Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 02/03/2006
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. You are
welcome to send a message to jan@turi.org if you would like more
information on any of the articles listed here.
- Learning from the Solutia EMS Experience: Improving an
Environmental Management System at the Solutia, Inc. Indian Orchard Plant in
- EU bends on detergents directive: Legislators consider the problems caused by stricter rules
- Pesticides and Parkinson's Disease--Is There a Link?
- The Sweet Smell of Nano-success: Cleaner Method Of Making Spices, Perfumes Moves One Step Closer To Reality
- FloorScore IAQ Testing Program Launched
- Market-Led Versus Government-Facilitated Growth:
Development of the
- ‘Reverse’ tanning process could revolutionize leather industry
- Organising Life-cycles in Supply Chains
- State of the Evidence: What is the Connection Between the Environment and Breast Cancer?
- Significant Residual Fluorinated Alcohols Present in Various Fluorinated Materials
1. Learning from the Solutia EMS Experience: Improving an
Environmental Management System at the Solutia, Inc. Indian Orchard Plant in
AUTHOR Clark, Janet; Collins, Jeff; Hart, Roy; Mason, Chuck
SOURCE Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI)
DATE 2005
ABSTRACT The Solutia, Inc. Indian Orchard Plant in
2. EU bends on detergents directive: Legislators consider the problems caused by stricter rules
SOURCE Chemical Market Reporter, v269 n4, 30 January-5 February 2006
ABSTRACT Producers of specialized, industrial-strength
detergents may get a temporary reprieve on the so-called detergents directive,
the new regulation on biodegradability that the EU began implementing last
fall. The rules have posed little difficulty for manufacturers of household
detergents because surfactants used in consumer products have for some time met
the new biodegradability standards. But it has worried some small and
medium-sized businesses (SMEs) providing specialty detergents for industrial
and institutional (I&I) customers. So the two arms of the EU
legislature—the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers representing
the governments of the union’s 25 member states—were persuaded to allow for
exemptions or derogations for low-volume surfactants that meet certain
environmental criteria. The vast majority of surfactants under the legislation
will have to demonstrate ultimate biodegradability of 60 percent mineralization
as carbon dioxide, water and mineral salts within 28 days. But surfactants in
I&I detergents will be entitled to a derogation if they have a level of
primary biodegradability of at least 80 percent, do not form recalcitrant
metabolites, and do not present an unacceptable danger to the environment, after
a risk assessment.
3. Pesticides and Parkinson's Disease--Is There a Link?
AUTHOR Brown, Terry P.; Rumsby, Paul C.; Capleton, Alexander C.; Rushton, Lesley; Levy, Leonard S.
SOURCE Environmental Health Perspectives, v114 n2, February 2006, pp156-164
ABSTRACT Parkinson's disease (PD) is an idiopathic
disease of the nervous system characterized by progressive tremor,
bradykinesia, rigidity, and postural instability. It has been postulated that
exogenous toxicants, including pesticides, might be involved in the etiology of
PD. In this article we present a comprehensive review of the published
epidemiologic and toxicologic literature and critically evaluate whether a
relationship exists between pesticide exposure and PD. From the epidemiologic
literature, there does appear to be a relatively consistent relationship
between pesticide exposure and PD. This relationship appears strongest for
exposure to herbicides and insecticides, and after long durations of exposure.
Toxicologic data suggest that paraquat and rotenone may have neurotoxic actions
that potentially play a role in the development of PD, with limited data for
other pesticides. However, both the epidemiology and toxicology studies were
limited by methodologic weaknesses. Particular issues of current and future
interest include multiple exposures (both pesticides and other exogenous
toxicants), developmental exposures, and gene-environment interactions. At
present, the weight of evidence is sufficient to conclude that a generic
association between pesticide exposure and PD exists but is insufficient for
concluding that this is a causal relationship or that such a relationship
exists for any particular pesticide compound or combined pesticide and other
exogenous toxicant exposure.
