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Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 02/18/05


Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 02/18/05

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. How Small Firms Innovate Sustainably, November/December 2004
  2. Chlorine Rail Car Crash Renews Rail and Homeland Security Concerns, January 2005
  3. ASTDR Posts Study on Metals and Chlorpyrifos Exposure, January 2005
  4. Electrically Conductive Adhesive Solders, January 2005
  5. Plastic Pipe: Corrosion Resistance, Ease of Installation Stimulate Demand for Plastic Pipe, January 2005
  6. BuildingGreen Announces 2004 Top-10 Products, December 2004
  7. Next-Generation DVD to Boost Gallium Demand, January 2005
  8. Mercury Rising: Is Global Action Needed to Protect Human Health and the Environment?, January/February 2005
  9. Cleaner Production in the Indian Dye and Dye Intermediate Industry: A Successful Preventive Environmental Management Strategy for Waste Minimization and Resource Conservation, April-September 2004
  10. Roe, Interrupted: Estrogen Exposure Impairs Fish Fertility, December 2004


1. TITLE How Small Firms Innovate Sustainably
AUTHOR Nelson, Kris
SOURCE In Business, Vol. 26, No. 6, November/December 2004, pp. 24-26
ABSTRACT Here's advice on using best practices and resources that pay off, build brand equity and make results more profitable.

2. TITLE Chlorine Rail Car Crash Renews Rail and Homeland Security Concerns
AUTHOR Sissell, Kara; Seewald, Nancy
SOURCE Chemical Week, January 19, 2005, vol. 167, no. 2, p. 9
ABSTRACT The recent Norfolk Southern rail car crash near Graniteville, SC has given added emphasis to concerns about security and rail transportation service, two of the chemical industry's top priorities. The January 14 accident at Aiken, SC, which killed nine and caused the evacuation of more than 5,000 people, is the deadliest train wreck involving hazardous materials in more than 20 years.

3. TITLE ASTDR Posts Study on Metals and Chlorpyrifos Exposure
AUTHOR Sissell, Kara
SOURCE Chemical Week, January 19, 2005, vol. 167, no. 2, p. 41
ABSTRACT The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has posted a study on its web site that examines the potential health effects on children of lead, mercury, and methylmercury when combined with chlorpyrifos. ASTDR says it chose that combination because of the likelihood of exposure to the mixture and because of suspected neurological health effects. "The primary effect of concern for this mixture is neurological, and the sub-population of concern is children," the report says. "Neurological effects are the critical effects for chlorpyrifos, lead, and methylmercury, and children are know (for lead and methylmercury) or predicted on the basis of animal studies (for chlorpyrifos) to be more sensitive than adults," it says. ASTDR is the agency responsible for examining the health risks posed by Superfund sites. Public comments are due by March 31.

4. TITLE Electrically Conductive Adhesive Solders
SOURCE Plastics Engineering, January 2005, vol. 61, no. 1, p. 8
ABSTRACT Syon electrically conductive adhesive solders from Devcon can be used to form conductive paths in applications in which hot soldering would be ineffective or impractical. These epoxy and expoxide formulations mix and pour easily, fill voids completely, and cure with minimal air entrapment. Additionally, they provide exceptional environmental and impact resistance, note the company.

5. TITLE Plastic Pipe: Corrosion Resistance, Ease of Installation Stimulate Demand for Plastic Pipe
AUTHOR Stewart, Richard
SOURCE Plastics Engineering, January 2005, vol. 61, no. 1, pp. 14-22
ABSTRACT Plastics have been used in the manufacture of pipe for decades, offering significant advantages over traditional piping materials such as cast and ductile iron, steel, and concrete. Extruded pipe is less expensive to transport, handle, install, and maintain than non-plastic pipe. Excellent durability, integrity of joints, and resistance to corrosion and chemicals give these products a longer expected service life - 100 years of more - than pipe made of other materials. The rusting, pitting, and scaling that commonly lead to the failure of metal pipeline systems are eliminated with the use of plastics pipe. Thermoplastics most commonly used in pipe manufacture are polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), and polybutylene (PB). Stiffer resin grades have expanded the market for PE. Over the last 40 years, pipe manufactured from PE and PP materials has gained market share in gas and water distribution, sewage systems, and plumbing and heating applications.

