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Legislation

EPA seeks partners on ozone standards

EPA has introduced new guidelines designed to encourage voluntary, early reductions of air emissions that contribute to ground-level ozone. The guidelines, called Ozone Flex, will help communities identify cost-effective, flexible ways to meet EPA's smog standards.

Many local metropolitan areas have ozone air quality below, but close to, the 1 h ozone standard specified under federal legislation. EPA uses monitored air quality data and recommendations from air pollution control agencies to determine if these are met within specific geographical areas. The new guidelines allow for state, tribal and local governments and EPA to develop and sign a memorandum of agreement describing the local control measures to be implemented voluntarily in advance of possible air quality violations. Under the agreements, the authorities commit to preparing emission inventories, and conducting air quality modelling and monitoring, if necessary, to support their selection of emission controls.

Participation in the programme is voluntary, and only areas currently meeting the 1 h standard are eligible to take part. There are several incentives for authorities to participate. Communities are afforded the flexibility to institute their own approach in maintaining clean air and providing public health protection. EPA expects that participants will receive positive public reaction for voluntarily addressing air pollution problems before federal requirements kick in. For a period of time, generally not to exceed five years, communities can avoid an EPA “non-attainment designation” for violating the 1 h standard.

EPA: www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/

Chemical plans get the green light

Member states have endorsed far-reaching plans to overhaul the EU's system of chemical regulation. At their regular meeting in June, environment ministers gave their backing to plans to “reverse the burden of proof” by requiring chemical manufacturers to prove their products are safe before receiving marketing authorisation. The resolution provides strong backing for the Commission's plans and calls for it to propose legislation before the end of the year.

Under proposals on the future EU chemical policy unveiled earlier this year, substances that are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBTs), very persistent and very bioaccumulative (VPVBs), or which are known endocrine disruptors will be subject to a process of authorisation [JEM, 2001, 3, 22N and 33N]. Chemical firms have strongly criticised the proposals, which they say impose unnecessary burdens for little practical gain. Industry favours instead extending the scope of the existing system of restrictions on marketing and use.

EU ministers also endorsed the proposed timetable for a phased introduction of the new policy. They called for a duty of care obligation for manufacturers to ensure the safety of chemicals irrespective of production volume. The Commission should consider a register of all chemicals produced in small volumes, and also propose how the chemicals policy should cover substances in finished products manufactured or imported into the EU.

EU Council of Ministers: http://ue.eu.int

EU weighs up soil monitoring

An EU-wide system for soil quality monitoring could form a centre-piece of a new European policy on soil protection. The European Commission's Environment Directorate signalled the move in its first public response to a wide-ranging review of soil protection in the EU undertaken by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and UNEP last year [JEM, 2001, 3, 20N].

While making no reference to a framework directive on soil protection, as recommended by the EEA, the paper advocates a coordinated system for soil monitoring. Lack of data and poor comparability are key barriers to a comprehensive picture of soil quality, the Commission says, and an EU-wide information system would be a great asset.

The Commission has pledged to raise the profile of soils in its forthcoming sixth Environmental Action Programme (EAP). This initial paper presents a likely outline for the soil chapter of the EAP. It notes that a number of soil-related policies are already in place, such as directives on sewage sludge, waste landfills and farm nitrate pollution. Measures to integrate environmental considerations into other policy areas, such as agriculture and transport are also relevant.

European Commission: see http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/agriculture/pdf/soilpaper.pdf

Canada unveils clean air timetable

The Canadian government has issued a progress report and interim plan on federal measures to combat air pollution. The report outlines the Government's activities on reducing emissions, the science behind policy decisions on toxic air pollutants, and the clean air programmes sponsored by federal and provincial authorities.

The plan follows through on the undertaking made by federal, provincial and territorial governments in June 2000, to prepare and make public their implementation plans for actions to reduce emissions of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) and ozone by 2010. Federal commitments include negotiating and signing the Ozone Annex to reduce transboundary ozone emissions [JEM, 2000, 2, 93N], putting in place a 10 year plan of actions for cleaner vehicles, engines and fuels [JEM, 2001, 3, 19N], and improving the national monitoring and reporting system on air pollutants [JEM, 2000, 2, 57N].

Explaining the approach, Environment Minister David Anderson said that “As this federal plan is the first to set out a series of commitments, initiatives and actions for PM and ozone, it has been designated as an interim plan. Regular updates will reflect progress, new initiatives and the on-going consultations and coordination with provincial and territorial partners on commitments in their jurisdictions.”

Environment Canada: “Interim Plan on Particulate Matter and Ozone” available at www.ec.gc.ca/air/pdfs/200104_e.pdf

Environmental quality

Sound science for TDMLs

Regulators in the US should apply a more scientific approach in setting and implementing water quality standards according to the National Research Council (NRC). Under the Clean Water Act, each state must identify and report on impaired waters (i.e., those not attaining water quality standards) and establish total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for the listed waterbodies.

In a recent report commissioned by the EPA, NRC recommends that states use biological measurements to complement physical and chemical measurements in establishing TMDLs. Greater use of statistical approaches are encouraged in designing monitoring programs and analysing water quality data to determine waterbody impairment. States should acknowledge and take into account “scientific uncertainty” due to limited data or other problems by adopting an “adaptive implementation” approach in which monitoring, cleanup, and other plans would be assessed periodically and revised based on the availability of new data and scientific tools. NRC's findings follow earlier criticisms of the way non-point sources are accounted for in calculating TDMLs [JEM, 2000, 2, 46N].

The report calls on EPA to adopt a two-step process for TMDL determinations. Certain waterbodies, such as those for which initial data are inadequate, would be placed on a preliminary list before being moved to the final Sec. 303(d) list of impaired waters. According to NRC, this would allow regulators time to gather more data on those waterbodies while concentrating their efforts on clearly impaired waters. A limit would be imposed on the amount of time a waterbody could remain on the preliminary list. Federal funds to help states conduct additional studies on waterbodies included on the preliminary lists could also be considered, the report suggests.

Meanwhile, EPA has launched a new web site intended as “a one-stop shop” for information about US water quality. Called WATERS (Watershed Assessment, Tracking and Environmental Results), the site incorporates the US Geological Survey's National Hydrographic Dataset, and provides unified access to water quality information from several state and EPA databases, including EPA's TMDL Database and its new National Water Quality Standards Database. At present, users can find information on impaired waters for all states except Alaska. Users can also search for water quality information for a particular body of water by clicking on an interactive map, which is currently available for 11 states. EPA will update WATERS as new information becomes available, eventually covering all 50 states, and will add links to data on ambient water quality, drinking water quality, polluted runoff, fish consumption advisories, facility discharge outfalls, and other information.

National Research Council: “Assessing the TMDL Approach to Water Quality Management”, available at www.nap.edu/catalog/10146.html; EPA WATERS website: www.epa.gov/waters

UNEP launches new eco-assessment

A major study into the state of the world's ecosystems has been launched by a coalition of national governments, international agencies, and scientific groups, led by the UN Environment Programme. According to UNEP, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment will be the most extensive study of its kind to date.

The assessment will investigate ecosystem functioning at different scales, from local to global level, so as to reach conclusions about the Earth's overall environmental health. Certain regions have been earmarked for a special focus, including southern Africa and South-East Asia, and more will be added as knowledge gaps are identified. In Europe, assessments for Norway and Sweden are already planned. The four year study has a budget of €24.6m and will involve around 1500 scientists worldwide.

Meanwhile the OECD, representing the world's 29 richest and most advanced nations, has issued its own status report, based on reviews of its members' environmental performance undertaken over the last 10 years. The “review of reviews” takes stock of progress and highlights key challenges for the future.

Despite significant advances in environmental protection during the 1990s, continued progress is not assured, warns OECD. Factors such as economic growth, increased traffic and energy use, intensification of agriculture, more urbanisation and higher consumption could all increase environmental pressure. Noting that these and other challenges require more integration of environmental thinking into sectoral policy-making, the report warns that efforts so far have been hampered by a “long-standing lack of institutional coordination”. Some sectoral policies “continue to run counter to environmental objectives”. Addressing unsustainable trends in energy, transport and agriculture is at the heart of a ten year environmental strategy adopted by OECD ministers earlier this year.