4. The Sweet Smell of Nano-success: Cleaner Method Of Making Spices, Perfumes Moves One Step Closer To Reality
SOURCE ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com, January 30, 2006
ABSTRACT Materials scientists at
5. FloorScore IAQ Testing Program Launched
ABSTRACT The Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI)
now has its own green label for flooring products that meet low indoor emission
standards. The FloorScore™ label can be found on vinyl and linoleum flooring
from a half-dozen manufacturers, and the list is likely to grow. “We started
with this program four years ago,” says Bill Freeman, a consultant to RFCI. “We
have been testing a lot of products. Changes were made to make sure that products
would meet the requirements of the
6. Market-Led Versus Government-Facilitated Growth:
Development of the
AUTHOR Dimitri, Carolyn;
SOURCE
DATE 2005
ABSTRACT Organic farmland and sales are rapidly growing
worldwide, and the two largest markets are in the European Union (EU) and the
7. ‘Reverse’ tanning process could revolutionize leather industry
SOURCE American Chemical Society News Service, January 19, 2006
ABSTRACT A new ‘greener’ and cleaner chemical process*
could revolutionize the leather-tanning industry. ‘Reverse’ leather tanning,
which essentially works backward from the point where conventional tanning
ends, saves time, money and energy while drastically slashing water use and
pollution, say researchers at the Central Leather Research Institute in Adyar,
India. From pre-tanning to finishing, conventional leather tanning requires
about 15 steps, which produce enormous amounts of wastewater and pollutants,
including sulfides, chlorides, sulfates and other compounds. The new approach
flips the process around and eliminates some of the steps, which results in
multiple and substantial production efficiencies, the researchers say. In the
new process, for instance, prior to tanning, the skins are treated with
chemicals normally used after tanning is completed. According to the
researchers, the reverse process produces leather that is comparable to
conventional tanning, but requires 42 percent less time, 54 percent fewer
chemicals, 42 percent less energy, 65 percent less water and cuts emissions of
key pollutants by up to 79 percent. The results were achieved without changing
chemicals or using new ones, the researchers note. In addition to costing less
and being “greener” than conventional tanning, the reverse process is
“easy-to-adopt” and could help the global industry overcome emerging
environmental and economic concerns, the researchers conclude.
8. Organising Life-cycles in Supply Chains
AUTHOR Hagelaar, Geoffrey J.L.F.; van der Vorst, Jack G.A.J.; Marcelis, Willem J.
SOURCE Greener Management International, Issue 45, Spring 2004, pp27-42
ABSTRACT In recent years increasing attention has been
given to continual environmental performance improvement. Although we support
the thesis that organisations are able to continuously improve their environmental
performance, we state that truly higher levels of environmental care are
reached only via fundamental organisational changes. We conclude that, in the
literature, attention to a direct link between two important dimensions of
corporate environmental improvement—environmental management concepts and
environmental performance—lags behind. This linkage is considered to be a
critical success factor for the establishment of truly higher environmental
performances. The leading principle is that of environmental care strategies in
which environmental targets and organisational activities to reach those
targets are linked. Three environmental care strategies are presented. The
linkage means that when a company or chain of companies wants to improve on its
environmental performance and changes its environmental care strategy,
fundamental organisational changes are required.
9. State of the Evidence: What is the Connection Between the Environment and Breast Cancer?
AUTHOR Evans, Nancy (ed.)
SOURCE Breast Cancer Fund and Breast Cancer Action
DATE 2006
ABSTRACT Breast cancer rates have been climbing steadily
in the
10. Significant Residual Fluorinated Alcohols Present in Various Fluorinated Materials
AUTHOR Dinglasan-Panlilio, Mary Joyce A.; Mabury, Scott A.
SOURCE Environmental Science & Technology Research ASAP, January 25, 2006
ABSTRACT Polyfluorinated telomer alcohols and sulfonamides are classes of compounds recently identified as precursor molecules to the perfluorinated acids detected in the environment. Despite the detection and quantification of these volatile compounds in the atmosphere, their sources remain unknown. Both classes of compounds are used in the synthesis of various fluorosurfactants and incorporated in polymeric materials used extensively in the carpet, textile, and paper industries. This study has identified the presence of residual unbound fluoro telomer alcohols (FTOHs) in varying chain lengths (C6-C14) in several commercially available and industrially applied polymeric and surfactant materials. NMeFOSE, a perfluoroalkyl sulfonamido alcohol, was also detected in a commercially available carpet protector product. A method was developed to remove these residual compounds from polymeric and surfactant materials by dispersion in water and stripping of the volatiles using a constant flow of air and trapping on XAD resin. Using gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis, it was determined that the fluorinated materials examined consist of 0.04-3.8% residual alcohols on a fluoro alcohol to dry mass basis. These values indicate that residual alcohols, left unreacted and unbound from the manufacturing process of fluorinated polymers and surfactants, could be a significant source of the polyfluorinated telomer alcohols and sulfonamides released into the environment. This study suggests that elimination or reduction of these residual alcohols from all marketed fluorinated polymers and fluorosurfactants is key in reducing the prevalence of perfluorinated acids formed in the environment.
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