Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 7/30/04
THE GREENLIST(tm) BULLETIN 7/30/04
This is the weekly bulletin of the TURI Library, reporting a selection of recently published titles we have acquired. We hope this is a welcome message. Our pledge to you is to keep the bulletin relevant to your work and brief -- no more than 10 titles. (usually)
Titles here, abstracts below them:
- Responding to New Security and Environmental Threats: An Integrated Security, Environment, Health, and Safety (SEH&S) Management System Approach, Summer 2004
- Environmental Chemicals Linked to IQ Deficits, June 2004
- Report Criticizes FDA Review of Personal Care Ingredients, June 2004
- DuPont Faces EPA Action over PFOA Disclosure, June 2004
- The Regulation of Antimicrobials in Paints and Surface Treatments, July 2004
- A Soft Alkaline Dyeing Process, July 2004
- Accountability, Completeness, Credibility and the Audit Expectations Gap, Summer 2004
- Hexachlorobenzene Exposure: Widespread Toxicant Produces Pervasive Effects, May 2004
- Sustainable Futures: Encouraging Risk Screening of Industrial Chemicals at the R&D Stage, Summer 2004
- Green Menus: Colleges Opt for Sustainable Dining, July/August 2004
1. TITLE Responding to New Security and Environmental Threats: An Integrated Security, Environment, Health, and Safety (SEH&S) Management System Approach
AUTHOR Milliman, John; Grosskopf, John; Ayen, William
SOURCE Environmental Quality Management, Summer 2004, vol. 13,no. 4, pp. 1-15
ABSTRACT This article describes an integrated approach to security, environment, health, and safety (SEH&S) management from the perspectives of both the EH&S professional and the organization. First, we discuss current trends in organizational responses to homeland security. Next, we examine the rationale for an integrated approach to SEH&S management. We then describe the major steps toward creating an integrated management system model. Finally, we discuss the challenges and implications of the integrated approach.
2. TITLE Environmental Chemicals Linked to IQ Deficits
SOURCE Chemical & Engineering News, June 28, 2004, vol. 82,
no. 26, p. 30
ABSTRACT Several common environmental chemicals disrupt thyroid function in pregnant women and affect brain development in the fetus, scientists suggested at a recent press briefing. Some learning disabilities in children may result from and untreated thyroid disorder experienced by their mothers during pregnancy. Chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls and perchlorate, as well as the flame retardants polychlorinated biphenyl ethers and tetrabrominated bisphenyl A, bind to the thyroid receptor and disrupt thyroid function, the scientists said. "We are concerned about subclinical hypothyroidism - a condition in which thyroid-stimulating hormone is elevated - in pregnant women because thyroid hormone is essential for normal fetal brain development," said Ted Schettler, physician and science director for the Science & Environmental Health Network. According to James Haddow, clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Vermont School of Medicine, 2.5% of mothers have subclinical hypothyroidism. Their offspring have IQs that are seven to eight points lower than they would otherwise be, he observed. The scientists also urged that the National Children's Study be fully funded and completed because it will cast much more light on how environmental chemical affect thyroid function. So far, Congress has not appropriated funds to move the study beyond the planning stage. (full text)
3. TITLE Report Criticizes FDA Review of Personal Care Ingredients
AUTHOR Sissell, Kara
SOURCE Chemical Week, Vol. 166, No. 20, June 16, 2004, p. 9
ABSTRACT The Environmental Working Group (EWG; Washington) says that some of the chemical ingredients in many personal care products are possible human carcinogens that go largely unregulated. EWG says that one-third of all personal care products contain at least one ingredient that is classified as a possible human carcinogen. An estimated 89% of about 10,500 personal care product ingredients have never gone through a safety assessment, the group says.
The Cosmetic Toiletry and Fragrance Association (CTFA;Washington) rejected EWG's claims. The FDA "has abundant legal authority to regulate the safety of cosmetic products," but it has had "comparatively little need to use its authority because cosmetics are composed of safe ingredients and because, when necessary, the cosmetic industry has acted voluntarily to prevent safety problems," CTFA says.
4. TITLE DuPont Faces EPA Action over PFOA Disclosure
AUTHOR Westervelt, Robert
SOURCE ChemicalWeek, June 23, 2004, vol. 166, no. 21, p. 8
ABSTRACT EPA is expected to take enforcement action against DuPont for failing to report information on negative health impacts related to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), or C-8, a key processing aid used in the manufacture of DuPont's Teflon fluoropolymer products.
5. TITLE The Regulation of Antimicrobials in Paints and Surface Treatments
AUTHOR Tesch, Erin M.
SOURCE Paints and Coatings Industry, Vol. 20, No. 7, July, 2004, pp. 64 - 70
ABSTRACT U.S. regulatory requirements associated with antimicrobial- treated surfaces are complex. Any product offered for sale in the United States claiming to control or mitigate pests, including microorganisms, must be registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Typically, coatings incorporating preservatives to protect the integrity of the product, both in the can and on the coated surface, are exempt from registration. However, increased concerns regarding disease transmission offer an opportunity to provide products that can sanitize surfaces. Products making claims to control microorganisms on treated surfaces are now more closely scrutinized by the EPA. They may require registration or they may be exempt under
EPA's "Treated Article" exemption.
