts legend Bruce Lee was hit by a .44-caliber slug from a gun that was supposed to have fired a blank while filming “The Crow.”

A weekslong preliminary hearing in May will decide whether evidence against Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed is sufficient to proceed to trial.

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In her sentencing, Judge Marlowe Sommer confirmed with Halls that he would “testify truthfully in all hearings, trials, or settings involving any and all defendants and co-defendants in this matter.” Prosecutors can reopen the case if Halls violates the terms of the plea agreement.

Santa Fe’s district attorney this week appointed two special prosecutors, Morrissey and Jason Lewis.

The original special prosecutor, Andrea Reeb, resigned following missteps in the initial filing of charges against Baldwin and objections that her role as a state legislator created conflicting responsibilities.

​ Orange County Register 

A look at how things are going along the U.S. southern border

• April 1, 2023

Two big stories regarding the southern border were in the news this week. One about asylum seekers, the other regarding slowing the flow of deadly drugs.

The flow of people

At least 38 people are dead and 29 are injured following a fire Monday at an immigration processing facility in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, according to Mexico’s National Migration Institute.

The migrants started the fire in protest, lighting their sleeping mats after learning they were being deported.

The blaze broke out shortly before 10 p.m.

Sixty-eight men from Central and South America were staying at the facility, which houses migrants who are waiting on requests for asylum in the U.S. or preparing to cross the border. At least 28 Guatemalan nationals were among the dead, Guatemala’s Institute of Migration confirmed.

Here’s a look at the increasing number of people at the border trying to get to the U.S. in recent years:

Southern border Border Patrol apprehensions and inadmissables by month

The most apprehensions in years was in December and the numbers in the El Paso, Texas, region near Ciudad Juárez, Mexico tripled.

The flow of illegal drugs

The Department of Homeland Security has been looking into noninvasive technology to scan cargo and pedestrian vehicles for years. The first X-ray scanner for cargo coming through on the front lines went into action in Brownsville, Texas, last week.

Most U.S.-bound trucks and nearly all passenger vehicles are generally scanned selectively if they are pulled aside. Mexican cartels have long profited from these odds while smuggling fentanyl and other narcotics. The U.S. had a record of nearly 107,000 fatal overdoses from fentanyl in 2021, the most since numbers have been available.

Technology helping enforcement

This transmission image above is from the Customs and Border Patrol and shows a tractor-trailer carrying picture frames and 4,834.8 kilograms of marijuana and 210 kilograms of crystal meth.

The U.S. wants to increase routine scanning of vehicles arriving from Mexico. In 2019, Congress appropriated $675 million to install the technology. President Joe Biden called for more drug-detection technology in his State of the Union speech and this month’s budget proposal, which included $305 million for new inspection systems.

X-ray imaging technology has been used for years in airports to detect drugs and explosives. At the southern border, that nonintrusive scanning technology has mostly been used during secondary inspections until now.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the majority of fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine is trafficked across the southwest border. It’s primarily smuggled into the U.S. through legal ports of entry, meaning it comes within feet of a Customs and Border Protection officer. Prior to the new scanner in Brownsville, CBP has acknowledged it could scan only 2% of all private passenger vehicles and 16% of commercial vehicles at land borders.

The U.S. aims to deploy 123 large-scale scanners along the border by fiscal year 2026, growing its ability to perform nonintrusive scans to 70% of cargo vehicles and 40% of passenger vehicles, according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Drones provide Border Patrol agents with air support no matter where they are. Instead of having to launch a much larger platform, such as an Air and Marine Operations helicopter and crew, the smaller drones fit in the back of a patrol vehicle and can be put in the sky in a matter of minutes.

In 2020, the Border Patrol had more than 135 of these systems in use throughout the country, with 60 more in the procurement process. Plans are eventually to have 460 drones patrol from above. Agents fly two different types of drones: a vertical takeoff and landing quadcopter and a fixed-wing model similar to a model airplane.

Smugglers in the air

The Border Patrol in a March 1 news release said some human traffickers that were arrested were using drones. “Human smugglers using drones to surveil the Border Patrol is a growing trend that we’ve observed along the border,” San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Aaron M. Heitke said. “This technology provides transnational criminal organizations with new capability that they are eager to exploit.”

Sources: Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department of Justice, NBC Montana

​ Orange County Register 

Corona’s new drone is latest tool to warn rivers’ homeless to storm danger

• April 1, 2023

On New Year’s Eve, 10 Corona firefighters waded into the Rincon Wash, searching in the dark through thick brush for two homeless people who were trapped by rising stormwater.

Finally, after an hour, the people were located and rescued.

“Every time we put one of our guys in the water, especially swift water, it puts them at risk,” Corona firefighter/paramedic Mike Leckliter said.

But now, with the acquisition of a state-of-the-art drone in late January, the Fire Department can more accurately pinpoint the location of the homeless people inhabiting the city’s rivers and washes to alert them to impending storms and use that information to decrease the time to reach them if they require rescue. The drone can even deliver a life vest.