UNEP Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.htm; OECD: “Environmental Performance Reviews: Achievements in OECD countries”, www.oecd.org/env/performance/index.htm

Arctic under pressure

Environmental damage in the Arctic will reach critical levels by 2015 if current rates of industrial development continue, according to the UN Environment Programme. Already, species found in up to one-fifth of the region's land area have suffered falls in population or breeding success due to human encroachment and the impact of long-range pollution. UNEP Director Klaus Töpfer drew particular attention to damaging industrial developments within the Arctic such as oil, gas and mineral exploration, hydroelectric schemes, timber extraction and new roads. The report is the latest of several recent studies highlighting the sensitivity of the Arctic environment [JEM, 2000, 2, 94N].

The report's publication coincided with the latest meteorological data from Environment Canada, confirming that the Canadian Arctic continues to experience possible early effects from climate change. Initial data for spring 2001 show nationally averaged mean temperatures remained above normal for the sixteenth consecutive season (since summer 1997) [JEM, 2001, 3, 8N].

Spring this year was Canada's seventh warmest on record, with temperatures 1.6 °C above normal. Most of the country experienced 1–2 °C above normal temperatures, with northern Ontario and Quebec having temperatures more than 4 °C above normal. The region with the highest temperature variation was Nunavut (formerly the Northern Territories) with +2.3 °C. Atlantic Canada experienced the lowest variation at +0.2 °C.

Rainfall patterns were also unusual. A band of wetter than normal conditions, running from north to south through Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Manitoba, and northern Ontario, split up the drier than normal conditions felt in the Maritimes, western Saskatchewan, Alberta, eastern British Columbia, and the Yukon.

UNEP report: www.grida.no/prog/polar/globio/rovaniemi_doc/globrephr.pdf; Meteorological Service of Canada: “Climate Change and Variations Bulletin for Canada – Spring 2001”, available at www.ec.gc.ca

Pressure indicators updated

The difficulties in developing highly aggregated and multi-purpose environmental indicators, similar to those commonly used to measure economic trends, is reinforced by the latest compendium of EU data.

The report from Eurostat, the EU's statistical agency, updates a similar report issued two years ago. It is structured around the nine environmental policy themes of the EU's fifth Environmental Action Programme, although the total number of indicators has been reduced from 60 to 48. Policy themes such as dispersion of toxic substances illustrate the huge complexity facing environmental indicator development. Describing the field with a manageable number of indicators “is an almost impossible task”, Eurostat concludes.

The report represents one leg of a wider EU effort to measure progress in environmental policy-making and especially in integration of environmental considerations across all sectors. Whereas Eurostat restricts itself to “pressure” indicators, other agencies such as the European Environment Agency are adopting a more wide-ranging approach, using the DPSIR (driving forces, pressures, states, impacts and responses) concept.

Eurostat: “Environmental Pressure Indicators 2001”, http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat

Canada strives for accessible information

A Task Force set up by Environment Canada has embarked on a national consultation on how the country measures and reports on environmental issues.

The CISE Task Force was created in October 2000 to advise on the design and implementation of a Canadian Information System for the Environment (CISE) accessible to all levels of Canadian society. Members are drawn from academia, the private sector, government and non-government organisations. Following the consultations this summer, the Task Force will submit a final report to Environment Canada in the autumn.

“Our interim report identifies two immediate priorities: to fill the gaps in information by enhancing our monitoring of the environment and to improve the tools for reporting to Canadians on how well governments are doing in managing our environmental resources,” said CISE Task Force Chair David Johnston, President of the University of Waterloo.

Environment Canada has also released a related report, “Tracking Key Environmental Issues”, which provides an overview of the main environmental challenges facing Canada and the actions being taken to address them. The report examines trend data for five key issues (air, water, nature, climate change and severe weather), identifies progress and information gaps.

Environment Canada: “Informing Environmental Decisions — First Steps Towards a Canadian Information System for the Environment” (www.ec.gc.ca/cise/) and “Tracking Key Environmental Issues” (www.ec.gc.ca/introec/tkei/index_e.cfm)

Clear EU waters

Coastal and freshwater bathing water quality in the EU continued to improve last year, according to EU-wide sampling results for the 2000 bathing season. The data show that the overall proportion of EU coastal water sites meeting the directive's mandatory limit values for water quality reached 96.5%, nearly 1% higher than the average reported in 1999 [JEM, 2000, 2, 59N]. The number meeting the tougher “guide” values rose by a similar margin to 88.4%. Only Belgium managed 100% compliance with the mandatory values, for the second successive year.

Average compliance at freshwater sites improved by a larger margin from a lower base, rising by about 3.5% to reach 93.6% and 70.4% for the mandatory and guide values, respectively. This was despite declines in quality in Belgium, Portugal, the UK and Germany. Much of the overall quality gain in both water types was due to “considerable improvements” in Sweden and Finland.

Unveiling the figures, Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström said she would press ahead with a revision of the 1976 bathing waters directive by the end of the year, taking account of recent scientific advice on procedures for biological monitoring.

European Commission: Bathing water website: http://europa.eu.int/water/water-bathing/index_en.html; CSTEE Opinion on bathing water quality: http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/sct/out98_en.pdf

Chemical hazards

Tests end phthalate logjam?

A series of analytical protocols to measure the leaching of phthalate softeners from children's toys could offer the EU a way out of a political impasse. The EU has been logjammed on the phthalates issue since introducing emergency legislation early last year as a result of concerns the chemicals could leach from certain PVC products [JEM, 2000, 2, 8N].

At the request of the EU's Scientific Committee on Toxicology, Ecotoxicology and the Environment (CSTEE), scientists at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) have developed test methods to determine maximum leaching rates. Such tests are an essential element of limit-based controls but CSTEE rejected as unreliable two earlier proposals developed by national authorities in the UK and the Netherlands [JEM, 2000, 2, 95N]. The JRC's testing protocol claims to guarantee reproducible results between different laboratories and has been submitted to CSTEE for approval. The other essential element of a migration-based control policy, establishing a tolerable exposure level to phthalates, has already been addressed by CSTEE.

The Committee's decision on the new procedures is being eagerly awaited. A majority of member states now favour this approach and the Commission has said it is prepared to accommodate such a development within its own proposals. Even the European Parliament, which formerly followed a much tougher line on phthalate phase-out, has indicated it is ready to be persuaded.

JRC Institute for Health and Consumer Protection: http://ihcp.jrc.it/theihcp/index.htm

Scientists probe dioxins inventory and health risks

The human health impacts of the 1999 food contamination scandal could be much higher than previously thought according to new research. Writing in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, Belgian scientists estimate the episode could contribute up to 8000 cancers and have other non-cancer health impacts. Body burdens of PCBs and dioxins probably doubled or tripled in certain groups of consumers the scientists say. While intake in the wider population was low, millions could have been exposed. The conclusions contradict earlier scientific assurances that significant harm to consumers eating dairy products was very unlikely.

Similar concerns have been raised in Britain recently as a result of the foot-and-mouth outbreak. The Food Standards Agency warned that people consuming whole milk from cows grazing close to animal pyres could be taking in dangerous levels of dioxins. The agency stressed that the risks, if any, were very small but advised as a precautionary measure that people consuming whole milk or milk products from animals that have been grazing within 2 km of pyres should “vary their diets”. The statement followed an earlier warning from the Department of Health regarding airborne emissions [JEM, 2001, 3, 40N].

Meanwhile, the EU as a whole is on target to reduce dioxin emissions to air by 90% by 2005, based on 1985 levels, according to the latest report by the European Commission [for earlier reports see JEM, 2000, 2, 11N and 79N]. Co-ordinated by the environment agency of North Rhine Westphalia, the study concludes that comprehensive abatement measures over the last 15 years have led to sharp declines in dioxin concentrations in ambient air. As a result, concentrations in food, human blood and breast milk are generally declining. Furthermore, the report notes that dioxin emissions to land and water are an important issue with many data gaps remaining. Dioxins are among the first group of chemical substances to be targeted for a global phase out or severe reduction under the terms of the recent international POPS treaty [JEM, 2001, 3, 7N].

