|
 |
|
Coordinated nationally by the Institute for Children's Environmental Health |
To join the Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment (PCHE) and receive this bulletin, please complete the form at http://www.partnersforchildren.org/members.html#member.
For information about additional events, please visit our searchable calendar of events at http://www.partnersforchildren.org/conferences.html.
March 29 - 31, 2007
Washington, DC
at the Howard University School of Law
It has been more than 25 years since the Warren County protest that arguably gave birth to the environmental justice movement in this country. It has been twenty years since the United Church of Christ published Toxic Waste and Race in the United States, a nationwide study that further documented the association between hazardous waste facilities and the racial composition of the communities hosting such facilities. It has been ten years since the United Church of Christ, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Center for Policy Alternatives published Toxic Waste and Race Revisited, a study that found that the associations documented in Toxic Waste and Race were just as active as they were in the original study. The National Small Town Alliance, the Howard University School of Law, and the United States Department of Energy are teaming with others to review the environmental justice movement and to determine the State of Environmental Justice in America. This effort will team with communities, scholars, researchers and others to issue a comprehensive report and conduct this conference.
Contact: Michelle Hudson, hudsonmi@saic.com
April 14 - 15, 2007
Palo Alto, California
at Stanford University School of Medicine
The conference theme is "Innovation, Advancement, and Best Practices to Achieve Global Goals." More than 300 experts in international health and development, public health, eye care, medicine, entrepreneurship, nonprofits, philanthropy and microfinance will present.
Website: http://www.uniteforsight.org/conference/2007/
April 17, 2007
7:00 p.m.
Portland, Oregon
at Portland State University, Smith Memorial Center on SW Broadway, Room 338
Many common products, such as toys, cosmetics and drugs, contain artificial chemicals called phthalates. These "endocrine disruptors" can interfere with hormones that control gender. Animal and human research links phthalates to breast and prostate cancer and abnormal genital development. Shanna Swan, PhD, an obstetrics and gynecology professor at the University of Rochester New York School of Medicine and Dentistry, was the first researcher to find an association between higher phthalate levels in pregnant women and abnormal genital development in their newborn sons. Dr. Swan will discuss implications of her research and ways to limit exposure. A $10 donation is suggested.
Website: http://www.rachelsfriends.org/events.html
April 18, 2007
3:00 p.m.
Berkeley, California
at the Dean's Conference Room, 401 University Hall in the 417 Suite, corner of University and Oxford
Stefan Scheuer is the former Policy Director of the European Environment Bureau, the umbrella association of the EU's environmental nongovernmental organizations. He has been a leader in the EU in environmental policy for the past decade. He played a key role in the development and implementation of the landmark Water Framework Directive (adopted by EU legislators in 2000) and the reform of Europe's chemicals policy, the REACH regulation (adopted in 2006). Please RSVP to the address below.
Contact: John Minardi, scheuer_event@berkeley.edu
May 10 - 11, 2007
Atlanta, Georgia
at the Morehouse School of Medicine
The theme of this second national conference of the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative is "Priming for Prevention: An Ecological Approach to Research, Education and Policy." Dr. David Satcher, former Surgeon General is our invited keynote speaker, and many other leading researchers, health professionals and advocates will be presenting their cutting-edge work on environmental factors and neurological development. Visit the website below for an updated agenda, a full list of presenters and registration information. Early Bird Registration ends March 31st.
Website: http://www.iceh.org/LDDImeetings.html
Contact: Elise Miller, emiller@iceh.org
Washington Toxics Coalition (WTC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting public health and the environment in Washington State. WTC is seeking a talented, hard-working director of finance and administration. This is a full-time position whose primary responsibility is to oversee the financial, human resource and systems management of the organization. The director of finance and administration reports to the executive director. For a full job description and information about salary/benefits and the application process, please visit http://www.watoxics.org/about/job-announcement-admin.
by Jeremy Laurance, London Independent
March 27, 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2396022.ece
Today's adolescents are the first generation to have grown up less healthy than their parents, doctors said yesterday. Alcohol, tobacco, drugs, obesity and sexually transmitted diseases have replaced childhood infections of the past, such as tuberculosis and polio, and are exacting a greater toll. The difference is that the modern threats to teenagers' health are preventable.
