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Coordinated nationally by the Institute for Children's Environmental Health |
To join the Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment (PCHE), please contact Elise Miller at emiller@iceh.org.
March 7 - 9, 2006
Boston, Massachusetts
at the Seaport Hotel
This conference will address our common pursuit of sustainability's best practices. A full schedule of workshops and seminars -- led by the leading practitioners in their fields -- provides professionals the means to learn what works, who is making it work, and how they can integrate these new technologies and processes into their own practice.
Website: http://buildingenergy.nesea.org/
Contact: nesea@nesea.org
March 9, 2006
Seattle, Washington
at Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Avenue (at Seneca Street)
While global warming has captured a great deal of media attention, reports have often been framed in abstract or theoretical terms that do not explain, in practical terms, its effects on human health. Jonathan Patz, MD, MPH, is associate professor of Environmental Studies and Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he directs a university-wide initiative on Global Environmental Health. He is also the founder of the Program on Health Effects of Global Environmental Change at Johns Hopkins University and serves as an affiliate scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Dr. Patz will lecture on the relationships between land use, climate change and infectious disease.
This lecture is part of an annual environmental health lecture series, "Our Health, Our Environment: Making the Link" sponsored by the Seattle Biotech Legacy Foundation and organized by the Institute for Children's Environmental Health (http://www.iceh.org).
Website: http://washington.chenw.org/lectures.html
March 10 - 11, 2006
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Seattle, Washington
at the Mountaineers Conference Center, 300 Third Avenue West
This conference is an opportunity to learn about recent developments in sustainability practices, especially those in the Pacific Northwest. Over 40 professionals and community leaders who have dedicated their lives to working for a more sustainable future will lead sessions. Speeches, workshops and films will cover topics including Simpler Living, Clean Energy, Eating for Sustainability, Waste Reduction and Green Building to name a few. The goal of the conference is to provide practical information, methods, and resources to empower attendees to live their lives and practice their work more sustainably.
Website: http://www.nweec.org/sust-400_03-06_seattle.htm
Contact: Emi Morgan, 206-762-1976 or emorgan@nweec.org
March 16 - 20, 2006
Washington, DC
Featuring 106 documentary, feature, archival, children's and animated films. Most are free and include discussion.
Website: http://www.dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org
Contact: 202-342-2564 or envirofilmfest@igc.org
by Warren Lutz, The Record (Central California)
February 27, 2006
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060227/NEWS01/602270312/1001
STOCKTON -- Almond farmer Dennis Serpa is trading in his chemical pesticides for a cheaper and slightly odd solution -- compost tea. But the switch is not just about money. Serpa is worried about the environmental costs of pesticides, too. "They don't know the long-term effects these things are having, and you can't see it, because it's below ground," he said.
The concern is over pyrethroids, a type of pesticide found in dozens of farm and home products. Over the past decade, pyrethroids -- derived from the nectar of chrysanthemums -- replaced an entire generation of pesticides that were found dangerous to humans. State and federal agencies view pyrethroids as less toxic to humans than the old stuff. But pyrethroids are still deadly, according to recent studies. When they drain into waterways, they kill off tiny animals that normally are eaten by fish, disrupting the food chain. "As we began to develop more data, we began to see an increase that concerned us," California Department of Pesticide Regulation spokesman Glenn Brank said. "Even though we're talking about small aquatic organisms, there is an effect."
Many common household pest-control products contain pyrethroids, including Raid, Ortho Ant-B-Gon, Bonide and Pounce. When it's flushed down drains or washed off lawns in the rain, the stuff can get into waterways. Brank said his department has begun an internal re-evaluation of pyrethroids and may ask pesticide manufacturers for more information about their products. Officials should go a step further and find out how much of the stuff is leaking into waterways, said Bill Jennings, chairman of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.
Along with other environmentalists, Jennings spent years battling more-dangerous pesticides known as organophosphates, which kill fish. Pesticides such as diazinon, malathion and sevin are organophosphates. But pyrethroids could cause even more environmental damage than their predecessors, he said. Two years ago, a study by two university professors found toxic levels of pyrethroids in a majority of samples taken from 42 California rivers and streams. In most cases, there was enough pesticide to kill small, shrimplike animals called amphipods, which serve as food for fish. A follow-up study funded by state water officials last year found the same problem in urban streams, a sign that pyrethroids' enormous popularity in home and garden products could be hurting the environment, too.
Pyrethroids aren't totally safe for humans. Inhaled, they trigger coughing, shortness of breath and chest pains. Skin contact can bring rashes or blisters. Long-term effects in people include lower sperm counts, tremors and thyroid problems.
In the agriculture industry, pyrethroids became popular when farmers began phasing out organophosphates about 10 years ago, University of California farm adviser Mick Canevari said. Some farm experts are recommending that farmers use less pyrethroids and instead use more environmentally friendly tools, such as insect releases -- bringing beneficial insects that don't hurt crops in to battle harmful ones. "We're suggesting that you don't treat with pyrethroids if you have a good ratio of good insects to bad insects," Canevari said. "We encourage (using) good insects to do more of the work."
Denair farmer Sherman Boone doesn't use pyrethroids anymore. But he wouldn't rule it out if a really bad pest problem hit his almond trees. Right now he uses a mix of organic and traditional farming methods. He sets bug traps in his fields and uses the bug-vs.-bug method. "I'm not interested in organic," Boone said. "But I am interested in a halfway, medium approach."
by Brian Rademaekers, Philadelphia Inquirer
February 27, 2006
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13970269.html
Federal scientists surveying fish in the Potomac River continue to find smallmouth bass with a freakish quirk: The males are making eggs and sperm. Researchers suspect that these "intersex" bass are victims of a newly recognized form of pollution: trace amounts of pharmaceuticals and other chemicals flushed down toilets or flowing from farms' animal waste. Compounds including antibiotics and caffeine drain through sewage systems largely untouched, collect in rivers and streams, and eventually return in tiny amounts to drinking water. Until recently, those pollutants had been virtually undetectable because the concentrations are so low.
But instruments now can identify substances in parts per trillion -- each part equivalent to a grain of sand in an Olympic-size swimming pool -- and scientists are finding traces of man-made chemicals in streams in Chester County and drinking-water supplies in Philadelphia and other cities. The effect on human health is unknown, but the discovery has prompted a flurry of research to measure and remove the trace chemicals.
The Philadelphia Water Department is participating in a $1 million national study to measure pharmaceuticals and other chemicals in drinking water. Governments in places as diverse as Maine and Ireland are moving to keep the compounds out of the water supply. Even a town as small as Buckingham Township has gotten in the act. The farm-rich Bucks County community plans to require residents to dispose of drugs in special boxes rather than flushing them. And Villanova University scientist Rominder Suri has received a federal grant to use sound waves to break apart trace compounds and render them inert.
