Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 05/23/2008
This is the weekly bulletin of the TURI Library, reporting a selection of recently published titles we have acquired. Our pledge is to keep the bulletin relevant to your work and brief -- no more than 10 titles. You are welcome to send a message to jan@turi.org if you would like more information on any of the articles listed here.
Titles here, abstracts below:
- Chemical assessments: EPA's new assessment process will further limit the productivity and credibility of its Integrated Risk Information System
- Greening Advisor
- Red Sox unveil solar hot water panels at Fenway Park
- Some nanotubes could cause cancer
- State officials look to make chemical plants safer
- Lead free HASL
- EU provides online database detailing 15000 cosmetics ingredients
- Mission-driven companies seek 'beneficial' label
- Arsenic in rice: I. Estimating normal levels of total arsenic in rice grain
- Arsenic in rice: II. Arsenic speciation in USA grain and implications for human health
1. Chemical assessments: EPA's new assessment process will further limit the productivity and credibility of its Integrated Risk Information System
Source: United States. Government Accountability Office (GAO), 2008
Abstract: In its March 2008 report, GAO concluded that the IRIS database is at serious risk of becoming obsolete because EPA has not been able to routinely complete timely, credible assessments or decrease its backlog of 70 ongoing assessments—a total of 4 were completed in fiscal years 2006 and 2007. In addition, recent assessment process changes, as well as other changes EPA was considering at the time of GAO’s review, further reduce the timeliness and credibility of IRIS assessments.
• EPA’s efforts to finalize assessments have been thwarted by a combination of factors, including two new OMB-required reviews of IRIS assessments by OMB and other federal agencies; EPA management decisions, such as delaying some assessments to await new research; and the compounding effect of delays–even one delay can have a domino effect, requiring the process to essentially be repeated.
• The two new OMB/interagency reviews of draft assessments involve other federal agencies in EPA’s IRIS assessment process in a manner that limits the credibility of IRIS assessments and hinders EPA’s ability to manage them. For example, the OMB/interagency reviews lack transparency, and OMB required EPA to terminate five assessments EPA had initiated to help it implement the Clean Air Act.
• The changes to the IRIS assessment process that EPA was considering, but had not yet issued at the time of our review, would have added to the already unacceptable level of delays in completing IRIS assessments and further limited the credibility of the assessments.
On April 10, 2008, EPA issued its revised IRIS assessment process, effective immediately. In its February 2008 comments on GAO’s draft report, EPA said it would consider the report’s recommendations, which were aimed at streamlining the process and better ensuring that EPA has the ability to develop transparent, credible assessments. However, EPA’s new process is largely the same as the draft GAO evaluated, and some key changes are likely to further exacerbate the productivity and credibility concerns GAO identified. For example, while the draft process would have made comments from other federal agencies on IRIS assessments part of the public record, EPA’s new process expressly defines such comments as “deliberative” and excludes them from the public record. GAO continues to believe that it is critical that input from all parties—particularly agencies that may be affected by the outcome of IRIS assessments—be publicly available. In addition, the estimated time frames under the new process, especially for chemicals of key concern, will likely perpetuate the cycle of delays to which the majority of ongoing assessments have been subject. Instead of significantly streamlining the process, which GAO recommended, EPA has institutionalized a process that from the outset is estimated to take 6 to 8 years to complete. This is problematic because of the substantial rework such cases often require to take into account changing science and methodologies. Since EPA’s new process is not responsive to GAO’s recommendations, the viability of this critical database has been further jeopardized.
WWW: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08810t.pdf?source=ra
2. Greening Advisor
Source: Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), 2008
Abstract: NRDC has a long history of working with businesses and other organizations to help reduce the environmental impacts of their operations and events, from major corporations to professional sports teams to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Out of this work comes The NRDC Greening Advisor, a guide that can help any commercial business or organization to reduce its environmental impacts. The principles outlined here can help green commercial business operations and may even cut costs by showing how your business can produce less waste, consume less paper and energy, and use resources more efficiently. Greening an organization is a colloquial way of saying that we’re working to ecologically improve an institution’s supply chain and day-to-day operations.
WWW: http://www.nrdc.org/enterprise/greeningadvisor/
3. Red Sox unveil solar hot water panels at Fenway Park
Source: Boston Red Sox, May 19, 2008
Abstract: The Boston Red Sox today formally unveiled solar hot water panels on the roof at Fenway Park. The panels, which will help heat water used throughout the facility, are part of a series of environmentally-sustainable practices that have been implemented at Fenway Park this year. The Red Sox worked on this initiative with National Grid, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, and the Natural Resources Defense Council. The Red Sox are the first team in Major League Baseball to have a solar thermal system at their ballpark.