Article Summary: Adolescence is the time when teenagers start smoking, drinking and having sex -- behavior which could have a huge impact on their long-term health, according to a series of papers on adolescent health published by The Lancet. In Britain between 1970 and 2000, obesity in adolescents has increased fourfold; sexually transmitted diseases have increased threefold; teenage pregnancy rates in Britain have fallen recently but are still the highest in Europe; drinking has increased; smoking rates are unchanged since 1982; and suicide is slightly up in the 30-year period despite a recent decrease. Professor Andre Tylee, of the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, said mental disorders were increasing, but that there was little guidance on how to engage young people in treatment. The journal said the opportunity to intervene was being missed. As a group, adolescents have been absent from the public health challenge.
by Kim Painter, USA TODAY
March 26, 2007
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/painter/2007-03-25-lead-poisoning_N.htm
Lead exposure is not atop the worry lists of many parents these days. It doesn't get the press that bad diets or toxic TV shows do. And it isn't as widespread a problem as it was a generation ago. But lead poisoning remains an important cause of learning and behavioral problems for some of our country's most vulnerable children. And a growing body of research suggests the harm may be greater and may accumulate for more years than previously realized.
Article Summary: Many of those at risk are poor, urban kids who live in crumbling, old buildings full of lead-based paint (banned in 1978) or who play in yards heavily contaminated with lead paint dust or emissions from leaded gasoline (phased out in the early 1990s). But with 25% of U.S. homes still containing deteriorating lead paint, according to the National Safety Council, the risk by no means stops at the poverty line. Children of any age with elevated blood lead levels -- not just those with high levels as toddlers and preschoolers -- suffer the consequences. The resulting brain damage is permanent. Scientists have long known that lead exposure lowers intelligence and that a lower IQ is linked with behavioral problems. Lead makes a direct contribution to behavior problems such as aggression, inattention and impulsivity in school-age children. The best solution is to replace or clean up dangerous homes and remove other lead hazards, experts agree.
from CBC News
March 26, 2007
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/03/26/new-car-smell.html
A new report from a U.S. environmental group suggests the "new car smell" long beloved by the purchasers of vehicles could be a sign of harmful chemicals inside the car. Much of the smell comes from plastics and materials used inside the car, from the steering wheel to the dashboard to the carpets -- parts often made with chemicals including flame retardants, plasticizers and other chemicals that can give off gas or leach into the environment. The Ecology Center, a Michigan-based environmental group, tested components in the interiors of 200 new-model cars for toxic chemicals including bromine, chlorine, lead and other heavy metals. The chemicals "can be harmful when inhaled or ingested and may lead to severe health impacts such as birth defects, learning disabilities and cancer," the report notes.
Article Summary: The Ecology Center's ratings do not offer an absolute measure of health risk or chemical exposure, the study notes. However, its investigation found some toxic chemicals at levels five to ten times higher in new cars than would be found in an average office or home. The Ecology Center hopes this study will push car manufacturers to use safer products in the future, noting that toxic chemicals are not required to make interior auto parts, and some manufacturers have begun to phase them out.
by Daniel Girard, Toronto Star
Mar 26, 2007
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/195982
Young children prone to ear infections and allergies appear at a higher risk of developing reading troubles in their elementary school years, according to groundbreaking research. Left unchecked, that can lead to learning disabilities, which typically result in disadvantages throughout life, from poorer overall physical and mental health, an increased likelihood of living with parents longer as adults, and lower incomes than other Canadians.
Article Summary: The study found that problems early in childhood compound as a person ages, affecting school, work and relationships and leading to depression and chronic illness. The study authors call for a broader societal approach to dealing with learning disabilities, including mandatory early screening for children aged 4 to 8; publicly funded support through provincial health insurance plans; more awareness and training among medical, mental health and educational professionals; and raising awareness of employers to offering accommodations to their workers. Co-author Alexander said: "We have to get away from thinking of this as an education problem. We need to make a systemic change and look at this across a person's lifespan and involve more agencies in their care and support." The study is available online at http://www.pacfold.ca.
