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Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 02/04/05

Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 02/4/05

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. (usually)

Titles here, abstracts below them:

1. Don't Jump on the Ban-Wagon Too Quickly, Dec. 2004/Jan. 2005
2. EPA Bans Manufacture of Penta- and Octa-BDE, Dec. 2004
3. New Decision-Makers Arrive, Jan. 2005
4. Stirring the Pot in Environmental Health, Jan. 2005
5. Are Biodegradable Materials Finally for Real?, Jan. 2005
6. Benzene Study Indicates Low Doses Can Cause Cell Damage, Dec. 2004
7. EHS Organizational Quality: A DuPont Case Study, Winter 2004
8. Is Bone Mineral Composition Disrupted by Organochlorines in East Greenland Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus)?, Dec. 2004
9. Frost Flowers Waft Bromine, Oct. 2004
10. Hydrolytic Stability of Toluene Diisocyanate and Polymeric Methylenediphenyl Diisocyanate Based Polyureas under Environmental Conditions, Feb. 2004

1. TITLE Don't Jump on the Ban-Wagon Too Quickly
AUTHOR Rio, Robert
SOURCE New England's Environment, Dec. 2004/Jan. 2005, vol. 10, issue 6
ABSTRACT Some people, believers in a concept called the precautionary principle (a notion that, taken to its extreme, prohibits using anything unless it is proven that the substance cannot, under any circumstances, cause harm to anyone) are demonizing lifesaving substances like flame retardants and vaccines, taking for granted their societal benefit. And worse, not only is their reaction often based on preliminary or incomplete information, but they also want society to blindly join their cause against the enemy of the day.

2. TITLE EPA Bans Manufacture of Penta- and Octa-BDE
AUTHOR Walsh, Kerri
SOURCE Chemical Week, December 15, 2004, vol. 166, no. 41, p. 28
ABSTRACT EPA says it has proposed a Significant New Use Rule that requires new manufacturers or importers of penta- and octapolybrominated (penta-BDE and octa-BDE) flame retardants to notify EPA 90 days prior to manufacture or import, effective January 1, 2005. EPA says the rule complements Great Lakes Chemical's voluntary phase out, which takes effect on Dec. 31. The restrictions will not affect imports of finished products that contain the flame retardants, however. Great Lakes is the sole manufacturer of the chemicals in the US.

3. TITLE New Decision-Makers Arrive
AUTHOR Walsh, Kerri
SOURCE Chemical Week, January 5/12, 2005, vol. 167, no. 1, pp. 19-20
ABSTRACT Debate on the EU's proposed REACH policy is expected to continue throughout 2006, and experts anticipate that legislation will not be introduced until 2007 at the earliest. Key figures in the EC who originally developed the policy were replaced at the end of their term of office in 2004. Stavros Dimas was appointed environment commissioner, replacing Margot Wallstrom, and Guenter Verheugen was appointed competition commissioner, replacing Erkki Liikanen. Environmental group WWF says it is "more optimistic" about the prospects for REACH than one year ago, when it says there was "near hysteria" in discussions about REACH's feasibility and cost to industry. The debate has become "much more focused on environment, health, and safety issues," WWF says. Cefic expects the interests of the chemical and other industries affected by the proposed legislation to be given greater prominence. The commission has indicated recently that competitiveness issues resulting from REACH, particularly for small and medium-sized companies, will be analyzed in greater detail and any new findings taken into account, says Franco Bisegna, senior counselor/EU government affairs at Cefic. The new commissioners' positions on REACH will be revealed by their responses to the publication within a few weeks of a report on the Strategic Partnership on REACH Testing, a joint exercise involving the commission, the European Council of Ministers and Cefic.

4. TITLE Stirring the Pot in Environmental Health
AUTHOR Hood, Ernie
SOURCE Environmental Health Perspectives, January 2005, vol. 113, no. 1, pp. A28-A31
ABSTRACT The Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine can be thought of as a think tank - a neutral, nonofficial setting where scientists, government officials, academics, industry representatives, and members of advocacy groups can gather to consider and discuss new scientific findings and emerging issues in environmental health. The roundtable, based at the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in Washington DC, is purposefully deliberative in nature. Its 34 members do not recommend specific actions or provide formal advice. Despite that policy, the group has become highly influential in helping to shape the research agenda for fields in its purview. It has also helped what some observers felt was a disparate, fractured discipline to define itself more clearly and more broadly. By articulating a more holistic approach to environmental health, incorporating the natural, social and built environments, the roundtable seeks to expand the dialogue, encouraging collaborations and partnerships among stakeholders. By identifying potential approaches to deal with new challenges, the group seeks to enhance the effectiveness of environmental health research and medicine in improving and protecting public health.

5. TITLE Are Biodegradable Materials Finally for Real?
AUTHOR Defosse, Matthew
SOURCE Modern Plastics, Vol. 82, No. 1, January 2005, p. 76
ABSTRACT Biodegradable plastics, usually based on renewable-resource materials such as plant starches, have a long history, but getting them beyond niche markets has proven a Herculean task for suppliers' marketing staffs. But recent news points to a critical shift that may herald good times for biodegradable suppliers and processors willing to take a chance. Food processors seem especially willing to purchase packaging made of these plastics.

6. TITLE Benzene Study Indicates Low Doses Can Cause Cell Damage
AUTHOR Sissell, Kara
SOURCE Chemical Week, December 15, 2004, vol. 166, no. 41, p. 10
ABSTRACT A study on benzene exposure suggests that OSHA's 1987 occupational exposure limit of 1 part per million (ppm) over eight hours may not be stringent enough to protect workers from adverse health effects. National Cancer Institute researchers conducted the study, which was published in the journal Science.