UK Food Standards Agency: www.foodstandards.gov.uk; Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 109, pp. 265-273 (March 2001); European Commission: Dioxin Inventory Report http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/dioxin/download.htm

Regulators close in on creosote

Stricter European controls on creosote have been brought a step closer following new regulations in Switzerland and initiation of an EU study into human health risks.

The new Swiss regulations limiting levels of carcinogenic substances in treated wood products, including garden fencing, come into force in October. Under the regulations, the maximum allowable content of benzo-a-pyrene (BaP) will be set at 50 ppm and soluble phenols at 3% by weight. Both substances are found in creosote and as a result the regulation effectively outlaws use of the compound as a wood protector. Existing treated wood products that fail to meet the new standards will not have to be removed, however.

The rail sector will be the most severely affected: the Swiss environment agency estimates that the country's railway sleepers contain around 40 000 tonnes of creosote-based tar. Under the new regulations redundant sleepers will only be allowed in applications away from residential areas, such as electricity pylon plinths and avalanche defence installations.

Meanwhile, proposals by the Dutch government to prohibit BaP-based treatments in wood coming into contact with surface waters have been referred to an expert scientific committee. The Commission has asked the EU Scientific Committee on Toxicology, Ecotoxicology and the Environment (CSTEE) to study the Dutch proposals to implement stricter national controls and a decision is expected before the end of the year. The Commission is currently preparing its own proposal on creosote following an earlier investigation by CSTEE [JEM, 1999, 1, 43N]. This will lower maximum BaP concentrations from their current levels of 50 ppm in consumer applications and 500 ppm in some industrial uses.

Similar concerns about inorganic-based wood preservatives are being raised in the US and Scandinavia [JEM, 2000, 2, 96N].

Swiss Environment Agency: www.umwelt-scheiz.ch/buwal/fr/index.html; CSTEE Opinion: http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/sct/out105_en.html

Danes target greenhouse gas and pesticides

Denmark continues to make the running in EU environmental policy, pressing ahead with chemicals controls on a number of fronts.

The latest proposal involves a ban on the greenhouse gas sulfur hexafluoride (SF⁶), which is used in high tech industries such as telecoms. The plan has attracted heavy criticism from industry, which said that good alternatives to SF₆ are not yet available. A phase-out would simply force some of Denmark's most innovative companies to relocate elsewhere with no environmental gain, according to the Confederation of Danish Industry. Four other EU countries have also objected to the plan, on the grounds that it could undermine the European single market. The European Commission has put a block on the proposal while it investigates.

The Danish government has also notified the Commission of its intention to ban the import of agricultural produce treated with pesticides that have not passed or been subject to government safety tests. The EU is undertaking its own assessment of the health implications of all 850 pesticides on the market but the work is unlikely to be complete by the target date of 2003. In an interview with Politiken newspaper, Agriculture Minister Ritt Bjerregaard said that the procrastination within the EU had gone on long enough and that Denmark would press ahead with national regulations.

Danish EPA: www.mst.dk; EPEE industry association: www.epeeglobal.org

Public and occupational health

New evidence on MTBE effects

The risks posed by MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether) and other oxygenates are becoming clearer following recent research into the chemical's metabolic pathways. The Health Effects Institute, the US-based transport research group, sponsored three studies in New Mexico, New Jersey, and Würzburg in Germany. They involved some of the first efforts to compare human ingestion vs. inhalation of MTBE, an additive in motor fuel, and to test its metabolism with coexposures to other fuel components. These results provide an important input to the on-going debates on MTBE in the US [JEM, 1999, 1, 94N] and in Europe [JEM, 2001, 3, 41N].

The New Jersey study, undertaken by Dr Jun-Yan Hong, identified a particular liver enzyme, CYP2A6, as a major element in metabolism of MTBE and other oxygenates. Although the relative importance of this enzyme over others remains undetermined, the results suggest further research into the involvement of these and other enzymes in the health effects of ethers. Dr Hong also found several genetic variants of CYP2A6 in some human volunteers who reported sensitivity to MTBE.

The Würzburg study by Dr Wolfgang Dekant provides a detailed characterization of metabolites of MTBE and other oxygenates. The pathways for metabolism of MTBE and ETBE (ethyl tert-butyl ether) were found to be similar, whereas the metabolism of TAME (tert-amyl methyl ether) followed a slightly different pathway with more steps involved and the formation of more metabolites. The metabolic pathway after ingestion of MTBE and TAME in humans was almost identical to the pathway after inhalation. No first pass effect—in which the liver metabolizes a compound before it enters into the general circulation—was observed after ingestion, and rates of metabolism were similar for both exposure routes. These data can be used, therefore, in extrapolating results across species and routes of exposure for the human health risk assessment of ether exposure by inhalation or ingestion.

The New Mexico study, by Dr Janet Benson and coworkers, provided detailed data on the metabolism and disposition of MTBE and its metabolites in rats after inhalation of MTBE alone and of MTBE with fuel vapours. The investigators showed that MTBE was rapidly taken up into the blood and distributed evenly over body compartments (such as liver, kidney, and lungs). Inhalation of MTBE in combination with fuel vapour (200 ppm) reduced the total amount of MTBE taken up into the body and increased the amount of MTBE and metabolites exhaled in breath, suggesting that the toxic effects of MTBE during refuelling may be lower compared to exposure to MTBE by itself. The results indicate that caution is needed in using linear extrapolation of high doses to low doses for human health risk assessment of MTBE exposure.

Avenues for further research suggested by these results include: investigating the prevalence of specific enzymes in the general population, and determining whether the lack of a specific enzyme correlates with increased susceptibility to the health effects of oxygenates; study of the toxicity of ether metabolites; and further research into the effects of exposure to mixtures (including fuel vapours) on metabolism and the health effects of exposure to individual compounds, such as oxygenates.

Atmospheric exposures to MTBE have also been receiving attention from EU experts. In its opinion on a recent risk assessment undertaken by the Finnish authorities [JEM, 2001, 3, 23N], the EU Scientific Committee on Toxicology, Ecotoxicology and the Environment (CSTEE) said that inadequate consideration had been given to the substance's air pollution potential. MTBE is highly volatile and therefore leads to significant exposure via the atmosphere. Data on its effects on animal and plant life through this pathway were completely lacking in the risk assessment, CSTEE said. Most scrutiny of MTBE has focused on its effects on groundwater.

Health Effects Institute: “Metabolism of Ether Oxygenates Added to Gasoline”, HEI Research Report 102. Available at www.healtheffects.org/Pubs/st102.htm; CSTEE Opinion: http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/sct/out95_en.pdf

PM link in heart conditions

A study by the EPA's Office of Research and Development has verified that increased levels of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) resulting from air pollution are associated with changes in heart rate variability in the elderly.

The study of 56 non-smoking residents in a retirement community in Baltimore found that healthy patients and those with cardiovascular impairment appeared to have a similar increased risk of lowered heart rate variability—a marker of heart health. Decreased heart rate variability has been identified as an indicator for risk of sudden heart failure.

The research supports earlier retrospective studies by EPA and others that have linked exposure to fine particulate matter with thousands of hospital admissions and premature deaths per year [JEM, 2000, 2, 61N and 71N]. Although these studies established a statistical link between exposure to fine particles and morbidity or mortality, a physiological mechanism that might explain the observed health effects has yet to be identified.

The results followed warnings from a UK government watchdog that long-term exposure to fine particles is likely to be as dangerous as passive smoking. According to the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP), its 1998 findings that particle pollution results in 8000 premature deaths annually were almost certainly an underestimate. The Department of Health is considering funding research mirroring US work, to determine which groups are most at risk and to what extent.

