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Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 07/15/2005


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). 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 them:
  1. Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Opportunities and Challenges for Business and Industry. July 2005
  2. Design of an Optimal Reversed Drag-out Network for Maximum Chemical Recovery in Electroplating Systems. June 2005
  3. Challenging Assumptions About Lead and IQ: Effects Increase, Not Decrease, in Older Children. May 2005
  4. EU Plans Tests for Food Dyes. May 2005
  5. Chemical Regulation: Options Exist to Improve EPA's Ability to Assess Health Risks and Manage Its Chemical Review Program. June 2005
  6. Mattress Meets Tough Fire-Safety Specs. May 2005
  7. Improving Incident Investigation. June 2005
  8. The Healthy Building Network's Guide to Plastic Lumber. June 2005
  9. Towards a Climate-Friendly Built Environment. June 2005
  10. EPA Panel Finds PFOA a "Likely" Human Carcinogen. July 2005
1. Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Opportunities and Challenges for Business and Industry 

PUBLISHER World Resources Institute

AUTHOR Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, Business and Industry Synthesis Team

ABSTRACT This report synthesizes and integrates findings related to both small and large businesses throughout the industrial and developing world. The 34-page report connects the dots between environmental changes and the private sector. It highlights ways in which businesses depend on services provided by ecosystems, how those ecosystem services are changing, and the ramifications for business and industry.

2. Design of an Optimal Reversed Drag-out Network for Maximum Chemical Recovery in Electroplating Systems

AUTHOR Xu, Qiang; Huang, Yinlun

SOURCE Plating & Surface Finishing, v92 n6, June 2005, pp44-48

ABSTRACT Drag-out losses comprise a major cost in plating operations, both from economic and environmental standpoints. This paper develops that means for optimizing a reverse drag-out scheme, which promises to reduce considerably material losses while reducing environmental consequences. Behind the math is an engineering solution for many such problems.

3. Challenging Assumptions About Lead and IQ: Effects Increase, Not Decrease, in Older Children

AUTHOR Weinhold, Bob

SOURCE Environmental Health Perspectives, v113 n5, May 2005, ppA324-325

ABSTRACT The concentration of lead in children's blood peaks at about age 2 years and then declines as hand-to-mouth activity tends to drop off. Much of the practice and research concerning lead poisoning is based on the belief that the most damage is done by that peak. However, lead's effects on IQ cannot be detected until about 4 or 5 years of age, when IQ becomes testable. Thus, researchers assume, if we wish to know the lowest level at which lead causes damage, we have to measure blood lead in 2-year-olds and follow them, and if we wish to prevent lead toxicity from occurring, we should focus on 2-year-olds. Both assumptions, and the outcomes they encourage, may be incorrect, concludes a U.S. research team after analyzing data from a study that began in 1994. The Treatment of Lead-Exposed Children study was initially designed to evaluate whether a drug called succimer, which lowers blood lead, would reduce or prevent the effects of lead on IQ. In the current study, researchers used the earlier data to evaluate the strength of the association between IQ and blood lead at various ages, and whether blood lead at age 2 years affected IQ at ages 5 and 7 more than blood lead measured at the older ages. Contrary to most current thinking, which assumes that blood lead concentration at age 2 is the best predictor of IQ at ages 5 and 7, this team found that concurrent blood lead concentration had the strongest association with IQ, and the older the child, the stronger the association. This was true even though blood lead concentrations dropped progressively as the children aged. A few other studies had found somewhat similar results, but the researchers say the size of this study and the quality of its data reinforce the strength of the findings.

4. EU Plans Tests for Food Dyes

SOURCE Chemical Market Reporter, v267 n21, 23-29 May 2005, p13

ABSTRACT The EU has launched a research drive to develop tests for the effective detection of toxic industrial dyes in foods and food ingredients. The move follows the discovery of spices and other foods contaminated by the dye Para Red, which could be carcinogenic. Regulators are worried about growing evidence that large amounts of dangerous dyes and chemicals in foods could be escaping detection because the EU's system for monitoring illegal ingredients is not working properly.

5. Chemical Regulation: Options Exist to Improve EPA's Ability to Assess Health Risks and Manage Its Chemical Review Program

AUTHOR United States Government Accountability Office (GAO)

ABSTRACT In 1976, the Congress passed the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to authorize the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to control chemicals that pose an unreasonable risk to human health or the environment. GAO reviewed EPA’s efforts to (1) control the risks of new chemicals not yet in commerce, (2) assess the risks of existing chemicals used in commerce, and (3) publicly disclose information provided by chemical companies under TSCA. GAO recommends that the Congress consider providing EPA additional authorities under TSCA to improve its ability to assess chemical risks and that the EPA Administrator take several actions to improve EPA’s management of its chemical program. EPA did not disagree with GAO’s recommendations but provided substantive comments.