Study findings:
by Karen Ravn, Los Angeles Times
March 26, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-liver26mar26,1,7503455.story
Article Summary: Until the 1990s, no one knew that fatty livers were a problem in children, and now, doctors say, the situation has become serious. The data show that fatty livers in children are highly correlated with weight. About 80% of kids with the condition are obese or overweight. Nearly 40% of obese children have fatty livers. Doctors fear it may cause serious problems for these children as adults. In a study published in the October 2006 issue of the journal Hepatology, researchers in Sweden followed up on adult patients an average of 14 years after they were diagnosed with fatty livers and found that most of them had diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance. Many had end-stage liver disease. Usually, no symptoms show up until liver damage has been done, damage that may ultimately lead to cirrhosis of the liver, liver cancer and end-stage liver disease. To date, biopsies are the only effective diagnostic test for fatty livers. Diet and exercise are the only effective treatments. And it's a mystery why the condition can be harmless for many, yet dangerous for others. Besides weight, the disease is related to age, ethnicity and gender. It's more prevalent in adolescents than in younger children, most prevalent in Latinos (12%) and least in blacks (less than 2%) and more prevalent in boys than girls.
by Steve Orr, Rochester [New York] Democrat and Chronicle
March 25, 2007
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070325/NEWS01/703250315/1003
One of the latest public health concerns involves a new problem at old locations: toxic vapors that could rise from long-known dump sites. In recent years, environmental and health officials in New York and around the nation have come to the conclusion that volatile chemicals pooled far below ground have the capacity to rise in vapor and accumulate in the basements of homes and other buildings. This has triggered fresh concern about thousands of old hazardous wastes nationwide. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has singled out 421 older waste sites for special attention.
Article Summary: The sudden flurry of vapor testing has been triggered by environmental health officials' realization that their prior thinking about underground contamination was wrong. Like most environmental experts, they believed that chemicals in the water and soil far below the surface could never migrate upward in large enough quantities to pose a threat. Studies later verified that small amounts of volatile chemicals can evaporate into tiny air pockets and rise through the soil from dozens of feet deep, sometimes collecting in basements and other enclosed areas. Concentrations of the chemicals in basement air usually is quite low -- in the parts per billion range. But because scientists say long-term exposure to low levels of some solvents could be harmful to health, intervention to eliminate vapors is the common response. Many sites that will be examined for vapor intrusion are contaminated with the toxic industrial solvent trichloroethene, or TCE, which is a probable human carcinogen. TCE can cause central nervous system, immune system and other problems in people exposed to high enough levels. TCE is in the class of volatile chemicals, meaning they vaporize easily and can waft upward through the soil. In a report issued in February 2006, the New York Assembly's Environmental Conservation Committee recommended that sites with the potential for vapor intrusion be aggressively cleaned up, that indoor air testing be conducted in any potentially affected building whose occupants requested it, and that ventilation systems be installed in any structure where TCE or other vapors were found.
by Bob Shaw, St. Paul Pioneer Press
March 24, 2007
http://www.twincities.com/ci_5512189
The courtroom battles start Tuesday in what could be one of the biggest environmental damage trials in Minnesota history. On one side, 3M Co. will admit that its chemicals have seeped into the drinking water of thousands of homes -- but will argue that the trace amounts found never have hurt anyone, anywhere. The legal strategy: Show me the damage. On the other side are six Washington County residents who might represent a far larger group. They are suing 3M, arguing the company tainted their water, injured them physically and emotionally, and hurt their property values. Their strategy: Show me the safety.