Some experts fear that traces of antibiotics could worsen bacterial resistance and cause those lifesaving drugs to lose potency. Or that the wide range of compounds could have some unknown cumulative effect on people. No one really knows. Christopher S. Crockett, manager of watershed protection at the Philadelphia Water Department, said the concerns must be kept in perspective. "In 1948, the Delaware smelled so bad that you could smell it at Broad Street" -- 14 blocks away, said Crockett, whose agency found several parts per trillion of 13 common drugs in the Schuylkill in 2004. "To be able to look for these chemicals at these levels is a luxury," Crockett said, adding "we are ready to take action if necessary." There is no mystery how the compounds get into water. They pass through the sewage system in waste or pill form. They flow from pharmaceutical plants that make drugs and flush away the residue. Or they seep from animal farms that use antibiotics and rarely treat their waste.
Fish seem to have borne the brunt of the chemicals' effects so far. The presence of dual-sex bass in the Potomac is likely connected to the widespread use of "endocrine disrupters," substances that mimic hormones and cause male fish to develop female attributes, researchers said. Those chemicals include the synthetic hormones in birth-control and hormone-replacement therapy and substances in such common products as shampoos and sunscreens.
While no one has found intersex fish in Southeastern Pennsylvania, Vicki S. Blazer, a fish pathologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, said she would not be surprised if someone did. Blazer first found the deformed fish in the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers. Many of the chemicals that cause intersex fish also weaken their immune systems, causing them to die or develop lesions, she said. Fish kills in the last year on Pennsylvania's Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers resembled those that led to the discovery of intersex fish in Maryland and West Virginia, Blazer said.
The estrogens that worry Blazer have been found in the Philadelphia area. A survey directed by Villanova's Suri found natural or synthetic estrogens in all 21 streams tested in southern and central Chester County in the fall of 2004. Levels of a potent synthetic estrogen in birth-control treatments -- ethinyl estradiol -- were found in 10 streams at levels up to 30 times the amount that, in the lab, had been shown to affect the sexual organs of fish, he said.
Suri called the contaminants an "emerging environmental issue" that should change the way sewage is treated. Hospitals and nursing homes may eventually have to install equipment to remove the drugs from waste, he said. The Schuylkill basin, which supplies water to 1.5 million people, could pose a special challenge. Water intake pipes are downstream from the river's confluence with Wissahickon Creek, which carries effluent from five sewage plants and a Merck pharmaceutical factory. City water officials found tiny amounts of 13 drugs in tests of Schuylkill water during the summer of 2004. Among those were over-the-counter painkillers, antibiotics, antidepressants, and the contrasting agents that patients drink to make X-rays work better. The department also tested drinking water and found parts per trillion of six chemicals, including estrogen, antidepressants, and the insect repellent DEET. "It is a limited snapshot, and that is why we are doing the follow-up work," said Crockett, who thinks the water is safe.
Nick DiNardo, coordinator of the Environmental Protection Agency's Innovation Action Council for the Mid-Atlantic region, said the EPA was far from setting acceptable levels of pharmaceuticals in treated waste. Such limits would be established "way after the research is done," he said. Last month, DiNardo's group gave a $101,000 grant to Villanova's Center for the Environment, which Suri directs, to develop ultrasound technology that can remove the waste. Suri has also gotten support from a Villanova neighbor, the pharmaceutical firm Wyeth, to explore the technology. Wyeth does not make pills in Pennsylvania, a spokesman said.
The ultrasound treatment works by blasting wastewater with sound waves, creating heat and chemical reactions that destroy pharmaceuticals. Suri also is looking into low-tech methods, such as collection boxes for drugs at universities and health facilities. But this method could be complicated because of federal guidelines for handling controlled substances. Collection sites require the presence of a law enforcement officer. Last year, Maine arranged its first drug collection in a pharmacy. Fifty-two people turned in 55,000 pills as police looked on.
But Maine psychiatrist Stevan Gressitt, a key supporter of the state's drug-collection law, said a more thorough solution was needed. In a few months, Maine will begin allowing residents to mail unused drugs to the state. Gressitt called this "an industrial-sized solution" that could help keep drugs out of drinking water nationally.
by Jerry Hirsch, Los Angeles Times
February 27, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-fish27feb27,1,2296362.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
SACRAMENTO -- When shoppers browse the seafood counters at Holiday Quality Foods' 19 grocery stores in rural Northern California today, they will find a new Safe Harbor brand, the nation's first line of low-mercury fresh fish. The label is part of a market test by the supermarket chain and Pacific Seafood Group, one of the nation's largest fish wholesalers, to see whether customers would buy more fish if they had more information about its mercury content. Holiday is using a new technology, developed by a high-tech company in San Rafael, Calif., that takes just minutes to measure the mercury concentration in fish rather than days. "This is a way to regain the confidence of consumers who worry about seafood and mercury," said Chuck Holman, retail sales manager for Pacific Seafood, Holiday's supplier. "The technology is available, so we might as well use it."
Studies have found that high concentrations of mercury in pregnant women, nursing mothers and young children are harmful to brain development. Big fish, such as swordfish, shark and tuna, tend to contain more mercury than smaller fish such as salmon. Federal and state advisories warning women of childbearing age to avoid fish with high levels of mercury, along with other adverse seafood publicity, are starting to eat into Holiday's sales. Over the last two years, the chain's sales of fresh fish have fallen 3% while the number of questions shoppers ask about mercury has risen, said David Parrish, Holiday's director of perishables.
That's a worrying trend for Holiday, as well as for Clackamas, Ore.-based Pacific Seafood. Holman hopes that by providing more information about the mercury in fish, the industry can win back customers such as Tina Kulek of Los Alamitos. "I think twice before buying swordfish now, and I don't have it very often, maybe once in a while in a restaurant," said Kulek, as she did the family grocery shopping at a Trader Joe's in Long Beach. Kulek said she would be more likely to purchase fish if she knew it had a low mercury level. "It is something that should be labeled," Kulek said.
Elsewhere, other consumers are changing their eating habits because of mercury warnings. "I love sushi and we used to eat swordfish and grill big tuna steaks," said Everett Volk, an attorney in Washington. But Volk and his wife, Rebecca, cut those items from their diet several years ago. "We were planning kids and we were worried about mercury crossing the placenta."
Pacific Seafood's efforts to regain customers start in a building the size of two large supermarkets in an industrial park on the north side of Sacramento. There, the company processes as much as 250,000 pounds of fish and shellfish daily, six days a week. Much of the building is maintained at 34 degrees and machines churn out 45 tons of ice daily to make sure fish stays fresh as it is prepared and shipped to Albertsons supermarkets, Outback Steakhouse, Red Lobster restaurants and other clients. Fish comes by airplane and truck from throughout the world -- 90-pound yellowfin tuna caught near Fiji, giant halibut that ply the icy coast of Alaska and sea bass that swim in the waters between Argentina and the Antarctic. In the cutting room, workers wield razor-sharp, 16-inch knives as they slice blood-red ahi into quarters for delivery to sushi bars and snowy halibut into pre-packed steaks for grocery stores.