COMEAP: www.doh.gov.uk/comeap/longtermeffects.pdf; Results from the Baltimore study were published in the June edition of the Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology.

Experts report on EDCs

There is “credible evidence” for adverse effects from exposure to hormone-like chemicals at very low levels according to a panel of scientific experts. In laboratory animals, the effects occur well below the “no effect” levels determined by traditional testing. However, the panel reported that, in some cases, other credible studies failed to observe such low-dose effects and there is no obvious reason for the different outcomes.

The 36-member panel was convened by the National Toxicology Program following years of controversy over potential health effects from endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which mimic animal hormones. Some of the hormones, like estrogen and testosterone, occur naturally. Other, chemically-related substances are manufactured for packaging, plastics and other products of modern life.

The panel found enough evidence of low level effects to recommend additional studies of low level doses of bisphenol A, a plastics building block used for a wide range of products, from safety helmets and impact resistant eye glass lenses to food packaging. A subpanel said there was “credible evidence” of bodily changes, such as in increased prostate weight, in some rodents exposed to low levels of bisphenol A, but “due to the inability of other credible studies... to observe low dose effects... and the consistency of these negative studies, the subpanel is not persuaded that a low dose effect of BPA has been conclusively established as a general or reproducible finding.”

While the panel stopped short of finding any of the effects to be either harmful or benign, which was not within its remit, it found evidence that increases in prostate weight and/or changes in female reproductive organs can occur in rodents or other test animals from low doses of estrogen and estrogen-like compounds, including the insecticide methoxychlor and genistein, a dietary component derived from soy.

The panel said EPA should obtain the best advice of experts who design tests and then consider rewriting the “guidelines” that industry must follow in having their new products tested before EPA approval. Additional multi-generational studies might use a range of different dosages to better determine if any reproductive problems result in the offspring or grand-offspring of exposed animals. Under current regulations, studies are undertaken at three or four levels—where each dose may be two- to four-fold less than the other. The highest dose at which no effect on the animal is seen is considered the “no effect” level. But the panel said the raw data suggested that an effect might occur at even lower levels, so that traditional approaches may need to be re-thought.

NIEHS: Peer Review of Low Dose Effects available at http://ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov/htdocs/liason/LowDosePeerFinalRpt.pdf

Chemicals cleared in cancer link

A review of breast cancer studies has found no link to DDT or PCBs, two industrial chemicals widely suspected as representing increased cancer risk. Both were suspect because of their similarities to estrogen, the so-called female hormone associated with a risk of breast cancer.

Of five studies undertaken among women in the north-eastern United States since 1993, none had shown a link between either DDT or PCBs and the Northeast's elevated rates of breast cancer. Some scientists had claimed that the sample sizes were simply too small and that their combined data might reveal such associations, at least for some subgroups of women.

The latest research using the combined data refutes this analysis. Taking data from a total of 1400 breast cancer patients and 1642 controls, NIEHS scientists conclude that neither exposure explains the high rates of breast cancer in the US Northeast.

In each of the studies, blood was drawn from patients and controls alike and tested for DDE, the major break-down product of DDT, and for PCBs. DDT and PCBs were widely used in the United States until the 1970s and accumulate in the body's fatty tissues and thus can be found in human blood and breast milk many years after exposure.

National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences: www.niehs.nih.gov/oc/news/notbc.htm; The results were reported in the May 16th issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute

NTP to study mobile phones and chromium(VI)

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) is to address the environmental hazards of cell phones in the most comprehensive animal toxicology study ever performed on microwave emissions.

Much of the research conducted so far on mobile phone safety has failed to show any negative health effects [JEM, 2000, 2, 23N]. However, users in the US, Europe and elsewhere continue to be concerned about potential health problems. Last year the NTP reviewed the existing data and noted its inadequacies. It has now begun designing five year rodent studies to obtain more data.

NTP is also initiating two year rodent studies and shorter-term toxicity studies of hexavalent chromium following concerns about the chemical as a pollutant in drinking water. The issue featured in the recent film Erin Brockovich in which Julia Roberts starred as a lawyer investigating a series of health crises related to chromium(VI) contamination.

National Toxicology Program: www.niehs.nih.gov/oc/crntnws/

Research activities

EU inspectors aim for peer review

Germany is to be the first country to have its national environmental inspection regime peer reviewed, as part of new measures to spread best practice between environmental agencies within the EU. The review process is being implemented through Impel, the EU network of environmental inspectors.

Under an EU recommendation that took effect in April, the network will regularly review member states' environmental inspection practices. Impel expects to complete six reviews by 2003, with Ireland, France and Belgium next in line to open their inspectorates up to scrutiny. The review reports will be owned by the reviewed country, which will decide what information to release.

In a separate activity, Impel is also to investigate inspectors' qualifications and training practices.

IMPEL: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/impel

Centre of excellence for North Carolina

The School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been selected as the site of a new Environmental Health Sciences Center to be funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for four years for a total of US$3.78 million.

The Chapel Hill Center will focus on three main areas: first, genetic susceptibility, looking at how variations in people's genes cause variations in their susceptibility to environmental factors, such as chemicals and radiation; secondly, developmental susceptibility, focusing on how susceptibility differs according to age, particularly from conception through childhood; and thirdly, toxicokinetic susceptibility, explaining how environmental exposures lead to more severe effects in some people than in others.

This will be the 22nd such centre funded by NIEHS nationwide, and like the others will be charged with community outreach activities related to environmental health. Centre grants allow universities that have developed a critical mass of interdisciplinary expertise, facilities and resources to bring these together under one administrative umbrella to do research and training to advance the environmental health sciences. Although the initial grant is for four years, many of the centres are maintained on a long-term basis.

University of North Carolina, School of Public Health: www.sph.unc.edu

Publications

Guidance on chemical mixtures

EPA has issued a supplement to its 1986 Guidelines for the Health Risk Assessment of Chemical Mixtures. The 1986 Guidelines represent the Agency's science policy and are a procedural guide for evaluating data on the health risks from exposures to chemical mixtures. The emphasis is on dose response and risk characterization. The principles and concepts put forth in the Guidelines remain in effect. The new guidance provides further detail on these principles and their applications.

Procedures are described for assessment using data on the mixture of concern, data on a toxicologically similar mixture, and data on the mixture component chemicals. The state of the science varies dramatically for these three approaches. Guidance is given for each of the approaches depending on the nature and quality of the data. The appendices contain definitions, a discussion on toxicologic interactions and pharmacokinetic models, and a reprint of the 1986 Guidelines.

National Centre for Environmental Assessment: “Supplementary Guidance for Conducting Health Risk Assessment of Chemical Mixtures”, EPA/630/R-00/002. Available at www.epa.gov/ncea/chem_mix.htm

Remediation technology case studies

The Federal Remediation Technologies Roundtable (FRTR) has released 56 new case study reports describing the cost and performance of remediation at hazardous waste sites. The studies were compiled by the US Army, Navy, Air Force, DOE, and EPA as part of an on-going commitment to document and share their experiences based on actual field applications of cleanup technologies. With the addition of this new information, 274 case studies are now available covering a wide variety of technologies for the remediation of contaminated soil and ground water.

These new reports cover topics in groundwater and drinking water, optimisation of groundwater cleanup systems, and cleanup of small dry cleaner sites (including reports from state agencies). Specific technologies in the update feature various in situ processes, including bioremediation, flushing, chemical oxidation, air sparging (injecting air), and monitored natural attenuation. The FRTR has also published 39 case study reports on site characterization technologies.

All 274 reports are available on the FRTR web site at www.frtr.gov or on CD-ROM from the National Service Center for Environmental Publications at 1-800-490-9198

Revisions to mercury quality test

Following an earlier settlement with an automobile manufacturers group and others, EPA has issued amendments to EPA Method 1631, Revision B: Mercury in Water by Oxidation, Purge and Trap, and Cold Vapor Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry, which is part of the agency's Guidelines Establishing Test Procedures for the Analysis of Pollutants. The previous version of the method, used to determine compliance with EPA's Great Lakes Water Quality Guidance and the National Toxics Rule, was promulgated on 8th June 1999 (64 FR 30417). According to EPA, the amendments consist of “minor technical corrections to clarify the use of field blanks for mercury testing under the Clean Water Act”. The agency said it plans to propose additional changes to the method later this year, including new “clean techniques” and quality control requirements.For full details see the Federal Register: www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-WATER/2001/June/Day-18/w15145.htm.

