Agriculture, pesticides, food security and food safety

Decades ago, agrochemicals were introduced aiming at enhancing crop yields and at protecting crops from pests. Due to adaptation and resistance developed by pests to chemicals, every year higher amounts and new chemical compounds are used to protect crops, causing undesired side effects and raising the costs of food production. Eventually, new techniques, including genetically modified organisms (GMOs) resistant to pests, could halt the massive spread of agrochemicals in agriculture fields. Biological chemical-free agriculture is gaining also more and more support but it is still not able to respond to the need for producing massive amounts of food. The use of agrochemicals, including pesticides, remains a common practice especially in tropical regions and South countries. Cheap compounds, such as DDT, HCH and lindane, that are environmentally persistent, are today banned from agriculture use in developed countries, but remain popular in developing countries. As a consequence, persistent residues of these chemicals contaminate food and disperse in the environment. Coordinated efforts are needed to increase the production of food but with a view to enhanced food quality and safety as well as to controlling residues of persistent pesticides in the environment.     

Evaluating the Brazilian zero tolerance drinking and driving law: Time series analyses of traffic-related mortality in three major cities

Objective: A zero tolerance alcohol restriction law was adopted in Brazil in 2008. In order to assess the effectiveness of this intervention, the present study compares specific mortality in 2 time series: 1980–2007 and 2008–2013.

Methods: Data on mortality and population were gathered from official Brazilian Ministry of Health information systems. Segmented regression analyses were carried out separately for 3 major Brazilian capitals: Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo.

Results: In 2 cities (Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro) there were no significant changes in mortality rate trends in 2 periods, 1980 to 2007 and 2008 to 2013, where the observed rates did not differ significantly from predicted rates. In São Paulo, a decreasing trend until 2007 unexpectedly assumed higher levels after implementation of the law.

Conclusion: There is no evidence of reduced traffic-related mortality in the 3 major Brazilian capitals 5.5 years after the zero tolerance drinking and driving law was adopted.     

An integrated approach towards transforming an industrial park into an eco-industrial park: the case of Salaise-Sablons

This paper describes an integrated approach to transform an industrial park into an eco-industrial park by combining three interconnected goals, namely, the consolidation of industrial symbiosis, the promotion of sustainable accessibility and the development of multi-functionalities. The result is an interdependent approach where industrial and territorial ecosystems are jointly planned, seeking a more sustainable level of development that considers industrial activity, the transportation of people and goods and the spatial articulation with the neighbouring environment and urban areas. The critical points and challenges for improving the territorial integration of the French industrial park of Salaise-Sablons are discussed, providing lessons for the future. Regardless of the specificities of the case study, this approach has the potential to be adopted in similar industrial parks.     

Environmental management in Brazil: is it a completely competitive priority?

Current studies indicate a need to integrate environmental management with manufacturing strategy, including topics like cross-functional integration, environmental impact, and waste reduction. Nevertheless, such studies are relatively rare, existing still a need for research in specific regional contexts. At the same time, the results found are not unanimous. Due to these gaps, the objective of this article is to analyze if environmental management can be considered a new competitive priority for manufacturing enterprises located in Brazil. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with Brazilian companies certified by ISO 14001. Sixty-five valid questionnaires were analyzed through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The first conclusion is that environmental management presents a preventive approach in the sample analyzed, focused on eco-efficiency, what potentially do not to create a competitive advantage. This preventive approach inhibits environmental management from being regarded as a new competitive manufacturing priority, in the full sense as defined by the literature. Another important result is that environmental management, although following a preventive focus, may influence positively the four manufacturing priorities: cost, quality, flexibility and delivery.     

Socio-economic, environmental, and governance impacts of illegal logging

This article examines the main impacts of the illegal logging activities with emphasis on the most important timber production regions. Although the discussion is focused on the environmental, socio-economic and governance impacts, it must be stressed that the term forest governance is the umbrella where the economy, the environmental values, and welfare of forest-dependent communities are sheltered. Considering the effects/impacts of the illegal logging as a whole, we can summarize the following negative key points: (1) Degradation of the most valuable forest stands threatening biodiversity, including rare and endangered species. (2) Increase in soil erosion and landslides. Increase in CO₂ release and climatic changes. (3) Human rights abuses and disrespect of the basic needs of local communities and their culture. (4) Corruption, crime, coercion, and money laundering. (5) Reduction of royalties, taxes, and other charges paid by logging companies to the producer States. (6) Depreciation of legal activities due to the unfair concurrence. Despite multiple efforts, the results in the combat of illegal logging are far from satisfactory. Increase the certification area in parallel with an accurate control, devolve the state land to the ancient local owners, increase the cooperation between civil society and forest authorities, and finally strongly improve forest governance, particularly anti-money laundering laws, are crucial aspects in the combat of illegal logging. Furthermore, governments and businesses must implement the triple bottom line concept in order to reach sustainability.     

