Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 07/21/2006
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:
- Five Chemicals Alternatives Assessment Study
- Financial Institutions Announce Revision of Equator
Principles Underscoring the Global Application of Environmental and Social Risk
Management
- Data Sets: Adoption of Genetically Engineered Crops in
the U.S.
- Study Supports 'Urgent' Need for Worldwide Ban on
Lead-Based Paint
- Nanotechnology Report Calls for New Government Risk
Research Strategy & Funding
- Evidence of Altered Brain Sexual Differentiation in Mice
Exposed Perinatally to Low, Environmentally Relevant Levels of Bisphenol A
1. Five Chemicals Alternatives Assessment Study
DATE 2006
SOURCE Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI)
ABSTRACT In July 2005, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
requested that the Toxics Use Reduction Institute perform an alternatives
assessment for five chemicals: lead, formaldehyde, perchloroethylene (PCE),
hexavalent chromium, and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP). For each chemical,
the Institute was charged with identifying significant uses in manufacturing,
consumer products, and other applications; reviewing health and environmental
effects; and evaluating possible alternatives. The Institute was also directed
to evaluate possible effects on Massachusetts
employment and economic competitiveness associated with adoption of
alternatives. The study was conducted within a single fiscal year, and had a
total budget of $250,000. Rather than attempt to study all uses of each
chemical, the Institute selected priority categories of use for each chemical.
Likewise, for each use studied, the Institute chose a subset of possible
alternatives for analysis. The Institute analyzed a total of sixteen different
use categories and approximately one hundred different alternatives. This
report presents factual information on each alternative. The study does not
provide a ranking of the alternatives; rather, it provides information that
will allow users to make informed decisions and, in some cases, to design
additional research to fill remaining information gaps. An important aspect of
this alternatives assessment is its transparency: all information collected by
the Institute is available for users to assess in the context of their specific
applications, concerns and needs. Where the Institute was not able to obtain
full information for a given parameter, this is clearly noted. The results of
this study will serve as a guide for those seeking safer substitutes to the
five chemicals discussed here. In every case, at least one alternative was
identified that was commercially available, was likely to meet the technical
requirements of many users, and was likely to have reduced environmental and
occupational health and safety impacts compared with the base chemical. In
addition, the methodologies piloted in this study should prove useful as a
model for future efforts at alternatives assessment. Alternatives assessment is
a relatively new and highly promising methodology for analyzing products and
processes that affect human health or the environment. The present study helps
to demonstrate the viability of alternatives assessment as a useful tool to
support decision-making about chemicals and their alternatives.
WEB LINK
http://www.turi.org/content/content/view/full/2739/
2. Financial Institutions Announce Revision of Equator
Principles Underscoring the Global Application of Environmental and Social Risk
Management
DATE 2006
SOURCE Secretariat for Equator Principles
ABSTRACT The Equator Principles Financial Institutions
(EPFIs) have announced the launch of the revised Equator Principles. The
revision underscores how far the financial sector has progressed in embedding
in the project finance arena a common set of best practices to manage social
and environmental risks related to project financing. The revised principles
reflect the experience of the 40 financial institutions around the world that
currently apply the Principles. The principles also reflect the recent
revisions to the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Performance
Standards, upon which the Equator Principles are in part based. In developing
these changes, the EPFIs actively involved clients, civil society groups and
official development agencies, all of whom provided constructive and valuable
feedback that the EPFIs reviewed and considered in the revision process. The
Equator Principles apply globally and to all sectors and have been revised in
the following ways: The Principles apply
to all project financings with capital costs above USD 10 million. This
threshold was lowered from USD 50 million.; The Principles now also apply to project finance advisory activities.; The revised Principles now specifically cover
upgrades or expansions of existing projects where the additional environmental
or social impacts are significant.; The
approach in applying the Principles to countries with existing high standards
for environmental and social issues has been streamlined.; Each EPFI is now required to report on the
progress and performance of Equator Principles’ implementation on an annual
basis.; Stronger and better social and
environmental standards, including more robust public consultation standards.