Article Summary: In a similar case in 2004, DuPont paid $300 million to settle a class-action lawsuit after residents of Ohio and West Virginia found trace amounts of the same chemicals -- PFCs, or perfluorochemicals-- in their water. PFCs had been used since the 1940s to make products, including Teflon and Scotchgard stain repellant. PFCs are found around the world. Almost indestructible in nature, the molecules have turned up in fish, birds and mammals. Many tests on rats and monkeys show that mega-doses of PFCs cause birth defects, cancer, and liver and thyroid problems. They claim trace amounts of the PFCs could cause "sub-cellular damage" that takes years to lead to visible harm. 3M, however, seems confident about the lack of harm to humans. That's because PFCs have been examined by thousands of safety studies -- more than 1,500 of which were conducted by 3M alone. The conclusions: Huge doses may hurt animals, but small doses don't hurt people. 3M lawyers said, "Plaintiffs do not have any symptoms, plaintiffs are disease-free, and plaintiffs have not alleged a present, physical injury." For someone to be entitled to legal damages, there must be proof the contaminants did cause harm, not just might cause harm.
The DuPont award went to remove the chemicals from the water supply and to screen residents for health problems. The case did not establish that the chemicals were harmful. In 2004, residents of Oakdale and Lake Elmo learned two PFCs were in their drinking water -- PFOA, or perfluorooctanoic acid, and PFOS, or perfluorooctane sulfonate. 3M has already taken a number of voluntary steps. When PFOA and PFOS were discovered, it paid $6 million to filter the substances from Oakdale city water and to connect homeowners who had been using private wells to Lake Elmo city water lines.
by Jonathan Brown, London Independent
March 24, 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2387861.ece
Article Summary: According to new research, watching a lot of television and playing computer games does not automatically make your child a couch potato. An analysis of the activity diaries of 1,500 12 to 16-year-olds by Loughborough University found the time that youths spent in front of the box or on the net was a poor indicator of their overall levels of activity. There was also little evidence to suggest a major link between screen-based entertainment and obesity, says Professor Stuart Biddle, who led the study. However, he added that it was important to consider when your child was watching. Viewing between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. posed little threat to their health because this was when they would normally be relaxing, he said. But parents should be aware of the time between 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., when children exercised most. The research by Loughborough's School of Sport and Exercise Science, which didn't look at diet, found that one of the biggest causes of young people's sedentary lifestyles was the growth in the amount of time spent in the car. This had been accompanied by a dramatic decline in walking or cycling to school.
by Clara Pirani, Sydney Australian
March 24, 2007
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21433968-23289,00.html
EATING food high in fat and sugar significantly increases a woman's risk of developing a range of cancers. Researchers claim the results of two large studies, released this week, suggest the incidence of cancer is almost certainly influenced by diet and lifestyle. A 13-year study of almost 65,000 people in Sweden found women with high blood sugar levels had higher rates of cancers of the pancreas, skin, womb and urinary tract -- although no link was found in men.
Article Summary: Women with the highest quartile blood sugar readings had a 26 per cent greater chance of developing cancer than those with readings in the bottom quartile. "However, the good news is that it is possible to reduce your blood sugar levels by eating a healthy balanced diet with lots of fruit and vegetables and maintaining a healthy weight," said Greg Martin, science and research manager for the World Cancer Research Fund.
by Tom Doggett and Lisa Lambert, Reuters, Washington Post
March 23, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301460.html
WASHINGTON -- U.S. lawmakers are objecting to plans to close field outposts and lay off staff at the independent office that keeps watch over the Environmental Protection Agency's enforcement of the country's anti-pollution rules. The acting head of the EPA's Office of the Inspector General ruffled feathers at the House Energy and Commerce Committee after he told his staff the threat of budget cuts from the White House may force up to 30 workers to leave as soon as next month through buyouts.
Article Summary: The OIG performs audits, evaluations and investigations of EPA and its contractors. With less staff, it could be more difficult for the OIG to make sure the EPA is enforcing anti-pollution rules and environmental regulations at oil refineries, power plants and other regulated facilities. Proposed $5.1 million cut in the office's budget for the 2008 spending year, which begins October 1, would force it to cut close to 10 percent of its staff. The OIG has recently criticized the Bush Administration's changes in clean air regulations for power plants and refineries, questioned the administration's strategy for reducing dangerous mercury emissions and found that the EPA needed to improve its reviews of Superfund sites.