The 28 solar panels were installed from May 7 through May 12 on the roof of the fifth floor media level, overlooking the ramp and elevator shaft, and will be fully operational this week. This site faces almost directly south, with only a few hours of the winter solstice when the site is shadowed and the solar exposure is highly desirable. This location is also a close proximity to the water heaters in the mechanical room on the roof, and energy captured by the panels can be easily delivered to this equipment.
The energy generated by the panels will replace more than a third of the gas traditionally used for the process of heating water at the park, saving both energy and expense. Fenway's average daily water heating load is approximately 3.1 million BTU. The maximum daily solar panel thermal energy production will be approximately 1.1 million BTU, or 37% of the current load.
WWW: http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/press_releases/
press_release.jsp?ymd=20080519&content_id=2730414&vkey=pr_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos
4. Some nanotubes could cause cancer
Author: Bullis, Kevin
Source: Technology Review, May 22, 2008
Abstract: Certain types of carbon nanotubes could cause the same health problems as asbestos, according to the results of two recent studies. In one, published yesterday, tests in mice showed that long and straight multiwalled carbon nanotubes cause the same kind of inflammation and lesions in the type of tissues that surround the lungs that is caused by asbestos. The other study, also done in mice, showed that similar carbon nanotubes eventually led to cancerous tumors.
Carbon nanotubes, tube-shaped carbon molecules just tens of nanometers in diameter, have excellent electronic and mechanical properties that make them attractive for a number of applications. They have already been incorporated into some products, such as tennis rackets and bicycles, and eventually they could be used in a wide variety of applications, including medical therapies, water purification, and ultrafast and compact computer chips. "It's a material that's got many unique characteristics," says Andrew Maynard, a coauthor of one of the studies, which appears in the current issue of Nature Nanotechnology. "But of course nothing comes along like this that is completely free from risk."
Carbon nanotubes that are straight and 20 micrometers or longer in length--qualities that are well suited for composite materials used in sports equipment--resemble asbestos fibers. This has long led many experts to suggest that these carbon nanotubes might pose the same health risks as asbestos, a fire-resistant material that can cause mesothelioma, a cancer of a type of tissue surrounding the lungs. But until now, strong scientific evidence for this theory was lacking.
WWW: http://www.technologyreview.com/Nanotech/20815/
5. State officials look to make chemical plants safer
Author: Haynes, Brad
Source: NJ.com, May 18, 2008
Abstract: For many visitors, the first glimpse of New Jersey is a string of industrial plants and refineries in a sea of yellow light along the Turnpike.
With the state's most hazardous chemical facilities so close to its most traveled routes and densest living areas, New Jersey's chemical safety regulations have long been a harbinger of federal law.
Now Garden State officials say they've raised the bar again, mandating regular reviews for safety upgrades at the 89 most dangerous chemical plants, oil refineries, water treatment plants and industrial facilities in the state.
The reviews -- done by the facilities themselves -- won't force companies to convert their operations to safer alternatives. But Lisa Jackson, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection, expects a drop in chemical hazards because those reviews will require the companies to explain their decisions on whether they will implement safety improvements or not.
"They're stronger than federal regulations," Jackson said. "And you're going to see a tremendous impact."
WWW: http://www.nj.com/southjersey/index.ssf/2008/05/state_officials_look_to_make_c.html
6. Lead free HASL
Author: Scimeca, T.; Sikorcin, G.; Lentz, T.
Source: Global SMT & Packaging, March 2008, pp14-21
Abstract: The solder surface produced on bare printed circuit boards by hot air solder leveling (HASL) has been used extensively as a solderable finish for many years. The recent conversion to lead free solder in the electronics industry has led many people to predict the eventual demise of this process. The purpose of this paper is to report that lead free HASL or LF HASL is not only seen as a way of continuing to use the HASL process in the lead free era but also to give the reader a chance to reconsider this reliable surface finish.
WWW: http://www.globalsmt.net/content/view/3816/118/
7. EU provides online database detailing 15000 cosmetics ingredients
Source: PublicTechnology.net, May 21, 2008
Abstract: The European Commission has launched a new online database of the ingredients used in cosmetic products making it easier for companies to find up-to-date information on substances needed to develop new cosmetics or to improve existing ones.
The new database, called ‘CosIng’ (COSmetics INGredients), replaces the old pdf format list which was one of the most consulted documents on the DG Enterprise website. Using CosIng, businesses and authorities can now check if and how a substance is regulated at EU level, from when and how it has been regulated through the years and what are the opinions of the Scientific Committee on Consumer Products (SCCP) which form the basis of this legislation. Companies will no longer have to search through various documents to get the full picture.
