Greenlist(tm) Bulletin 03/09/2007
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:
- Brominated Flame Retardants: Third Annual Report to the Maine Legislature
- DuPont Introduces New High-Performance Products with Reduced PFOA Content
- Business of Green: A Special Section
- No Escape from Diesel Exhaust: How to Reduce Consumer Exposure
- Progress Toward Safe Nanotechnology in the Workplace: A Report from the NIOSH Nanotechnology Research Center
- 'Mother' of Environmentalism Celebrated
- Confronting Climate Change: Avoiding the Unmanageable and Managing the Unavoidable
- Toxic Baby Bottles: Scientific Study Finds Leaching Chemicals in Clear Plastic Baby Bottles
- Going, Going, Green
- Uncertainty: Cause or effect of stakeholders' debates? Analysis of a case study: The risk for honeybees of the insecticide Gaucho®
1. Brominated Flame Retardants: Third Annual Report to the Maine Legislature
SOURCE Maine Department of Environmental Protection and Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention
DATE 2007
ABSTRACT The widespread use of plastics and other synthetic materials has increased the flammability of many products and led to the use of flame retardant chemicals that inhibit ignition and slow the spread of fire. Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are the most commonly used chemical flame retardants because they are an effective and relatively inexpensive solution for meeting flammability standards. The class of BFRs known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs has captured the immediate attention of scientists and policymakers because levels in the environment and humans have increased exponentially since these chemicals came into use in the 1970s. During the last 30 years, PBDE levels in humans have doubled about every 3 to 5 years and continue to increase. Levels in the U.S. are by far the highest in the world. PBDEs have been found in wildlife species all over the world, including the Arctic. They are present in high concentrations in sewage sludge, and have been found in dust in homes, cars and offices. PBDEs are present in food consumed by humans, with higher concentrations in animal products compared to fruits and vegetables. Breast-feeding infants receive more PBDEs than any other group because of the presence of these chemicals in mother's milk. Exposure of infants to PBDEs is of particular concern because these chemicals have produced developmental neurotoxicity in laboratory animals, impairing memory, learning and behavior. PBDEs also are endocrine disruptors, interfering with the transmission and regulation of thyroid and reproductive hormones. It therefore is important to eliminate the use of PBDEs and substitute other, safer means of meeting flammability standards. The sale of products containing the "penta" and "octa" mixtures of PBDE already is banned Maine and several other U.S. states effective January 1, 2006. The "deca" mixture (herein "decaBDE") is the only PDBE mixture that remains in production in the U.S. The Maine Legislature has said that, beginning January 1, 2008, it intends to implement measures to reduce the health risk posed by decaBDE, including a possible ban on the sale of products containing decaBDE if safer alternatives are identified. Safer alternatives are available for TV cabinets and textiles, the applications that consume most decaBDE. In the case of textiles, alternatives that do not require the use of chemical flame retardants already are widely employed in the marketplace. In the case of TVs, the use of safer alternatives to decaBDE will require manufacturers to shift from using cabinets made of high impact polystyrene (HIPS) to other types of plastic that can be treated to meet flammability standards using phosphorus compounds such as resorcinol bis diphenyl phosphate (RDP). RDP presents a significantly lower threat to the environment and human health than decaBDE. Recommendation: To reduce the presence of decaBDE in the immediate surroundings of humans, the Legislature should ban the sale of televisions and other consumer electronics that have plastic casings containing decaBDE effective January 1, 2012. Recommendation: To prevent decaBDE from being used to meet new national flammability standards for mattresses and pending national standards for residential upholstered furniture, the Legislature should ban the sale of these products if they contain decaBDE effective January 1, 2008.
WEB LINK http://www.maine.gov/dep/rwm/publications/legislativereports/pdf/
finalrptjan07.pdf
2. DuPont Introduces New High-Performance Products with Reduced PFOA Content
SOURCE DuPont Media Center, February 5, 2007
ABSTRACT In its fluorotelomer products, DuPont announced that it has successfully commercialized a new, patented manufacturing process that removes greater than 97 percent of trace levels of PFOA, its homologues and direct precursors. While not used in the manufacture of fluorotelomers, PFOA is an unintended by-product. This achievement meets the voluntary U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2010/15 PFOA Stewardship program’s goal for these trace levels three years ahead of schedule. The new “LX Platform” products will be available to customers beginning in the first quarter. The “LX Platform” will be used for surface protection in segments such as paper packaging, fluorosurfactants and coatings, leather, stone and tile. Through the use of Echelon™ technology, the company has reduced PFOA content in converted products by at least 97 percent. The technology will be used for durable coatings in applications such as electronics, industrial, architectural and consumer products. DuPont said that ongoing manufacturing modifications have resulted in its ability to continue to aggressively reduce PFOA emissions to the environment. DuPont had achieved a 94 percent reduction in global manufacturing emissions as of year-end 2006. The company projects that it will achieve reductions of 97 percent by the end of this year.
