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Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 06/16/2006

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.

Titles here, abstracts below them:

Safer Detergent Chemistry Used in Ultrasonic Cleaning Eliminates Triple Acid Chemistry
The Science of Soy: What Do We Really Know?
Rethinking Corporate Social Responsibility: A Fleishman-Hillard/National Consumers League Study
Carbon Value Analysis Tool (CVAT)
JohnsonDiversey Inc. Announces Product Development Plan to Remove APEOs
Examining the Evidence on Pesticide Exposure & Birth Defects in Farmworkers: An Annotated Bibliography, with Resources for Lay Readers
Trends in Sustainable Development

1. Safer Detergent Chemistry Used in Ultrasonic Cleaning Eliminates Triple Acid Chemistry

AUTHOR Marshall, Jason; Adams, Richard

SOURCE Process Cleaning Magazine, May 2006

ABSTRACT "Ceramics Process Systems (CPS) located in Chartley, MA, worked with the Toxics Use Reduction Institute's (TURI) Laboratory over a five-month period, July through December 2005, to explore alternative methods for removing/cleaning-off soils present on cast aluminum composite parts. The company's previous cleaning process involved a multi-stage immersion bath wet process -- initial liquid dish soap, triple-acid etch cleaning (nitric, sulfuric, ammonium bifluoride) and multiple rinse stages. CPS and TURI worked together and found a safer cleaning product that outperforms the previous solution. Today, CPS operators are cleaning two to three times more parts in the same amount of time, or less, and the results are better. Also, because CPS is no longer using the readily depleted, corrosive triple acid, there is much less hazardous waste, less wear on equipment, workers are better protected, and the company is saving money."

2. The Science of Soy: What Do We Really Know?

AUTHOR Barrett, Julia R.

SOURCE Environmental Health Perspectives, v 114 n6, June 2006, ppA352-A358

ABSTRACT "The wide variety of soy-based foods, beverages, and nutraceuticals now readily available tout this versatile food’s purported benefits of preventing cardiovascular disease, cancer, and osteoporosis, as well as treating menopausal symptoms. Many of soy’s effects are attributed to its isoflavone components, but the strength of the relationships and whether the effects are beneficial are strongly debated ; one of the most heated debates is over the safety of soy-based infant formula. Most researchers agree that we are only just beginning to understand the nature of soy, and that far more human data are needed in order to make solid recommendations regarding its health benefits."

WEB LINK http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2006/114-6/focus-abs.html

3. Rethinking Corporate Social Responsibility: A Fleishman-Hillard/National Consumers League Study

DATE 2006

SOURCE Fleishman-Hillard; National Consumers League

ABSTRACT "In 2005, Fleishman-Hillard partnered with the National Consumers League (NCL) to conduct a unique benchmark survey that would assess consumer attitudes toward and behaviors regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR), as well as the role media and technology play in informing people about what companies are doing to be socially responsible. The survey questionnaire was designed on the premise that the public’s knowledge of the meaning of CSR cannot be assumed. Pretesting was used to determine that “corporate social responsibility” is a phrase that does indeed resonate with U.S. adults (as opposed to “corporate citizenship,” which testing showed does not). Rather than assume that the public would interpret the phrase “corporate social responsibility” in a uniform way that would be consistent across respondents, the first question of the survey asked participants to define the meaning of CSR in their own words. These unbiased responses provide a lens through which to view the general public’s subsequent opinions regarding CSR. Additionally, the survey questionnaire was designed to examine the public’s opinions of CSR by asking respondents to designate the importance or influence of assorted CSR-related issues under a variety of circumstances – thinking as consumers buying products or as investors buying stock; or when asked to designate the importance of one issue in and of itself versus comparing that issue with another activity. (e.g., Environmental responsibility may be important, but is it more or less important than how a company treats its employees?). Among the findings, three themes emerged as important new information regarding consumers, U.S. companies, and media outlets: * Corporate America receives low marks for its CSR performance. * Consumers define CSR in ways most relevant to them, often without “experts.” *Technology is changing the landscape in which consumers gather and communicate information about how well companies are being socially responsible."

WEB LINK http://www.csrresults.com/CSR_ExecutiveSummary06.pdf

4. Carbon Value Analysis Tool (CVAT)

DATE 2006

SOURCE Climate Northeast

ABSTRACT "CVAT is a screening tool to help companies integrate the value of carbon dioxide emissions reductions into energy-related investment decisions. The tool has two main purposes:* Test the sensitivity of a project's internal rate of return (IRR) to "carbon value" (the value of GHG emissions reductions). CVAT integrates this value into traditional financial analysis by ascribing a market price, either actual or projected, to carbon emissions reductions.* Facilitate the development of emissions reduction strategies by developing a Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) across a portfolio of projects. CVAT ranks projects so managers can prioritize them according to their implicit cost per tonne of carbon emission reduction. CVAT estimates direct and indirect emissions reductions using standards developed by the GHG Protocol Initiative (www.ghgprotocol.org). CVAT can also run a Monte Carlo analysis for key project variables such as carbon value, providing insights into the possible range of a project’s IRR. To analyze a project, CVAT asks for four types of information: (1) basic project information, (2) some details about the project’s design and operation, (3) assumptions about future energy prices, and (4) foreign exchange rates (for projects denominated in currencies other than US dollars). CVAT is designed for use by many types of professionals, including project managers, engineers and energy managers in large companies."

