Dust storm provides clues to aerosol mixing

50 A � ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / FEBRUARY 1, 2002

Environmental�News

Rapidly rising PBDE levels in North America

© 2002 American Chemical Society

The most comprehensive assess-ment to date of polybrominat-ed diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in

the breast milk of North Americanwomen indicates that the body bur-den of Americans and Canadians isthe highest in the world, 40 timesgreater than the highest levels report-ed for women in Sweden. Some sci-entists are alarmed because NorthAmerican levels of PBDEs, whichare used as flame retardants inconsumer goods and have beenbanned by the European Union(EU), appear to be rising at anexponential rate.The levels of PBDEs in North

Americans appear to be doublingevery two to five years, says MehranAlaee, a research scientist withEnvironment Canada. As the prin-cipal investigator for the toxic sub-stance research grant being used toinvestigate PBDE exposure in NorthAmerica, Alaee is the author of apreviously unpublished graph thatpulls together all of the human milkdata amassed on the continent thus

far (see Figure 1). Alaee stressesthat this graph is based on prelimi-nary data. Still, he says, the dataindicate that “PBDEs will becomea problem” if nothing is done tolimit the release of the chemicalsinto the environment.“This is clear evidence for an

urgent need for a systematic study[to determine the] spatial distribu-tion and temporal trends of PBDEsin human breast milk in NorthAmerica,” Alaee adds. “This newdata from Canada strongly sup-ports the need for more informa-tion on the levels of PBDEs inbreast milk in the United States andCanada,” agrees Linda Birnbaum,director of the Human StudiesDivision of the U.S. EPA’s NationalHealth and Environmental EffectsResearch Laboratory.However, “due to the limited

number of samples and theirdiverse collection, the data [inAlaee’s graph] are only indicativeand not demonstrative of anytrend,” cautions Jake Ryan, a senior

research scientist at Health Canadawho collected some of the data pre-sented in the graph.The toxicology of PBDEs is cur-

rently under investigation, butresearch has established thatPBDEs can be persistent, bioaccu-mulative, and toxic (Environ. Sci.Technol. 22000011,, 35, 274A–275A). Theycan cause liver and neurodevelop-mental toxicity and affect thyroidhormone levels, Birnbaum says.Tests on mice conducted by PerEriksson of Sweden’s UppsalaUniversity show that PBDEs cancause neurotoxic effects similar topolychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).The new Canadian data are

important because they show thatPBDE levels are approaching thoseof PCBs, which have been proven tocause developmental problems inchildren, says Åke Bergman, chairof the environmental chemistrydepartment at Sweden’s StockholmUniversity and one of the world’sleading PBDE researchers.Scientists agree that some of the

In the mid-1990s, documentation of the rapidly rising levels of brominated flame retardants in the breast milk of Swedish womenled to sharply reduced usage, and eventually a ban, on many PBDE formulations. Now, preliminary North American data pointto much higher levels, which are increasing at an exponential rate.

150

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01975 1980 1985 1990

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CanadianMilk Bank

CanadianMilk Bank

Samples collected inNew York state

Samples collected inAustin and Denver

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g lip

id w

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Source: Canadian Milk Bank and New York state data: Ryan and Patry; Denver, Colo. and Austin, Tex. data: Päpke; Swedish data: Norén.

Accelerating PBDE concentrations in breast milk: North America versus Europe

FIGURE 1

Concentration (ng/g lipid weight)

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PBDEs in breast milk, Sweden

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Legislating effectively inthe European UnionIs European environmental legisla-tion effective? It’s hard to say, finds areport by the European EnvironmentAgency. For the bulk of EuropeanUnion (EU) measures, greater ef-forts are needed to show a causalrelationship between them andtheir effects on the environment.Moreover, much of the informationEU member states currently collectis not being reported in a way thatallows useful comparison to envi-ronmental impacts.

A goal of the EU’s SixthEnvironmental Action Program(Environ. Sci. Technol. 2001,35,139A) is to devise a reporting systemto glean more useful information,while lowering the reporting bur-den on governments. Reporting onEnvironmental Measures: Are WeBeing Effective? can be downloadedat http://reports.eea.eu.int/rem/en.

Swiss tax pushes“sulfur-free” fuelsSwitzerland is using financial in-centives to make very low sulfurfuels market-competitive by 2004,similar to programs already inplace in Denmark, Germany,Finland, Sweden, and the UnitedKingdom. The Swiss action putsthe country ahead of EuropeanUnion (EU) efforts to bring about amandatory switch.

With sulfur removalcost estimates hoveringaround a few cents perliter, the new Swiss lawcalls for an additionaltax of 3 to 5 cents perliter to be levied, beginning in 2004,on fuels containing more than 10parts per million (ppm) of sulfur.Fuels with a sulfur content of lessthan 10 ppm, which the Swiss con-sider sulfur-free, will be exemptfrom the tax. In the United States,the EPA will require refiners to pro-duce fuels with an annual average

GovernmenPBDE formulations used to protectconsumer products from sponta-neously igniting are more problem-atic than others (Environ. Sci.Technol. 22000000,, 34, 223A). The pentabrominated diphenyl ether (penta-BDE) formulation that is usedalmost exclusively in the UnitedStates is associated with the great-est number of health effects.According to Alaee, most of thePBDEs measured in the NorthAmerican samples are from thepenta-BDE formulation.Working in collaboration with