Now, more than 1,000 pounds of seafood a day makes an extra stop at a testing table where a worker uses a syringe and biopsy needle to extract a sample for insertion into the testing device developed by Micro Analytical Systems. The copy-machine-sized system takes about a minute to analyze the sample and signal whether the mercury concentration is low enough to warrant the Safe Harbor label. "We expect to reject at least half of the fish we test," said Malcolm Wittenberg, chief executive of Micro Analytical. Food and Drug Administration regulations say that any fish containing a mercury concentration of 1 part per million or more shouldn't be sold.
Safe Harbor brand fish is certified to have mercury concentrations well below that limit. Wittenberg has calibrated the certification to an FDA database derived from a series of random tests, reporting the lowest, median and highest levels of mercury found in different species. Mercury in Chilean sea bass, for example, ranges from a low of 0.085 part per million to a high of 2.180 parts per million, more than twice the level at which the FDA says the fish isn't fit for human consumption. In most instances, only a fish that tests below the median level on that database -- in Chilean sea bass, that's 0.303 ppm -- gets the Safe Harbor label, Wittenberg said. Some species, such as salmon, have consistently low reported mercury levels. For those species, the test will look for aberrations rather than the median, Wittenberg said.
The extra cost of certifying the fish will be absorbed by Holiday for now, Parrish said, "because if we are going to sell more fish, we will make our money on the volume." He expects the wholesale price of a pound of snapper to rise to $3.49 from $3.19, for example, but the chain will continue to sell the fish for $5.69 a pound. The test by Holiday and Pacific Seafood is attracting the attention of other chains and wholesalers. Wittenberg met with representatives of Albertsons' Bristol Farms chain Friday. An Albertsons Inc. spokeswoman declined to comment. "If the machine can provide better safety it would be advantageous to the industry," said Chip Mezin, co-general manager of American Fish & Seafood Co. in Los Angeles, which provides fish for many of the large supermarket and restaurant chains in Southern California. A spokeswoman for Pacific American Fish Co., a wholesaler based in Vernon, said some of its Southern California clients have asked whether it could obtain Micro Analytical Systems' Safe Harbor-brand fish.
But Mezin and other wholesalers also want to be sure the testing device works. The FDA also is watching. "One of the concerns that we would have would be whether it is accurate," said David Acheson, the FDA's chief medical officer. To ensure the machine's accuracy, technicians at Pacific Seafood will periodically run a National Standards Bureau substance with a known mercury level through the device and make sure that the readings match, Wittenberg said.
The FDA hasn't advocated large-scale testing of fish and doesn't enforce its own regulation limiting mercury levels to less than 1 ppm. For the FDA to take action, the government would have to demonstrate that the particular fish had too much mercury and the consumption of that fish would be harmful, Acheson said. "That second requirement is going to be hard to prove in a courtroom," Acheson said. "It is questionable whether any individual fish could be removed from the marketplace."
The FDA focuses on testing the average mercury level of different species of fish, Acheson said. The agency will take samples from 12 fish of the same species, mix the flesh together and test the composite. For example, from 2002 through last month, the agency tested 87 batches of yellowfin tuna, or 1,044 fish. It found that yellowfin, often sold as ahi, averaged 0.325 ppm, but that some of the batches exceeded the 1 ppm limit. Based on that average, a 6-ounce serving would contain the maximum amount of mercury a 180-pound man should consume in a week. "It's a better use of our resources to inform consumers what to do about fish than spending money and time testing more fish," Acheson said.
What to do about fish is not easy to answer, medical professionals say. A study published by Harvard Medical School physician Emily Oken and other researchers in the October edition of Environmental Health Perspectives found that the overall effect of fish eaten by pregnant women appeared to be beneficial. But the study did have some contradictory findings, which is why co-author Oken said more research needed to be done. "Mothers who ate more fish had babies with higher scores on a cognition test. We also found that higher mercury levels in the mom was associated with lower test scores for the babies. The babies that did best were moms who ate fish with low mercury levels," Oken said.
It's also not clear what approach adults should take. San Francisco physician Jane Hightower said she had seen a correlation between heavy fish consumption by her patients with elevated blood mercury levels and complaints about a variety of ailments, including headaches, depression and memory loss. Yet multiple studies have touted fish as a low-fat protein, full of compounds that are good for the brain and cardiovascular system. "At the end of the day, this is not about avoiding fish," Acheson said. "It is about paying attention to the types and amount of fish you eat."
by Bill Lambrecht, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
February 26, 2006
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/857386AF9BB84389862571220028B937?OpenDocument&highlight=2%2C%22LAMBRECHT%22
WASHINGTON -- For 35 years, the Environmental Protection Agency heeded the advice of a special panel of scientists set up by Congress to help shape government rules aimed at cutting air pollution. But for the first time, the EPA is rejecting recommendations from its Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee as the agency moves forward this year with revised rules governing how much soot and dust can be permitted in the air. What's more, the EPA has decided to exempt rural areas as well as dust generated by agriculture and mining -- something the scientists never had in mind. The rules could be enormously costly to industry and taxpayers -- $100 billion by some estimates.
The air pollution dispute and other recent clashes highlight what scientists contend is their increasingly diminished role in policy to protect public health and the environment. Never before has the EPA's government-appointed advisory committee formally disputed an agency decision. But that's what committee members are doing in a letter drafted last week and sent around to other members for their signatures. "The purpose of this committee is to provide the best scientific advice available, and he didn't take it," said committee chairwoman Rogene Henderson, referring to EPA administrator Stephen Johnson. "Our hope is that if we explain things a little more clearly, he might."
Only this time, the advice by the committee's 22 members -- among them physicians, toxicologists, chemists and prominent researchers -- will be received along with other comments from the general public due in April. The rejection of some of their conclusions troubles Henderson. She is a Republican-appointed toxicologist from New Mexico who is in charge of assembling other scientific panels to help tailor air pollution rules. "I have a concern about this demoralizing people," she said. "These are very high-powered scientists, and they don't have a lot of time. But they make the time, because they believe that their work can make a difference."
Science versus politics
The administration's industry-friendly approach to governing has never been a secret, nor have the leanings of President George W. Bush himself. He has endorsed the teaching of "intelligent design," the theory that life is so complex that it must be the work of a higher being. NASA climate scientist James Hansen triggered a series of charges last month when he accused Bush's political appointees of interfering with the release of information that conflicted with the administration's skepticism of the link between pollution and climate change. The dispute prompted space agency administrator Michael Griffin to send an e-mail to employees this month vowing "open scientific and technical inquiry and dialogue with the public."
In another case, one that raises questions about academic freedom, the federal Bureau of Land Management suspended payments this month to Oregon State University after a study by the university's College of Forestry. The study's conclusions cast doubt on the administration's contention that logging helps to replenish burned forests. The government restored the money after bipartisan complaints from Oregon political leaders. But the land management agency is likely to be grilled in congressional hearings about its policies. By the same token, science can trump politics -- even if it takes years.