Democratic Rep. John Dingell, the chairman of the House's energy and commerce panel, said the budget cut for the office proposed by the White House may not be approved by Congress and there is no need to start paring staff. "We are concerned that if Congress does not approve the requested OIG budget cuts, your buyout initiative could cause unnecessary loss of experienced personnel, work force disruption and waste of taxpayer dollars," Dingell and other members of his committee said this week in a joint letter to Roderick.
by Ken Ward Jr., Charleston [West Virginia] Gazette
March 23, 2007
http://wvgazette.com/section/News/2007032237
Toxic emissions into West Virginia's air, land and water increased by 3 percent in 2005, according to the latest yearly federal report. Chemical plants, steel mills and coal-fired power plants discharged 87.4 million pounds of toxic wastes directly into the environment in 2005. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported the numbers Thursday in its latest Toxics Release Inventory. The EPA downplayed the 3 percent nationwide increase in toxic releases between 2004 and 2005, saying "annual changes are not unusual."
Article Summary: The chemical emissions reported by companies in the inventory "generally reflect legal discharges of pollutants to the environment. Possible reasons for the increase include production increases, fluctuations in the content of raw materials used in particular industries or changes in releases at large facilities that impact the national data. Nationally and in the EPA Mid-Atlantic region, officials said that total toxic emissions have dropped over the last five years. EPA started the inventory and public reporting of toxic emissions in 1987. The figures released publicly always lag two years behind because companies report annual releases the following July, and the EPA then compiles the data into various reports. The TRI program has been widely credited with pushing chemical companies and other industries to greatly reduce toxic emissions. In January, the EPA finalized a rule to increase the detailed reporting threshold for TRI chemicals from 500 pounds to 2,000 pounds. The Government Accountability Office reported that the EPA had violated some of its own rulemaking guidelines when it wrote that rule and related proposals to further reduce the amount of data reported to the TRI program.
by Sasha Aslanian, Minnesota Public Radio
March 22, 2007
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/03/22/flameretardant/
Minnesota lawmakers are considering banning something you may have never heard of, but probably have in your home. It's a flame retardant commonly found in electronics and furniture. Supporters of the ban say the chemicals are toxic, and closely related to chemicals already banned in the European Union and California. Manufacturers say flame retardants save lives, and there aren't good substitutes.
Article Summary: Scientists are investigating the flame retardant's potential links to cancer, developmental problems in children's brains and interference with the immune system. The Institute on Agriculture and Trade Policy pushed for a ban on brominated flame retardants in Minnesota three years ago. At that time, California banned two brominated flame retardants. The main manufacturer, Great Lakes Chemicals, voluntarily ceased production. But the most common brominated flame retardant, known as "deca," is still widely used. Deca prevents things like TVs from catching on fire and stops fires from spreading. Flame retardant makers say their products save hundreds of lives a year. Steve Maki is vice president for technology at RTP, a company that makes the plastic that ends up in things like light switches and electrical connectors. According to Maki, RTP does work with alternatives to deca, but it doesn't find them as effective, especially in the plastic used to make switches, battery casings and things like washing machine dials. Maki said about 10 years ago, his company started tracking developments in Europe, where scientists first began raising concerns about brominated flame retardants. A Swedish researcher found the chemicals showing up in human breast milk. Since then, they've been investigated for a multitude of effects in animal studies, with a huge amount of data for their universal occurrence in the environment -- not only in sediment, sand and soil, but in wildlife and people. According to Linda Birnbaum of the Environmental Protection Agency, the flame retardants have three traits scientists worry about -- they are persistent, they accumulate in living creatures and they are toxic. Birnbaum said North Americans have levels of flame retardants in their bodies approximately 10 times higher than Europeans or Japanese, and they are doubling every two to five years. Those levels include flame retardants that have been phased out but are still circulating in the environment. But it's not clear what that means. EPA official policy says there is insufficient information currently available to determine that deca presents an unreasonable risk to human health or the environment. John Kyte, the North American policy director for the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum, an industry group, said given the EPA's attention, there's no reason for states like Minnesota to ban the chemicals.
by Kristin Roberts, Reuters
March 22, 2007
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N22218655.htm
WASHINGTON -- Chlorine bombs in Iraq have raised concern that lax security at U.S. chemical plants could make the country, and particularly New York City, vulnerable to similar attacks. Policymakers and law enforcement officials said poor security at the plants could lead to the theft of ingredients needed to build a bomb like the ones detonated in Iraq.