Benoit Patry of Health Canada,Ryan has been trying to amassmore data by collecting humanmilk samples from across Canada.However, Ryan says that theprocess is taking much longer thananticipated. Researchers hope thata workshop on breast-milk moni-toring for environmental chemicalsbeing held at Pennsylvania StateUniversity’s Hershey MedicalCenter later this month will expe-dite the development of a methodfor collecting human milk samples.The industrial producers of bromi-nated flame retardants are support-ing the workshop, says BobCampbell, director of corporateregulatory affairs for Great LakesChemical Corp.Some of the data on the graph

come from human “milk bank”samples that have been collected inCanada every 10 years (the next yearthat data are scheduled to be collect-ed is 2002). The graph also includespooled samples from New York state,Austin, Texas, and Denver, Colo.The levels of 200 nanograms of

PBDEs per gram of fat (ng/g) report-ed as the highest data point on thegraph are so high that Olaf Päpke,the German scientist who collectedthe milk from women in Austin andDenver, sent samples to colleaguesin Germany and Sweden to havethem analyzed independently.Before those confirmations cameback, Päpke “didn’t believe theresult,” recalls Bergman, who says hewas shocked when his lab verifiedthe samples’ PBDE concentrations.The North American data are

“consistent with the higher con -centrations of PBDEs measured in

other environmental media—air,fish, biosolids, etc.—in NorthAmerica versus Europe,” says TomHarner, a research scientist withEnvironment Canada. Birnbaumagrees that the high levels are “nota surprise”.As is the case with PCBs and

dioxins, the main way people takeup PBDEs is by consuming fattyanimal foods such as meat, fish,poultry, eggs, and dairy products,Ryan says. “However, there may beadditional food exposure routes forPBDEs, possibly in food processing,which are not found with dioxins orPCBs,” he notes.The California EPA also has been

collecting data on PBDEs, and thelevels the state agency is finding inadipose tissue of women, 85 ng/g,are on a par with the data Ryan,Patry, and Päpke have collected,says Tom McDonald, a staff toxi -cologist at the agency’s Office ofEnvironmental Health HazardAssessment.Environment Canada’s commer-

cial chemical branches are current-ly evaluating the PBDE data, andthe end result could be a recom-mendation to ban the chemicals,Alaee says. Based in part on the evi-dence that the levels of PBDEs weregrowing exponentially in Swedishwomen, the EU has voted to bantwo PBDE formulations, octa-BDEand penta-BDE, by July 1, 2003, anda third formulation, deca-BDE,could be banned by 2006 (Environ.Sci. Technol. 22000022,, 36, 11A).The graph showing that PBDEs

were increasing exponentially ascontaminants in Swedish breastmilk samples over the past 25 years(see inset to Figure 1) was instru-mental in getting EU lawmakers toagree to the ban, Bergman says. “Itwas one of the very last nails in thecoffin [of PBDEs in the EU],” herecalls.McDonald says the rapidly rising

levels of PBDEs in human tissuesillustrate the value of human milkmonitoring programs to identifyimportant emerging contaminants.He says that his colleagues atCalifornia EPA have been agitatingfor such a program for years, butthere is as yet no U.S. program for

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Last November, a broad-basedcoalition launched a campaign tolobby for better stewardship ofobsolete electronics goods in theUnited States. One of the cam-paign’s goals is to put the UnitedStates on the same trajectory fordealing with electronics recyclingas countries in Europe and Asia,according to its organizers.Electronics waste “is one of the

fastest growing and most toxicwaste streams,” says Ted Smith,director of the Silicon Valley ToxicsCoalition, one of the 16 organiza-tions in the coalition. The U.S.National Safety Council estimatesthat 315 million computers willhave become obsolete by 2004.Smith estimates that those com-puters contain a total of 4 billionpounds (lbs) of plastic, 1.5 billionlbs of cadmium, 1.2 billion lbs ofchromium, 1 billion lbs of lead, andunknown amounts of mercury andbrominated flame retardants. Only11% of those computers were recy-cled in 1998, according to the latestfigures available from the NationalSafety Council.Concern over the impacts of

how electronics products are han-dled at the end of their lives hasbeen growing in the United Statesover the past two years. Initiativesto ban computer monitors fromlandfills have now been passed bylocal governments in Massachusettsand California, says Gary Davis,director of the Center for CleanProducts & Clean Technologies atthe University of Tennessee inKnoxville, which is not affiliatedwith the new campaign. A total of19 electronics recycling bills werealso launched in 12 states this year,adds Jerry Powell, editor of E-ScrapNews, an industry publication. And

a number of other states have beeninvestigating the issue, says ScottCassel, director of the ProductStewardship Institute at theUniversity of Massachusetts– Lowell,which is also not affiliated with thenew campaign.

Smith’s coalition charges that theUnited States is behind theNetherlands, Taiwan, Switzerland,Norway, Germany, and Japan,where electronics recycling pro-grams that require what hasbecome known as product take-back through “extended producerresponsibility (EPR)” are alreadywell established. In fact, “electronicsrecycling is growing in popularity indeveloped nations worldwide,”Davis says. This year, the movementgained ground in Australia, Canada,the European Union (EU)—which ispursuing legislation in addition towhat some individual EU nationshave already passed—Italy, andKorea, as well as the United States,he says. International figures forhow many computers are recycledare not available, according toPeter Muscanelli, president ofthe International Association ofElectronics Recyclers, Inc., buthe says the number continuesto increase.