This week, Missouri River water levels upstream permitting, the Army Corps of Engineers could announce after 15 years of dispute that it will proceed with the first spring rise on the lower river in an effort to bring about conditions that benefit the endangered pallid sturgeon. Missouri political leaders oppose the flow change. Allegations that science is either ignored or politicized has prompted several pro-science bills in Congress. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., succeeded last year with an amendment banning political litmus tests for appointments to scientific advisory committees. Now, he is sponsoring legislation that would make it a crime to disseminate wrong information knowingly.
In building the case against censorship, the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington has compiled signatures from nearly 9,000 scientists on a petition demanding that the government keep hands off research. "No one expects that politics isn't going to enter into science -- but when you put in the science, you need to weight it objectively and impartially," said Francesca Grifo, a botanist who runs the advocacy group's scientific integrity program. But business advocates say the administration is insisting on good science, not just politically correct theory. The national Chamber of Commerce's Bill Kovacs credits the administration with being "pro-science" in a time when, he says, environmental advocates demand pollution control rules based on their philosophy. With regard to potential harm from the soot and dust rules, Kovacs asserted, "There are no bodies out there. These are bodies that are part of a computer model. They're not real people."
White House steps in
From the start, the rules faced a hard road. In the first step of the review process for air-quality standards, EPA scientists prepare documents summarizing the latest scientific research. Those documents looked much different after being edited by the White House Office of Management and Budget. The White House office made dozens of changes, many of them softening assertions of harm from pollution and some deleting entire sections. For instance, the White House budget office deleted references to a study concluding that low-income people could be more vulnerable to exposure to soot and dust. Likewise, the office removed a sentence asserting that the air quality rules "may have a substantial impact on the life expectancy of the U.S. population."
The standards in question become part of the Clean Air Act. They tell states and localities whether their air is clean or dirty and what they must do to comply with the law. The EPA accepted part of the scientific panel's recommendation on how much dust and soot, known as particulates, could be allowed in the air in a 24-hour period. But in rejecting the panel's recommendation for allowable air standards over a year's time, the EPA has drawn criticism from public health groups and state and local officials. "People were just outraged how an agency can just ignore something that affects the health of thousands of people," said William Becker, who heads an organization of state and local air pollution control officials.
EPA spokeswoman Erin Witcher said that Johnson, the agency administrator, a 25-year EPA veteran trained in science, had a firm grip on the complexities of the standards and had personally interviewed agency experts. "The administrator's decision was based on an extensive review of a large body of science, careful consideration of EPA staff recommendations and (the committee's) advice on interpretations of that science," she said.
Derek Poore of the Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau contributed to this report.
bY John Myers, Duluth News Tribune
February 26, 2006
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/13963620.htm
When you raise your face into that first spring rainfall, remember this: The water splashing off your head is higher in mercury contamination than the treated sewage water leaving the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District. And therein underscores an environmental conundrum.
The WLSSD, like all large Great Lakes wastewater plants, is under federal order to reduce mercury in its discharge to 1.8 parts per trillion. It's an effort to keep Lake Superior free from mercury that builds up in fish and makes them unsafe for humans to eat. But that wastewater standard is so far below the level of mercury in rainwater that falls on the Northland -- now about 12 parts per trillion -- that many experts say it's impossible to meet.
The WLSSD receives untreated wastewater that averages about 100 parts per trillion mercury. Its treatment process reduces that to about 2.6 parts per trillion, on average, before it flows into the St. Louis River. That 2.6 parts per trillion (2004 average) is down from 20.6 parts per million a decade ago and is among the lowest of any wastewater plant in the region. And it reflects more than a decade of efforts to get mercury out of the waste stream -- reducing mercury from the papermaking process, dental and medical offices, school labs, consumer products and more.
The level of mercury leaving the WLSSD pipe in Duluth's West End is lower than the level in the river upstream, now about 3.1 parts per trillion. "We could cut our emissions to zero and it still wouldn't affect the river or the lake or the fish. It wouldn't make a difference," said Tim Tuominen, engineer for the WLSSD. "That doesn't mean we won't keep trying. We'll keep looking at options... But it does mean that it's going to take a local, state and global effort to cut mercury (emissions) or we're never going to get there."
Falling from the sky
Gary Glass, retired U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mercury researcher in Duluth, said it doesn't make sense to require mercury levels in wastewater to be lower than levels in the river or falling rain. Efforts should first be aimed at getting the mercury out of the rain, he said. That would require cutting mercury in industrial air emissions, such as coal-burning power plants. "The only way to reduce mercury in the river and lake is to get it out of the rain. But we aren't doing that yet," said Glass. "It's lunacy that our government has a (mercury) standard for lakes but then no standard for the rain that fills the lakes up."
Still, the federal mandate for sewage effluent remains. In just 12 months the standard will drop from 21 parts per trillion to 1.8 parts per trillion. Kurt Soderberg, WLSSD executive director, said it's not likely they'll meet the March 2007 deadline. The Hibbing wastewater plant, and Minnesota Power's Laskin Energy Center wastewater treatment facility, are the other Lake Superior basin plants expected to need a variance. WLSSD officials already are working with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to seek a variance to the federal rule. Ohio and Michigan plants already have been granted a similar variance. "We look at where they have gone and are going, whether there's been a good-faith effort to get there," said Gary Kimball of the PCA's standards unit. "WLSSD has been who everyone looks to for mercury reduction ideas. It's likely if they say they can't get there by the deadline it probably can't be done."
Efforts continue
In the meantime, efforts to cut mercury from wastewater continue. The WLSSD is looking at chemicals that might bind up the mercury and allow it to be captured before it leaves the plant. The district also is spending $4.1 million to upgrade several last-step holding tanks that capture suspended solids in the wastewater that sometimes flow out of the plant during storms. Most of the mercury in the wastewater is tied up in those solids.
WLSSD has contracted with the Natural Resources Research Institute's Coleraine Minerals Lab to investigate possible mercury filters. The WLSSD also is looking at test projects for end-of-pipe mercury reduction by the University of North Dakota and Ferrometrics Inc. "It hasn't been practical at all in the past, but we're always looking," Soderberg said. Minnesota has reduced mercury in products and garbage by 70 percent since 1990, from 8,881 pounds annually to 739. But airborne mercury emissions have increased, from 1,667 pounds to 1,923, mostly as the economy has required more electricity.
Soderberg and others welcomed word last week that Gov. Tim Pawlenty was changing course and now supports state legislation to curb mercury air pollution that originates within the state, especially from coal-fired power plants. The PCA previously backed a course that waited for stronger federal laws. The state's goal is to make all fish in Minnesota's lakes safe for all people to eat. It's still not clear what steps will be taken to make that happen.