“It’s going to be a game-changer for us,” Deputy Fire Chief Justin McGough said.

Corona firefighter and paramedic, Mike Leckliter demonstrates the new state-of-the-art rescue drone outside the fire station on Tuesday, March 28, 2023. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)

The drone is just one of many ways, high tech, low tech and no tech, that public safety agencies in Southern California warn homeless people to move to higher ground ahead of rising water. The methods often involve person-to-person contact using outreach teams, cell phone alerts and messages broadcast over loudspeakers from police helicopters such as Riverside Police Department’s that flies over encampments in the Santa Ana River ahead of major storms.

The consequences of failing to relocate were spotlighted in November when a surge of water in the Cucamonga Wash in Ontario following a rainstorm swept three homeless people to their deaths. This winter, a seemingly never-ending series of storms has kept water levels — and the danger — high and filled creeks and rivers that can often be dry.

Firefighters look for people trapped in the rain-swollen Cucamonga wash in Ontario on Nov. 8, 2022. Several homeless people were rescued. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

“We’re always looking at ways to prevent a tragedy like that from happening,” said Orange County sheriff’s Sgt. Frank Gonzalez, who is assigned to a team of 12 deputies and a clinician in the department’s behavioral health bureau.

Six deputies are assigned to the Santa Ana River, which in OC stretches from the Riverside County border to the Pacific Ocean. When the skies are clear, the deputies offer resources such as housing and food. When rain is coming, the deputies return to urge the homeless to relocate.

A San Bernardino County Fire swift rescue team prepares to cross the Santa Ana River to rescue 8 stranded individuals in 2019. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

“The biggest thing is gaining trust, communication and showing empathy and showing over time that we are genuine. We earn their trust, they know we are empathetic to what they are going through and over time, we are able to gain compliance from a lot of these individuals,” Gonzalez said.

In Los Angeles County, sheriff’s deputies working with the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority talk to homeless people living in rivers personally and make announcements over loudspeakers.

The Ontario deaths spurred change in San Bernardino County.

Before then, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Gloria Huerta, the threat of flood hazards to life was “generally the responsibility of flood control personnel or the jurisdiction where the risk was present.” The county’s homeless outreach team would “sometimes make notifications in major waterways,” and a sheriff’s helicopter crew would make announcements as well.

Members of a San Bernardino County homeless outreach team contact people in a flood control channel in December 2022. The county has been developing a telephone system to alert such homeless people to coming storms that would cause the water level to rise. (Courtesy of San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department)

Now, the county is working toward a more formalized process. The outreach team has been meeting with the county Office of Emergency Services and has proposed using the reverse 911 system to warn homeless people living where dangerous flooding is likely, Huerta said. In the meantime, outreach workers are handing out cards instructing homeless people how to sign up for a county emergency telephone system that sends text messages.

“It is a common misnomer that most folks who are homeless lack cell phones,” Huerta said.

Riverside County officials count on homeless people owning cell phones. The county several times during the winter storms sent alerts to cell phones, accompanied by loud tones, urging people in the Santa Ana River to move to higher ground.

Corona’s new $32,000 drone can’t make phone calls, but that’s about it.

The advantages it has over the Fire Department’s fleet of six smaller drones are that it can fly for an hour vs. 20 minutes on a battery charge, it can fly in rain and high wind, its cameras have improved zoom lenses and can detect heat signatures coming from a person from farther away, and it can deliver a payload weighing up to 7 pounds.

A homeless man clings to a tree in the Los Angeles River in the Atwater area of Los Angeles as members of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s swift water rescue team assist. LA sheriff’s deputies work with housing officials to warn homeless people living in rivers ahead of coming storms. (Photo by Mike Meadows)

Leckliter put the drone through the paces in a recent demonstration. He zoomed in on a construction worker from 1,000 feet away, close enough to get a detailed description of his build and clothing. Leckliter then snapped on an attachment and hooked a life vest to it. He pressed a button on a control panel and the drone released the vest. The drone can also drop two-way radios and bottles of water to lost hikers.

“It’s whatever our imagination is,” Leckliter said.

The infrared camera system has allowed firefighters to find homeless encampments where there were believed to be none. That will help them target more people for alerts. Operators of the drone can attach a loudspeaker and drop a pin on an electronic map that shows up on tablets that are in each fire engine, allowing crews to go more directly to victims.

Leckliter has his own fleet of drones, including a racing drone that can travel at 80 mph and one with a GPS system that will follow him as he rides his bicycle. He said he lobbied the department to purchase this advanced drone.

“As a drone pilot I understood the abilities that would bring our department to be able to more rapidly acquire intel and get to scenes faster than we ever could and ultimately decrease the risk of putting our personnel in hazardous locations when we can do the same thing with remote resources,” Leckliter said,

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​ Orange County Register 

Aquarium director: For ocean health, stop flushing period products

• April 1, 2023

Blame shame, convenience or ignorance, but studies show anywhere from half to more than two-thirds of women flush their tampons down the toilet.