Article Summary: Stephen Flynn, former U.S. Coast Guard officer and now analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Congress this week he expects Islamic militants to try to strike the United States again within five years using lessons learned in Iraq. Chemical plants, he said, were likely a top target. A senior official in the New York Police Department's counter-terrorism bureau said detectives were analyzing the chlorine bomb attacks in Iraq. Insurgents in Iraq have increased their use of chemical bombs, detonating six chlorine bombs since January, U.S. Maj. Gen. Michael Barbero said. Chlorine gas car bomb attacks in the past week killed at least two and sickened hundreds. New Jersey Democratic Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez say the Bush administration is trying to prevent states from enforcing tougher regulations on the industry. A rule proposed by the U.S. Homeland Security Department, for example, could preempt state chemical regulation laws even if state laws are more stringent. "The federal government must work with the states to secure the country from a chemical disaster, not against them," Lautenberg said.
by Gardiner Harris, New York Times
March 22, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/22/washington/22fda.html
WASHINGTON -- Expert advisers to the government who receive money from a drug or device maker would be barred for the first time from voting on whether to approve that company's products under new rules announced Wednesday for the F.D.A.'s powerful advisory committees. Indeed, such doctors who receive more than $50,000 from a company or a competitor whose product is being discussed would no longer be allowed to serve on the committees, though those who receive less than that amount in the prior year can join a committee and participate in its discussions.
Article Summary: Advisory boards recommend drugs for approval and, in rare cases, removal, and their votes can have enormous influence on drug company fortunes. The changes are intended to respond to a growing chorus of critics who contend that drug and device makers have hijacked the Food and Drug Administration's approval process by paying those who serve on the agency's advisory panels. In one famous example, 10 of the 32 advisers who voted in 2005 to allow the painkiller Bextra to remain on the market and the painkiller Vioxx to return to the market despite safety worries had taken money from the drug makers. Under the new rules, their votes would not have counted and the committee would have voted to keep both drugs off the market. Drug makers routinely hire doctors as consultants for marketing and research. Although the new rules would most likely lead some of the agency's present advisers to drop off their committees, many advisers are likely to welcome the greater clarity that the new rules bring. Under the old system, committee members rarely knew what kind of conflicts would lead to problems.
by Jamie Talan, Newsday
March 21, 2007
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hssmok0322,0,2349976.story?coll=ny-leadhealthnews-headlines
Teenagers exposed to cigarette smoke in the womb are at risk for attention problems, and the deficits worsen if the teens themselves smoke, according to a new study. Doctors at Yale University School of Medicine, in a study published Thursday in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, suggest that tobacco plays a critical role in the developing brain, whether it's in a fetus or in a teenager whose brain is still a work in progress.
Article Summary: Dr. Leslie Jacobsen, an associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics, and her colleagues devised a study to test two forms of attention -- visual and auditory -- and found differences between those with and without exposure to nicotine. They found that the more exposure -- during fetal development or adolescence -- the more compromised their attention circuits were, according to Jacobsen. Outcomes showed different patterns in girls than in boys. Nicotine targets nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the brain, and during fetal development they are involved with all stages of brain development.
by Susan Moran, International Herald Tribune
March 21, 2007
http://iht.com/articles/2007/03/21/business/green6a.php
Article Summary: A growing number of chemists are developing bio-based plastics that can supplant those made from oil. Bioplastics can offer several benefits: reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the production process, minimizing toxic waste and promoting rural economic development by using local crops. They can also be biodegradable. While disposable cutlery, food packaging and even fabrics made from corn have been on the market for several years, companies are now moving toward applications where performance, heat resistance and durability are more important. These applications typically require that biopolymers be reinforced with kenaf fiber -- similar to jute -- or other fillers. However, even some scientists who are creating bioplastics caution against overstating their benefits. John Warner, director of the Center for Green Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, said it was unlikely they would offer advantages in every application.