While state sources are only part of the total mercury that falls here -- as much or more mercury comes from regional, national and even global sources as far away as China -- environmental groups say Minnesota should be leading the way. "The local sources are probably a bigger portion of the problem because the mercury is more active, closer to the source" of combustion, Glass said. "The notion that we can't make a difference by cleaning up our own sources is hogwash."
Mercury doesn't disappear
Thanks to efforts to get mercury out of consumer products, dental waste and industrial recipes, such as paper pulp processing, the amount of mercury coming into the WLSSD has declined rapidly in recent years, from 180 parts per trillion in 1995 to 100 parts per trillion in 2004. But mercury -- from rainwater, schools, households and other sources -- continues to flow into the plant. Much of the mercury captured by the WLSSD leaves the plant inside a sewage sludge fertilizer product called biosolids. That treated sludge, which has been anaerobically digested to kill disease-carrying pathogens, contains a small amount of mercury per ton that does contribute to the ground mercury in the soil.The level of mercury in the material spread by the WLSSD dropped from 1.3 parts-per-trillion in 1995 to 0.37 parts per trillion in 2004. It remains far below EPA standards.
While some opponents of sewage sludge fertilizer say the mercury levels are too high, WLSSD officials say it would take regular applications for 500 years to raise soil mercury levels to EPA limits. Still, the PCA's Kimball noted, mercury is being reintroduced to the environment in the sludge, and some of that may end up moving into the atmosphere. It would be best, he noted, if mercury didn't flow into the plant to start. "The only way to prevent having mercury to deal with is not have it going out to begin with," he said. "There's no magic way to get rid of it once in becomes part of your process."
by Don Cox, Reno Gazette-Journal
February 26, 2006
http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/NEWS/602260398/1002/NEWS
For Clydell Wert, the prospect of living next to a stockpile of more than 4,000 metric tons of mercury at the Hawthorne Army Depot in Northern Nevada is no cause to be scared or even worried. "We've probably had stuff out here much more dangerous than that," said Wert, a Hawthorne resident since 1945. "The average person probably doesn't know what's out there. "If you really knew, you probably wouldn't live here."
But state officials are looking for ways to stop a federal government plan announced this month to store the military's mercury supply of 4,436 metric tons at Hawthorne, starting next year. "We're working through the governor's office and the attorney general's office to see what options are open to us," said Allen Biaggi, director of the state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. "Do we have recourse through the court system? Do we have recourse through the National Environmental Policy Act? We should know in the next few days."
Mercury, a potentially toxic substance, could contaminate Walker Lake, six miles from Hawthorne, Biaggi said. "We don't think that's the best place to have the mercury stored for the long term," Biaggi said. "Just the fact that you are storing that much mercury in that location so close to Walker Lake is a concern to us." Mercury will be warehoused at Hawthorne, 132 miles southeast of Reno-Sparks, for at least 40 years, a spokesman for the program said. "It's not going to have any impact at all, as far as leakage into the ground water and the lake," said Robert Jones, a spokesman for the Defense Stockpile Center headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Va.
The 230-square-mile Hawthorne depot, the largest ammunition storage facility in the U.S. military, was, according to federal administrators, selected as the mercury site for these reasons:
"Hawthorne was one of five locations considered," Jones said. "Hawthorne fit the bill." If it comes to Hawthorne, the mercury, contained in metal flasks packed in steel barrels, will be stored in "14 or 15" concrete warehouses at the base, which has 2,900 structures, said Army Lt. Col. John Summers, the facility's military commander. "It will be stored here and never opened to the environment," Summers said. "You are talking about a much more likelihood of a spill if you're talking about opening the mercury vessels."
Mercury can become "highly toxic" if people are exposed to high levels of it in air or water, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with the potential to cause brain damage and harm to other organs. "We think it's a good decision the (state) is questioning bringing more mercury into Nevada," said Elyssa Rosen, senior policy adviser and founder of the Reno-based Great Basin Mine Watch, an environmental group urging the state to adopt stronger mercury controls. The mercury bound for Hawthorne is stored at three locations, New Haven, Ind., Sommerville, N.J., and Warren, Ohio.
"I don't think there is any issue here," said Michael Bender, executive director of the Mercury Policy Project, a Vermont-based environmental group working to reduce mercury exposure. "They have been able to safely store this stuff for the last 40 years. It's not at the same level of concern as many of the toxic and nuclear wastes out there. But it's hard to convince people of that." The depots in Sommerville and New Haven are scheduled for closure, Jones said. Along with Hawthorne, facilities considered for the mercury were Warren and Tooele, Utah.
Hawthorne, opened in 1930, was placed on the closure list by the federal government last summer. Tooele recommended as the new site for the 300,000 tons of ammunition kept at the Hawthorne depot, which nearly surrounds the town of Hawthorne. But the Hawthorne depot, Mineral County's largest employer with about 500 workers, was removed from the closure list in August.
Discussions about storing mercury at Hawthorne started in 2003, two years before the closure debate. "The state voiced its opposition to the proposal at that time," Biaggi said. In Hawthorne, where the population is about 3,000, there may not be as much concern. "It's not an issue here," said Shelley Hartmann, director of the Mineral County Economic Development Authority. "They know it can be (stored) well. We've had much nastier stuff here."
Much of the ammunition at Hawthorne is outdated. Ammo was manufactured at the base until the end of the Vietnam War. The depot, where more than 5,000 civilians worked and 2,000 military personnel were stationed during World War II, has been operated by a civilian company under Army supervision since 1980. "We have adequate storage space," Summers said. "We have experience in storing hazardous items."
The head of a group hoping to preserve Walker Lake isn't worried about the mercury. "It has to be loose in the environment," said Louis Thompson, director of the Walker Lake Working Group and a Hawthorne resident. "I feel the way they package and care for (the mercury), it shouldn't be a problem." Thompson stressed he was expressing his own opinion, not the working group's.
The future of the lake, which is popular for fishing and important to Hawthorne's economy, is in question. Over the last half century, agricultural diversions have lowered the lake level by 150 feet, resulting in a steady buildup of salts that experts fear could soon render the lake incapable of supporting fish. If the mercury comes to Hawthorne, it will be delivered in trucks over a period of time to be determined, possibly 90 to 180 days, Jones said. "It depends on how many we can get on the road and how many the site can accept in one day," Jones said.
The mercury, which was stockpiled during the Cold War, is no longer used by the military. "It looks like it may be coming," Biaggi said. "At least that's the way it is right now. We are looking at our options."
by Sharon Begley, Wall Street Journal
February 24, 2006
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114074679037182102.html
Sigmund Freud had been dead for four years before a scientist proved in 1943 that DNA carries genetic information. It was probably just as well. The founder of psychoanalysis surely would have rolled over in his grave if he'd seen how the genetic revolution played out when it comes to understanding human behavior. As tough as neuroscientists have been on Freud -- replacing his quaint notions of ego and id with neurotransmitters and brain circuits -- geneticists have struck the unkindest blow, linking depression, neuroticism, impulsivity, sexual orientation and more to people's 25,000 or so genes. The complicated tapestry of the mind woven by Freud, a respected neuroscientist in his day, has been reduced to a four-letter genetic code.