Participating financial institutions commit to financing only those projects
that comply with the Equator Principles, and commit to implementing the revised
Equator Principles into business and risk management processes in a manner
consistent with its organizational structure. Of the 40 financial institutions
that have shared their experience in devising the revised Equator Principles,
33 have today adopted them and the others are expected to do so in the coming
weeks. The full text of the revised Equator Principles and FAQ about the
Equator Principles can be found at www.equator-principles.com.
WEB LINK
http://www.equator-principles.com/documents/EP_Readoption_Press_Release_FINAL.pdf
3. Data Sets: Adoption of Genetically Engineered Crops in
the U.S.
DATE 2006
SOURCE United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA),
Economic Research Service (ERS)
ABSTRACT U.S. farmers have adopted genetically engineered
(GE) crops widely since their introduction in 1996, notwithstanding uncertainty
about consumer acceptance and economic and environmental impacts. Soybeans and
cotton genetically engineered with herbicide-tolerant traits have been the most
widely and rapidly adopted GE crops in the U.S., followed by insect-resistant
cotton and corn. This product summarizes the extent of adoption of
herbicide-tolerant and insect–resistant crops since their introduction in 1996.
The tables provide the data obtained by USDA's National Agricultural Statistics
Service (NASS) in the June Agricultural Survey for 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
2004, 2005, and 2006. Randomly selected farmers across the United States
were asked if they planted corn, soybeans, or upland cotton seed that, through
biotechnology, is resistant to herbicides, insects, or both. Conventionally
bred herbicide-tolerant varieties were excluded. Stacked gene varieties include
those containing GE traits for both herbicide tolerance (HT) and insect
resistance (Bt).
WEB LINK http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/BiotechCrops/
4. Study Supports 'Urgent' Need for Worldwide Ban on
Lead-Based Paint
AUTHOR Harper, Amanda
DATE 2006
SOURCE HealthNews, University of Cincinnati,
July 17, 2006
ABSTRACT Environmental and occupational health experts at
the University of Cincinnati (UC) have found that major countries -- including India, China
and Malaysia
--still produce and sell consumer paints with dangerously high lead levels. The
researchers say that this lead-based paint production poses a global health
threat, and a worldwide ban is urgently needed to avoid future public health
problems. n a two-year study headed by Scott Clark, PhD, the UC-led research
team found that more than 75 percent of the consumer paint tested from
countries without controls --including India, Malaysia and China -- had levels
exceeding U.S. regulations. Collectively, the countries represent more than 2.5
billion people. In Singapore,
which enforces the same lead restriction on new paint as the United States,
lead levels were significantly lower. "Paint manufacturers are
aggressively marketing lead-based paints in countries without lead content
restrictions," says Clark, professor of environmental health at UC.
"In some cases, companies are offering the same or similar products, minus
the lead, in a regulated country." "There is a clear discrepancy in
product safety outside the United
States," he adds, "and in today's
global economy, it would be irresponsible for us to ignore the public health
threat for the citizens in the offending countries, as well as the countries
they do business with." This study, Dr. Clark says, is believed to be the
first to show that new paint in many unregulated Asian countries greatly
exceeds U.S.
safety levels. The UC-led team analyzed 80 consumer paint samples of various
colors and brands from four countries -- India,
Malaysia, China and Singapore
-- to determine the amount of lead and compare them with U.S. standards.
Each paint sample was applied in a single layer to a wood block, left to dry
and then removed and analyzed in UC laboratories for lead content. About 50
percent of the paint sold in China,
India and Malaysia -- none of which appear to have
regulations on lead -- had lead levels 30 times higher than U.S.
regulations. In contrast in Singapore,
which has well-enforced regulations, only 10 percent of paint samples were
above U.S. regulations, the
highest being six times the U.S.
limit. Clark says he is concerned about
children who are currently exposed to lead in their houses and neighborhoods and
for those who will live in such places in the future. "Lead-based paints
have already poisoned millions of children in the United States and will likely cause
similar damage in the future as paint use increases in Asian countries and
elsewhere," he says. "Our findings provide stark evidence of the
urgent need for an effective worldwide ban on the use of lead-based paint. "Children
are particularly susceptible to lead poisoning for a number of reasons,
including their natural hand-to-mouth behaviors. Workers responsible for
removing lead-based paint are also at high risk for lead poisoning. In 1978,
the United States
restricted lead content in paint after determining that people -- especially
young children -- were being poisoned by environmental exposures to the
element. Many Third World countries, says Clark, did not follow suit, and
continue to manufacture and sell lead-based paints that would be prohibited in
the United States
and in some other countries.