This paper focuses on the regulatory requirements associated with antimicrobial substances (antimicrobials) used in paints and surface treatments in the United States. Antimicrobials have historically been used in paints or on coated surfaces as preservatives to protect the integrity of the paint or coated surface. Antimicrobials are also incorporated into articles to inhibit odor-causing microorganisms such as bacteria, mold and mildew.
6. TITLE A Soft Alkaline Dyeing Process
AUTHOR Chambers, Van
SOURCE AATCC Review, Vol. 4, No. 7, July 2004, pp. 14 - 16
ABSTRACT In conventional polyester wet processing, only the dyeing process usually takes place under acidic conditions. All other steps are traditionally carried out under alkaline conditions. This lengthens the wet processing sequence since neutralizing or thorough rinsing is necessary before dyeing. The patented soft alkaline Trimer Reduction Process (TRP) does not require complete neutralization, and therefore, enables dyehouses to simplify the process; save water, energy, and chemicals; and reduce effluent. In addition to simplifying the process, quality improvement of the dyed materials and excellent reproducibility of shade can be achieved.
Precautions: Dyehouses still need to heed a few precautions with the new system. For example, it has been found in practical application that an alkaline stable defoamer is needed in jet dyeing to control foaming. If a leveling or dispersing agent is needed, it must be tested in the system to determine its stability and effectiveness. Some dye chromophores that are alkaline stable may not form stable dispersions in alkaline dyeing. The use of common, low-cost alkali donors has proven to give unpredictable results due to varying qualities and inconsistent alkalinity of the products. This results in shade inconsistency.
7. TITLE Accountability, Completeness, Credibility and the Audit Expectations Gap
AUTHOR Adams, Carol A.; Evans, Richard
SOURCE Journal of Corporate Citizenship, Summer 2004, Issue 14, pp. 97-115
ABSTRACT This article deals with two concerns in achieving greater accountability in social reports: the lack of completeness of reporting, and the lack of credibility of reports. The article focuses, in particular, on the role of social audits in improving the completeness and credibility of reporting, thereby reducing the audit expectations gap. We suggest that this gap arises due to an over-emphasis on the validity of performance data at the expense of addressing completeness and credibility, both of which, we argue, require stakeholder involvement. The article reviews recent guidelines aimed at ensuring that companies produce reports that are complete in all material respects including those produced by the Global Reporting Initiative and the Federation des Experts Comptables Europeens, focusing particularly on AccountAbility's AA1000 Standard and AA1000S Assurance Standard. Finally, the article considers the development of a practical approach to social audit following principles increasingly being incorporated into developing assurance guidelines aimed at reducing the audit expectations gap.
8. TITLE Hexachlorobenzene Exposure: Widespread Toxicant Produces Pervasive Effects
AUTHOR McGovern, Victoria
SOURCE Environmental Health Perspectives, May 2004, vol. 112, no. 7, p. A416
ABSTRACT Toxicogenomics work in a rat model system has given new insight into how chemical toxicants can effect large-scale stress responses in the immune system. This month, Janine Ezendama and colleagues at Utrecht University, the Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, and Novartis Pharma in Basel, Switzerland, use gene expression analysis to examine the impact of subchronic exposure to an important environmental toxicant, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), on multiple organ systems they find that previously noted effects and newly discovered ones come together in a dramatic inflammatory response that touches multiple systems in exposed animals.
9. TITLE Sustainable Futures: Encouraging Risk Screening of Industrial Chemicals at the R&D Stage
AUTHOR Wilson, Maggie
SOURCE Environmental Quality Management, Summer 2004, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 37-50
ABSTRACT US EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) has developed computerized methods for predicting the risk of industrial chemical toxicity based on an analysis of chemical structure. Under the Sustainable Futures Pilot Project, industry is beginning to realize tangible business and pollution prevention benefits from the use of these methods. This article discusses the development of the Sustainable Futures program and highlights some of the benefits to business, regulators, and the environment.
10. TITLE Green Menus: Colleges Opt for Sustainable Dining
AUTHOR Shufro, Cathy
SOURCE E Magazine, July/August 2004, vol. xv. no. 4, pp. 14-16
ABSTRACT Across the nation college cafeterias are increasingly working to bypass, at least in part, the corporate food industry. Sometimes in response to student pressure, sometimes in keeping with institutional philosophies, a growing number of schools are reducing their use of pre-fab foods: those mammoth plastic bags of shredded iceberg lettuce, stacks of frozen beef patties and cardboard containers of pourable beaten eggs - all food of uncertain age and provenance. Instead, they are "cooking whole", from scratch, and incorporating local, organic and seasonal foods into their menus. A few institutions are getting some of their food from right
on campus, harvested from student-run organic gardens.
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