Surveillance programme on dioxin levels in ambient air sites in Catalonia (Spain)

As part of a survey programme conducted by the Environment Department of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia in collaboration with the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), dioxin concentrations in ambient air were measured in the four provinces of Catalonia (Spain). The study was also performed with the intention of providing data as a basis for future monitoring and evaluation of temporal trends in ambient air. Thus, 91 samples were collected in 25 different sites (rural, urban, suburban and industrial) between 1994 and 2000. The levels revealed a variable content of PCDDs/PCDFs depending both on the area and the contamination source. In particular, industrial areas presented levels ranging from 18 to 954 fg I-TEQ/m3. However, findings in urban and suburban sites varied between 13 and 357 fg I-TEQ/m3. As expected, the lowest levels were found in rural areas with levels between 5 and 125 fg I-TEQ/m3.     

Partitioning of metals in sediments from the Odiel River (Spain)

The Odiel River runs through an area known as the Iberian pyrite belt in the province of Huelva in the southwestern corner of the Iberian Peninsula. Its waters are acidic and contain large amounts of heavy metals from erosion and mining activity. In addition, the Odiel River estuary is one of the most industrialized areas in southern Spain and, consequently, receives the discharge of industrial and urban waste. Seventeen sediment samples from the Odiel and its main tributaries were analyzed for this study. The chemical partitioning of metals (Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, Fe, Ni, Cr and Co) in each sample was determined in four fractions (acid-soluble, reducible, oxidizable and residual). The total content of each of the metals was also determined. The results showed high concentrations of Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd, undoubtedly as a result of contamination from the mining and industrial activity mentioned above. However, the concentrations of the other metals analyzed were low since there are no sources of pollution by them in the Odiel River. Based on the chemical distribution of metals, we found that Cd, Zn and Cu are the most mobile metals (i.e., metals that can pass easily into the water under changing environmental conditions). Cd is the metal that showed the highest percentages in the acid-soluble fraction (the most labile) and the lowest in the residual fraction. However, Pb, Fe, Cr and Ni are present in the greatest percentages in the residual fraction, which implies that these metals are strongly linked to the sediments.     

Do farmers need relief seed? A methodology for assessing seed systems

This article outlines a methodology to help agencies better determine whether or not relief seed is needed by farmers affected by disaster. A brief review of current seed needs assessment procedures in southern Somalia and Mozambique illustrates problems of knowing which crops and households are affected, the importance of seed access (not just availability) and the need to plan interventions earlier than at present. The development of a Seed Systems Profile (SSP) is proposed to understand better both the socio-economic and agro-ecological aspects of farmers' seed systems. A five-step framework for assessing seed systems in disaster situations is also presented. These tools are currently being tested and further refined in Mozambique. A better understanding of farmers' seed systems will allow for the development of relief and rehabilitation interventions that effectively enhance the resilience and reduce the vulnerability of these systems.     

Occupational safety and health in Spain

Occupational Health and Safety in Spain has improved considerably over the last decade, most likely due to a new concept where an overall concept of safety culture is defined. Important changes in industrial safety, hygiene, and psychosocial factors present an optimistic panorama for the future of Spain. Despite this general improvement, according to the European Convergence Program, Spanish statistics still offer far from good safety results. In fact, according to 1997 official statistics, Spain had the highest incidence rate for nonfatal occupational accidents of all European Union (EU) countries, and occupied third place for fatal accidents. This paper summarizes the organizational structure of the Spanish National System of Health & Safety at Work, its effective health and safety laws, and statistics on the Spanish work environment obtained from III Spanish National Survey on Work Conditions (1997). The researchers hope that the findings of this work will have an impact on Spanish industry that will subsequently bring about improvements in work conditions and develop assessment and intervention models in occupational health and safety, from a theoretical position integrating environmental, human, and organizational factors.     

Regulating insect resistance management: the case of non-Bt corn refuges in the US

In this paper, we analyze the insect resistance management (IRM) plan put in place by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to delay the evolution of resistance to Bt corn in natural populations of the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis Hübner. This IRM plan is the most impressive mandatory IRM system ever developed. It forms a coherent whole and includes mandatory refuges, actions to increase growers' compliance and a program for monitoring the evolution of resistance. However, our analysis suggests that two components of this IRM plan are not entirely satisfactory: growers' compliance and monitoring of the evolution of resistance. Moreover, the implementation of these two components of IRM has been required of the registrants, whose incentives for IRM are probably lower than the social optimum. Our analysis suggests that alternatives to the IRM plan currently in place could improve these two components.     