Review of PM health research

HEI Perspectives is a new series of reports from the Health Effects Institute reviewing findings across several HEI studies or entire research programmes. The reports describe and interpret results bearing on important and timely issues for a broad audience interested in environmental health. The first report looks at the contributions of HEI's epidemiological research programme on particulate matter (PM). Specifically, it addresses the possibility that the reported associations between exposure to PM and adverse health effects could be interpreted as being due to other factors, such as environmental factors, or errors in measurement of exposure. Future Perspectives will consider toxicological issues associated with human and animal exposure to particles, particle characteristics and the search to understand the biological plausibility of epidemiologically observed effects.“Airborne Particles and Health: HEI Epidemiologic Evidence”, www.healtheffects.org/Pubs/Perspectives-1.pdf

Objectives for risk assessment

NCEA is developing a supplement to the EPA Guidelines for Ecological Risk Assessment of 1998. It is designed to help decision-makers work with risk assessors, stakeholders, and other analysts to plan for ecological risk assessments that will effectively inform the decisions to be made.National Centre for Environmental Assessment: “Planning for Ecological Risk Assessment: Developing Management Objectives (External Review Draft)”, June 2001. Available at www.epa.gov/ncea/raf/dmo.htm

Dioxin database

This database documents congener-specific emissions and environmental releases of polychlorinated dibenzo-para-dioxins (CDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (CDFs) from known source activities in the United States.National Center for Environmental Assessment: “Database of Sources of Environmental Releases of Dioxin-Like Compounds in the United States”, EPA/600/C-01/012, March 2001. See www.epa.gov/ncea/dioxindb.htm

Legislation

EPA seeks partners on ozone standards

EPA has introduced new guidelines designed to encourage voluntary, early reductions of air emissions that contribute to ground-level ozone. The guidelines, called Ozone Flex, will help communities identify cost-effective, flexible ways to meet EPA's smog standards.

Many local metropolitan areas have ozone air quality below, but close to, the 1 h ozone standard specified under federal legislation. EPA uses monitored air quality data and recommendations from air pollution control agencies to determine if these are met within specific geographical areas. The new guidelines allow for state, tribal and local governments and EPA to develop and sign a memorandum of agreement describing the local control measures to be implemented voluntarily in advance of possible air quality violations. Under the agreements, the authorities commit to preparing emission inventories, and conducting air quality modelling and monitoring, if necessary, to support their selection of emission controls.

Participation in the programme is voluntary, and only areas currently meeting the 1 h standard are eligible to take part. There are several incentives for authorities to participate. Communities are afforded the flexibility to institute their own approach in maintaining clean air and providing public health protection. EPA expects that participants will receive positive public reaction for voluntarily addressing air pollution problems before federal requirements kick in. For a period of time, generally not to exceed five years, communities can avoid an EPA “non-attainment designation” for violating the 1 h standard.

EPA: www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/

Chemical plans get the green light

Member states have endorsed far-reaching plans to overhaul the EU's system of chemical regulation. At their regular meeting in June, environment ministers gave their backing to plans to “reverse the burden of proof” by requiring chemical manufacturers to prove their products are safe before receiving marketing authorisation. The resolution provides strong backing for the Commission's plans and calls for it to propose legislation before the end of the year.

Under proposals on the future EU chemical policy unveiled earlier this year, substances that are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBTs), very persistent and very bioaccumulative (VPVBs), or which are known endocrine disruptors will be subject to a process of authorisation [JEM, 2001, 3, 22N and 33N]. Chemical firms have strongly criticised the proposals, which they say impose unnecessary burdens for little practical gain. Industry favours instead extending the scope of the existing system of restrictions on marketing and use.

EU ministers also endorsed the proposed timetable for a phased introduction of the new policy. They called for a duty of care obligation for manufacturers to ensure the safety of chemicals irrespective of production volume. The Commission should consider a register of all chemicals produced in small volumes, and also propose how the chemicals policy should cover substances in finished products manufactured or imported into the EU.

EU Council of Ministers: http://ue.eu.int

EU weighs up soil monitoring

An EU-wide system for soil quality monitoring could form a centre-piece of a new European policy on soil protection. The European Commission's Environment Directorate signalled the move in its first public response to a wide-ranging review of soil protection in the EU undertaken by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and UNEP last year [JEM, 2001, 3, 20N].

While making no reference to a framework directive on soil protection, as recommended by the EEA, the paper advocates a coordinated system for soil monitoring. Lack of data and poor comparability are key barriers to a comprehensive picture of soil quality, the Commission says, and an EU-wide information system would be a great asset.

The Commission has pledged to raise the profile of soils in its forthcoming sixth Environmental Action Programme (EAP). This initial paper presents a likely outline for the soil chapter of the EAP. It notes that a number of soil-related policies are already in place, such as directives on sewage sludge, waste landfills and farm nitrate pollution. Measures to integrate environmental considerations into other policy areas, such as agriculture and transport are also relevant.

European Commission: see http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/agriculture/pdf/soilpaper.pdf

Canada unveils clean air timetable

The Canadian government has issued a progress report and interim plan on federal measures to combat air pollution. The report outlines the Government's activities on reducing emissions, the science behind policy decisions on toxic air pollutants, and the clean air programmes sponsored by federal and provincial authorities.

The plan follows through on the undertaking made by federal, provincial and territorial governments in June 2000, to prepare and make public their implementation plans for actions to reduce emissions of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) and ozone by 2010. Federal commitments include negotiating and signing the Ozone Annex to reduce transboundary ozone emissions [JEM, 2000, 2, 93N], putting in place a 10 year plan of actions for cleaner vehicles, engines and fuels [JEM, 2001, 3, 19N], and improving the national monitoring and reporting system on air pollutants [JEM, 2000, 2, 57N].

Explaining the approach, Environment Minister David Anderson said that “As this federal plan is the first to set out a series of commitments, initiatives and actions for PM and ozone, it has been designated as an interim plan. Regular updates will reflect progress, new initiatives and the on-going consultations and coordination with provincial and territorial partners on commitments in their jurisdictions.”

Environment Canada: “Interim Plan on Particulate Matter and Ozone” available at www.ec.gc.ca/air/pdfs/200104_e.pdf

Environmental quality

Sound science for TDMLs

Regulators in the US should apply a more scientific approach in setting and implementing water quality standards according to the National Research Council (NRC). Under the Clean Water Act, each state must identify and report on impaired waters (i.e., those not attaining water quality standards) and establish total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for the listed waterbodies.

In a recent report commissioned by the EPA, NRC recommends that states use biological measurements to complement physical and chemical measurements in establishing TMDLs. Greater use of statistical approaches are encouraged in designing monitoring programs and analysing water quality data to determine waterbody impairment. States should acknowledge and take into account “scientific uncertainty” due to limited data or other problems by adopting an “adaptive implementation” approach in which monitoring, cleanup, and other plans would be assessed periodically and revised based on the availability of new data and scientific tools. NRC's findings follow earlier criticisms of the way non-point sources are accounted for in calculating TDMLs [JEM, 2000, 2, 46N].

The report calls on EPA to adopt a two-step process for TMDL determinations. Certain waterbodies, such as those for which initial data are inadequate, would be placed on a preliminary list before being moved to the final Sec. 303(d) list of impaired waters. According to NRC, this would allow regulators time to gather more data on those waterbodies while concentrating their efforts on clearly impaired waters. A limit would be imposed on the amount of time a waterbody could remain on the preliminary list. Federal funds to help states conduct additional studies on waterbodies included on the preliminary lists could also be considered, the report suggests.