The new “Computer TakeBackCampaign” urges the United Statesto follow these existing programs’leads. The campaign calls for U.S.manufacturers and distributorsof electronic equipment to “takefinancial and/or physical responsi-bility for their products throughoutthe entire product life cycle.” It alsodemands “collection, disassembly,reuse and recycling of discardedcomputer equipment to the highestdegree practicable, and require-ments that recycling is done in asound manner.”The electronics industry is

lobbying hard against the EPRapproach, Smith says. TheElectronics Industries Alliance(EIA) advocates “shared responsi-bility” that does not place all ofthe financial burden for electron -ics recycling on industry, saysHeather Bowman, EIA’s managerof environmental affairs. Smithsays the U.S. government’s traderepresentative has challenged theEU’s take-back initiative becauseof industry lobbying.The National Electronics Product

Stewardship Initiative (NEPSI) thatbegan this year is trying to recon-cile the positions of U.S. manufac-turers with the stands taken byenvironmental groups and theneeds of state and local govern-ments and agencies, Davis says.The Product Stewardship Instituteis coordinating the participationof more than 20 states and about adozen local agencies in the NEPSIdialogue, and most parties are con-cerned about how electronics recy-cling projects are financed, Casselsays. NEPSI’s goal is to develop“long-term and viable end-of-lifesolutions” that can be implementednationwide, Davis says.At present, electronics scrap in

the United States is handled by a

U.S. electronics recycling stance challenged

regularly monitoring women’sbreast milk.Campbell, who is on the

Brominated Flame RetardantsIndustry Panel of the AmericanChemistry Council, an industryorganization, stresses that more

data will be needed to convince theindustry that any PBDE formula-tions must be removed from themarket. But he says that his compa-ny would “do the right thing” iffaced with sufficient evidence thatits products were causing harm.

In the meantime, Campbellstresses his belief that the highlevel of fire safety afforded byadding PBDEs to U.S. consumergoods outweighs the risk they poseto human health and the environ-ment. —KELLYN S. BETTS

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hodgepodge of local governments,waste handlers, some companies—notably Best Buy, Frye Electronics,IBM, and Hewlett-Packard—andconsumers. There are approximate-ly 400 U.S. electronics “processors”,at least one in every medium tolarge city, Powell says.The environmental performance

of these processors varies drastically,Powell says, noting that a recentlydiscovered abandoned electronicsprocessing site in Oregon containedbarrels of the acid used to extractprecious metals like gold, silver,platinum, and palladium from com-puting equipment. Cleaning up thesite is expected to cost the state$500,000, he says. “There are proba-bly people who claim to be recyclingwho actually put [the electronicsproducts] in a container and ship itaway,” Cassel adds.The ultimate disposition of obso-

lete electronics products is also aconcern of the Organization forEconomic Cooperation andDevelopment (OECD), which hasbeen developing recommendationsand guidelines for countriesembracing electronics recycling.When electronics products collectedfor recycling end up in developingcountries like China, they may notbe processed in the most environ-

mentally friendly ways, says Davis,who is working with the OECD.Burning is the easiest way to

harvest the precious metals hiddeninside electronic equipment, saysDan Millison, an environmentalconsultant familiar with hazardouswaste issues in the Pacific Basin.Millison says “it’s a pretty safe bet”that much of the electronic junkreprocessed in China goes up insmoke, sending toxic dioxins,dibenzofurans, and metals into theatmosphere.Figures for how much waste

actually ends up in places likeChina are hard to come by, expertsagree. But Powell estimates that atleast one-third of all U.S. scrappedelectronics are exported offshore.Smith points out that governmentstudies have shown that it costs 10times less to process scrapped elec-tronics materials in China than inthe United States because Chineselabor costs are so much lower andenvironmental regulations are notwell enforced.The Computer TakeBack

Campaign addresses such concernsby calling on the federal govern-ment to “ban exports of hazardousmaterials from discarded electronicwaste equipment.” —KELLYN S.BETTS

With a final rule revising the U.S.EPA’s total maximum daily load(TMDL) program expected in 2003,water quality experts are looking atmarket-based nutrient trading sys-tems as a way to improve waterquality at lower costs. A number ofobstacles, however, stand in theway of getting nutrient trading offthe ground. Under the TMDL program,

states set caps on the amount ofpollution that can enter a waterbody and then allocate thisamount among pollution sources.Under a trading scheme, sourceswith low-cost pollution reductionoptions have an incentive toreduce nutrient loadings beyond

what is required and in doing sogenerate pollution reduction “cred-its”. They can then sell any excesscredits earned but not needed tosources with higher control costs,says Suzie Greenhalgh of theWorldResources Institute (WRI), a non-profit environmental organization.

Nutrient trading advocated to improve water quality

sulfur content of 120 ppm as of2004, with a limit of 30 ppm by2006. For diesel, EPA will require asulfur content of 15 ppm by 2007.

Within Europe, the upper limitfor sulfur in fuels is currently 150ppm for gasoline and 350 ppm fordiesel. The EU mandates a 50-ppmlimit in 2005 for both fuels. However,an ongoing EU debate could force acomplete switch to much lower sul-fur content fuels, as low as 10 ppm,by 2008. The European Commissionproposed a 2005 deadline for some“sulfur-free” fuels to be available toconsumers and 2011 for a completeswitch, but the European Parliamentrejected these deadlines calling instead for a complete switch by2008.

