Greenlist Bulletin
From the Toxics Use Reduction Institute
at the University of Massachusetts Lowell
June 14, 2013
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This is the weekly bulletin of the TURI Library at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Greenlist Bulletin provide s previews of recent publications and websites relevant to reducing the use of toxic chemicals by industries, businesses, communities, individuals and government. You are welcome to send a message to mary@turi.org if you would like more information on any of the articles listed here, or if this email is not displaying properly.
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| Observations on the Toxic Substances Control Act and EPA Implementation | Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office, June 13, 2013
In 1976, Congress passed TSCA to give EPA the authority to obtain more health and safety information on chemicals and to regulate chemicals it determines pose unreasonable risks of injury to human health or the environment. GAO has reported that EPA has found many of TSCA's provisions difficult to implement. In 2009, EPA announced TSCA reform principles to inform ongoing efforts in Congress to strengthen the act. At that time, EPA also initiated a new approach for managing toxic chemicals using its existing TSCA authorities. This testimony summarizes GAO's past work describing: (1) challenges EPA has faced historically in regulating chemicals and (2) the extent to which EPA has made progress implementing its new approach, and challenges, if any, which persist. This statement is based on GAO reports issued between 1994 and 2013. Read more... |
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| 'Self-cleaning' pollution-control technology could do more harm than good, study suggests | Source: Indiana University, June 14, 2013
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Research by Indiana University environmental scientists shows that air-pollution-removal technology used in "self-cleaning" paints and building surfaces may actually cause more problems than they solve.
The study finds that titanium dioxide coatings, seen as promising for their role in breaking down airborne pollutants on contact, are likely in real-world conditions to convert abundant ammonia to nitrogen oxide, the key precursor of harmful ozone pollution.
Read more...
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| Urine Bisphenol-A Level in Relation to Obesity and Overweight in School-Age Children | Source: PLoS ONE, June 12, 2013
Authors: De-Kun Li, Maohua Miao, ZhiJun Zhou, Chunhua Wu, Huijing Shi, Xiaoqin Liu, Siqi Wang, Wei Yuan
Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a potential endocrine disruptor impacting metabolic processes and increasing the risk of obesity. To determine whether urine BPA level is associated with overweight/obesity in school-age children, we examined 1,326 students in grades 4-12 from three schools (one elementary, one middle, and one high school) in Shanghai. More than 98% of eligible students participated. Total urine BPA concentration was measured and anthropometric measures were taken by trained research staff. Information on risk factors for childhood obesity was collected for potential confounders. Age- and gender-specific weight greater than 90th percentile of the underlying population was the outcome measure. After adjustment for potential confounders, a higher urine BPA level (≥2 µg/L), at the level corresponding to the median urine BPA level in the U.S. population, was associated with more than two-fold increased risk of having weight >90th percentile among girls aged 9-12 (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 2.32, 95% confidence interval: 1.15-4.65). The association showed a dose-response relationship with increasing urine BPA level associated with further increased risk of overweight (p = 0.006 for trend test). Other anthropometric measures of obesity showed similar results. The same association was not observed among boys. This gender difference of BPA effect was consistent with findings from experimental studies and previous epidemiological studies. Our study suggests that BPA could be a potential new environmental obesogen. Widespread exposure to BPA in the human population may also be contributing to the worldwide obesity epidemic.
Read more...
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Guide To The New Mercury Treaty
| Source: IPEN Heavy Metals Working Group, April 2013
The final meeting on the new mercury treaty was held in Geneva in January 2013 and reached agreement on the text of the new treaty. The treaty will be adopted in October 2013 at a diplomatic conference in Japan. IPEN believes that, at minimum, a global treaty on mercury should incorporate provisions that, if taken together and fully implemented, will actually reduce total anthropogenic mercury emissions and releases to the global environment. Read [IPEN's] Guide to see [their] assessment about whether the new treaty accomplishes this.
Access guide here.Click here to read an article from the United Nations Environment Programme on the Global Mercury Agreement. |
| Vermont Governor Signs PaintCare® Bill | Source: American Coatings Association, June 11, 2013
Author: Alison Keane
On June 3, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed into law a bill that provides for the establishment of ACA's PaintCare® program. Vermont is now the sixth state, after Oregon, California, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Minnesota, to embrace the PaintCare program - the ACA- and industry-conceived platform for the proper and effective management of postconsumer paint. H.B. 262, An Act Relating to Establishing a Program for the Collection and Recycling of Paint, passed the Vermont House on April 9 and the Senate on May 13. PaintCare had the support of the state's Department of Environmental Conservation and several non-governmental organizations, including various paint producers and independent retailers. Implementation is slated for July 1, 2014.
ACA had actively pushed for passage of the PaintCare program in the state, testifying before the Vermont House Natural Resources and Energy Committee on Feb. 21. In its testimony, ACA noted that the association, along with its industry, is committed to finding a viable solution to the issue of post-consumer paint, which is often the number one product, by volume and cost, coming into Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) programs. ACA also pointed to the resounding success of its PaintCare pilot program in Oregon, as well as more than a decade of success of similar programs in Canada.
Read more...
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| Apparel and Footwear International RSL Management (AFIRM) Group Toolkit | Source: Apparel and Footwear International RSL Management (AFIRM) Group, October 31, 2011
Leading brands in the apparel and footwear industry that participate in the Apparel & Footwear International RSL Management Group (AFIRM) have completed and published the second edition of its RSL Supplier Implementation Toolkit. The 2011 Supplier Toolkit is a substantial improvement on the first version of the toolkit published in October 2008. Newly added content, requested by the supply chain, includes examples of restricted substance failures in apparel and footwear products with corrective actions taken to eliminate them. Also available for the first time is a chemical guidance document containing detailed technical information about restricted substances in the apparel and footwear production process. The revised toolkit is primarily focused on the elimination of restricted substances from finished products, but extensive information about chemical discharge into wastewater, air emissions, and solid waste is available in the chemical guidance document.
Read more...
Access 2011 AFIRM Supplier Toolkit here.
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| Please send a message to mary@turi.org if you would like more information on any of these resources. Also, please tell us what topics you are particularly interested in monitoring, and who else should see Greenlist. An online search of the TURI Library catalog can be done at http://library.turi.org for greater topic coverage.
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Greenlist Bulletin is compiled by:
Mary Butow
Research and Reference Specialist
Toxics Use Reduction Institute
University of Massachusetts Lowell
600 Suffolk St., Wannalancit Mills
Lowell MA 01854
978-934-4365
978-934-3050 (fax)
mary@turi.org
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