Comparison of atrazine losses in three small headwater catchments

Understanding the processes causing herbicide transport to surface waters is crucial to determine mitigation options to reduce these losses. To this end, we investigated the atrazine (2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-1,3,5-triazine) transport in three agricultural catchments (1.1-2.1 km2) in the watershed of Lake "Greifensee" (Switzerland). In 1999, atrazine application data were recorded for all three catchments. Time proportional samples were taken at a high temporal resolution at the catchment outlets. Extremely wet conditions caused large relative losses from the catchments, ranging between 0.6 and 3.5% of the amount applied. Most of the atrazine load was due to event-driven diffuse losses from the fields. Farmyard runoff contributed less but caused the highest concentrations (up to 31 microg L(-1)) in the brooks. The maximum concentrations due to diffuse losses varied between 1.2 and 8.2 microg L(-1) among the catchments. Despite different absolute concentration levels, the concentration time-series were very similar. It seems that the travel-times within the catchments were mainly controlled by the rainfall pattern with little influence of the catchment properties. These properties, however, caused the relative losses to vary by a factor of 6 between the catchments. This variability could be partly explained by differences in the connectivity of the fields to the brooks and by their hydrological soil properties. A comparison of the losses from the three catchments with those from the entire watershed of Lake Greifensee demonstrated that they were representative for the larger area. Hence, the study results provide a good data set to evaluate distributed models predicting herbicide losses.     

Participatory Development of No-tillage Systems without Herbicides for Family Farming: The Experience of the Center-South Region of Paraná

It is currently estimated that 40 million hectares worldwide are cultivated through no-tillage systems (Derpsh, 1998). Small family farms account for less than 50,000ha, half of them located in South America's Southern Cone (Wall, 1998). Many hypotheses have been offered to explain why so few small farmers have adapted to this method. The most simplistic ones relate this limited adoption to small farmers' traditionalism and to their rejection of innovation. Others point to the low technological development of animal-drawn equipment needed for this technology or the low educational level of family farmers.Results of work done in the Center-South of Paraná, Southern Brazil, by AS-PTA¹ in partnership with the region's Forum of Family Farmers Organizations, challenge these hypotheses and draw attention to the need for new approaches and processes of research and extension if the goal is to disseminate and implement appropriate no-tillage systems among family farmers. One requisite is to lower production costs of this method through elimination of herbicides and using green manure and cover crops that shift the crop-weed balance in favor of crops.     

Phosphogypsum amendment effect on radionuclide content in drainage water and marsh soils from southwestern Spain

Phosphogypsum (PG) is a residue of the phosphate fertilizer industry that has relatively high concentrations of 226Ra and other radionuclides. Thus, it is interesting to study the effect of PG applied as a Ca amendment on the levels and behavior of radionuclides in agricultural soils. A study involving treatments with 13 and 26 Mg ha(-1) of PG and 30 Mg ha(-1) of manure was performed, measuring 226Ra and U isotopes in drainage water, soil, and plant samples. The PG used in the treatment had 510 +/- 40 Bq kg(-1) of 226Ra. The 226Ra concentrations in drainage waters from PG-amended plots were similar (between 2.6 and 7.2 mBq L(-1)) to that reported for noncontaminated waters. Although no significant effect due to PG was observed, the U concentrations in drainage waters (200 mBq L(-1) for 238U) were one order of magnitude higher than those described in noncontaminated waters. This high content in U can be ascribed to desorption processes mainly related to the natural adsorbed pool in soil (25 Bq kg(-1) of 238U). This is supported by the 234U to 238U isotopic ratio of 1.16 in drainage waters versus secular equilibrium in PG and P fertilizers. The progressive enrichment in 226Ra concentration in soils due to PG treatment cannot be concluded from our present data. This PG treatment does not determine any significant difference in 226Ra concentration in drainage waters or in plant material [cotton (Gossipium hirsutum L.) leaves]. No significant levels of radionuclides except 40K were found in the vegetal tissues.     

A technicoeconomic approach for the selection of a site remediation strategy--part B: model application

Different tools, such as a screening matrix or decision framework, are available to select a remediation technology to treat a contaminated site. However, unless these methods can point out the appropriate technology in regards to the decision-maker's knowledge about the contaminated site, they are less useful to evaluate both the technical effectiveness and the cost of the remediation, and to assess different remediation strategies from either future data acquisition or the use of an irreversible remediation technology. A model developed to allow such evaluations has been used to simulate the remediation of a virtual contaminated site. From this, four remediation recommendations have been made. These recommendations are guidelines for the build up of a remediation strategy that would both maximize the effectiveness of the decontamination and minimize its total cost.