If past experience is any indica-tion, the Swiss expect results fromthe new law similar to those ob-tained from an earlier rule levyinghigher taxes on sulfur-containingheating oils. Within weeks afterthat rule went into effect, only verylow sulfur-containing heating oilwas sold on the open market.

Canada cracks down onroad saltCanada is on its way to becomingthe first nation in the world to reg-ulate road salt as a hazardous sub-stance. The country was expectedto officially add road salt to its listof toxic substances in January.

Road salt is harmful to the envi-ronment and should be added toCanada’s list of toxic substances,Canada’s Environment MinisterDavid Anderson announced onNovember 30. The finding of harmto the environment triggers a two-year process to develop measures,possibly including regulations.

The 5 million metric tons of saltused to deice Canadian roadseach winter raises chloride con-centrations from a background av-erage of 50 mg per liter (mg/L) upto 13,500 mg/L in wetlands and4310 mg/L in small rivers, killing

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Bioconcentration factors for perfluo -rooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in fish ina contaminated stream have beenfound that range from 6300 to125,000, indicating that in additionto being extremely persistent, PFOSis a contaminant with significantpotential to bioaccumulate, scien-tist Cheryl Moody and colleaguesreport in the February 15 issue ofES&T (ASAP article ES011001+).The field-determined values, whichare based on analysis of PFOS con-centrations in fish livers and sur-face water, are much higher thanthe scientists’ laboratory-deter-mined bioconcentration factor of5400, she says.According to Moody, the dis-

crepancy may be attributed to thecreek fish having accumulatedother compounds capable of break-ing down to PFOS that were not

measured in the water samplesand therefore not accounted for.In addition to determining bio-

concentration factors, the scien-tists also identified, for the firsttime in environmental samples,long-chain (10-, 11-, and 14-car-bons in the backbone of the mole-cule) perfluorocarboxylates in fishlivers. The presence of these com-pounds has implications for thetoxicity of perfluorinated surfac-tants in the environment becauseperfluorinated carboxylic acids,particularly perfluorooctanoic acidand perfluorodecanoic acid, areknown peroxisome proliferators atrelatively low concentrations; suchcompounds elevate rates of cellproliferation and cause liver cancerin rodents.Perfluorinated surfactants have

emerged as priority environmental

contaminants recently as a resultof reports about their detection inhumans and wildlife, as well asconcerns about their persistenceand toxicity (Environ. Sci. Technol.2001, 35, 154A– 160A). The analysisperformed by Moody and co-work-ers at the University of Toronto andother Canadian institutions isbased on sampling water and fishin Etobicoke Creek, near Toronto inCanada. On June 8, 2000, an acci-dental spill of fire-fighting foamcontaining perfluorinated surfac-tants occurred at the Toronto air-port and dumped over 20,000 litersof fire-fighting foam into thestream.Beginning the day after the spill,

the researchers sampled water atthe creek for 153 days. They alsosampled small fish, first threeweeks then seven months after thespill, and used liquid chromatogra-phy/mass spectrometry/massspectrometry (LC/MS/MS) to ana-lyze the fish livers for perfluo-



Evidence that perfluorinated surfactantsbioaccumulate

Through a series of trades, pol-lution reduction efforts shift tothe sources with the lowest-costopportunities to reduce pollution.For example, engineers at a waste-water treatment plant might delayinstalling expensive treatmentequipment and instead buy creditsfrom a farmer upstream who hasjust planted a new buffer strip oftrees.Some of the biggest hurdles for

a nutrient trading program includeconsistency of credit estimations,trade transparency, and the highcosts involved with buyers and sellers actually finding each other,according to Greenhalgh. To getaround these difficulties, WRI hasdeveloped a marketplace on theWeb (www.nutrientnet.org). Theidea is that potential traders cango there, find their actual site orfacility, and work out an estimateof how many credits they might beeligible to sell or buy and at whatprice. For example, farmers caninput any best management prac-tices implemented, input financialinformation such as interest rates,

and work out how much of a par-ticular nutrient makes it from acertain field to a stream. Then, cur-rent practices can be overlain withvarious mitigation options such aschanging tillage practices. The Website then determines the reductionin nutrient loss and how much itwould cost to implement those mitigation options. Industrial pollution sources can

also use this exercise, inputtingnutrient removal levels at theirplants to calculate how much itwould cost to meet a stricter regu-lation. Once both “traders” havethis information, they can go to themarketplace and list what creditsthey want to buy or sell and atwhat price.“The Web site is very adaptable,

depending on the rules and regula-tions that the body governing theprogram puts in,” Greenhalgh says.The site also includes a registrythat tracks trades.Not only does trading provide

more opportunities to reduce thecost of meeting regulations for stationary sources, it’s also a way

to get the owners of unregulated,nonpoint sources involved, partic-ularly the agricultural sector, whichEPA now cites as the leading causeof water quality impairments.Trading gives unregulated pollu-tion sources a chance to earn addi-tional funds through the sale ofnutrient credits, Greenhalgh says.EPA supports trading programs toreduce compliance costs and isdevelop ing trading systems thatcan work in the context of dis-charge per mits and TMDLs, saysEPA’s Dave Batchelor.Several states have pilot projects

under way. Michigan, which isprobably the furthest along, isexpected to go statewide with anutrient trading program inFebruary, says Batchelor, whoworked for the state’s Departmentof Environmental Quality beforebeing summoned to EPA to helpcraft national guidelines. In theChesapeake Bay region, officialsare close to implementing a multi-state nitrogen-trading program,according to Greenhalgh. —KRISCHRISTEN


roalkanesulfonates and perfluo -rocarboxylates, compounds of concern that are known to be orthought to be present in the foam.