6. TITLE BuildingGreen Announces 2004 Top-10 Products
SOURCE Environmental Building News, Vol. 13, No. 12, December, 2004, p. 15
ABSTRACT Two of the Top-10 awards went to the following. 1)TimberSIL Nontoxic Pressure-Treated Wood from Timber Treatment Technologies, LLC. TimberSIL pressure-treated wood relies on a mineralization process rather than toxins to prevent infestation and decay. Sodium silicate is infused into the wood, followed by a heat-treatment process that forms protective microscopic glass "crystals" throughout the wood. The process provides a permanent, insoluble noncorrosive treatment that the manufacturer guarantees for 40 years. 2) Ethos Carpet-Cushion Backing from Tandus - C&A Floorcoverings. Ethos is made from nonchlorinated polyvinyl butyral (PVB) safety-glass film collected when auto windows and other safety-glass panes are recycled. Ethos is 96% post-consumer recycled, resulting in carpet with a total recycled content of 40-62%. Ethos can be specified for most C&A carpet products at no added cost.

7. TITLE Next-Generation DVD to Boost Gallium Demand
AUTHOR Lerner, Ivan
SOURCE Chemical Market Reporter, January 17, 2005, volume 267, number 3, p. 15
ABSTRACT With the future of home entertainment leaning toward the Blu-ray Disc (BD) system, the market for specialty material gallium is projected to grow. Unlike current DVDs, which use a red laser to read and write data, BD uses a blue (or violet) laser. A blue laser has a shorter wavelength than a red laser, which enables it to focus more precisely and read the information recorded in the smaller pits on the BD.

8. TITLE Mercury Rising: Is Global Action Needed to Protect Human Health and the Environment?
AUTHOR Eckley Selin, Noelle
SOURCE Environment, January/February 2005, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 22-35
ABSTRACT There has been growing international concern that mercury pollution has become a global problem - and some have suggested that global action is necessary to address it. This February, ministers and other government representative from countries around the world will address the question of mercury pollution for a second time, at a meeting of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). At a previous meeting in 2003, the United States and a few other countries actively lobbied against proposals for an international convention on mercury. A global mercury program was established at that meeting; the issue of a possible international convention will be addressed again this February. How governments will answer this time depends on a combination of scientific understanding and political will. The problem of mercury in the environment involves numerous aspects, ranging from its emissions and transport through the biosphere all the way to its accumulation in and toxicity to living organisms. Potential policy actions on mercury will build heavily upon the current "state of the science" on mercury pollution - particularly its potential for long-range transport - and on the threat posed to human health and development. Future policies should also build upon the numerous actions already taken to address mercury - domestically and internationally - and should involve industrialized as well as developing nations.

9. TITLE Cleaner Production in the Indian Dye and Dye Intermediate Industry: A Successful Preventive Environmental Management Strategy for Waste Minimization and Resource Conservation
AUTHOR Gupta, P.K.; Kalathiyappan, S.
SOURCE Industry and Environment, April - September 2004, vol. 27, no. 2-3, 2004, pp. 43-46
ABSTRACT Chemical manufacturing is one of India's oldest domestic industries. This article focuses on the dye and dye intermediate sector. Many companies in the sector are SMEs. In the last decade or so they have experienced severe financial pressures at the same time as growing demands to improve their environmental performance. End-of-pipe treatment of waste and emissions has been promoted, but with only limited success as it is cost-intensive (and changing the form of the waste is not the same thing as eliminating it). Most of the limited number of cleaner production initiatives undertaken in India thus far have been demonstration projects. By implementing cleaner production measures, participating companies have improved productivity, cutting costs and reducing their pollution loads. The savings realized are potentially many times the original investment.

10. TITLE Roe, Interrupted: Estrogen Exposure Impairs Fish Fertility
AUTHOR Spivey, Angela
SOURCE Environmental Health Perspectives, December 2004, vol. 112, no. 17, pp. A1010 - A1011
ABSTRACT Major research efforts have shown that endocrine disruptors - environmental chemicals that can interfere with the endocrine system - may affect reproduction of wildlife and even humans. Studies in fish, for example, have shown that endocrine disruptors can reduce sperm count, induce both male and female gonadal tissue or intermediate sexual characteristics in the same individual, and induce female-specific proteins in males. But little evidence to date has elucidated the effect of such changes on fertility. This month, Jon Nash of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium and colleagues report that long-term exposure to low concentrations of a synthetic estrogen may severely undermine the breeding success of wildlife populations, chiefly by producing sexually compromised males who disrupt breeding dynamics.

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