EU law on cosmetic products is now more accessible and transparent and this will make life easier for companies and reduce costs. It will also facilitate market surveillance by the Competent Authorities and contribute to the safety of cosmetic products.
WWW: http://www.publictechnology.net/
modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=15793
8. Mission-driven companies seek 'beneficial' label
Author: Keohane, Georgia Levenson
Source: CityLimits.org, April 21, 2008
Abstract: What do a Union Square marketing firm, an online crafts retailer, and a countertop manufacturer in the Brooklyn Navy Yard have in common?
Each is now a B Corporation, a pioneering form of socially responsible business. In New York City, already home to a critical mass of socially and environmentally conscious firms, investors, and consumers, the B Corp movement is gaining steam. If the national trend is any indication – in the last nine months, 80 companies across 17 states and 20 industries have been certified as B Corps – New York City may lead the next wave in the growth of B Corps and the marketplace for "mission-driven" enterprise.
B Corps are the brainchild of Jay Coen Gilbert, Bart Houlahan, and Andrew Kassoy, three longtime friends and veterans of the business world in both the private equity and consumer product sectors. Last July they launched B-Lab, a nonprofit organization based in Berwyn, Pa. that certifies individual B Corps and advances their collective potential as a meta-brand for socially minded consumers and investors. To become a B Corp – the “b” is for beneficial – companies must meet extensive standards for their environmental and social performance, scoring at least 80 out of 200 on the B-ratings scale. They must also expand their legal and fiduciary responsibilities beyond the interests of traditional shareholders to include a broader universe of “stakeholders” – employees, suppliers, consumers, community and environment.
WWW: http://www.citylimits.org/content/articles/viewarticle.cfm?article_id=3542
9. Arsenic in rice: I. Estimating normal levels of total arsenic in rice grain
Author: Zavala, Yamily J.; Duxbury, John M.
Source: Environmental Science & Technology, April 16, 2008, pp3856-3860
Abstract: High levels of arsenic (As) in rice grain are a potential concern for human health. Variability in total As in rice was evaluated using 204 commercial rice samples purchased mostly in retail stores in upstate New York and supplemented with samples from Canada, France, Venezuela, and other countries. Total As concentration in rice varied from 0.005 to 0.710 mg kg-1. We combined our data set with literature values to derive a global “normal” range of 0.08-0.20 mg kg-1 for As concentration in rice. The mean As concentrations for rice from the U.S. and Europe (both 0.198 mg kg-1) were statistically similar and significantly higher than rice from Asia (0.07 mg kg-1). Using two large data sets from Bangladesh, we showed that As contaminated irrigation water, but not soil, led to increased grain As concentration. Wide variability found in U.S. rice grain was primarily influenced by region of growth rather than commercial type, with rice grown in Texas and Arkansas having significantly higher mean As concentrations than that from California (0.258 and 0.190 versus 0.133 mg kg-1). Rice from one Texas distributor was especially high, with 75% of the samples above the global “normal” range, suggesting production in an As contaminated environment.
10. Arsenic in rice: II. Arsenic speciation in USA grain and implications for human health
Author: Zavala, Yamily J.; Gerads, Russell; Gurleyuk, Hakan; Duxbury, John M.
Source: Environmental Science & Technology, April 16, 2008, pp 3861–3866
Abstract: Rice is a potentially important route of human exposure to arsenic, especially in populations with rice-based diets. However, arsenic toxicity varies greatly with species. The initial purpose of the present study was to evaluate arsenic speciation in U.S. rice. Twenty-four samples containing high levels of arsenic and produced in different regions of the U.S were selected from a previous market-basket survey. Arsenite and dimethyl arsinic acid (DMA) were the major species detected. DMA increased linearly with increasing total As but arsenite remained fairly constant at ~0.1 mg kg-1, showing that rice high in As was dominated by DMA. A similar result was obtained when our data was combined with other published speciation studies for U.S. rice. However, when all published speciation data for rice was analyzed a second population dominated by inorganic As and lower levels of DMA was found. We thus categorized rice into DMA and Inorganic As types. Rice from the U.S. was predominantly the DMA type, as were single samples from Australia and China, whereas rice from Asia and Europe was the Inorganic As type. We suggest that methylation of As occurs within rice and that genetic differences lead to the two rice types. Insufficient understanding of DMA toxicity precludes a firm assessment of the relative health risks associated with the two rice types but, based on current knowledge, we suggest that the DMA rice type is likely to be less of a health risk than the Inorganic As rice type and, on this basis, rice from the U.S. may be safer than rice from Asia and Europe.
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This page updated Friday May 23 2008