Take away the tomalley!

Excerpts from the Globe's environmental blog.

Probably you've never eaten it. But if you are one of those people who grab lobster off other people's plates to devour it - stop.

The US Food and Drug Administration is warning the public to avoid eating tomalley - that soft green substance found in lobster cavities - from all American lobsters because the green stuff, which functions as the liver and pancreas, can have dangerous levels of the toxin that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning.

Routine sampling of lobsters in Maine and New Hampshire turned up high levels, probably stemming from an outbreak of red tide in Northern New England and eastern Canada. The toxins are not believed to affect lobster meat.

Symptoms usually occur within two hours, and include tingling and/or numbness of the mouth, face, or neck; muscle weakness; headache; and nausea.

It's hard to avoid the onslaught of eco-friendly products these days - everything from "green" computer paper to carbon neutral underwear. Now, a new Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies survey show that marketers are clearly tapping into a money-maker: People want environmentally friendly products - and are willing to pay more for them.

According to the survey, conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media and Yale, half of respondents said they would "definitely" or "probably" pay 15 percent more for a car or eco-friendly detergent, and 39 percent would do the same for green wood furniture. Americans who said their current financial situation is "fair" or "poor" were just as willing to spend 15 percent more on environmentally friendly detergent or furniture as those with a better financial picture.

Notice a less purple hue on the landscape these days? That's because there is less purple loosestrife - a gorgeous but invasive species that chokes native plants and overtakes fragile wetlands.

Massachusetts introduced two tiny beetles in 2000 to control the weeds, and since then, the bugs have been chomping their way across the state, defoliating and weakening the plant to allow native plant species to compete. . The tiny beetles are native to Europe, where loosestrife hails from, and were first imported to the United States in 1992 to control the loosestrife. While it's difficult to measure how much loosestrife has declined, state officials - and some readers - say it's enough to be noticeable.

The beetles don't do any harm other than feed on the loosestrife, according to Beth Suedmeyer, who coordinates the Purple Loosestrife Biocontrol Project for the state Office of Coastal Zone Management. "We are not going to ever lose all of our loosestrife but it's a way to keep native plants competitive," she said.

One of the toughest parts of studying large marine animals is tracking them in the water. Yet University of New Hampshire scientists just tagged three leatherbacks - a male and two females weighing about 700-800 pounds, which outfitted with GPS satellite tags on their backs. Researchers want to track the elusive endangered creatures to better understand their feeding, swimming and other habits to help them survive.

BETH DALEY