Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 10/22/04
Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 10/22/04
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:- Compromise Nears on REACH, October 2004
- Washington State PBDE Chemical Action Plan (Draft Document), October 2004
- Moving Forward with Pollution Prevention in North America: A Progress Update, 2004
- Cyanide Incident Results in Death at Indiana Plating Shop, September 2004
- The Evolution of Business Reporting: Make Room for Sustainability Disclosure, Autumn 2004
- Textile Plasma Treatment Review - Natural Polymer-Based Textiles, October 2004
- C&A Makes Carpet from Recycled Windshields, August 2004
- New Introductions Add to Options, July 2004
- Risky Shellfish?: Assessing Hazards of Clam Consumption, June 2004
- Nanoshell Destroy Tumors in Mice, April 2004
1. TITLE Compromise Nears on REACH
SOURCE Chemical Market Reporter, Vol. 266, No. 12, October 11, 2004, p. 6
ABSTRACT Both the European Commission and European Union governments have given renewed signs of a willingness to compromise over he controversial REACH legislation on testing of chemicals. Geunter Verheugen, who is due to take over next month as EU commissioner for enterprise with a major responsibility for the REACH legislation, told the European Parliament he is prepared to amend proposals for the program for the sake of the chemical industry. "We want to make sure that REACH is functional and usable, and we want to make sure companies do not collapse under the weight of REACH," he said.
2. TITLE Washington State PBDE Chemical Action Plan (Draft Document)
'CORP AU OR PUBLISHER' Washington State Department of Ecology; Washington State Department of Health
DATE 2004
ABSTRACT PBDE (polybrominated diphenyl ether) flame retardants are chemical additives that have been found, in recent years, to be leaching from a wide variety of everyday products into the environment and food chain. PBDEs are building up in living organisms, including humans, at steadily increasing levels. This chemical action plan identifies actions the state may take to reduce threats posed by PBDEs.
3. TITLE Moving Forward with Pollution Prevention in North America: A Progress Update
'CORP AU OR PUBLISHER' Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America; North American Pollution Prevention Partnership
DATE 2004
ABSTRACT In 2002, the three North American pollution prevention round tables formed the North American Pollution Prevention Partnership (NAP3), in association with the Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC). The mission of the NAP3 is to collaborate on pollution prevention policy development, capacity building, stakeholder involvement and environmental leadership, through a unified and coordinated effort. As a first step, the NAP3 partners committed to a paper highlighting pollution prevention policies, mandates and progress in their respective countries. This paper provides an update on the report, Status of Pollution Prevention in North America, 1996, prepared for the CEC, and a point of referral for further activities in pollution prevention.
4. TITLE Cyanide Incident Results in Death at Indiana Plating Shop
AUTHOR Martin, Martha S.
SOURCE Plating & Surface Finishing, September 2004, vol. 91, no. 9, pp. 14-16
ABSTRACT Cyanide chemistries are still used in some plating processes. However, the choice to use cyanide is not made lightly. Most electroplaters are very conscious of the hazards associated with using cyanide and realize that death can result from the accidental release of toxic hydrogen cyanide gas. However, inhalation of the gas is not the only way that cyanide may kill. This case study will explore the unusual events and subsequent accident at a large Midwestern job shop that cost a worker his life.
5. TITLE The Evolution of Business Reporting: Make Room for Sustainability Disclosure
AUTHOR Slater, Alyson; Gilbert, Sean
SOURCE Environmental Quality Management, Autumn 2004, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 41-48
ABSTRACT Financial reporting and sustainability reporting are often assumed to be distant cousins without much in common. The latter has only recently been formalized with the advent of the Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI's) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, whereas the former has been evolving steadily over the past 100 years. Hundreds of companies worldwide produce sustainability reports, but very few combine these disclosures with their financial data. As a result, investors are making decisions based on incomplete information because they lack disclosures on how sustainability enhances value creation. What is needed is a new approach to business reporting that maintains traditional financial information (driven by accounting standards) and supplements it with information from sustainability reporting.
