In the United States, the chemical industry has joined environmental advocacy groups in calling for modernization of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA). Although no consensus exists on the substance of reform, there is broad interest in learning more about the European Union's experience with Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), a major reform of EU chemicals law that was adopted in 2006. 

In this report, we assume, as a thought experiment, that U.S. legislators are considering whether to replicate some (or all) aspects of REACH in the United States. It is far too early to know whether REACH has produced measurable improvements in public health or the environment or even what the total costs of REACH implementation will be. 

It is nonetheless feasible to assess the workability of the REACH system and brainstorm potential applications to the USA. Given what Europe has learned from the REACH experience, we suggest some refinements or modifications to REACH that are worthy of consideration by U.S. policymakers. The report is based primarily on interviews with stakeholders and government officials in the European Union.

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New research led by Tomás R. Guilarte, PhD, Leon Hess Professor and Chair of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and post-doctoral research scientist Kirstie H. Stansfield, PhD, used high-powered fluorescent microscopy and other advanced techniques to painstakingly chart the varied ways lead inflicts its damage. They focused on signaling pathways involved in the production of brain-derived neurotropic factor, or BDNF, a chemical critical to the creation of new synapses in the hippocampus, the brain's center for memory and learning.

The study appears online in the journal Toxicological Sciences.

Once BDNF is produced in the nucleus, explains Dr. Stansfield, it is transported as cargo in a railroad-car-like vesicle along a track called a microtubule toward sites of release in the axon and dendritic spines. Vesicle navigation is controlled in part through activation (phosphorylation) of the huntingtin protein, which as its name suggests, was first identified through research into Huntington's disease. By looking at huntingtin expression, the researchers found that lead exposure, even in small amounts, is likely to impede or reverse the train by altering phosphorylation at a specific amino acid.

The BDNF vesicle transport slowdown is just one of a variety of ways that lead impedes BDNF's function. The researchers also explored how lead curbs production of BDNF in the cell nucleus. One factor, they say, may be a protein called methyl CpG binding protein 2, or MeCP2, which has been linked with RETT syndrome and autism spectrum disorders and acts to "silence" BDNF gene transcription.

The paper provides the first comprehensive working model of the ways by which lead exposure impairs synapse development and function. "Lead attacks the most fundamental aspect of the brain-the synapse. But by better understanding the numerous and complex ways this happens we will be better able to develop therapies that ameliorate the damage," says Dr. Guilarte.

University of Oregon chemist James E. Hutchison described his lab's recent efforts to monitor the dynamics of nanoparticles in an invited talk today at the American Physical Society's March Meeting (Feb. 27-March 2). It turns out, Hutchison said, that simply reducing the amount of gold -- the material used in his research -- in the initial stages of the process used to grow nanoparticles allows for better maintenance of the particle size.

That accomplishment, he said, has important implications. The use of lower concentrations of the precursor that forms the nanoparticles virtually eliminates the ability of nanoparticles to aggregate together and thus prevents variations of sizes of the desired end product.

"What we saw while observing the production process with small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) was amazing," Hutchison, said in an interview before his lecture. "We realized that it is possible to reduce the concentration of gold and allow the particles to still grow, but shutdown the coalescent, or aggregation, pathway."

He also summarized his lab's use of chemically modified grids (Smart Grids) in transmission electron microscopy to study how nanoparticles are shed from common objects such as silverware and copper jewelry -- findings that were detailed in the journal ACS Nano in October. They studied the transformation of silver nanoparticles coated on Smart Grids as well as the common objects and found that all forms produce smaller silver nanoparticles that could disperse into the environment, especially in humid air, water and light -- and likely have been doing that throughout time without any known health ramifications.

"There may be many beneficial applications to nanotechnology, but they are only beneficial if the net benefits outweigh the deleterious implications for human health and the environment," said Hutchison, who holds the Lokey-Harrington Chair in Chemistry at the University of Oregon.

These new monitoring and measuring techniques, he said, are vital to help understand what modifications are possible in the processes that grow nanoparticles for a desired product. Using green chemistry, he added, can help assure both efficiency and stability of a product, which, in turn, will lower the risk of unwanted environmental or harmful human-health consequences.

Wild bees are important pollinators and numerous studies dealing with pollination of wild plants and crops underline their vital role in ecosystems functioning. While honey bees can be easily transported to various location when needed, wild bees' presence is dependent on the availability of high quality semi-natural habitats. Some crops, such as apples and cherries, and many wild flowers are more effectively pollinated by wild bees and other insects rather than managed honey bees.

Although heavy metal pollution is recognized to be a problem affecting large parts of the European Union, studies giving insights into their effect on wild bees are scarce. Researchers from Poland and the UK have conducted a study showing a decline in wild bee communities caused by heavy metal pollution. The experiment was carried out on a number of contaminated sites along gradients of heavy metal pollution from smelters in Poland and UK.

The results clearly show that the most polluted sites had no, or only single wild bees, in artificial nests, whereas in unpolluted sites, the same nests contained 4 to 5 different species of wild bees, with up to ten individuals. Moreover, the proportion of dead bees increased with the level of heavy metal pollution, rising 20% in uncontaminated sites to 50% in sites with a high contamination.  

These findings highlight the negative impact of heavy metal pollution on the population of wild bees. These results highlight the need for the careful restoration of polluted areas, ensuring that flowering vegetation does not expose wild pollinators to unnecessary risks from heavy metals.

The study was published in the Journal of Applied Ecology and was provided within the frame of the FP7 Project STEP - 'Status and Trends of European Pollinators'.