But when it comes to child development, Freud is back. Or at least psychoanalysts and their focus on interactions between parents and children are, and in a way that few foresaw. The childhood experiences that so riveted Freud affect the expression or suppression of gene-based personality traits for a fascinating reason: Genes create environments. "We analysts actually have a place at the table of genetics," David Reiss, director of psychiatric research at the George Washington University Medical Center, told the annual meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association last month.
He is leading an ambitious study of 310 (so far) adopted children. He and colleagues are, first, identifying whether the adopted babies are bubbly and all smiles, or solemn and dour. Next, they are observing how the adoptive parents respond to the children. This response is the "environment" the babies' (presumably) gene-based traits create. The goal is to see whether the parental response alters expression of the traits.
Even the preliminary findings of the study, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health, will ring true to parents. Some kids seem to emerge from the womb with a jolly disposition. Others seem congenitally cranky, refusing to crack a smile no matter how clownishly you act in an attempt to make them giggle. Because solemn babies aren't as much fun as giggly ones, many parents respond to them more impatiently, coldly and even harshly, particularly if the parents are under stress. In a very real sense, the child's innate disposition -- solemnity -- elicits a certain parental behavior -- harshness and lack of warmth. Genes, in other words, create an environment. This one-two punch can lead to the worst outcome, says Dr. Reiss. Studies hint that when solemn babies reach school age, they have a greater chance of developing conduct disorders, especially oppositional behavior. These are the kids who become bullies and firebugs. They also have a higher risk of anxiety disorders, which can pave the way to depression and substance abuse.
But the new research suggests that none of this is inevitable. If parents resist responding to a dour baby with harshness, says Dr. Reiss, the genes that underlie solemnity in infancy and oppositional behavior in the teen years may go quiet. Genes seem to create environments throughout life. An unresponsive child elicits less affection from parents, reinforcing her innate lack of sociability. Impulsive, aggressive kids elicit threats and coercion, reinforcing problem behavior. On a happier note, a sociable and verbal child is a delight to talk to and read to, reinforcing his inherent cognitive edge. "We're talking about the genome as a product of social interactions," says Dr. Reiss. "Genes are fully expressed in some social environments, while in others they never get expressed."
That is a fundamentally hopeful message, because it suggests that genes are not destiny. Yes, a toddler's innate dourness will elicit a certain response from even the best-intentioned parents. But if parents understand that this instinctive response is the very environment that can reinforce a genetic tendency, they have an incentive to respond differently. Studies find that showing parents videos of their cold, impatient or angry responses -- and offering coaching in how to respond less harshly -- helps many change, breaking the link from infant temperament to adolescent trouble.
Genes also create an environment when a child's oppositional, aggressive behavior breeds marital conflict. That environment then induces stronger expression of the problematic traits, raising the child's risk for academic and behavioral problems in adolescence. "Kids are contributing to the creation of an environment that then affects them," says psychology researcher Tom O'Connor of the University of Rochester. Attributing adolescent problems to the inexorable force of genetics may be appealing (it lets parents off the hook), but ignores the role of family environment, which is far from inevitable. Says Prof. O'Connor, "The family environment has been wrongly downplayed."
"If these findings hold up," adds Dr. Reiss, "it would provide an opportunity to forestall genetically influenced adverse outcomes. If you can alter the parent's responses, these genes might never express themselves. When I say that analysts have a place in genetics, I mean that they have a deep appreciation of the importance of relationships in shaping people." Freud, who would have been 150 this year, is surely smiling down from his couch in the clouds.
by Jeff Nesmith, Cox Washington Bureau, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Friday, February 24, 2006
http://www.ajc.com/today/content/epaper/editions/today/news_34ef8b09a65771b51051.html
Washington -- Advocacy groups devoted to health, environmental and civil rights issues have started a campaign to get Congress to fund the fledgling National Children's Study, despite a White House decision to close it down. In his fiscal 2007 budget, President Bush proposed no money for the study, which was launched barely four months ago amid promises of breakthroughs in understanding common conditions such as asthma, autism and diabetes. In addition, the White House Office of Management and Budget has ordered the National Institutes of Health to stop spending federal funds on the venture. "We are calling on Congress to address an egregious wrong to America's children and future adults," said Dr. Alan Fleischman, a professor of pediatrics at Albert Einstein Medical School in New York and chairman of the study's outside advisory committee.
The study was initiated as a collaboration of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes of Health. It would monitor the health of 100,000 Americans from conception to their 21st birthdays in an effort to sort out the roles of environmental, genetic and lifestyle factors in common health conditions. The projected total cost would be $2.7 billion. But Dr. Leo Trasande, assistant director of the Center for Children's Health and the Environment at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, said the country spends more than $640 billion a year on injuries and four conditions: autism, asthma, schizophrenia and obesity. "If this study led to a reduction in that cost of just 1 percent, it would mean saving the total 25-year budget of the study two-fold in a single year," he said.
Seven "vanguard centers" have been named to coordinate periodic examinations, blood tests and other health monitoring and environmental surveys among children in more than 100 rural and urban counties. Fleischman said the study would need $69 million in 2007 to start recruiting subjects. "This is more than an affront to children," he said in a telephone interview Thursday. "It is an affront to parents and grandparents, who are asking doctors every day questions we don't have the answers to."
Fleischman said that when he presided over a meeting of the advisory committee last month to review plans, the advisers had no idea that within two weeks OMB would order NIH to cease spending federal funds on the effort after Sept. 30, the last day of fiscal 2006. "We were not optimistic that the president would request an appropriation for the National Children's Study, but we had no indication that the White House was going to direct the study to close," he said.
Although Congress provided no funds for the study this year, it included a statement in final budget legislation expressing continued interest in the effort and calling on NIH, CDC and EPA to provide funds from their own budgets to keep it alive. But without a specific appropriation this year, it would be hard for agencies to continue taking money from their own budgets, especially in view of specific OMB orders to shut the effort down, Fleischman said.
Environmental justice advocates hope the study can nail down possible links between pollution and health disparity. "People of color are disproportionately impacted by environmental insults because their communities are disproportionately subjected to pollution," said Peggy Shepard, executive director of the Harlem-based organization WE ACT for Environmental Justice. "We think the growing health disparities between communities of color with asthma, diabetes, cancer and other conditions can be addressed by this study."