Meanwhile, EPA has launched a new web site intended as “a one-stop shop” for information about US water quality. Called WATERS (Watershed Assessment, Tracking and Environmental Results), the site incorporates the US Geological Survey's National Hydrographic Dataset, and provides unified access to water quality information from several state and EPA databases, including EPA's TMDL Database and its new National Water Quality Standards Database. At present, users can find information on impaired waters for all states except Alaska. Users can also search for water quality information for a particular body of water by clicking on an interactive map, which is currently available for 11 states. EPA will update WATERS as new information becomes available, eventually covering all 50 states, and will add links to data on ambient water quality, drinking water quality, polluted runoff, fish consumption advisories, facility discharge outfalls, and other information.

National Research Council: “Assessing the TMDL Approach to Water Quality Management”, available at www.nap.edu/catalog/10146.html; EPA WATERS website: www.epa.gov/waters

UNEP launches new eco-assessment

A major study into the state of the world's ecosystems has been launched by a coalition of national governments, international agencies, and scientific groups, led by the UN Environment Programme. According to UNEP, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment will be the most extensive study of its kind to date.

The assessment will investigate ecosystem functioning at different scales, from local to global level, so as to reach conclusions about the Earth's overall environmental health. Certain regions have been earmarked for a special focus, including southern Africa and South-East Asia, and more will be added as knowledge gaps are identified. In Europe, assessments for Norway and Sweden are already planned. The four year study has a budget of €24.6m and will involve around 1500 scientists worldwide.

Meanwhile the OECD, representing the world's 29 richest and most advanced nations, has issued its own status report, based on reviews of its members' environmental performance undertaken over the last 10 years. The “review of reviews” takes stock of progress and highlights key challenges for the future.

Despite significant advances in environmental protection during the 1990s, continued progress is not assured, warns OECD. Factors such as economic growth, increased traffic and energy use, intensification of agriculture, more urbanisation and higher consumption could all increase environmental pressure. Noting that these and other challenges require more integration of environmental thinking into sectoral policy-making, the report warns that efforts so far have been hampered by a “long-standing lack of institutional coordination”. Some sectoral policies “continue to run counter to environmental objectives”. Addressing unsustainable trends in energy, transport and agriculture is at the heart of a ten year environmental strategy adopted by OECD ministers earlier this year.

UNEP Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.htm; OECD: “Environmental Performance Reviews: Achievements in OECD countries”, www.oecd.org/env/performance/index.htm

Arctic under pressure

Environmental damage in the Arctic will reach critical levels by 2015 if current rates of industrial development continue, according to the UN Environment Programme. Already, species found in up to one-fifth of the region's land area have suffered falls in population or breeding success due to human encroachment and the impact of long-range pollution. UNEP Director Klaus Töpfer drew particular attention to damaging industrial developments within the Arctic such as oil, gas and mineral exploration, hydroelectric schemes, timber extraction and new roads. The report is the latest of several recent studies highlighting the sensitivity of the Arctic environment [JEM, 2000, 2, 94N].

The report's publication coincided with the latest meteorological data from Environment Canada, confirming that the Canadian Arctic continues to experience possible early effects from climate change. Initial data for spring 2001 show nationally averaged mean temperatures remained above normal for the sixteenth consecutive season (since summer 1997) [JEM, 2001, 3, 8N].

Spring this year was Canada's seventh warmest on record, with temperatures 1.6 °C above normal. Most of the country experienced 1–2 °C above normal temperatures, with northern Ontario and Quebec having temperatures more than 4 °C above normal. The region with the highest temperature variation was Nunavut (formerly the Northern Territories) with +2.3 °C. Atlantic Canada experienced the lowest variation at +0.2 °C.

Rainfall patterns were also unusual. A band of wetter than normal conditions, running from north to south through Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Manitoba, and northern Ontario, split up the drier than normal conditions felt in the Maritimes, western Saskatchewan, Alberta, eastern British Columbia, and the Yukon.

UNEP report: www.grida.no/prog/polar/globio/rovaniemi_doc/globrephr.pdf; Meteorological Service of Canada: “Climate Change and Variations Bulletin for Canada – Spring 2001”, available at www.ec.gc.ca

Pressure indicators updated

The difficulties in developing highly aggregated and multi-purpose environmental indicators, similar to those commonly used to measure economic trends, is reinforced by the latest compendium of EU data.

The report from Eurostat, the EU's statistical agency, updates a similar report issued two years ago. It is structured around the nine environmental policy themes of the EU's fifth Environmental Action Programme, although the total number of indicators has been reduced from 60 to 48. Policy themes such as dispersion of toxic substances illustrate the huge complexity facing environmental indicator development. Describing the field with a manageable number of indicators “is an almost impossible task”, Eurostat concludes.

The report represents one leg of a wider EU effort to measure progress in environmental policy-making and especially in integration of environmental considerations across all sectors. Whereas Eurostat restricts itself to “pressure” indicators, other agencies such as the European Environment Agency are adopting a more wide-ranging approach, using the DPSIR (driving forces, pressures, states, impacts and responses) concept.

Eurostat: “Environmental Pressure Indicators 2001”, http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat

Canada strives for accessible information

A Task Force set up by Environment Canada has embarked on a national consultation on how the country measures and reports on environmental issues.

The CISE Task Force was created in October 2000 to advise on the design and implementation of a Canadian Information System for the Environment (CISE) accessible to all levels of Canadian society. Members are drawn from academia, the private sector, government and non-government organisations. Following the consultations this summer, the Task Force will submit a final report to Environment Canada in the autumn.

“Our interim report identifies two immediate priorities: to fill the gaps in information by enhancing our monitoring of the environment and to improve the tools for reporting to Canadians on how well governments are doing in managing our environmental resources,” said CISE Task Force Chair David Johnston, President of the University of Waterloo.

Environment Canada has also released a related report, “Tracking Key Environmental Issues”, which provides an overview of the main environmental challenges facing Canada and the actions being taken to address them. The report examines trend data for five key issues (air, water, nature, climate change and severe weather), identifies progress and information gaps.

Environment Canada: “Informing Environmental Decisions — First Steps Towards a Canadian Information System for the Environment” (www.ec.gc.ca/cise/) and “Tracking Key Environmental Issues” (www.ec.gc.ca/introec/tkei/index_e.cfm)

Clear EU waters

Coastal and freshwater bathing water quality in the EU continued to improve last year, according to EU-wide sampling results for the 2000 bathing season. The data show that the overall proportion of EU coastal water sites meeting the directive's mandatory limit values for water quality reached 96.5%, nearly 1% higher than the average reported in 1999 [JEM, 2000, 2, 59N]. The number meeting the tougher “guide” values rose by a similar margin to 88.4%. Only Belgium managed 100% compliance with the mandatory values, for the second successive year.

Average compliance at freshwater sites improved by a larger margin from a lower base, rising by about 3.5% to reach 93.6% and 70.4% for the mandatory and guide values, respectively. This was despite declines in quality in Belgium, Portugal, the UK and Germany. Much of the overall quality gain in both water types was due to “considerable improvements” in Sweden and Finland.

Unveiling the figures, Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström said she would press ahead with a revision of the 1976 bathing waters directive by the end of the year, taking account of recent scientific advice on procedures for biological monitoring.

European Commission: Bathing water website: http://europa.eu.int/water/water-bathing/index_en.html; CSTEE Opinion on bathing water quality: http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/sct/out98_en.pdf

Chemical hazards

Tests end phthalate logjam?

A series of analytical protocols to measure the leaching of phthalate softeners from children's toys could offer the EU a way out of a political impasse. The EU has been logjammed on the phthalates issue since introducing emergency legislation early last year as a result of concerns the chemicals could leach from certain PVC products [JEM, 2000, 2, 8N].