WEB LINK http://www.specialchem4coatings.com/news-trends/displaynews.aspx?id=6659
3. Business of Green: A Special Section
SOURCE The New York Times, March 9, 2007
ABSTRACT A special business section that includes articles on solar power, carbon offsets, restaurants and the environment, green industry in Vermont, investing, corporate environmental careers, shoes, climate change, and clean energy.
WEB LINK http://nytimes.com/business/businessspecial2/
4. No Escape from Diesel Exhaust: How to Reduce Consumer Exposure
SOURCE Clean Air Task Force (CATF)
DATE 2007
ABSTRACT Every day, Americans are needlessly sickened from exposure to air pollution in the form of fine particles. Overall, health researchers estimate that fine particles, such as those found in diesel exhaust, shorten the lives of 70,000 Americans each year. Legions of published, peer-reviewed studies have documented the increased exposure and resultant health risk from particles in and around nearby roadways. When during our day are we exposed to these particles? According to the California Air Resources Board, although we spend only about six percent of our day commuting to and from work, it is during that time when we receive over half of our exposure. Using comparable instruments and research techniques as those employed by health researchers at major universities, Clean Air Task Force (CATF) investigated the exposure to diesel particles during typical commutes in four cities: Austin, Texas, Boston, Massachusetts, New York City, and Columbus, Ohio. In addition, CATF tested the air quality benefits due to emission control retrofits of transit buses in Boston and transit buses and garbage trucks in New York City. CATF's investigation demonstrated that whether you commute by car, bus, ferry, train, or on foot, you may be exposed to high levels of diesel particles.
WEB LINK http://www.catf.us/projects/diesel/noescape/
5. Progress Toward Safe Nanotechnology in the Workplace: A Report from the NIOSH Nanotechnology Research Center
SOURCE National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
DATE 2007
ABSTRACT The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations to prevent work-related injury, illness, and death. As such, NIOSH is active in (1) identifying critical issues related to possible health hazards of nanomaterials, (2) protecting the safety and health of workers involved in this emerging technology, and (3) implementing a strategic plan to develop and disseminate methods to safely advance the technology, through workplace controls and safe handling procedures, as well as investigating the possible applications of nanotechnology to solve workplace health and safety issues. Because of their small size and large surface area, engineered nanoparticles may have chemical, physical, and biological properties distinctly different than larger particles of similar chemical composition. Those properties may include the ability to: reach the gas exchange regions of the lung; travel from the lung throughout the body; penetrate dermal barriers; cross cell membranes; and interact at the molecular level. NIOSH is investigating all of these properties, as it would with any new technology or material in the workplace to provide the necessary guidance to ensure a safe and healthy workplace. NIOSH is mandated by the Occupational Safety and Health Act to determine whether materials in a workplace may constitute any harm and to provide recommendations for preventing injury and illness. NIOSH is taking the first steps in assessing potential hazards of various types of nanoparticles by attempting to understand mechanisms of action of nanoparticles in living systems and assessing potential risks to workers. The research being conducted by the Nanotechnology Research Center (NTRC) was funded by redirecting existing NIOSH programmatic funds: $3.0 million in FY 05, $3.7 million in FY 06, and $4.6 million in FY 07. This budgetary constraint has made a more comprehensive research program specific to nanomaterials difficult to implement. Even with the budgetary constraints, NIOSH investigators have laid the foundation for an evidence-based strategy for providing safe nanotechnology in the workplace.
WEB LINK http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2007-123/pdfs/2007-123.pdf
6. 'Mother' of Environmentalism Celebrated
AUTHOR Fahrenthold, David A.