The study also is supported by the March of Dimes, the American Academy of Pediatrics and a large number of other organizations, including the American Chemistry Council, a trade group of large chemical manufacturing companies.
by Eric Tucker, Associated Press Writer, the Boston Globe
February 23, 2006
http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2006/02/23/lead_paint_ruling_could_lead_to_more_lawsuits_experts_say/
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A jury's decision to hold three former lead paint makers liable for creating a public nuisance could spark more lawsuits nationwide and force the companies to make hugely expensive repairs, advocates, analysts and lawyers said Thursday. The tiniest state in the nation broke ground Wednesday by becoming the first state to win a lawsuit over the dangers of the companies' products. But some experts said the win doesn't necessarily guarantee spectacular lead paint verdicts in the future or a scenario like what happened after states sued tobacco companies and received billions of dollars.
Jurors said Sherwin-Williams Co., NL Industries Inc. and Millennium Holdings LLC should be ordered to clean up the contamination created by lead paint, which can cause brain damage and other health problems in children. Lawyers for the state say lead paint has poisoned tens of thousands of children since the early 1990s and contaminated hundreds of thousands of homes. "I would venture to say that the fact that a jury has sided with the state of Rhode Island, other municipalities and states would seriously take a look at pursuing a case like this," said Alan Mensh, a Baltimore attorney who has represented children poisoned by lead paint in lawsuits against landlords.
The sale of lead paint for homes was banned in the United States in 1978. In the past several years, other local governments have tried bringing similar lawsuits. While some, like one brought by the city of Milwaukee, are slowly winding their way through the courts, others are in limbo or -- as in Chicago -- have been dismissed at the trial court level. States need substantial resources to sue the companies, and some have been watching from the sidelines to see whether Rhode Island could succeed, said Roberta Hazen Aaronson, executive director of the Childhood Lead Action Project, an advocacy organization in Rhode Island. "You're going up against industries that have very deep pockets and unlimited resources to continue the battle," she said. "I think it's a good indication to the plaintiffs that now, honestly, there is a chance that they could succeed," said Brian Gumm of the Alliance for Healthy Homes, an advocacy and policy development group in Washington, D.C.
Several key questions remain unanswered. The state never put a dollar value on its lawsuit, and estimates vary on how much it will cost to deal with the mess. The jury's ruling only says that lead paint companies must do something to clean up lead paint problems -- and a Superior Court judge will decide later what they must do. The remedy could be as simple as funding education programs about the dangers of lead paint, or as costly as completely removing lead paint from all the affected homes in Rhode Island.
Liz Colon, director of training and outreach at the Childhood Lead Action Project, said the cost of cleaning lead paint can range between $9,000 to $15,000 per apartment. The state has said approximately 240,000 homes in Rhode Island are contaminated. A JP Morgan analyst issued a note to clients after the verdict saying the cost of dealing with lead paint could range between $1.25 billion to $4.5 billion.
In addition to the clean-up, it's possible the companies would have to pay punitive damages determined by a jury. That question is expected to be decided next week. It is also likely that the companies will appeal. Shares of Sherwin-Williams and NL Industries have plummeted on the New York Stock Exchange since the verdict was announced Wednesday morning, slipping by 20 percent and 12 percent, respectively, as of the close of trading Thursday.
Legal experts say it's not clear what impact the state's victory will have on possible lawsuits in other states. Rhode Island's law on public nuisance is unusually vague about how companies can be held liable for nuisance claims, said Don Gifford, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law. Other state courts might not be as friendly to such a suit, he said.
Gifford said he was skeptical that former lead pigment makers would become a bulls-eye for plaintiffs' lawyers like tobacco companies were several years ago, saying the differences in the industries were significant. "Tobacco companies are still selling their products. There hasn't been lead-based paint sold since 1978," said Gifford, who has consulted for DuPont Co., which was a defendant in Rhode Island's lawsuit before the company struck an agreement worth millions of dollars with the state last summer.
The verdict was welcomed by people like Srey Pen, 28, who moved out of her mother's home in Providence after it was found to be filled with lead contamination. She now lives with a friend, and her 5-year-old son, Christian, has tested positive for an elevated blood lead level. "The good thing is we got him out of the environment -- not as quickly as we wanted to, but quick enough to stop anymore poisoning from entering his body," Pen said.
by Susan M. Cover, Staff Writer, The Kennebec Journal
February 23, 2006
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/2464218.shtml
[from Mike Belliveau, executive director of Environmental Health Strategy Center: Maine Governor John Baldacci signed an Executive Order February 22, 2006, that will widen support for safer chemicals policy reform. In addition to improved state purchasing and public education, the Order establishes a Task Force to recommend a comprehensive state-level chemicals policy and increased investments in green chemistry including making bio-based plastics from Maine potatoes and wood waste. The Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine ran a full-page ad today ... to give a boost to our safer chemicals campaign... Visit http://www.preventharm.org to see the Order, the ad and related media coverage and materials.]
AUGUSTA -- Environmentalists hope an executive order signed Wednesday will make the state a cleaner place. In a Cabinet Room ceremony, Gov. John Baldacci signed a document directing the state to avoid buying hazardous products for pest control and lawn care. It also directs the state to buy uniforms that don't require dry cleaning with toxic products. "We are all at risk -- our children, especially -- from hazardous chemicals," Baldacci said. "When there are toxic materials in the house, kids will find them."
The order directs the state to begin a consumer education program on safer alternatives to hazardous chemicals. In addition, the state Department of Transportation will consider alternatives to wheel weights that currently contain lead. The goal is to further limit the amount of mercury, lead, pesticides and flame retardants in the state.
In general, safer alternatives don't cost more money, said Jon Hinck of the Natural Resources Council of Maine. "These are sensible, available steps that aren't taken because of a business-as-usual approach," he said.
Michael Belliveau, executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, said a task force will work to identify ways to bring more environmentally sensitive industry to the state. "We appreciate the governor's leadership in protecting the environmental health of Maine families, while at the same time developing new economic opportunities for Maine businesses and workers," he said.
The 12-member task force will have until Nov. 30 to release an interim report and Oct. 1, 2007, for a final report. Several groups, including the Learning Disabilities Association of Maine, Maine Labor Group on Health, and the Maine Public Health Association supported the executive order.
by Rebecca Renner, Environmental Science & Technology
February 22, 2006
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2006/feb/science/rr_race.html
Levels of perfluorinated chemicals in the blood of U.S. residents, while low overall, differ by race, according to the first statistically representative survey of the U.S. population, published today on ES&T's Research ASAP website. Whites are found to have levels of perfluorinated chemicals in their blood that are two times higher than levels in blacks and three times those of Mexican-Americans.
Perfluorinated compounds are persistent and bioaccumulative and are widely found at low levels in the environment and in humans. In animal experiments in laboratories, some of the chemicals have been linked to adverse effects, including cancer and developmental problems, although at higher levels than those found in human blood. Companies are beginning to develop alternatives to perfluorinated compounds or ways to eliminate them or their precursors from products.