Water samples were analyzed byusing LC/MS/MS and 19F NMR(nuclear magnetic resonance).—REBECCA RENNER

Map of study region indicating location of Etobicoke Creek, fish and surface watersample sites, and Lake OntarioSource: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2001, 35 154A–160A.

Toronto

PearsonAirport

Site 1

Site 2Site 3

Site 4 Site 5

Site 6

N0 3 km

Lake OntarioFish sampling siteWater sampling siteFlow rate monitoring

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Low part-per-billion (ppb) doses ofatrazine disrupt the sexual develop-ment of frogs in laboratory experi-ments, with gonadal alterationsstarting at 0.1 ppb, say developmen-tal endocrinologist Tyrone Hayes, ofthe University of California, Berkeley,and colleagues. The observedeffects occur at atrazine concen -trations frequently found in theenvironment, and such exposuresmay account for gonadal abnor-malities observed in frogs in thewild, Hayes says. The findings, presented at the

Society of Environmental Toxicologyand Chemistry’s annual meeting inBaltimore last November, suggestthat the herbicide apparently modi-fies the steroid hormones balancein frogs at a sensitive time in theirdevelopment.The study performed by Hayes’s

group involved dosing Africanclawed frog larvae (Xenopus laevis)from hatching until metamorpho-

sis. At doses as low as 1 ppb, theyobserved laryngeal muscle sizereduction in 80% of exposedmales. Twenty percent of dosedmales developed into hermaph -rodites having both testes andovaries. Atrazine exposure atthese levels did not affect mor -tality, developmental rates, ortime to metamorphosis in theexperiments.Hayes proposes that atrazine

affects frog sexual developmentbecause it increases levels of aro-matase, an enzyme that convertstestosterone to estrogen, andresults in partial male frog femi-nization. The affected males havehigh levels of aromatase in theirgonadal tissues and have bloodplasma testosterone levels that areunusually low—comparable to lev-els typically found in female frogs.As mentioned in an article appear-ing in this journal (Environ. Sci.Technol. 2000, 34, 415A), the sug-

Atrazine linked to endocrine disruption in frogs

fish, aquatic insects, and vegeta-tion, according to the federal gov-ernment report Assessment ReportRoad Salts.

A 60-day public comment periodwas launched on Anderson’s rec-ommendation. Road salt is expect-ed to be officially listed at the endof the comment period,giving the federal govern-ment authority toset enforceable limits onits use. Control measureswill include better storageand handling techniques,Anderson says.

A copy of the report is availableat www.ec.gc.ca/substances/ese/eng/psap/final/roadsalts.cfm.

Coming clean withalkylphenolsNorway will ban the production,import, use, and distribution ofmost uses of two ubiquitous indus-trial surfactants that are toxic toaquatic organisms and are sus-pected endocrine disrupters—namely, nonylphenol ethoxylatesand octylphenol ethoxylates—asof Jan. 1, 2002.

Although Norway’s ban is thefirst in Europe, other countries havealso restricted the use of thesechemicals, primarily through volun-tary phaseouts. The European Unionas a whole is moving toward a ban.

Paints, varnishes, and lubricat-ing oils are exempt from Norway’sban because of the lack of suitablealternatives. Moreover, useof these products results inonly a small proportion oftotal discharges to the envi-ronment, according toNorway’s Pollution ControlAuthority. Alternatives existfor many of the other indus-trial uses, the most relevantbeing fatty alcohol ethoxylates.

Companies are under no regula-tory pressure in the United Statesto move toward alternatives, butsome are doing so.

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Researchers and environ-mentalists directed loud criti-cism last summer atPresident Bush’s proposedbudget cuts for the U.S. EPA.But the final budget, signedby Bush on Nov. 26, actuallyboosts the agency’s budgetand provides additional fundsfor research and develop-ment (R&D). Bush signed a $7.9 billion

bill providing funds for EPA,granting the agency a 1.2%increase over last year’s leveland $597 million more thanBush had requested. The agency’sR&D efforts will receive $632 millionfor this fiscal year (FY 2002), which is3.8% more than in last year’s budget.

The legislation moved steadilythrough Congress, and once agree-ment was reached on restoringmany of the monetary cuts Bush

proposed in his $7.3 bil-lion budget (Environ. Sci.Technol. 2001, 35, 226A),there was little contro -versy.Congress provided the

Science and Technologyaccount, through whichmost of the agency’s R&Dactivities are funded, with$698 million. This is nearly$60 million over the WhiteHouse’s request, issuedbecause Bush wanted toeliminate scores of con-gressional “earmarks”, orfunding requests forhometown projects. The

bill does change some earmarks,but the 107th Congress includednearly 70 congressionally designat-ed research projects. The final