At the request of the EU's Scientific Committee on Toxicology, Ecotoxicology and the Environment (CSTEE), scientists at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) have developed test methods to determine maximum leaching rates. Such tests are an essential element of limit-based controls but CSTEE rejected as unreliable two earlier proposals developed by national authorities in the UK and the Netherlands [JEM, 2000, 2, 95N]. The JRC's testing protocol claims to guarantee reproducible results between different laboratories and has been submitted to CSTEE for approval. The other essential element of a migration-based control policy, establishing a tolerable exposure level to phthalates, has already been addressed by CSTEE.

The Committee's decision on the new procedures is being eagerly awaited. A majority of member states now favour this approach and the Commission has said it is prepared to accommodate such a development within its own proposals. Even the European Parliament, which formerly followed a much tougher line on phthalate phase-out, has indicated it is ready to be persuaded.

JRC Institute for Health and Consumer Protection: http://ihcp.jrc.it/theihcp/index.htm

Scientists probe dioxins inventory and health risks

The human health impacts of the 1999 food contamination scandal could be much higher than previously thought according to new research. Writing in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, Belgian scientists estimate the episode could contribute up to 8000 cancers and have other non-cancer health impacts. Body burdens of PCBs and dioxins probably doubled or tripled in certain groups of consumers the scientists say. While intake in the wider population was low, millions could have been exposed. The conclusions contradict earlier scientific assurances that significant harm to consumers eating dairy products was very unlikely.

Similar concerns have been raised in Britain recently as a result of the foot-and-mouth outbreak. The Food Standards Agency warned that people consuming whole milk from cows grazing close to animal pyres could be taking in dangerous levels of dioxins. The agency stressed that the risks, if any, were very small but advised as a precautionary measure that people consuming whole milk or milk products from animals that have been grazing within 2 km of pyres should “vary their diets”. The statement followed an earlier warning from the Department of Health regarding airborne emissions [JEM, 2001, 3, 40N].

Meanwhile, the EU as a whole is on target to reduce dioxin emissions to air by 90% by 2005, based on 1985 levels, according to the latest report by the European Commission [for earlier reports see JEM, 2000, 2, 11N and 79N]. Co-ordinated by the environment agency of North Rhine Westphalia, the study concludes that comprehensive abatement measures over the last 15 years have led to sharp declines in dioxin concentrations in ambient air. As a result, concentrations in food, human blood and breast milk are generally declining. Furthermore, the report notes that dioxin emissions to land and water are an important issue with many data gaps remaining. Dioxins are among the first group of chemical substances to be targeted for a global phase out or severe reduction under the terms of the recent international POPS treaty [JEM, 2001, 3, 7N].

UK Food Standards Agency: www.foodstandards.gov.uk; Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 109, pp. 265-273 (March 2001); European Commission: Dioxin Inventory Report http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/dioxin/download.htm

Regulators close in on creosote

Stricter European controls on creosote have been brought a step closer following new regulations in Switzerland and initiation of an EU study into human health risks.

The new Swiss regulations limiting levels of carcinogenic substances in treated wood products, including garden fencing, come into force in October. Under the regulations, the maximum allowable content of benzo-a-pyrene (BaP) will be set at 50 ppm and soluble phenols at 3% by weight. Both substances are found in creosote and as a result the regulation effectively outlaws use of the compound as a wood protector. Existing treated wood products that fail to meet the new standards will not have to be removed, however.

The rail sector will be the most severely affected: the Swiss environment agency estimates that the country's railway sleepers contain around 40 000 tonnes of creosote-based tar. Under the new regulations redundant sleepers will only be allowed in applications away from residential areas, such as electricity pylon plinths and avalanche defence installations.

Meanwhile, proposals by the Dutch government to prohibit BaP-based treatments in wood coming into contact with surface waters have been referred to an expert scientific committee. The Commission has asked the EU Scientific Committee on Toxicology, Ecotoxicology and the Environment (CSTEE) to study the Dutch proposals to implement stricter national controls and a decision is expected before the end of the year. The Commission is currently preparing its own proposal on creosote following an earlier investigation by CSTEE [JEM, 1999, 1, 43N]. This will lower maximum BaP concentrations from their current levels of 50 ppm in consumer applications and 500 ppm in some industrial uses.

Similar concerns about inorganic-based wood preservatives are being raised in the US and Scandinavia [JEM, 2000, 2, 96N].

Swiss Environment Agency: www.umwelt-scheiz.ch/buwal/fr/index.html; CSTEE Opinion: http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/sct/out105_en.html

Danes target greenhouse gas and pesticides

Denmark continues to make the running in EU environmental policy, pressing ahead with chemicals controls on a number of fronts.

The latest proposal involves a ban on the greenhouse gas sulfur hexafluoride (SF⁶), which is used in high tech industries such as telecoms. The plan has attracted heavy criticism from industry, which said that good alternatives to SF₆ are not yet available. A phase-out would simply force some of Denmark's most innovative companies to relocate elsewhere with no environmental gain, according to the Confederation of Danish Industry. Four other EU countries have also objected to the plan, on the grounds that it could undermine the European single market. The European Commission has put a block on the proposal while it investigates.

The Danish government has also notified the Commission of its intention to ban the import of agricultural produce treated with pesticides that have not passed or been subject to government safety tests. The EU is undertaking its own assessment of the health implications of all 850 pesticides on the market but the work is unlikely to be complete by the target date of 2003. In an interview with Politiken newspaper, Agriculture Minister Ritt Bjerregaard said that the procrastination within the EU had gone on long enough and that Denmark would press ahead with national regulations.

Danish EPA: www.mst.dk; EPEE industry association: www.epeeglobal.org

Public and occupational health

New evidence on MTBE effects

The risks posed by MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether) and other oxygenates are becoming clearer following recent research into the chemical's metabolic pathways. The Health Effects Institute, the US-based transport research group, sponsored three studies in New Mexico, New Jersey, and Würzburg in Germany. They involved some of the first efforts to compare human ingestion vs. inhalation of MTBE, an additive in motor fuel, and to test its metabolism with coexposures to other fuel components. These results provide an important input to the on-going debates on MTBE in the US [JEM, 1999, 1, 94N] and in Europe [JEM, 2001, 3, 41N].

The New Jersey study, undertaken by Dr Jun-Yan Hong, identified a particular liver enzyme, CYP2A6, as a major element in metabolism of MTBE and other oxygenates. Although the relative importance of this enzyme over others remains undetermined, the results suggest further research into the involvement of these and other enzymes in the health effects of ethers. Dr Hong also found several genetic variants of CYP2A6 in some human volunteers who reported sensitivity to MTBE.

The Würzburg study by Dr Wolfgang Dekant provides a detailed characterization of metabolites of MTBE and other oxygenates. The pathways for metabolism of MTBE and ETBE (ethyl tert-butyl ether) were found to be similar, whereas the metabolism of TAME (tert-amyl methyl ether) followed a slightly different pathway with more steps involved and the formation of more metabolites. The metabolic pathway after ingestion of MTBE and TAME in humans was almost identical to the pathway after inhalation. No first pass effect—in which the liver metabolizes a compound before it enters into the general circulation—was observed after ingestion, and rates of metabolism were similar for both exposure routes. These data can be used, therefore, in extrapolating results across species and routes of exposure for the human health risk assessment of ether exposure by inhalation or ingestion.

The New Mexico study, by Dr Janet Benson and coworkers, provided detailed data on the metabolism and disposition of MTBE and its metabolites in rats after inhalation of MTBE alone and of MTBE with fuel vapours. The investigators showed that MTBE was rapidly taken up into the blood and distributed evenly over body compartments (such as liver, kidney, and lungs). Inhalation of MTBE in combination with fuel vapour (200 ppm) reduced the total amount of MTBE taken up into the body and increased the amount of MTBE and metabolites exhaled in breath, suggesting that the toxic effects of MTBE during refuelling may be lower compared to exposure to MTBE by itself. The results indicate that caution is needed in using linear extrapolation of high doses to low doses for human health risk assessment of MTBE exposure.

