Method of Testing the Penetration of Acid Solutions Through Safety Gloves

Because they cause burns that are difficult to heal, acids are dangerous, and steps should be taken to ensure that the human skin does not come into contact with them. For this purpose safety gloves are generally used by workers who have to handle acids. Such gloves need to be tested to ensure that they are acid resistant. Standard EN 374 (European Committee for Standardization [CEN], 1993c) specifies a method of testing the permeation of liquid chemicals, on a molecular level, through glove material, but it may be difficult to ensure the fitness of the joints of a two-compartment cell, when gloves are lined with jersey. To deal with this a simple pH-meter method to test the permeation of acid and alkali solutions through safety gloves has been developed. The permeation of H₂S0₄, HCI, HN0₃, and CH₃COOH through gloves made from neoprene, nitrile, and PVC was tested. This method seems to be simple and economical.     

Attitudes and Perceptions about Ecological Resources and Hazards of People Living Aroung the Savannah River Site

Although considerable attention is devoted to environmental monitoring and assessment with respect to both pollutants and the status of particular plant or animal populations, less attention is devoted to assessing people's attitudes about the relative importance of ecological resources. In this paper we examine the attitudes and perceptions about ecological resources of people living around the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS), in South Carolina. Our overall hypothesis is that people who are directly affected by the possible outcomes and consequences of a particular hazard (i.e., those people employed at SRS) will undervalue the risks and overvalue the potential benefits from future land uses that favor continued site activity, compared to people who live near but are not employed at SRS. We interviewed 286 people attending the Aiken Trials horse show on 14 March 1997. There were few gender differences, although men hunted and fished more than women, women ranked three environmental concerns as more severe than did men, and women were more concerned about the effect of SRS on property values. Maintenance of SRS as a National Environmental Research Park ranked first as a future land use; nuclear production ranked second, followed by hunting and hiking. Only residential development ranked very low as a future land use. There were many differences as a function of employment history at SRS: 1) people who work at SRS think that the federal government should spend funds to clean up all nuclear facilities, and they think less money should be spent on other environmental problems than did non-employees, 2) people who work at SRS ranked continued current uses of SRS higher than did people who never worked at SRS, and 3) people who work at SRS are less concerned about the storage of nuclear material or accidents at the site than are people who never worked at the site.     

Integrating long-term stewardship goals into the remediation process: natural resource damages and the Department of Energy

The United States and other developed countries are faced with restoring and managing degraded ecosystems. Evaluations of the degradation of ecological resources can be used for determining ecological risk, making remediation or restoration decisions, aiding stakeholders with future land use decisions, and assessing natural resource damages. Department of Energy (DOE) lands provide a useful case study for examining degradation of ecological resources in light of past or present land uses and natural resource damage assessment (NRDA). We suggest that past site history should be incorporated into the cleanup and restoration phase to reduce the ultimate NRDA costs, and hasten resource recovery. The lands that DOE purchased over 50 years ago ranged from relatively undisturbed to heavily impacted farmland, and the impact that occurred from DOE occupation varies from regeneration of natural ecosystems (benefits) to increased exposure to several stressors (negative effects). During the time of the DOE releases, other changes occurred on the lands, including recovery from the disturbance effects of farming, grazing, and residential occupation, and the cessation of human disturbance. Thus, the injury to natural resources that occurred as a result of chemical and radiological releases occurred on top of recovery of already degraded systems. Both spatial (size and dispersion of patch types) and temporal (past/present/future land use and ecological condition) components are critical aspects of resource evaluation, restoration, and NRDA. For many DOE sites, integrating natural resource restoration with remediation to reduce or eliminate the need for NRDA could be a win-win situation for both responsible parties and natural resource trustees by eliminating costly NRDAs by both sides, and by restoring natural resources to a level that satisfies the trustees, while being cost-effective for the responsible parties. It requires integration of remediation, restoration, and end-state planning to a greater degree than is currently done at most DOE sites.     

Marine and farmed fish on the Polish market: comparison of the nutritive value and human exposure to PCDD/Fs and other contaminants

Chemical analyses were performed in nine fish species that are popular on the Polish market. These included Baltic fish (cod, herring, salmon), fish farmed in Poland (carp, trout), marine fish imported from China (Alaska pollock, sole), and farmed fish imported from Vietnam and China (sutchi catfish, tilapia). The nutritional composition (amino acid, micro- and macronutrients, fat-soluble vitamins - A₁, D₃, E) and certain contaminants (organochlorine pesticides, OCPs; indicator polychlorinated biphenyl, PCB₆; polychlorinated dibenzo-paradioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans, PCDD/Fs; dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls, dl-PCBs; organotin compounds, OCTs; dyes, malachite green and crystal violet; veterinary drug residues, nitrofurans and chloramphenicol; toxic metals, Cd, Pb, Hg) in the muscle tissues of fish were determined. It was confirmed that the fish species analyzed were excellent sources of amino acids, and were rich in phosphorous and selenium. Baltic Sea fish (salmon, herring), fish farmed in Poland (carp and trout), and tilapia were also rich in vitamin D₃.Traces of OCP, PCB₆, OCT, dyes, veterinary drug residues, and heavy metals were detected in concentrations which do not pose a threat to consumers at the current rate of fish consumption in Poland. However, the problem might arise from the content of PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs in fatty Baltic fish. The fish species analyzed, differed in their nutritional values and degrees of contamination. We suggest that for optimum health and safety, it is advisable that consumers include a variety of different fish species in their diets.     