6. TITLE Textile Plasma Treatment Review - Natural Polymer-Based Textiles
AUTHOR Ynag, Ji-Yun; Sarmadi, Majid
SOURCE AATCC Review, October 2004, vol. 4, no. 10, pp. 28-32
ABSTRACT Plasma treatment effectively alters the surface of textiles and reduces the need for using environmentally hazardous chemicals. Applications of the technology include enhancing wettability, adhesiveness of polymer surface, and anti-felting properties of wool fibers, as well as improving dyeing properties, and sterilization. Free radicals generated on the surface can induce further crosslinking or polymerization.
7. TITLE C&A Makes Carpet from Recycled Windshields
SOURCE Environmental Building News, Vol. 13, No. 8, August, 2004, pp. 10-11
ABSTRACT At the June 2004 NeoCon tradeshow in Chicago, C&A Floorcovering, Inc. announced the availability of a new cushion backing option, made from recycled polyvinyl butyral (PVB), for all its carpet products.
8. TITLE New Introductions Add to Options
SOURCE Drycleaners News, Vol. 53, No. 7, July 2004, pp. 32-34
ABSTRACT The handling and use of perchloroethylene has never been safer, and it is still the solvent of choice for over 75% of the country's drycleaners. But for those drycleaners interested in moving away from perc as a solvent, there are now even more options to choose from with the introduction of two new products to the market. In April, Lyondell Chemical Co. introduced Impress drycleaning solvent, a non-perc alternative that gives drycleaners a powerful, high-performance cleaning solution without the regulatory and other issues associated with perc, the company says. Another alternative solvent has been introduced by detergent manufacturer Anscott Industries Inc., who in May announced the rollout of Shell Chemical's Hydroclene Cleaning Solvent.
9. TITLE Risky Shellfish?: Assessing Hazards of Clam Consumption
AUTHOR Burgess, Carla
SOURCE Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 112, No. 8, June 2004, pp. A491
ABSTRACT Although the north shore of the St. Lawrence River's lower estuary is regularly inspected for the presence of toxic algae and biological contamination, this coastal ecosystem is not regularly monitored for chemical contaminants. Boiaccumulation of such contaminants does not significantly harm shellfish, so they remain viable for harvesting. Yet chemical contaminants concentrated in their meat may pose a threat to human consumers. A study of Canadian recreational fishermen who harvest soft-shell clams in St. Lawrence estuary now suggests that eating as few as 15 meals per year of these shellfish may represent a risk of cancer to consumers that exceeds cutoffs used in various U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) programs such as setting of fish consumption advisories. The study is the first to document the consumption habits of recreational harvesters in this area while simultaneously characterizing the nature and degree of chemical contaminants present in the area. Fabien Gagnon and colleagues from Quebec's Direction de Sante Publique de la Cote-Nord and Laval University interviewed 162 harvesters at 18 popular shellfish-collecting sites about the number of shellfish meals they had eaten in the last week and the last year. Harvesters were also asked to keep a food diary over the next 30 days recording the amount and type of shellfish they consumed and the location of harvest. This information and other published data formed the basis for four consumption scenarios.
10. TITLE Nanoshell Destroy Tumors in Mice
SOURCE Chemical & Engineering New, April 19, 2004, vol. 82, no. 16, p. 35
ABSTRACT Using nanoshell-assisted photothermal therapy, scientists from Rice University and Nanospectra Biosciences selectively and noninvasively destroyed tumors in mice. Bioengineering professor Jennifer West and coworkers injected a dilute solution of nanoshells into mice with tumors. The nanoshells, made of a dielectric silica core surrounded by an ultrathin layer of gold and covered with polyethylene glycol, absorb strongly in the near-infrared. Following injection, the particles circulated and accumulated in the tumors over a six-hour period. The researchers then illuminated the tumors with near-IR laser light, causing the nanoshells to heat up and destroy the tumors. Mice that underwent the treatment showed tumor resorption within 10 days. The tumors in the control mice and mice that were exposed to near-IR light but not treated with the nanoshells continued to grow, reaching a diameter of 10 mm in less than two weeks. (full text)
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