A fresh perspective on food safety in Canada: risk communication,public involvement,and the impact of the 2008 listeriosis outbreak

While the listeriosis outbreak of 2008 brought attention to food safety decision making in Canada, little of that attention was placed on public involvement and risk communication. With a primary focus on Health Canada (HC) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), this article describes the state of microbial-related public involvement and risk communication undertakings and suggests ways in which improvements can be made. The findings show that public involvement and risk communication activities have been strengthened since the outbreak, but they have become neither dialogical nor highly participatory. HC engages with experts to a far greater extent than with the lay public and it has fallen short in fulfilling its stated commitment to openness and transparency. Furthermore, both HC's and the CFIA's approach to risk communication has been overly general, has failed to provide opportunities for dialogue with vulnerable and more general groups with whom it is communicating and is not rooted in foodborne surveillance data. Public involvement in food safety governance would be improved if HC provided the lay public with a seat on advisory committees and improved its public involvement reporting methods. HC and the CFIA could also make risk communication improvements by creating opportunities for dialogue between officials and the general public, and by exploring alternative risk communication vehicles, such as food labels.     

CO厌氧发酵制氢过程中的微生物特性及其影响因素

以发酵液中溶解的一氧化碳(CO)为底物,研究高温嗜热菌(Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans)厌氧发酵制氢的工艺过程.通过C.hydrogenoformans菌的生长规律、絮凝能力和反应特性等实验研究,建立菌株的生长规律模型,得出微生物衰减系数和最大比生长速率.结果表明,C.hydrogenoformans菌产氢率高,絮凝效果好,用于连续CO生物发酵制氢工艺是可行的.对发酵制氢过程的影响因素进行考察,得出最佳食微比及CO对发酵制氢过程的抑制浓度等过程参数,为有效开发CO厌氧生物发酵制氢的工艺路线提供了参考依据.图4表2参17     

土壤跳虫(Folsomia candida)对食物中铜污染物的吸收和排泄

重金属污染物在生物体内的累积、迁移和传递已成为当今的研究热点。土壤弹尾目昆虫作为土壤生态系统的重要组成部分,针对其对重金属的吸收、积累和排泄的动态过程以及相应解毒机制的研究意义重大。本研究通过弹尾目跳虫(Folsomia candida)对Cu的吸收-排泄效率实验发现,跳虫体内Cu含量随暴露时间的延长而显著增加(r~2=0.8878,F_(1,5)=29.59,P<0.01);跳虫体内Cu含量随排泄时间的延长而明显逐渐降低(r~2=0.7836,F_(1,3)=7.13,P<0.01)。跳虫对Cu的吸收-排泄Budget实验表明,只有少量的Cu被跳虫摄取到体内,其中小部分被体内组织消化吸收,大部分则可能通过中肠细胞的褪皮作用和产卵等方式排出体外。可见,褪皮和排卵是跳虫排泄重金属Cu的重要途径,跳虫对Cu具有较低的吸收率(8.13%)和较高的排泄率(57.3%),表明跳虫对Cu可能有较高的耐受性。     

南疆近60a来寒潮气候特征及其对农业生产的影响

寒潮是我区主要灾害性天气之一,南疆植被稀少,温差大,强冷空气南下,容易形成寒潮。论文利用南疆5地(州)1949-2008年间的寒潮发生频次、 持续时间及其造成的受灾农田面积、 死亡牲畜、 经济损失数据资料,对南疆寒潮空间分布、 年际变化、 季节变化、 形成原因及其对农业生产影响进行深入分析。分析得出:①近60 a来,南疆寒潮发生频次山区多于平原、 北部多于南部,而寒潮过程降温幅度天山南麓绿洲带大于北部山区;对地(州)而言,巴州发生频次最多,受灾最严重,阿克苏次于巴州,克州与和田寒潮频次与受灾最少,喀什居中。②近60 a来,寒潮发生频次年际变化幅度较大,总体上呈现略有减少趋势,特别是1999年来频次明显减少;每年9月至翌年5月是寒潮活动期,以5月和4月发生频次最高,极端最大降温以4-5月和9-10月居多。③在气候变暖背景下,虽寒潮频次总体上呈略有减少趋势,但由于4-5月寒潮较多,而且小麦返青拔节,棉花出苗蕾铃,果树生芽开花,其抗寒能力下降,遇到明显降温,就会发生冻害,加上绿洲种植面积扩大,社会经济发展,承载体单位面积的受灾成本提高,使南疆寒潮低温冻害灾害呈显著增多趋势。     

草地退化对三江源区高寒草甸生态系统CO2通量的影响及其原因

为了揭示草地退化对三江源地区高寒草甸生态系统碳通量的影响,利用涡度相关技术,于2006年12月1日~2007年11月30日对三江源地区的退化高寒草甸生态系统的碳通量及生物和环境因子进行观测.结果发现:草地退化对高寒草甸生态系统的碳通量产生了深刻影响,与未退化的高寒草甸生态系统相比,退化高寒草甸生态系统全年总初级生产力(GPP)下降了36.6%,全年生态系统呼吸(Reco)下降了7.9%,全年净生态系统CO2交换(NEE)也由退化前的负值(碳吸收)转变为正值(碳排放),二者相差132.5gC/(m2·a),生态系统由原来的碳汇转变为目前的碳源.这些变化与高寒草甸退化后,生态系统植物地上生物量锐减、植物生长期缩短(NEE<0的天数)、植物多样性下降、土壤含水量降低等因素密切相关.     

