Use of Polycarbonate Bottles and Urinary Bisphenol A Concentrations

Source: Environmental health perspectives, May 09
"A new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers found that participants who drank for a week from polycarbonate bottles, the popular, hard-plastic drinking bottles and baby bottles, showed a two-thirds increase in their urine of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA). Exposure to BPA, used in the manufacture of polycarbonate and other plastics, has been shown to interfere with reproductive development in animals and has been linked with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in humans."

Exposure as part of a systems approach for assessing risk

Source: Environmental Health Perspectives, April 2009
"Exposure science, when applied in an integrated systems approach for risk assessment, can be used to inform and prioritize toxicity testing, describe risks, and verify the outcomes of testing. Exposure research in several areas will be needed to achieve the NRC vision. For example, models are needed to screen chemicals based on exposure. Exposure, dose-response, and biological pathway models must be developed and seamlessly linked. Advanced computational approaches are required for dose reconstruction. Monitoring methods are needed that easily measure exposure, internal dose, susceptibility, and biological outcome. Finally, population monitoring studies are needed to interpret toxicity test results in terms of real-world risk."

National Pollutant Inventory (NPI) 2007-08 reports and maps

Source: Dept. of the Environment, Water, Heritage & the Arts
"The National Pollutant Inventory (NPI) provides the community, industry and government with free information about substance emissions in Australia. The NPI shows emission estimates for 93 toxic substances and the source and location of these emissions. Reports and maps for the whole country and individual states and territories are provided (2007-08 facility data as at 31 March 2009)"

Enzyme product removes pesticides from water

Source: CSIRO
"CSIRO has developed an enzyme-based product that can rapidly degrade pesticide residues. This bioremediation solution reduced organophosphate levels in cotton irrigation wastewater by 90 per cent within 10 minutes and in used sheep dip by 99 per cent within 30 minutes."

Exposure to traffic pollution and increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis

Source: Environmental Health Perspectives
"The observed association between exposure to traffic pollution and RA, suggests that pollution from traffic in adulthood may be a newly identified environmental risk factor for RA. This association study should be followed by further research into whether fine particles or chemicals are associated with RA risk and to discern if there are time windows of exposure that may be particularly important."

Environmental risk assessment guidance manual for industrial chemicals

Source: EPHC
"This manual outlines how the assessor should carry out an assessment of a new or existing industrial chemical according to best practice including what information, methods and tools to use in assessing chemicals. It is noted, however, that this information is provided as guidance rather than prescriptive methodology as each
assessment needs to be tailored to fit the particular chemical being assessed."

Environmental risk assessment guidance manual for agricultural and veterinary chemicals

Source: EPHC
"This manual covers agricultural and veterinary (agvet) chemicals and is written based on current methodology in Australia and international best practice.
Its purpose is twofold. The first is to provide risk assessors with guidance on the environmental risk assessment of agvet chemicals. Secondly, it may provide other stakeholders with an illustration of the general process and considerations that risk assessors employ when assessing the potential risks that chemicals may pose to the environment. For a less technical illustration of the key areas that risk assessors consider, a separate overview document is available. The manual establishes a starting point for best practice assessment. It is intended that
improved assessment tools and methods will be incorporated into the manual as they become available."

Toxic substances in articles: the need for information

source: Nordiska Ministerradet
"The use of toxic chemicals in articles is a growing concern for public health and the environment. International trade results in substances being transported among regions. From toys and household items to electronic equipment and automobiles, toxic substances in articles are an increasingly important factor contributing to the global burden of toxic substances. Toxic substances in articles may pose threats at every stage of the product life cycle - production, use, and disposal or recycling. In this report, we consider a factor that is critical for the sound management of substances in articles: the availability of information. At present, there is no global system for provision of information about substances in a wide range of articles."

Compact fluorescent light bulbs: do energy savings outweigh mercury hazard?

Source: US EPA
"With the issue of climate change on everyone’s mind these days, people are looking for ways to cut down on energy use. Many people are turning to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), which use 75 percent less energy and last up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs; but there is also a concern because CFLs contain a small amount of mercury."

Switch on the night: policies for smarter lighting

Source: Environmental health perspectives, vol.117 (1) Jan 2009
"Artificial light has benefited society by, for instance, extending the length of the productive day, offering more time not just for working but also for recreational activities that require light. But when artificial outdoor lighting becomes inefficient, annoying, and unnecessary, it is known as light pollution. Many environmentalists, naturalists, and medical researchers consider light pollution to be one of the fastest growing and most pervasive forms of environmental pollution. And a growing body of scientific research suggests that light pollution can have lasting adverse effects on both human and wildlife health."

Queensland urban drainage manual, vol.1 (revised)

source: Dept. of Natural Resources and Water
"The second edition of the Queensland Urban Drainage Manual has a primary focus of detailing the hydrology and hydraulics of drainage systems to assist town planners and developers to implement standardised stormwater systems in urban areas."

The politics of sand: what constitutes sustainability?

Source: The economist
"IT’S official: extracting oil from Canada’s vast deposits of bitumenous sand is unsustainable. So, at any rate, Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) implicitly concluded when it ruled that Royal Dutch Shell was misleading the public by describing its tar-sands operation as “sustainable”."

Carbon pollution reduction scheme: green paper

Source: Dept. of Climate Change
"Fundamental to the Government’s climate change strategy is a Carbon Pollution reduction Scheme. It is the best way to reduce carbon pollution while minimising the impact on business and households. The Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme will, for the first time, place a limit, or cap, on the amount of carbon pollution industry can emit. It will require affected businesses and industry to buy a ‘pollution permit’ for each tonne of carbon they contribute to the atmosphere, giving them a strong incentive to reduce pollution."

Shifting baselines, local impacts, and global change on coral reefs

Knowlton N, Jackson JBC
"The striking health of remote coral reefs provides clear evidence that protection from local overfishing and pollution can help mitigate the impacts of global warming.", in PLoS Biology, Vol.6,no.2 (2008)

Draft NTP brief on Bisphenol A

Source: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (U.S.)
"Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical produced in large quantities for use primarily in the production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. Polycarbonate plastics have many applications including use in certain food and drink packaging, e.g., water and infant bottles, compact discs, impact-resistant safety equipment, and medical devices. The NTP Brief on Bisphenol A is intended to be an environmental health resource for the public and regulatory and health agencies. It is not a quantitative risk assessment nor is it intended to supersede risk assessments conducted by regulatory agencies. The NTP Brief on Bisphenol A does not present a comprehensive review of the health-related literature or controversies related to this chemical. Only key issues and study findings considered most relevant for developing the NTP conclusions on concerns for potential reproductive and developmental human health effects of bisphenol A are discussed."