7. TITLE EHS Organizational Quality: A DuPont Case Study
AUTHOR Giles, Franklin
SOURCE Environmental Quality Management, Winter 2004, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 19-27
ABSTRACT For the past several years, the Center for Environmental Innovation has been examining the characteristics of high-performing environmental, health and safety organizations. Called "Organizations in Transition," the focus of the work has been on large corporations because these generally have the most mature organizational practices. Because of their size and their layered structure (encompassing the corporate, business group or sector, and facility levels), large corporations can also afford a window into best practices for small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The classic organizational elements (such as size, structure, and communication links) are being evaluated for their capacity to efficiently deliver services of high value to business. In other words, is an organization able to achieve an appropriate blend of what the customer desires and requires, and at an optimum cost? The identity of the "customer" varies considerably depending on whether one is considering the "wants and needs" of the board of directors, a marketing manager, or a plant manager. In addition, the concept of meeting customer wants and needs has taken on added dimensions that include the ability to deal effectively with emerging stakeholder issues driven typically by nongovernmental organizations. The challenge, of course, is to get the blend right. That's what this research is about. To date, this effort has produced journal articles on the evolution of EHS organizational strategy, the definition of superior organizational performance, a screening protocol for high-performing organizations, and the growing influence of NGOs on EHS organizations. It has also produced an interim report. Additional information on this research can be obtained at www.enviro-innovate.org.

8. TITLE Is Bone Mineral Composition Disrupted by Organochlorines in East Greenland Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus)?
AUTHOR Sonne, Christian, et al.
SOURCE Environmental Health Perspectives, December 2004, vol. 112, no. 17, pp. 1711-1716
ABSTRACT We analyzed bone mineral density (BMD) in skulls of polar bears from East Greenland sampled during 1892-2002. Our primary goal was to detect possible changes in bone mineral content (osteopenia) due to elevated exposure to organochlorine (polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane (DDT) and its metabolites, chlordanes (CHLs), dieldrin, hexacyclohexanes, hexachlorobenzene) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) compounds. to ensure that the BMD value in skull represented the mineral status of the skeletal system in general, we compared BMD values in femur and three lumbar vertebrae with skull in a subsample. We detected highly significant correlations between BMD in skull and femur and skull and vertebrae. BMD inn skulls sampled in the supposed pre-organochlorine/PBDE period (1892-1932) was significantly higher than that in skulls sampled in the supposed pollution period (1966-2002) for subadult females, subadult males, and adult males but not adult females. In conclusion, the strong correlative relationships suggest that disruption of the mineral composition in East Greenland polar bears may have been caused by organochlorine exposure.

9. TITLE Frost Flowers Waft Bromine
SOURCE Chemical & Engineering News, October 11, 2004, vol. 82, no. 41, p. 38
ABSTRACT Using satellite imaging, researchers have pinpointed one likely contributor to ozone depletion in the lower atmosphere near the poles: frost flowers. Temporary fields of frost flowers on top of new ice appear every year as polar ice grows. These delicate clusters of ice crystals form only in the below-freezing layer of concentrated brine slush and saturated water vapor above new sea ice. The flowers hold three times the concentration of bromide ions in seawater. A group led by Lars Lakeschke at the Institute of Environmental Physics at the University of Bremen, in Germany, found a correlation between satellite measurements of both tropospheric BrO and likely frost flower coverage. The researchers suspect the flowers contribute to the well-known bromine explosion that happens at polar sunrise and causes a cascade of atmospheric reactions leading to ozone depletion in the troposphere.

10. TITLE Hydrolytic Stability of Toluene Diisocyanate and Polymeric Methylenediphenyl Diisocyanate Based Polyureas under Environmental Conditions
AUTHOR Sendijarevic, Vahid et al.
SOURCE Environmental Science & Technology, February 15, 2004, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 1066-1072
ABSTRACT Polyureas were prepared by reacting toluene diisocyanate (TDI) or polymeric methylenediphenyl diisocyanate (PMDI) with water under prolonged vigorous mixing at room temperature. Hydrolytic degradation of these (powdered) TDI- and PMDI-based polyureas was studied by measuring the rates of formation of free toluenediamine (TDA) or methylenedianiline (MDA) in water as a function of time by utilizing HPLC. The heterogeneous hydrolysis reactions were carried out in glass reaction tubes under nitrogen with initial polyurea loadings of 2 g/L in deionized water or buffer solution. In the case of TDI-polyurea, concentrations of free 2,4- and 2,6-toluenediamine in water were measured after hydrolysis at 120, 140, and 160 C. The hydrolysis of PMDI-polyurea was carried out at 150, 160, and 170 C, and concentrations of 2,4'-methylenedianiline (2,4'-MDA), 4,4'-methylenedianiline (4,4'-MDA), and 2,4-bis(p-aminobenzyl)aniline were measured. In both cases the rate of formation of diamine was well represented by both a pseudo-first-order reaction and a zero-order reaction. The temperature dependence of rate constants fit Arrhenius behavior. The half-time for hydrolysis of TDI-polyurea at 25 C was calculated to range from about 18 000 to 300 000 years and that of PMDI-polyurea was estimated to range from about 110 000 to 12 million years, depending on the kinetic assumptions made. The half-times for hydrolysis at buffered pH levels of 4, 7, and 9 were within a factor of 2 of those in deionized water. These results are of importance in understanding the fate of polyureas formed in the event of a release of TDI or PMDI into the environment.

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