Study on the raw fish oil purification from PCDD/F and dl-PCB-industrial tests

The results of tests for the purification of fish oils with activated carbon for industrial use are presented. The optimum parameters for the process of purification (granulation of the activated carbon, its dosage, the oil temperature, and the duration of mixing the oil with activated carbon) were previously established for the laboratory scale. The optimization of the process consisted of selecting purification parameters that would allow for maximum reduction of the toxic polychlorinated dibenzo-para-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) content, while retaining the favorable high fatty acid content [C20:5 n−3, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and C22:6 n−3, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)]. The use of that optimum parameters in industrial conditions confirmed the satisfactory results obtained in laboratory tests. Five types of oil derived from various Baltic fish were purified. Reduction in the PCDD/Fs content was 77.0–93.6% on average, whereas in the dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl-PCBs)—it was 42.7–50.5% on average, with insignificant changes in the total amount of EPA and DHA content. Furthermore, a significant reduction in the content of arsenic was noted (by about 62% on average), with insignificant changes in the content of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), and marker polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), cadmium, lead, and mercury.Purification provided fish oil having standardized parameters that allow for its use as feed additives, whilst retaining its favorable fatty acid content.     

The potential of public engagement in sustainable waste management: designing the future for biosolids in New Zealand

Strategies for beneficial use of biosolids in New Zealand and elsewhere are currently focused primarily on land application. The long-term success of these and other strategies is dependent not only on technical factors, but also on their environmental, economic, social and cultural sustainability. This paper briefly reviews the situation with respect to biosolids management in New Zealand, where land application is not yet widespread; the rise in public opposition to land application in the United States; and the biosolids industry's approach to public engagement. We argue that, at least until recently, the industry has misinterpreted the nature and meaning of public opposition and thus substituted public relations for public engagement. We argue that genuine public engagement is necessary and that its purpose cannot be to gain public acceptance for an already-decided-upon strategy. It therefore calls for humility among biosolids managers, including a willingness to open up the framing of 'the problem', to acknowledge areas of uncertainty, and to recognise the role of values in 'technical' decision-making. We then present and analyse an example of the use of the scenario workshop process for public participation in biosolids management policy in Christchurch, New Zealand, and conclude that scenario workshops and related methods represent an opportunity to enhance sustainable waste management when certain conditions are met.     

Measuring progress towards sustainable development: an ecological framework for selecting indicators

There are now numerous sustainable development evaluation methods to evaluate sustainable development progress. Which one to use will depend on the resources, the goals and the stakeholders. Ideally the method selected and its indicators would themselves indicate how to achieve sustainable development. Such a choice can be difficult without a framework to help ensure the representation of the essential elements of sustainable development.

This paper presents such a framework by drawing on ecological terminology to define aspects of sustainable development as manifested in the natural world. Examples of how these can be measured are provided along with an explanation of how the components of the framework contribute to achieving sustainable development in social systems.     

Sex-specific effects of parasites on telomere dynamics in a short-lived passerine—the blue tit

The pollination syndrome concept implies that flowers evolved with particular sets of characteristics, such as colors, shapes, orientations, and rewards, as a means of attracting pollinators. However, these traits may have also evolved to deter unwanted visitors. The North American genus Penstemon exhibits a great floral diversity that is mainly associated with bumblebee and hummingbird pollination. Evolutionary shifts from insect pollination to hummingbird pollination have occurred in Penstemon repeatedly, but some species maintain mixed-pollination systems and intermediate floral traits between bee- and hummingbird-pollination modes. The apparently intermediate floral traits of species with mixed-pollination systems might be potentially acting to deter bumblebee foragers. Then, bird-flower traits might be selected with increased hummingbird visitation over evolutionary time might, resulting in specialization to and the evolution of floral traits present in hummingbird-pollinated species. Here, we modified bee-pollination floral traits in Penstemon gentianoides with a mixed pollination system, to resemble hummingbird-pollination traits, and measured the effects of trait modification on bumblebee foraging behavior and plant female reproductive fitness. Our results showed that reduction in the width of the corolla tube and the absence of the corolla lip negatively affects bumblebee visitation and their efficiency as pollinators, and that the synergistic interaction of both traits enhanced the “anti-bee” effect. We conclude that acquisition of floral traits that resemble those of hummingbird-pollination enables Penstemon plant species to deter bumblebee visits.

     

Temporal changes in blood lead levels of hazardous waste workers in New Jersey, 1984–1987

The blood lead levels of 568 New Jersey hazardous waste workers were determined at least once in the period 1984–1987. Workers almost always wore protective clothing in the field, which should have prevented exposure to lead. Therefore, despite their occupation, these workers are probably representative of the New Jersey suburban population in the mid-1980s. Blood lead levels ranged from 2.0–20.7 µg/dL, with an arithmetic mean value of 5.8 µg/dL, representing a decline from levels measured a decade earlier, but there was no clear change over the four years of the study. Blood lead levels increased with age of the worker up to age 60. Women showed lower levels than men in every age group.