SOURCE The Washington Post, March 7, 2007
ABSTRACT Environmentalists and Maryland legislators began a two-month-long celebration yesterday of the life of Rachel Carson, the Silver Spring-based activist whose book "Silent Spring" helped make environmentalism a political force and who would have turned 100 this year. The commemorations include performances of a one-woman play about Carson and the awarding of scholarships to conservation-minded high school students. Bills would declare her birthday, May 27, as Rachel Carson Day. At a news conference in Annapolis, the events' organizers said Carson -- who died of breast cancer in 1964, two years after publishing her most famous book -- helped changed the current of American thinking about the environment. Historians say the book contributed to a wave of outrage that eventually coalesced into modern environmentalism. In the years after Carson's death, DDT was banned, and the Environmental Protection Agency was established as a watchdog on pollution. "Silent Spring" was highly controversial in its time, with Carson's opponents accusing her of tarnishing products that killed disease-bearing insects. Yesterday showed that the controversy isn't finished. During a hearing on a Senate bill to create Rachel Carson Day, Sen. Andrew P. Harris (R-Baltimore County) said worldwide bans on DDT had allowed the spread of malaria, an often fatal disease transmitted by mosquitoes.
WEB LINK http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/
AR2007030602033.html
7. Confronting Climate Change: Avoiding the Unmanageable and Managing the Unavoidable
SOURCE United Nations Foundation and Sigma Xi
DATE 2007
ABSTRACT The United Nations Foundation (UN Foundation) and Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, have released “Confronting Climate Change: Avoiding the Unmanageable and Managing the Unavoidable, ” the final report of the Scientific Expert Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development. The report, prepared as input for the upcoming meeting of the UN’s Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), outlines a roadmap for preventing unmanageable climate changes and adapting to the degree of change that can no longer be avoided. Two years in the making, the report was written by a panel of eminent scientists from around the world. The panel was co-chaired by Dr. Peter Raven, Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, and Dr. Rosina Bierbaum, Dean of the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and the Environment. The expert team was invited by the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Secretariat to the CSD, to make recommendations on key mitigation and adaptation needs. This year’s 15th Session of the CSD is reviewing national and international efforts on energy and climate change. “Two starkly different futures diverge from this time forward,” the report cautions. “Society’s current path leads to increasingly serious climate-change impacts… The other path … will reduce dangerous emissions, create economic opportunity, help to reduce global poverty, reduce degradation and carbon emissions from ecosystems, and contribute to sustainability. Humanity must act collectively and urgently to change course through leadership at all levels of society. There is no more time for delay.” “This report defines the seriousness and urgency that must characterize global efforts to respond to the unfolding and far-reaching challenge of climate change. Confronting Climate Change makes clear that we must start immediately to stabilize and then substantially reverse the trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions,” said Timothy E. Wirth, President of the United Nations Foundation. “The international community should be grateful that this remarkable panel of scientific all-stars from around the world has provided a roadmap for mitigating and adapting to climate change. And they have told us that there is tremendous economic opportunity in doing so.” “Our report makes clear that the challenge before us is to reduce the risk of climate change resulting in intolerable global impacts,” said Peter H. Raven, Past President of Sigma Xi, Presidential Medal of Science recipient and preeminent biodiversity expert. “Our recommendations are designed to help the international community get on a path to stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and managing the impacts of climate change. Unlike many reports from scientists, this report gives very clear recommendations for what the international community and nations themselves must do to mitigate and adapt to climate change. These steps will contribute to achievement of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals; failing to do so will make those goals much harder, if not impossible to reach.” “It is still possible to avoid an unmanageable degree of climate change, but the time for action is now,” said John Holdren, the Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy, Harvard University, Director of the Woods Hole Research Center, and Chairman of the Board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “The global-average surface temperature has already risen about 0.8°C above pre-industrial levels and is projected to rise another 2-4°C by 2100 if CO2 emissions and concentrations grow according to mid-range projections. Prudence dictates limiting the average temperature increase to no more than 2-2.5°C above the pre-industrial level, and our report offers clear recommendations for achieving that goal.” “The world is experiencing climate disruption now and the increases in droughts, floods, and sea level rise that will occur in the coming decades will cause enormous human suffering and economic losses. The poorest are likely the most vulnerable. We imperil our children’s and grandchildren’s future if we fail to improve society’s capacity to adapt to a changing climate,” said Rosina Bierbaum, former Acting Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “We can manage water better, bolster disaster preparedness, increase surveillance for emerging diseases, make cities more resilient, move vulnerable populations and prepare for environmental refugees, design more drought-tolerant crops, use natural resources more sustainably, and enhance local capacity to cope with a suite of expected changes.” The report covers an overview of the science of climate change; the importance of avoiding the risk of major impacts of climate change; options for mitigation; and steps that can be taken to prepare to adapt to anticipated climate change.