我国电解锰行业氨氮污染分析与控制

我国"十二五"期间将氨氮纳入总量控制指标,电解锰行业氨氮污染控制变得非常紧迫。介绍了电解锰氨氮污染的现状,分析了电解锰氨氮污染的产生途径以及电解锰生产中的氨氮平衡,依据"源头消减、过程控制、末端循环"的清洁生产理念,提出了电解锰氨氮污染的控制措施。     

污泥填埋场气体产量的预测方法研究

为有效利用污泥填埋场内产生的沼气,以上海白龙港污水处理厂污泥为例,对污泥填埋场中气体产生率及产生量进行了预测.应用元素的归一化摩尔化方法得到该污水处理厂污泥有机物的近似分子式为C28H52O16N4.用化学计量法和IPCC模型预测的甲烷气体产生潜能分别为60.6,61.7kg/t(以干重计).用动力学模型和IPCC模型预测的甲烷气体产生率分别为13.3,11.1kg/(t×a)(以干重计),2种方法计算的甲烷气体产生率的差别主要在于参数的取值不同,化学计量法和动力学模型法预测的气体产生量和产生率更能反映污泥填埋场实际的气体产生情况,应用IPCC模型更适合于从宏观角度估算一个地区或整个国家的填埋场产气量.     

含固率和接种比对林可霉素菌渣厌氧消化的影响

通过林可霉素菌渣的中温厌氧消化摇瓶实验,比较不同的含固率(3%、5%、8%、10%)和接种比(0.5、1、2、3)对菌渣产甲烷能力的影响,以确定菌渣厌氧消化的最优工艺条件.结果表明,在研究参数范围内,含固率越低,接种比越高,越有利于甲烷的产生;经过10d的培养,在含固率为3%、接种比为3时的工况中,菌渣的挥发性固体(VS)累计净产甲烷量最高,为106 mL/g;而含固率>5%、接种比2的液态发酵工艺,此条件既能保证厌氧消化不受消化产物(胺和挥发性有机酸)积累的抑制,也可以缓冲菌渣中残留林可霉素对消化微生物可能产生的抑制效应.     

Tradeoffs between forestry resource and conservation values under alternate policy regimes: A spatial analysis of the western Canadian boreal plains

An important element of resource management and conservation is an understanding of the tradeoffs between marketed products, such as timber, and measures of environmental quality, such as biodiversity. In this paper, we develop an integrated economic-ecological spatial optimization model that we then apply to evaluate alternate forest policies on a 560,000 km² study region of managed boreal forest in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada. The integrated model incorporates dynamic forest sector harvesting, current levels of oil and gas sector development, coarse-filter or habitat-based old forest indicators, a set of empirical forest bird abundance models, and statistical models of the natural and current fire regimes. Using our integrated model, economic tradeoff curves, or production possibility frontiers, are developed to illustrate the cost of achieving coarse-filter targets by a set time (50 years) within a 100-year time horizon. We found levels of ecological indicators and economic returns from the timber industry could both be increased if spatial constraints imposed by the current policy environment were relaxed; other factors being equal, this implies current policy should be revised. We explore the production possibility frontier's relationship to the range of natural variation of old forest habitat, and show how this range can be used to guide choices of preferred locations along the frontier. We also show that coarse-filter constraints on the abundance of certain habitat elements are sufficient to satisfy some fine-filter objectives, expressed as the predicted abundances of various species of songbirds.     

冬季土地管理对稻季CH4产生、氧化和排放的影响

通过室内培养和田间试验测定了冬季休闲、种麦和淹水处理水稻生长期CH4的产生潜力、氧化潜力及其排放通量,以探讨冬季土地管理对后续稻季CH4产生、氧化和排放的影响。结果表明：休闲与种麦处理间CH4产生潜力无显著差异（P〉0．05）,但2者均显著低于淹水处理（P〈0．05）;各处理间CH4氧化潜力无显著差异（P〉0．05）,土壤中NH4^＋-N含量可能是较冬季土地管理更为重要的影响CH4氧化潜力的因素;休闲处理CH4平均排放通量显著高于种麦处理（P〈0．05）,但2者均显著低于淹水处理（P〈0．05）。冬季持续淹水稻田CH4产生潜力显著高于冬季排水稻田是其CH4排放量远高于冬季排水稻田的原因。冬季土地管理对稻季CH4排放的影响主要受CH4产生潜力而非CH4氧化潜力的限制。