6. Mattress Meets Tough Fire-Safety Specs

SOURCE Plastics Engineering, v61 n5, May 2005, p33

ABSTRACT Using flame-retardant Ultem polyetherimide (PEI) resins, Restonic Mattress Corp. reports it has designed the first UL-certified mattress in compliance with California's TB 603 fire safety standard. Using Ultem resin as a flame-resistant barrier in the Ergo Sleep mattress eliminates the need for conventional halogenated additives that generate toxic smoke when burned.

7. Improving Incident Investigation

AUTHOR Groover, Donald

SOURCE Chemical Engineering, v112 n6, June 2005, pp61-63

ABSTRACT How your firm responds to environmental, health and safety (EH & S) events has vast implications for optimizing EHS performance. A consistent methodology, supported by today's software tools, can help get the job done right, and convey the proper message. While incident investigation is reactive by its very nature, the information collected during the investigation -- and any trend analysis that is conducted as numerous events are evaluated over time -- allows you to achieve a more in-depth understanding of the primary causes of various EH & S incidents, and to create more effective modes of intervention.

8. The Healthy Building Network's Guide to Plastic Lumber

AUTHOR Platt, Brenda; Lent, Tom; Walsh, Bill

ABSTRACT This Healthy Building Network report compares and evaluates different plastic lumber types from an environmental and public health perspective, and offers advice on how to choose a plastic lumber product based upon its health hazards and recycling impacts. We rate the environmental preferability of 38 plastic lumber products manufactured by 30 companies based on three criteria: 1) Materials used 2) Recycled content 3) Potential recyclability. No determination is made as to whether plastic lumber is on the whole either more or less preferable to other materials with which it competes such as naturally rot-resistant wood, pressure-treated wood, steel, aluminum, or concrete. Rather, this information is intended to inform those who are interested in understanding the range of environmental and public health impacts associated with different plastic lumber products.

9. Towards a Climate-Friendly Built Environment

PUBLISHER Pew Center on Global Climate Change

AUTHOR Brown, Marilyn; Southworth, Frank; Stovall, Therese

ABSTRACT The energy services required by residential, commercial, and industrial buildings produce approximately 43 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Given the magnitude of this statistic, many assessments of greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction opportunities focus principally on technologies and policies that promote the more efficient use of energy in buildings. This report expands on this view and includes the effects of alternative urban designs; the potential for on-site power generation; and the lifecycle GHG emissions from building construction, materials, and equipment. This broader perspective leads to the conclusion that any U.S. climate change strategy must consider not only how buildings in the future are to be constructed and used, but also how they will interface with the electric grid and where they will be located in terms of urban densities and access to employment and services. The report considers both near-term strategies for reducing GHGs from the current building stock as well as longerterm strategies for buildings and communities yet to be constructed. The United States has made remarkable progress in reducing the energy and carbon intensity of its building stock and operations. Energy use in buildings since 1972 has increased at less than half the rate of growth of the nation’s gross domestic product, despite the growth in home size and building energy services such as air conditioning and consumer and office electronic equipment. Although great strides have been made, abundant untapped opportunities still exist for further reductions in energy use and emissions. Many of these—especially energy-efficient building designs and equipment—would require only modest levels of investment and would provide quick pay-back to consumers through reduced energy bills. By exploiting these opportunities, the United States could have a more competitive economy, cleaner air, lower GHG emissions, and greater energy security.

10. EPA Panel Finds PFOA a "Likely" Human Carcinogen

AUTHOR Sissell, Kara

SOURCE Chemical Week, v167 n22, July 6, 2005, p12

ABSTRACT A federal advisory panel says perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) appears to meet EPA’s criteria for classification as a “likely human carcinogen,” and questions why EPA’s risk assessment has downplayed some studies linking PFOA to tumors in laboratory animals. PFOA, also known as C-8, is used to make DuPont’s Teflon polytetrafluoroethylene and other fluoropolymers; automotive fuel systems; computer chip processing equipment; and other products. EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB), a panel of outside experts that issues recommendations to the agency on risk assessments and other deliberations, published the draft PFOA report on EPA’s Web site to prepare officials for a July 6 public teleconference to discuss EPA’s PFOA assessment. DuPont says the draft report does not reflect final recommendations.

You are welcome to send a message to jan@turi.org if you would like more information on any of these resources. Also, please tell us what topics you are particularly interested in monitoring, and who else should see GREENLIST. An online search of the TURI Library catalog can be done at http://greenlist.turi.org/ for greater topic coverage.

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