Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 03/11/05
Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 03/11/05
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. Plasticizer-Free Soft Elastomers, January 2005
2. New Zealand: Green Haven for Biotech?, February 2005
3. A Strategic Approach to Corporate Transparency, November 2004
4. WBCSD Report Finds Firms Becoming More Transparent, November 2004
5. Pollutants Added to Rotterdam Chemical Trade Watch List, November 2004
6. EU Proposes to Expand Release Reporting, November 2004
7. Study Links Asthma to Chemicals: Industry Rejects Findings, January 2005
8. PFOA May Cause Cancer in Rats, January 2005
9. Consumer Products Seen as Source of Chemical Exposure, January 2005
10. Environmentalists Sue EPA Over New Methyl Bromide Rule, January 2005
1. TITLE Plasticizer-Free Soft Elastomers
SOURCE Plastics Engineering, January 2005, vol. 61, no. 1, p. 9
ABSTRACT Bayer MaterialScience has developed a group of polyurethane cast elastomer systems that are said to enable casters/molders to produce extremely soft and flexible parts that have excellent tear resistance. The new technology
is intended to provide low durometer characteristics with extremely high tear strength and high elongation - without the use of expensive plasticizers that are often detrimental to the performance of the cast part. For use in repetitive-use parts such as molds, the company says, the soft elastomers represent inexpensive replacements for silicones. In addition to being 20% lighter than silicone rubber, the elastomers offer significant performance and processing advantages over competitive materials in applications such as roller coverings, gaskets, seals, and diaphragms.
2.TITLE New Zealand: Green Haven for Biotech?
AUTHOR Herrara, Stephan
SOURCE Technology Review (MIT), vol. 108, number 2, February 2005, pp. 28-30
ABSTRACT The island nation may have found a way to calm both sides in the debate over genetically modified organisms.
3. TITLE A Strategic Approach to Corporate Transparency
SOURCE Business and the Environment, November 2004, vol. XV, no. 11, pp. 1-4
ABSTRACT In recent years, businesses have come under increased pressure to be more responsible, accountable, and transparent. Stakeholders want to evaluate corporate performance, and request that businesses become more transparent. Such transparency requests often go beyond the financial arena, and focus on information about an organization's social and environmental performance. A new report from the Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI), Transparency: A Path to Public Trust, promotes a proactive five-step approach dubbed "transparency by design." This method includes
a systematic approach to defining and implementing an appropriate transparency strategy that fits the unique circumstances of a particular firm.
4. TITLE WBCSD Report Finds Firms Becoming More Transparent
SOURCE Business and the Environment, November 2004, vol. XV,no. 11, p. 10
ABSTRACT More and more companies are responding to the pressure for transparency by establishing new, or revisiting old, codes
of conduct, says a new report from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
5. TITLE Pollutants Added to Rotterdam Chemical Trade Watch List
SOURCE Business and the Environment, November 2004, vol. XV, no. 11, p. 14
ABSTRACT The United Nations Environment Programme has announced that the first conference of the Rotterdam Convention's member states since the agreement entered into force on 24 February
2004 has agreed to add 14 new hazardous chemicals and pesticides to an initial "watch list" of 27 substances.
6. TITLE EU Proposes to Expand Release Reporting
SOURCE Business and the Environment, November 2004, vol. XV, no. 11, pp. 14-15
ABSTRACT In February 2004, the EU established the first Internet-based register of industrial emissions to air and water, the European Pollutant and Emissions Register (EPER). The EU Environment Commission has now proposed to expand this effort to also include transfers to land.
7. TITLE Study Links Asthma to Chemicals: Industry Rejects Findings
SOURCE Chemical Week, January 5/12, 2005, vol. 167, no. 1, p. 7
ABSTRACT Industry has rejected the findings of a recent study by researchers at Bristol University linking wheezing in children, a precursor to asthma, to the use of chemical in the home. The study, published in the January edition of the medical journal Thorax, claimed that chemical-based products including bleaches, air fresheners, and carpet cleaners may have contributed to a tripling of asthma cases among children in the UK since 1970.
8. TITLE PFOA May Cause Cancer in Rats
SOURCE Chemical Market Reporter, January 17, 2005, volume 267, number 3, pp. 1, 27
ABSTRACT A draft assessment of the potential risks of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) released last week by the EPA suggests the chemical may cause cancer in laboratory rats, but the carcinogenic hazard for people is uncertain.
9. TITLE Consumer Products Seen as Source of Chemical Exposure
SOURCE Chemical Market Reporter, January 17, 2005, volume 267, number 3, p. 11
ABSTRACT Toxic chemicals are widespread in consumer products often found in the home, according to a new analysis by the National Environmental Trust (NET). The chemicals include many that federal agencies already associate with cancer, reproductive harm and neurotoxicity. The report does not allege a direct link between the findings and rates of chronic diseases, but it highlights consumer products as a source of chemical exposure that receives little government scrutiny. The findings are published in NET's report, "Cabinet Confidential".
10. TITLE Environmentalists Sue EPA Over New Methyl Bromide Rule
SOURCE Chemical Market Reporter, January 17, 2005, volume 267, number 3, p. 11
ABSTRACT Environmentalists have filed a lawsuit over a new EPA rule that would allow increased production and use of methyl bromide in 2005, charging the measure violates both the Clean Air Act and the Montreal Protocol.