by Tom Meersman, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
March 21, 2007
http://www.startribune.com/587/story/1071203.html
With three bills introduced to tighten the regulation of atrazine, legislators on Wednesday heard opposing views on the safety of the popular farm herbicide. Tyrone Hayes, a University of California biologist and endocrinologist, told a House panel that exposure to extremely low levels of atrazine has caused laboratory frogs to become "chemically castrated." He also said that the chemical has also been linked to a variety of developmental problems and cancers in other animal studies, sometimes in successive generations. Legislators heard a different message from the makers of atrazine, Syngenta Crop Protection Inc.
Article Summary: Syngenta's director of human safety, Timothy Pastoor, said "It has been used safely for more than 47 years." Atrazine is widely used as a weed killer in Minnesota, especially by corn farmers, and about 1.8 million pounds of it was sold in 2005, according to state agriculture officials. Representative Ken Tschumper, who is also a dairy farmer, said that there are safer alternatives to atrazine and that farmers deserve the best and most current information about chemicals that might pose hazards to their health. "Farmers are on the front lines of exposure," he said. Minnesota legislators including Tschumper are spearheading bills that would require greater state scrutiny of atrazine and other pesticides. One proposal would require the Minnesota Department of Health to review the latest scientific evidence for all pesticides registered in the state to determine whether any of them should be restricted or banned if public health risks are too high. Another would require health and pollution control officials to lower the maximum allowable concentration level for atrazine in drinking water to be "at least as stringent" as the federal standard of 3 parts per billion. Minnesota's standard is 20 parts per billion.
by Rhitu Chatterjee, Environmental Science & Technology
March 21, 2007
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2007/mar/science/rc_pesticides.html
Thomas McKone and his co-workers set out to answer a simple question: can the levels of pesticides in pregnant women in the Salinas Valley (Calif.) be correlated with the amounts of these chemicals used in surrounding farmlands? A simple statistical model suggested no direct correlation, but McKone and his colleagues at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley, didn't stop there. The team combined multiple fate and exposure models with biomonitoring data.
Article Summary: By using these models with hard data, the researchers could track how pesticides travel from the fields through different channels into the human body. The results, published today, show that the study population has a significantly higher intake of organophosphorus (OP) pesticides than the average woman in the same age group. The difference is attributed to exposure through air, water, and soil, but not from food. When McKone and colleagues combined the results from the models with biomonitoring data, they found that the Salinas Valley population was receiving similar levels of the pesticides from their diet as women elsewhere in the U.S. The real culprit behind the higher levels of OP pesticide in this population was exposure through air, water and soil. The study is also very informative in terms of understanding the fate of pesticides, says Don MacKay of the Canadian Environmental Modeling Center at Trent University.
by Diane Solomon, San Jose [California] Metro
March 21, 2007
http://www.metroactive.com/metro/03.21.07/e-waste-0712.html
Article Summary: High technology has a reputation as an eco-friendly industry, but the reality includes electronics waste and the mountains of toxic trash that industry foists on developing nations. High-tech companies do more than just sweep E-waste under the rug; they're sending it across the world in violation of international laws enacted to protect poor nations from the excesses of the world's wealthiest. Under the terms of the Basel Convention, enacted in 1994, E-waste was designated as hazardous waste because its ingredients are toxic. The U.S. is the only major country that's refused to sign it.
With a business model that's based on selling the latest technology, most high-tech products are obsolete within two years. Ted Smith, the founder of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) and coordinator of the International Campaign for Responsible Technology, says when we rush out to buy the latest thing we're unaware that prices are lower because the Third World women who make them are paid peanuts and they work in factories as dangerous as 19th-century textile mills. Most of us are likewise clueless that these products contain hazardous and nonrecyclable materials. Smith says manufacturing E-stuff involves a witch's brew of chemicals. Many are known or suspected carcinogens or reproductive toxins that contaminate groundwater and air. The workers who make these products and residents near production facilities suffer from high rates of cancer, tumors, miscarriages, birth defects and other diseases.