WEB LINK http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.asp?id=4156
5. Nanotechnology Report Calls for New Government Risk
Research Strategy & Funding
DATE 2006
SOURCE
Woodrow Wilson
International Center
for Scholars, July 19, 2006
ABSTRACT A new report by Andrew Maynard, chief science
advisor for the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson
International Center
for Scholars, calls for major changes in the U.S. government’s current handling
of nanotechnology risk research. His study, Nanotechnology: A Research Strategy
for Addressing Risk, proposes for the first time a new comprehensive framework
for systematically exploring nanotechnology’s possible risks. “Without such an
approach,” Maynard predicts, “significant knowledge gaps—which currently exist
in all areas of nanotechnology risk assessment—will persist. At best, these
gaps create uncertainties—and at worst, dangers—for workers, companies,
consumers, investors, and insurers.” According to Maynard’s analysis, as little
as $11 million of the more than one billion dollars the U.S. government
annually invests in nanotechnology research and development is devoted to
highly relevant research into what is safe and what is not. In addition to
inadequate funding, the current federal nanotechnology risk research effort
lacks a clear strategy and leadership. To fill these gaps, Maynard argues that
the federal government needs an overarching strategy and comprehensive set of
research priorities. Initially, these would be aimed at identifying and
measuring nanomaterials exposure and environmental release, evaluating
nanomaterials toxicity, controlling the release of and exposure to engineered
nanomaterials, and developing “best practices” for working safely with
nanomaterials, and eventually at building capacity in predictive toxicology.
Dr. Maynard’s report, Nanotechnology: A Research Strategy for Addressing Risk,
is available online at http://www.nanotechproject.org/file_download/77. A
detailed inventory and analysis of the current U.S. government risk research
portfolio and a database of nearly 300 nanotechnology consumer products being
sold today—both developed by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies—also can
be found at that same website.
WEB LINK http://www.nanotechproject.org/file_download/77
6. Evidence of Altered Brain Sexual Differentiation in Mice
Exposed Perinatally to Low, Environmentally Relevant Levels of Bisphenol A
AUTHOR Rubin, Beverly S.; Lenkowski, jenny R.;
Schaeberle, Cheryl M.; Vandenberg, Laura N,; Ronsheim, Paul M.; Soto, Ana M.
DATE 2006
SOURCE Endocrinology, v147 n8, pp3681-3691
ABSTRACT Humans are routinely exposed to bisphenol A
(BPA), an estrogenic chemical present in food and beverage containers, dental
composites, and many products in the home and workplace. BPA binds both
classical nuclear estrogen receptors and facilitates membrane-initiated
estrogenic effects. Here we explore the ability of environmentally relevant
exposure to BPA to affect anatomical and functional measures of brain
development and sexual differentiation. Anatomical evidence of alterations in
brain sexual differentiation were examined in male and female offspring born to
mouse dams exposed to 0, 25, or 250 ng BPA/kg body weight per day from the
evening of d 8 of gestation through d 16 of lactation. These studies examined
the sexually dimorphic population of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) neurons in the
rostral periventricular preoptic area, an important brain region for estrous
cyclicity and estrogen-positive feedback. The significant sex differences in TH
neuron number observed in control offspring were diminished or obliterated in
offspring exposed to BPA primarily because of a decline in TH neuron number in
BPA-exposed females. As a functional endpoint of BPA action on brain sexual
differentiation, we examined the effects of perinatal BPA exposure on sexually
dimorphic behaviors in the open field. Data from these studies revealed significant
sex differences in the vehicle-exposed offspring that were not observed in the
BPA-exposed offspring. These data indicate that BPA may be capable of altering
important events during critical periods of brain development.
WEB LINK http://endo.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/147/8/3681
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Compiled by the TURI Library, University of Massachusetts Lowell
This page updated Friday August 04 2006