Environmental�Newsgested mechanism has been inves-tigated previously. In 1997, LouisGuillette and co-workers foundthat atrazine induced aromataseactivity in male hatchling alliga-tors, and in 2000, ThomasSanderson and co-workers, foundthat atrazine could induce aro-matase activity and modify hor-monal balance in cell line in vitroexperiments.“This is an intriguing set of

observations,” says EPA scientistGary Ankley, who heads the toxiceffects research team at EPA’sDuluth, Minn., research center.“The effects observed by Hayes aremore subtle than the sort of end-points, such as gross malforma-tions (multiple or missing armsand legs), that we usually look forin the field. As a result, it’s quitepossible that these effects couldhave been missed by otherresearchers,” Ankley says.Because his laboratory experi-

ments indicate that X. laevismalesare vulnerable to atrazine exposurewhen they are larvae, Hayes com-pared the time when wild frogsspawn with when atrazine levels insurface waters are highest andfound that the two coincide—sur-face water concentrations are high-est at the time of the first heavy

spring rains, which is also the timewhen frogs spawn, suggesting thatwild frogs could at that time be get-ting a sufficient dose delivered tocause adverse effects.Last summer, Hayes and co-

workers traversed the U.S. West andMidwest and found intersex wildfrogs at sites associated withatrazine contamination in Iowa,Nebraska, and Illinois. At thesesites, they found male Leopardfrogs (Rana pipiens), whose testescontained oocytes, eggs that shouldonly be found in female frogs. Theydid not find intersex frogs in Utahor Wyoming.Hayes doesn’t know whether the

intersex effects in the wild arecaused by exposure to atrazine oranother contaminant. “The inter-sexes are correlated with atrazineuse patterns, regardless of habitat,”he says. Hayes’ group is currently

working on a controlled lab studyto determine whether atrazine pro-duces this effect in R. pipiens. “Wedo know that it is not a normal partof development for the species, asanimals in the lab do not developthis way,” he observes.Atrazine (2-chloro-4-ethyl-

amino-6-isopropylamine-1,2,5-tri-azine), with an annual usage of 60million pounds in 1993, is the mostcommonly used herbicide in theUnited States and is also used inmore than 80 countries. Despite itswidespread presence in U.S. sur-face waters, a 1996 ecological riskassessment led by Keith Solomon,director of the Centre for Toxicology,University of Guelph, Ontario, esti-mated that the herbicide does notpose a risk to the aquatic environ-ment (Environ. Sci. Technol. 1996,30, 110A). Atrazine producerSyngenta, formed by the merger ofNovartis Agribusiness and ZenecaAgrochemicals, has, since 1997,been sponsoring an independent,multimillion-dollar research pro-gram into ecological endocrineeffects. A special review of atrazinebegun by EPA in 1994 because ofconcerns about the health risks topeople and the environment isexpected to conclude soon. —REBECCA RENNER

Source: American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Trends in EPA R&D, FY 1986–2002After a steep cut in R&D funding in FY 2000, Congress isslowly returning money to the program. Appropriationsare given in billions of constant FY 2001 dollars.

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Congress boosts EPA’s R&D funding

Dust carried on winds from Asiasupplies calcium and phosphorus toHawaiian flora and is a primarysource of iron for North Pacific fish-eries. But along with those nutrients,Asian dust also carries pollutants,according to new data from theAsian Pacific Regional AerosolCharacterization Experiment (ACE-Asia). The findings, whichwere presented in December at theAmerican Geophysical Union’s FallMeeting, provide new informationregarding aerosol sources, transport,and sinks, and could help reduceuncertainties associated withaerosols in climate-change models.ACE-Asia is part of a series of

experiments designed to investi-gate how aerosols affect the earth’sclimate, both directly through light

absorption and scattering and indi-rectly by acting as cloud condensa-tion nuclei (Environ. Sci. Technol.2001, 35, 332A–340A). The intensivefield-monitoring phase of ACE-Asiatook place last spring, during whicha team of scientists from 13 nations,from aircraft, ships, satellites, andground-based stations, simultane-ously measured the chemical andphysical properties of aerosolscoming out of Asia.ACE-Asia probably is the largest

surface-based aerosol study everconducted in terms of geographicalextent, number of samples collect-ed, and number of analyses per-formed on each sample, accordingto Thomas Cahill, director of theDELTA Group (Detection andEvaluation of Long-Range Transport


Wood preservativesunder fireOn the basis of recent scientificstudies, the European Commission(EC) is mulling a possible ban onwood preservatives containing arsenic.

A risk assessment confirmed bythe European Union’s (EU’s)Scientific Committee for Toxicity,Ecotoxicity, and the Environment(SCTEE) identified unacceptablerisks to children’s health from expo-sure to wood treated with chromat-ed copper arsenate (CCA), the mostcommonly used wood preservative.CCA-treated wood is used in play-ground equipment, and children canbe exposed to it in sandpits, as wellas through the disposal of woodcontaining arsenic from householdwaste burning and home heating.

The SCTEE considers CCA to begenotoxic and a carcinogenic,finding that no safe threshold limitexists. The U.S. EPA, which alsohas CCA under review, released areport in mid-December from ascientific advisory panel recom-mending that a more complexprobabilistic model for assessingexposure to treated wood replacethe simpler, deterministic approachthe agency had been using. EPAsays the new tack should makethe exposure analyses “more real-istic and scientifically sound”. Theagency expects to have a prelimi-nary risk assessment for children’sexposure, as well as for occupa-tional exposures and ecological ef-fects, available for public commentin the spring.