Innovation in risk transfer for natural hazards impacting agriculture

Agricultural income from growing crops is susceptible to a variety of risks—the price of output and the actual amount of output are generally the largest risk variables. This article focuses on yield risk rather than price risk by reviewing innovation in risk transfer for natural hazard risk in agriculture. While many higher-income countries have long-standing crop insurance programs, these programs are not appropriate for lower-income countries. Lower-income countries can ill-afford the subsidies that are used in most multiple peril crop insurance programs throughout the world. Still, lower-income countries have large numbers of small farms increasing the need for agricultural insurance to protect against common problems that create disastrous losses for many individual farm households.     

Antibiotic resistance of Enterococcus spp. isolated from wastewater and sludge of poultry slaughterhouses

Antibiotimicrobial resistance was investigated in 537 Enterococcus spp. isolates recovered from 22 samples of crude inflow, treated effluent and sludge collected in wastewater treatment plants of eight poultry slaughterhouses of Portugal. No significant differences (P > 0.05) were found in the resistance to each antimicrobial agent with regards to the origin of the sample (inflow, sludge and effluent). Many of the isolates displayed resistance to tetracycline (85.7%), erythromycin (45.7%), nitrofurantoin (34.0%) and rifampicin (17.8%). Resistance was also observed, but to a lesser extent, to ciprofloxacin (10.2%), ampicillin (8.0%), chloramphenicol (4.6%), vancomycin (0.9%) and gentamicin (0.4%). Resistance to three or more antimicrobial classes was present in 37.1% of the isolates. Wastewater treatment resulted in viable enterococci decrease between less than 1 log and 4 log; nevertheless, more than 4.4 x 10(5) colony forming units (CFU)/100 mL were present in the outflow of the plants and thus resistant enterococci are not prevented from reaching the general environment.     

Leaching composted lignocellulosic wastes to prepare container media: Feasibility and environmental concerns

The leaching of salt and mineral elements from three composts prepared with residual vegetable crop biomass (melon, pepper or zucchini) was studied using methacrylate columns and distilled water. The benefits of the leached composts to be used for ornamental potted plant production were also analysed. After leaching 5 container capacities of effluent, both the electrical conductivity and the concentration of soluble mineral elements in compost leachates decreased substantially and remained close to the target levels. Composts reacted differently to leaching due to differences in the raw waste sources and the composting process and hence, in their physical and chemical characteristics. At the end of the experiment, after pouring 8 container capacities of water, the leaching efficiency of the salts was 96%, 93% and 87% for melon, pepper and zucchini-based composts, respectively. Mineral elements differed in their ability to be removed from the composts; N (NH₄⁺ and NO₃^?), K⁺, Na⁺, Cl^?, and SO₄^2? were leached readily, whereas H₂PO₄^?, Ca²⁺, and Mg²⁺ were removed hardly. Leached composts showed a range of physico-chemical and chemical characteristics suitable for use as growing media constituents. Potted Calendula and Calceolaria plants grew in the substrates prepared with the leached composts better than in those made with the non-leached ones. Finally, special emphasis must be paid to the management of the effluents produced under commercial conditions to avoid environmental pollution.     

Dioxins/furans emissions from fluidized bed combustion of salt-laden hog fuel

Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins/furans (PCDD/F) were formed in substantial quantities in a pilot-scale fluidized bed combustor burning salt-laden waste wood, a common fuel for Canadian coastal pulp and paper mills. Formation of PCDD/F increased with increasing chloride content in the feed, and appeared to correlate with the chlorine content in the fly ash. It took a very long time for the ash chlorine content to stabilize, suggesting that chlorine transferred slowly from the flue gas to the ash. The baghouse may contribute largely to formation of the PCDD/F, owing to its temperature range and the potentially long residence time for ash particles. Controlling the baghouse temperature to reduce the PCDD/F formation in the baghouse should be effective in reducing the total emission level. While sulphur addition was found to reduce the emission level by as much as 90%, the emission level was still above the regulated level for the mills burning salt-laden wood under the conditions of the present study. No relation between the emission level and CO concentration in the flue gas was observed.