WEB LINK http://www.unfoundation.org/SEG/
8. Toxic Baby Bottles: Scientific Study Finds Leaching Chemicals in Clear Plastic Baby Bottles
AUTHOR Gibson, Rachel
SOURCE Environment California Research and Policy Center
DATE 2007
ABSTRACT A hormone-disrupting toxic chemical known to be a developmental, neural, and reproductive toxicant—called bisphenol A—leaches from popular clear, plastic baby bottles, according to a new report released today by Environment California Research and Policy Center. In Toxic Baby Bottles: Scientific Study Finds Leaching Chemicals in Clear Plastic Baby Bottles, Environment California Research and Policy Center worked with an independent laboratory to determine whether toxic chemicals leach from the most popular baby bottles on the market. “A child’s first few years are an exciting time for parents who hope that their child starts his or her life happy and healthy,” said Rachel Gibson, Environmental Health Advocate and Staff Attorney for Environment California, who is the report’s author. “Unfortunately, parents do not have the information they need to adequately protect their children from toxic chemicals. California should require manufacturers to remove toxic chemicals from children’s products and, in the meantime, give parents the information they need to make informed purchasing decisions—right away.” Environment California Research and Policy Center worked with an independent laboratory to analyze five of the most popular brands of baby bottles on the market to determine whether bisphenol A—a chemical linked to developmental, neural, and reproductive problems—leached from the bottles into liquids contained inside them. * The five bottle brands tested include: Avent, Dr. Brown’s, Evenflo, Gerber, and Playtex. * All five bottle brands leached bisphenol A at levels found to cause harm in numerous laboratory animal studies. Bisphenol A is most commonly used to make clear polycarbonate plastic for consumer products, such as baby bottles. Through use, this plastic breaks down and leaches bisphenol A into liquids and food to which it comes into
WEB LINK http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/reports/environmental-health/
environmental-health-reports/toxic-baby-bottles
9. Going, Going, Green
AUTHOR Wolff, Alexander
SOURCE SI.com, March 6, 2007
ABSTRACT The next time a ball game gets rained out during the September stretch run, you can curse the momentary worthlessness of those tickets in your pocket. Or you can wonder why it got rained out -- and ask yourself why practice had to be called off last summer on a day when there wasn't a cloud in the sky; and why that Gulf Coast wharf where you used to reel in mackerel and flounder no longer exists; and why it's been more than one winter since you pulled those titanium skis out of the garage. Global warming is not coming; it is here. Greenhouse gases -- most notably carbon dioxide produced by burning coal, oil and gas -- are trapping solar heat that once escaped from the Earth's atmosphere. As temperatures around the globe increase, oceans are warming, fields are drying up, snow is melting, more rain is falling, and sea levels are rising. All of which is changing the way we play and the sports we watch. Evidence is everywhere of a future hurtling toward us faster than scientists forecasted even a few years ago. Searing heat is turning that rite of passage of Texas high school football, the August two-a-day, into a one-at-night, while at the game's highest level the Miami Dolphins, once famous for sweating players into shape, have thrown in the soggy towel and built a climate-controlled practice bubble. Even the baseball bat as we know it is in peril, and final scores and outcomes of plays may be altered too.
WEB LINK http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/03/06/eco0312/
10. Uncertainty: Cause or effect of stakeholders' debates? Analysis of a case study: The risk for honeybees of the insecticide Gaucho®
AUTHOR Maxim, Laura; van der Sluijs, Jeroen P.
SOURCE Science of the Total Environment, Article-in-Press, available online February 20, 2007
ABSTRACT The social construction of uncertainty plays a major role in environmental decision-making. Methods for assessing this aspect of scientific knowledge quality are lacking. Our analysis of the French debate on the risk that the insecticide Gaucho® (active substance: imidacloprid) forms for honeybees is particularly relevant to this theoretical and practical gap. Based on our analysis, we propose six knowledge quality criteria that can assist in assessing the information communicated in an argumentative public process: reliability of the information – it must be based on all available scientific knowledge; robustness of the information – it must take into account criticism; use of the information produced by other stakeholders; relevancy of the arguments for issue under debate; logical coherence of the discourse; and legitimacy of the information source. Further, our findings deepen the understanding of the relationships between the social, economic, and institutional stakes of the actors involved in the debate and their strategies of ‘creating uncertainty’. Finally, we compare the findings of this case study with the twelve lessons drafted by the European Environmental Agency (EEA) in its report Late lessons from early warnings, and we draft two more lessons. These lessons can be applied to future policy in order to minimize the repetition of past mistakes.
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.
This page updated Friday March 23 2007