WEB LINK http://www.climatenortheast.org/Business_tools.php

5. JohnsonDiversey Inc. Announces Product Development Plan to Remove APEOs

SOURCE JohnsonDiversey, Inc., June 12, 2006

ABSTRACT "JohnsonDiversey Inc. has announced its commitment to cease formulating and manufacturing products with alkylphenol ethoxydates (APEOs) after December 31, 2006. The announcement was made in conjunction with the launch of the EPA's Safer Detergents Stewardship Initiative. SDSI is designed to protect aquatic life, according to Clive Davies, director of EPA's Design for the Environment (DfE) program, which organized the initiative. SDSI will recognize companies, facilities, and others who voluntarily phase out or commit to phasing out the manufacture or use of nonylphenol ethoxylate surfactants (a subset of APEOs), commonly referred to as NPEs. Both nonylphenol ethoxylates and their breakdown products, such as nonylphenol, can harm aquatic life. JohnsonDiversey began phasing APEOs out of products several years ago and is now committed to their elimination from all product formulations by the end of this year. Currently, JohnsonDiversey uses APEOs in limited quantities in laundry, warewashing, hard-surface cleaners and floor-care products. APEOs have been used for more than 50 years in consumer cleaning and personal care products and for industrial uses to enhance the effectiveness of agricultural pesticides, metal finishing and wool and paper processing. APEOs have increasingly been associated with harmful effects in the environment and may have harmful effects on humans."

WEB LINK http://www.cleanlink.com/news/article2.asp?id=4732&keywords=

6. Examining the Evidence on Pesticide Exposure & Birth Defects in Farmworkers: An Annotated Bibliography, with Resources for Lay Readers

AUTHOR Pattison, Fawn

DATE 2006

SOURCE Agricultural Resources Center & Pesticide Education Project

ABSTRACT "Recent events have drawn attention to the subject of birth defects, farmworkers and pesticide exposure, most notably the 2005 births of three babies with severe birth defects to farmworker women employed by the same Florida company, Ag-Mart Inc. Technical reports released by state agencies in Florida and North Carolina explore the possible associations between pesticides and birth defects in the cases of these three workers. A small but growing body of epidemiologic and toxicological literature informs their evaluations and provides a larger context for understanding the possible relationships between occupational pesticide exposure and birth defects. While this scientific literature may be too technical in nature for the lay reader, the material is relevant to the general public as we seek to understand and prevent harm from exposure to toxic substances like pesticides in the workplace and the broader environment. The purpose of this bibliography is to inform the discussion of birth defects in farmworkers. The investigations into the Ag-Mart case may contribute to a perception that the tragic birth outcomes in that case are an anomaly, because the families contend that they are the direct result of egregious pesticide misuse as documented by state investigators. However, reviews of the epidemiological literature indicate that more generally, birth defects in farmworkers may not be an anomaly, but rather a real risk for families who work regularly with toxic pesticides. Rather than an issue of one bad actor causing an isolated tragedy, the possibility of increased risks of birth defects for farmworkers should be viewed as a systemic problem and an issue of social justice. If there is growing concern in the scientific community about occupational exposure to pesticides and the risk of birth defects (and other health impacts), as we contend there is, the burden of mitigating those risks should not be placed on a vulnerable work force. Rather, regulatory agencies should improve workplace protections, and growers should accelerate efforts to replace toxic pesticides with safer alternatives or less pesticide-dependent growing practices."

WEB LINK http://www.pested.org/informed/pdfs/Evidence_May06.pdf

7. Trends in Sustainable Development

DATE 2006

SOURCE United Nations (UN)

ABSTRACT "Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 and the subsequent World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, significant efforts have been made in pursuit of sustainable development. At the political level sustainable development has grown from being a movement mostly focusing on environmental concerns to a widely recognized framework utilized by individuals, governments, corporations and civil society that attempts to balance economic, social, environmental and generational concerns in decision-making and actions at all levels. At the September 2005 World Summit, the UN General Assembly reiterated that “sustainable development is a key element of the overarching framework for United Nations activities, in particular for achieving the internationally agreed development goals”, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (A/RES/59/227). This report highlights key developments and recent trends in the areas of Energy for Sustainable Development, Industrial Development, Atmosphere/Air Pollution and Climate Change — the four interrelated topics being considered by the Commission on Sustainable Development at its 14th and 15th sessions (2006-07). It notes progress in a number of areas while, at the same time, acknowledging that in other areas significant work is still needed to advance implementation of intergovernmentally agreed goals and targets."

WEB LINK http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/publications/trends2006/trends_rpt2006.pdf

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.

Compiled by the TURI Library, University of Massachusetts Lowell

This page updated Monday July 10 2006

TURI - Toxics Use Reduction Institute

Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 06/16/2006