The new study, conducted by Antonia Calafat and colleagues at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), analyzed for selected perfluorinated compounds in 54 aggregated samples of blood that had been collected in 2001 and 2002 as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Study (NHANES). (Samples were aggregated because the perfluorinated measurements were not part of the original NHANES study and the researchers lacked enough material to run individual analyses.) Each aggregated sample contained serum from 34 people, grouped by race and age. "Calafat and colleagues have done an excellent job with this, the first study to look at perfluorinated chemicals in blood and race or ethnicity," says Geary Olsen, an epidemiologist who is with the 3M Corp. and who has written several papers on this subject.
In all three racial groups, men have slightly higher levels than women. White men have the highest concentration of PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate) in their blood, 40.19 parts per billion (ppb). PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) values in all the pools are lower -- to 8 ppb -- but again are highest in whites. Moreover, white adolescents have the highest levels of two perfluorinated chemicals associated with carpet stain protectors. In more than 75% of the blood samples, the CDC team also find PFOS precursors, which are thought to break down to PFOS in the body, and the presence of 9-carbon-long PFNA (perfluorononinoic acid). However, chemicals with chains composed of more than 9 carbon atoms are relatively scarce. "These results are intriguing," says Calafat. "But we really can't explain the differences. That's why we need more information about sources and pathways," she adds.
Although earlier studies have detected PFOS and PFOA in blood, CDC's report is the first designed to provide values representative of the U.S. population. The levels measured by CDC are similar to those reported in previous studies for people living in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, says Olsen.
Contamination levels in the U.S. are much higher than those in Peru, and perfluorochemicals are detected more frequently, Calafat notes, referring to unpublished work. Only 25% of Peruvians have PFOS in their blood, and even those have very low levels -- about 0.5 to 1.0 ppb. This may reflect less exposure to mass-produced consumer items that contain perfluorinated chemicals. "A question of fundamental importance is whether the occurrence of PFOS and PFOA in human blood arises primarily from a direct or an indirect source," says University of Toronto chemist Scott Mabury, who notes that the observation of PFOS precursors suggests that indirect sources are important. Calafat next plans to analyze individual samples from other years, including ones collected during 1999 and 2000, which predate the 3M withdrawal of PFOS-related chemicals.
press release
February 15, 2006
Contact Regina Dick-Endrizzi 415-554-6783
SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to pass a resolution Tuesday, February 14, that urges state legislators to enact producer responsibility laws. The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) resolution, sponsored by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, asks the state to take the financial burden of disposing toxic products off of taxpayers and onto manufacturers. The resolution comes at the heels of a newly enacted state law that bans a wide range of common household hazardous waste products from the trash. "Producer responsibility legislation makes sense. Taxpayers and local governments shell out millions in dollars every year to handle toxic and other products," explains Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi. "It's time we push corporations to take responsibility of their own actions and products."
The state ban covers products designated as "universal waste," which includes common household batteries, fluorescent lights, items that contain mercury, and an array of electronic devices. In San Francisco alone the estimated annual cost of handling just these newly listed household hazardous products tops $5 million. The passage of the resolution also clears the way for the City to support additional EPR programs for materials that have high handling costs, and materials that often end up in our the landfills. "Producer responsibility will both drive business innovation and improve public health," added Supervisor Mirkarimi. "When we hold corporations responsible for making sure the products they sell are recycled properly, and when public health and environmental costs are factored into the product price, the company has a strong incentive to design goods that last longer, are easily recyclable, and less toxic."
Producer responsibility laws have been enacted in countries around the world, in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. In 2004, California enacted the Cell Phone Recycling Act. This law requires that cell phone retailers have in place a system for the acceptance and collection of used cell phones for reuse, recycling, or proper disposal. Examples of producer responsibility programs include take back programs, deposits, and advance recycling fees.
In the meantime, the City has partnered with local businesses and non-profits to provide free drop-off sites for certain products. All Walgreens in San Francisco as well as retailers including Waldeck's Office Supply take household batteries. Several local hardware stores including Brownie's, Cliff's Variety and Cole Hardware take fluorescent lights. Goodwill stores takes computers and their components. A variety of hazardous materials are also accepted at the public Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility, operated by San Francisco Recycling and Disposal. For a complete list, go to www.sfenvironment.org.
Also see: http://www.productpolicy.org/resources/index.html
San Francisco EPR [Extended Producer Responsibility] Resolution
Passed Unanimously Feb 14, 2006
Urging San Francisco's State delegation to support statewide efforts to hold producers responsible for product waste, starting with toxic products defined as universal waste; requesting the Department of the Environment recommend local extended producer responsibility policies as well as work with necessary agencies to develop producer responsibility language for inclusion in City contracts.
WHEREAS, Manufactured goods and packaging constitute about seventy-five percent of the materials managed by the City and County of San Francisco and sent to landfill, costing San Francisco residents and businesses about $150 million a year in refuse rates plus millions more in taxes to manage; and
WHEREAS, On February 8, 2006, a state law takes effect that makes it illegal to throw in the garbage items defined as "universal waste, " which includes household batteries, fluorescent bulbs or tubes, thermostats, other items that contain mercury, as well as electronic devices including VCRs, microwaves, cellular phones, cordless phones, printers, and radios; and
WHEREAS, Assuming a fifty percent recovery rate, collecting and disposing of these products now banned from the trash will cost San Francisco an estimated additional $5 million each year; and
WHEREAS, When additional products are declared as hazardous by the State the burden to manage these items will fall to local jurisdictions; and
WHEREAS, There are significant environmental and human health impacts associated with household products that contain toxic ingredients, including mercury, lead, cadmium and other toxic chemicals that when disposed of improperly can contaminate water supplies; and
WHEREAS, By covering the costs of collection and disposal, local governments are subsidizing the production of waste because manufacturers know that whatever they produce the local government will foot the bill for recycling or disposal; and
WHEREAS, Extended Producer Responsibility is an environmental policy approach in which producers assume responsibility -- financial and/or physical -- for the management of post-consumer products, so that those who produce and use products bear the costs of recycling and proper disposal; and
WHEREAS, When brand owners are responsible for ensuring their products are recycled responsibly, and when health and environmental costs are included in the product price, there is a strong incentive to design and purchase goods that are more durable, easier to recycle, and less toxic; and
WHEREAS, It is timely to develop and support extended producer responsibility legislation to address the universal waste sector of the waste stream first in response to the state ban on universal waste from household disposal; now, therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Board of Supervisors urges our representatives in Sacramento to pursue statewide extended producer responsibility legislation targeted at universal waste that will give incentives for the redesign of products to make them less toxic, and shift the cost for recycling and proper disposal of products from the local government to the producer and distributor of the product; and, be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Department of the Environment develop producer responsibility policies such as leasing products rather than purchasing them, and requiring the manufacturers of products sold to City departments to offer less toxic alternatives, and to take responsibility for collecting and recycling their products at the end of their useful life; and, be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City and County of San Francisco will continue to support extended producer responsibility initiatives and statewide legislation beyond universal waste to cover areas including other hazardous products, bulky packaging, and items like plastics and multi-material products that are difficult to recycle.