Considering the average woman uses around 10,000 tampons in a lifetime, that’s a lot of period products landing in sewer systems.

Plumbers and wastewater experts have long cautioned against flushing anything but toilet paper, since other materials can cause clogs and lead to pricey repairs. Now, with growing awareness about the chemicals and microplastics found in many period products, environment and marine life advocates are adding their voices to a chorus asking folks to ditch the flushing habit.

“The concern for our aquarium is we want to make sure that people are aware that this is sort of a new reality we have to deal with,” said Marissa Wu, programs and operations director for the Roundhouse Aquarium in Manhattan Beach. Wu has made it a personal mission to educate people about the risks and alternatives to flushing period products.

Wu has been at Roundhouse Aquarium since 2016, helping to further the free site’s mission to highlight marine life native to Southern California waters, from sharks to shrimps. The aquarium recently added a display about pollution and how long it takes different materials to biodegrade in the sea. Wu said they’ve been trying to inform visitors how to cut down on waste and single-use products that too often end up in the ocean, an effort that has led her to start researching risks and alternatives to traditional tampons and pads.

Tampons must go through a review with the Food and Drug Administration before they can be sold in the United States, and experts generally consider those products safe if used as directed. But Wu pointed out that manufacturers aren’t required to list the ingredients of period products, or test results for things like chemicals and microplastics, on their packaging.

“So we’re basically putting something in a very sensitive part of our bodies that we don’t know much about,” she said.

Independent tests have found microplastics not only in wrappers and tampon applicators, but also in some tampon strings and in the tampons and pads themselves. The products otherwise are largely cotton, which is among the crops most heavily treated with pesticides. Some products also have been shown to have other chemicals, compounds and synthetic materials added to mask odors, boost absorbency and increase durability.

Such findings raised concerns for Wu in terms of personal health. And as a marine life expert, she also started to think about what happens when those materials end up in our sewer systems.

Anything flushed down the toilet can end up in oceans and other bodies of water in several ways. If sewers overflow or leak, as happens far too often, those materials end up contaminating local waters. Products like tampons also can hit screens in wastewater systems and sit there for a long time, leaching out whatever is inside of them until they’re cleared out and thrown in landfills. And some sewer systems have grinders to break down such material, which can create pieces of plastic small enough that they make it into the treated wastewater streams that many Southern California plants release into the ocean.

Once there, Wu said, “They take around 500 to 800 years to break down. … And that’s just an estimation. We don’t fully know entirely how long it’s going to take because some of the first plastics that were made are still out there, right? They still exist. So we haven’t lived long enough to have a true estimate of how long it’s going to take.”

The plastics do get smaller and smaller, she noted, with microplastics considered anything less than five millimeters. That debris can get inside algae or plankton, Wu explained. Then fish feed on that plankton, and humans feed on the fish. So yes, bits of those flushed products might eventually end up inside of us.

“And the plastics don’t break down or get passed through the systems,” Wu said. “They just stay there.”

Wu also is worried about how pesticides or other chemicals in period products might affect marine life.

“I had a friend in grad school who was studying at the shark lab over at Cal State Long Beach. She was looking at sting rays and whether toxins that were ingested by the mother were passed on to the pups before being born, through the bloodstream and placenta. So she was majorly concerned as well about feminine products ending up in the ocean.”

The good news, Wu said, is that there are alternatives.

The most basic thing people can do, she said, is to stop flushing any period products down the toilet and, instead, wrap them in toilet paper and deposit them in waste baskets. There’s been progress in making that option more convenient, she noted, with most public facilities now offering lined bins in each stall for safe disposal.

Next, Wu recommends women either consider reusable products, such as period panties or menstrual cups, or look for single-use products that are organic cotton and don’t contain plastics.

“I would encourage women to learn more about the products and learn to trust a brand,” she said.

“It’s a very personal decision, so I encourage people to treat it that way and treat yourselves with respect to make sure that you’re aware of what brands you’re using and what they put in those products. Because, on the one hand, it does affect you. But at the same time it can also help the environment if we’re more conscious about it.”

Unfortunately, reusable and organic products tend to cost substantially more than traditional period products. With reusables, Wu pointed out it’s an upfront investment that can save money over time, like buying a reusable water bottle. But with single-use products, the cost can be twice as high.

That’s why Wu is not currently in favor of any sort of government regulation on the materials used in period products, realizing it might price some lower-income women out of the market. But she would like to see companies list ingredients and test results on packaging, so consumers can at least make more informed decisions.

Then, she said, “For menstruators who can afford to be more conscientious about the environment, and more conscientious about what what is put into their feminine products, make sure they go with the brands that they trust and brands that they agree with, as far as what kind of materials they’re using and putting up against their skin in those very sensitive areas.”

Wu would also like to see more people pressure companies to ditch plastics and other potential pollutants voluntarily, for the good of their consumers and the planet.

‘If enough of us raise our hands ask companies to make things a little bit better,” she said, “maybe they will.”

​ Orange County Register