The ban under consideration inthe EU would prohibit the sale of ar-senic-treated wood to consumersand restrict its use to essential in-dustrial applications, namely utilitypoles, railway ties, and industrialcooling towers. Possible alternativesto CCA wood preservatives includeproducts based on copper andboron, chromium trioxide, copperand phosphoric acid, and didylpoly-ethoxyammonium borate.

Governmenappropriation for R&D is $23 mil-lion more than the FY 2001 level.Nearly $98 million, identical to

Bush’s request, is provided for theBrownfields program, which sup-ports projects to clean hazardouswaste sites, turning them into use-able land. EPA’s Superfund programstays steady at $1.27 billion, butresearch on environmental healthrelated to Superfund sites, in a sep-arate appropriation bill for theNational Institute of EnvironmentalHealth Sciences, is increased from$63 million in FY 2001 to $70 mil-lion. This funding also matchesBush’s request.The White House’s proposal that

$25 million be shifted from EPA’senforcement activities into a newstate grant policing program wasshelved. Instead, Congress restored$15 million for enforcement pro-grams that Bush proposed be cut,then generally stayed the coursewith overall EPA enforcement fund-ing by approving $464 million, justslightly more than the FY 2001amount.Bush’s effort to slash funding

for the state funds used for sewageand drinking water treatment wasignored. Congress included $1.35billion for the clean water revolving

fund and $850 million for thedrinking water revolving fund.Nearly $237 million is marked forstate grants to control nonpointsource pollution, such as parkinglot runoff, and $222 million will goto the states in air quality grants.Overall, EPA’s core regulatory,

research, and enforcement activi-ties, funded by the operating pro-gram, will receive $3.7 billion, thesecond highest funding level inEPA’s history, according to agencyfigures.The final law does include lan-

guage barring EPA from setting alevel for arsenic in drinking waterthat is higher than 10 parts per bil-lion, even though EPA AdministratorChristie Whitman announced a10-ppb standard in October. Con -cerns raised by Sen. Pete Domenici(R-N.M.) that the costs of compli-ance with the arsenic rule to smalland rural communities could be ashigh as $1 million were satisfiedwith language ordering EPA to pro-vide Congress with a plan indicat-ing steps that Congress can take tohelp these communities. The finalbudget law can be found atwww.epa.gov/ocfopage/budget/budget.htm. —CATHERINE M.COONEY

Dust storm provides clues to aerosol mixing



of Aerosols) at the University ofCalifornia–Davis, who examinedaerosol transport during ACE-Asiafrom China to as far away as Wash -ington and Oregon. “We covered41% of the circumference of theearth simultaneously,” says Cahill.The region off the coasts of

China, Japan, and Korea was cho-sen because of the known complex-ity of the aerosols in that area, saysBarry Huebert of the University ofHawaii and lead scientist of ACE-Asia. Asian aerosols are much dif-ferent than those in Europe andNorth America, because in Asiathere is more coal and biomassburning and fewer emissions con-trols. In spring, dust storms origi-nating in the deserts of Mongoliaand China make their way to popu-lated cities in China, Japan, andKorea, adding a large dust compo-nent to the aerosol mix. Sea salt alsoadds to the aerosol’s complexity .The timing of ACE-Asia couldn’t

have been better, say those involvedin the project. Thanks to a 50-yeardrought in China and Korea, theregion experienced one of the largestdust storms in years, says Young-Joon Kim, director of the AdvancedEnvironmental Monitoring ResearchCenter at the Kwanju Institute ofScience and Technology in Korea,who monitored the aerosols using amultichannel lidar system.

Dust and sea salt can be associ-ated with secondary species suchas nitrate, sulfate, and carbon. Suchchemical transformations affect theradiative properties of aerosols andtherefore must be understood inorder to accurately model climatechange. Analyzing Asian aerosolsamples at the single-particle levelhelps scientists understand howaerosol particles interact with oneanother.During ACE-Asia, Kim Prather

and colleagues from the Universityof California–San Diego obtainedreal-time, continuous measure-ments of the size and chemicalcomposition of single particlesusing aerosol time-of-flight massspectrometry. “Very few of the par-ticles were pure,” says Prather, indi-cating that dust carries a variety ofpollutants along with the minerals.The group observed calcium-richparticles coated with secondarysulfate and nitrate. After the largedust event, there was more nitratethan sulfate, nitrite unexpectedlydominated, and iron and alu-minum levels increased.Additionally, Jim Anderson and

colleagues from Arizona StateUniversity’s Environmental FluidDynamics Program observed mix-ing of anthropogenic particles withmineral dusts in aerosol samplescollected during ACE-Asia.

Anderson’s group used scanningelectron microscopy to determinethe chemical composition, size,shape, and degree of mixing. Theyfrequently observed mineral par -ticles covered with elemental car-bon in the form of soot in the low- altitude samples. Soot alters theoptical properties of mineral dust,which ultimately could affect climate.Scientists have only just begun

interpreting the data from ACE-Asia, which could take severalyears, but the study has alreadyconfirmed the complexity of Asianaerosols. Kim’s lidar data showextensive layering of clean air, pol-luted air, and dust. As many as 14different layers were observed in analtitude of 2 kilometers. “This kindof layering is going to be a tremen-dous challenge to model,” saysHuebert. Previous experiments in the ACE

series, which is organized by theInternational Global AtmosphericChemistry Program, were conduct-ed in the pristine environment ofTasmania and in the Canary Islandsto study Saharan dust merging withEuropean pollution. “The Saharandust tends to be much less associ-ated with pollution than whatcomes out of Asia,” says Huebert.“The Asian dust is really unique.”—BRITT E. ERICKSON

(Left) An unusually intense Asian dust storm flows eastward on April 13, 2001, and (right) makes it way to the W est Coast of theUnited States on April 15, 2001.