Even when we think we're recycling them, we're generating Mt. Everest-size piles of toxic waste that are exported overseas. Rick Hind of Greenpeace's Toxics Campaign says most high-tech trash ends up in China, Latin America, Africa, India and anywhere else you can find cheap labor without worker safety, child labor or environmental protection laws. Adults generally make less than $2 a day, and children earn much less hammering metal out of components or sorting wire and plastic. Few wear safety glasses, gloves or masks. Poisonous compounds infiltrate their air, water, soil and food. These poisons cause birth defects, infant mortality, cancer and respiratory problems because electronic products are made with toxic ingredients like PVC, mercury, lead and cadmium. water samples in China in 2002 that revealed lead levels 2,400 times higher than the World Health Organization's limits for drinking water. Piles of plastic waste accumulate until they are finally burned, releasing dioxins and furans. Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, along with BAN, Greenpeace, the Computer TakeBack Campaign coalition and many other environmental groups, is proposing front-end solutions. It has asked corporations to take back their products and recycle them responsibly, eliminate their products' toxic ingredients and design them for recyclability and reuse. European Union directives require electronics manufacturers to take back their products free, and they have target dates for the elimination of products' most hazardous ingredients like lead, cadmium, mercury and certain brominated flame retardants. The directives cover lots of products from cell phones and computers to refrigerators and E-toys.
by Ben Raines, Mobile Press-Register
March 21, 2007
http://www.al.com/news/press-register/index.ssf?/base/news/1174479684262780.xml&coll=3
State environmental laws allow much higher levels of about 60 cancer-causing pollutants in Alabama's streams and rivers than governments in Mississippi, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas allow in their waters, according to a coalition of environmental groups challenging Alabama's standards. Bringing Alabama's water quality laws in line with those surrounding states -- which modeled their regulations on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommendations designed to reduce cancer risks -- would result in a 90 percent reduction in the maximum level for dozens of chemicals such as benzene, arsenic, DDT, dioxin and pentachlorophenol allowed in state waters, said the environmental groups. The Alabama Rivers Alliance and other environmental groups submitted three petitions Tuesday to the Environmental Management Council, which oversees the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. The petitions ask the state to adopt the EPA's more protective recommendations, already in use in all the Southeastern states except Alabama and Tennessee.
Article Summary: The groups ask state officials to revise the "cancer risk level" that ADEM uses in the formulas that calculate how much pollution industries are allowed to dump into Alabama's rivers. Because Alabama's water quality regulations are dependent on those formulas, setting a more protective cancer risk level will automatically bring Alabama's water pollution laws more in line with neighboring states and will result in fewer cancers in humans, as well as making fish safer to eat, according to the petitioners. The groups also ask the state to reduce the permitted levels of another 14 toxic pollutants in water, including cyanide and toluene, because people are already exposed to those pollutants from the air and in food they eat, in addition to exposure from water, a phenomenon described as the "relative source contribution." Finally, the groups call for Alabama to adopt the EPA's latest "reference dose" for acrolein and phenol.
by Paige Austin, Riverside [California] Press-Enterprise
March 20, 2007
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_C_wyle21.4208c12.html
Article Summary: The Corona-Norco Unified School District will move forward with plans to test two schools for vinyl chloride, a cancer-causing vapor inside classrooms, school board members said Tuesday. Vinyl chloride can be emitted from vinyl carpets, tiles and wall coverings which are commonly used in schools. Vinyl-chloride gas was found at Norco High School as part of an investigation of an underground plume of pollution. It is unclear whether the plume is the source of the gas or whether it may be coming from building materials. Looming over the upcoming test results is an unsettling question for parents and district officials: What level of cancer-causing gas is acceptable in a classroom? If the building materials prove to be the culprit, it's a question that school districts everywhere may have to address because there are no state or federal guidelines or agencies that regulate levels in indoor air, said William Bosan, the state toxicologist overseeing the Wyle Labs investigation. Bosan said that the levels found so far at Norco High School do not pose a significant risk. There is an elevated cancer risk for three people in 1 million, not considered a significant threat to students or to teachers who work in the contaminated buildings for decades.