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News �BriefsCO2 emissions are on the rise, ac-cording to a report from the U.S.Department of Energy’s EnergyInformation Administration. The3.1% growth rate in 2000 is wellabove the average annual growthrate of 1.6% in CO2 emissions in theUnited States over the past decade.Although CO2 is the largest contrib-utor to U.S. greenhouse gas emis-sions, accounting for more than80% of the total, emissions of othergreenhouse gases, including methaneand nitrous oxide, fell during 2000.Emissions of Greenhouse Gases inthe United States 2000 is availableat ftp://ftp.eia.doe.gov/pub/oiaf/1605/cdrom/pdf/ggrpt/057300.pdf.

Canon, Toshiba, and IBM are thecomputer manufacturers with themost responsible environmentalperformance, according to thethird annual Computer Report Card.Produced by the Silicon ValleyToxics Coalition, a nonprofit envi-ronmental organization, the reportcard illuminates a “wideningchasm” between the practices ofU.S. and Japanese computer com-panies. It documents that compa-nies including IBM, Apple, andSony maintain “double standards”by offering free product take-backprograms in Europe that are notavailable, or are only available for afee, in the United States. To see thereport card, go to www.svtc.org/cleancc/pubs/2001report.htm.

Industrialized countries take alarge toll on oceans and coastalareas through their unsustainableconsumption patterns, finds a report by the United NationsEnvironment Programme (UNEP).The most serious problems affect-ing marine and coastal environ-ments include habitat destructionand alteration, sewage discharges,eutrophication, overfishing, andchanges in sediment flows due tohydrological alterations. The reportalso blames widespread povertyand population growth worldwidefor undermining the sustainableuse of ocean resources. Protectingthe Oceans From Land-BasedActivities can be accessed atwww.gpa.unep.org/documents.

Germany achieved the greatest ad-vances in renewable energy usebetween 1993 and 1999 amongEuropean Union (EU) countries,finds a report by the EuropeanEnvironment Agency. The reportanalyzes factors that influence thesuccess of renewable energyschemes and facilitate their wide-spread penetration into the energymarket, which include strong politi-cal, legislative, and financial sup-port. The EU has set a goal ofproducing 22.1% of its electricityfrom renewable sources by 2010.Renewable Energies: Success Storiescan be downloaded at http://reports.eea.eu.int/environmental_issue_report_2001_27/en.

Few corporations fully take advan-tage of the Web for reporting infor-mation about their efforts tobecome more sustainable, claimsSustainAbility, an internationalmanagement consulting group.“Sustainability reporting on theWeb has a different agenda frompaper-based reporting, and theold tools and styles just aren’t goodenough,” according to VirtualSustainAbility: Using the Internet ToImplement the Triple Bottom Line.The report argues that readers needto be confident that corporate Websites are relevant, reliable, and ap-propriate. The report can be foundat www.virtualsustainability.com.

Efforts to increase the use of geo-graphic information systems (GIS)in African countries are startingto pay off, according to a studysponsored by the U.S. Agencyfor International Development(USAID) and the World ResourcesInstitute (WRI), a nonprofit envi-ronmental group. GIS: SupportingEnvironmental Planning andManagement in West Africa docu-ments how the technology helped

guide environmental planning bythe governments of Burkina Faso,Côte d’Ivoire, and The Gambia. Formore information about the pro-gram, go to www.wri.org/press/gis_westafrica.html.

The world’s reservoirs are shrink-ing, finds a book being touted bythe United Nations EnvironmentProgramme. As much as 1% of thefreshwater is lost annually to siltbuildup, further exacerbating watershortage problems. The loss ofreservoir storage capacity alreadyexceeds that to be gained from newdams under construction. Theworldwide rate of loss could in-crease if current deforestation ratescontinue unchecked and globalwarming predictions come to pass,with heavier rainfall acceleratingerosion rates. Evacuation ofSediments from Reservoirs byRodney White can be purchasedat www.thomastelford.com.

The European Commission’s newtargets for recycling and recover-ing packaging waste are believed tobe the most ambitious in the world.The EC’s draft directive, which needsapproval by the European Parliamentand the European Union Council,requires member states to recycle55−65% of packaging by June 2006,up from 25−45% by 2001 under cur-rent regulations. Portugal, Ireland,and Greece have until 2009 to meetthe new standards. For more infor-mation, see http://europa.eu.int/comm.

Urban development will consumeroughly 15% of southeastern U.S.forests between 1992 and 2040,making sprawl the most seriousthreat to the region’s forests, ac-cording to a study from the U.S.Forest Service. Despite inroadsfrom sprawl, the current forestcover of 214 million acres will onlydecline by about 2% because morefarmland will be converted to pineplantations, the study predicts. Aspine plantations grow by 67%through 2040, natural forests willcontinue to decline. The SouthernForest Resource Assessment is avail-able at www.srs.fs.fed.us/sustain.

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Dust storm provides clues to aerosol mixing