Avenues for further research suggested by these results include: investigating the prevalence of specific enzymes in the general population, and determining whether the lack of a specific enzyme correlates with increased susceptibility to the health effects of oxygenates; study of the toxicity of ether metabolites; and further research into the effects of exposure to mixtures (including fuel vapours) on metabolism and the health effects of exposure to individual compounds, such as oxygenates.

Atmospheric exposures to MTBE have also been receiving attention from EU experts. In its opinion on a recent risk assessment undertaken by the Finnish authorities [JEM, 2001, 3, 23N], the EU Scientific Committee on Toxicology, Ecotoxicology and the Environment (CSTEE) said that inadequate consideration had been given to the substance's air pollution potential. MTBE is highly volatile and therefore leads to significant exposure via the atmosphere. Data on its effects on animal and plant life through this pathway were completely lacking in the risk assessment, CSTEE said. Most scrutiny of MTBE has focused on its effects on groundwater.

Health Effects Institute: “Metabolism of Ether Oxygenates Added to Gasoline”, HEI Research Report 102. Available at www.healtheffects.org/Pubs/st102.htm; CSTEE Opinion: http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/sct/out95_en.pdf

PM link in heart conditions

A study by the EPA's Office of Research and Development has verified that increased levels of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) resulting from air pollution are associated with changes in heart rate variability in the elderly.

The study of 56 non-smoking residents in a retirement community in Baltimore found that healthy patients and those with cardiovascular impairment appeared to have a similar increased risk of lowered heart rate variability—a marker of heart health. Decreased heart rate variability has been identified as an indicator for risk of sudden heart failure.

The research supports earlier retrospective studies by EPA and others that have linked exposure to fine particulate matter with thousands of hospital admissions and premature deaths per year [JEM, 2000, 2, 61N and 71N]. Although these studies established a statistical link between exposure to fine particles and morbidity or mortality, a physiological mechanism that might explain the observed health effects has yet to be identified.

The results followed warnings from a UK government watchdog that long-term exposure to fine particles is likely to be as dangerous as passive smoking. According to the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP), its 1998 findings that particle pollution results in 8000 premature deaths annually were almost certainly an underestimate. The Department of Health is considering funding research mirroring US work, to determine which groups are most at risk and to what extent.

COMEAP: www.doh.gov.uk/comeap/longtermeffects.pdf; Results from the Baltimore study were published in the June edition of the Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology.

Experts report on EDCs

There is “credible evidence” for adverse effects from exposure to hormone-like chemicals at very low levels according to a panel of scientific experts. In laboratory animals, the effects occur well below the “no effect” levels determined by traditional testing. However, the panel reported that, in some cases, other credible studies failed to observe such low-dose effects and there is no obvious reason for the different outcomes.

The 36-member panel was convened by the National Toxicology Program following years of controversy over potential health effects from endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which mimic animal hormones. Some of the hormones, like estrogen and testosterone, occur naturally. Other, chemically-related substances are manufactured for packaging, plastics and other products of modern life.

The panel found enough evidence of low level effects to recommend additional studies of low level doses of bisphenol A, a plastics building block used for a wide range of products, from safety helmets and impact resistant eye glass lenses to food packaging. A subpanel said there was “credible evidence” of bodily changes, such as in increased prostate weight, in some rodents exposed to low levels of bisphenol A, but “due to the inability of other credible studies... to observe low dose effects... and the consistency of these negative studies, the subpanel is not persuaded that a low dose effect of BPA has been conclusively established as a general or reproducible finding.”

While the panel stopped short of finding any of the effects to be either harmful or benign, which was not within its remit, it found evidence that increases in prostate weight and/or changes in female reproductive organs can occur in rodents or other test animals from low doses of estrogen and estrogen-like compounds, including the insecticide methoxychlor and genistein, a dietary component derived from soy.

The panel said EPA should obtain the best advice of experts who design tests and then consider rewriting the “guidelines” that industry must follow in having their new products tested before EPA approval. Additional multi-generational studies might use a range of different dosages to better determine if any reproductive problems result in the offspring or grand-offspring of exposed animals. Under current regulations, studies are undertaken at three or four levels—where each dose may be two- to four-fold less than the other. The highest dose at which no effect on the animal is seen is considered the “no effect” level. But the panel said the raw data suggested that an effect might occur at even lower levels, so that traditional approaches may need to be re-thought.

NIEHS: Peer Review of Low Dose Effects available at http://ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov/htdocs/liason/LowDosePeerFinalRpt.pdf

Chemicals cleared in cancer link

A review of breast cancer studies has found no link to DDT or PCBs, two industrial chemicals widely suspected as representing increased cancer risk. Both were suspect because of their similarities to estrogen, the so-called female hormone associated with a risk of breast cancer.

Of five studies undertaken among women in the north-eastern United States since 1993, none had shown a link between either DDT or PCBs and the Northeast's elevated rates of breast cancer. Some scientists had claimed that the sample sizes were simply too small and that their combined data might reveal such associations, at least for some subgroups of women.

The latest research using the combined data refutes this analysis. Taking data from a total of 1400 breast cancer patients and 1642 controls, NIEHS scientists conclude that neither exposure explains the high rates of breast cancer in the US Northeast.

In each of the studies, blood was drawn from patients and controls alike and tested for DDE, the major break-down product of DDT, and for PCBs. DDT and PCBs were widely used in the United States until the 1970s and accumulate in the body's fatty tissues and thus can be found in human blood and breast milk many years after exposure.

National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences: www.niehs.nih.gov/oc/news/notbc.htm; The results were reported in the May 16th issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute

NTP to study mobile phones and chromium(VI)

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) is to address the environmental hazards of cell phones in the most comprehensive animal toxicology study ever performed on microwave emissions.

Much of the research conducted so far on mobile phone safety has failed to show any negative health effects [JEM, 2000, 2, 23N]. However, users in the US, Europe and elsewhere continue to be concerned about potential health problems. Last year the NTP reviewed the existing data and noted its inadequacies. It has now begun designing five year rodent studies to obtain more data.

NTP is also initiating two year rodent studies and shorter-term toxicity studies of hexavalent chromium following concerns about the chemical as a pollutant in drinking water. The issue featured in the recent film Erin Brockovich in which Julia Roberts starred as a lawyer investigating a series of health crises related to chromium(VI) contamination.

National Toxicology Program: www.niehs.nih.gov/oc/crntnws/

Research activities

EU inspectors aim for peer review

Germany is to be the first country to have its national environmental inspection regime peer reviewed, as part of new measures to spread best practice between environmental agencies within the EU. The review process is being implemented through Impel, the EU network of environmental inspectors.

Under an EU recommendation that took effect in April, the network will regularly review member states' environmental inspection practices. Impel expects to complete six reviews by 2003, with Ireland, France and Belgium next in line to open their inspectorates up to scrutiny. The review reports will be owned by the reviewed country, which will decide what information to release.

In a separate activity, Impel is also to investigate inspectors' qualifications and training practices.

IMPEL: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/impel

Centre of excellence for North Carolina

The School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been selected as the site of a new Environmental Health Sciences Center to be funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for four years for a total of US$3.78 million.

The Chapel Hill Center will focus on three main areas: first, genetic susceptibility, looking at how variations in people's genes cause variations in their susceptibility to environmental factors, such as chemicals and radiation; secondly, developmental susceptibility, focusing on how susceptibility differs according to age, particularly from conception through childhood; and thirdly, toxicokinetic susceptibility, explaining how environmental exposures lead to more severe effects in some people than in others.

This will be the 22nd such centre funded by NIEHS nationwide, and like the others will be charged with community outreach activities related to environmental health. Centre grants allow universities that have developed a critical mass of interdisciplinary expertise, facilities and resources to bring these together under one administrative umbrella to do research and training to advance the environmental health sciences. Although the initial grant is for four years, many of the centres are maintained on a long-term basis.

University of North Carolina, School of Public Health: www.sph.unc.edu

Publications

Guidance on chemical mixtures

EPA has issued a supplement to its 1986 Guidelines for the Health Risk Assessment of Chemical Mixtures. The 1986 Guidelines represent the Agency's science policy and are a procedural guide for evaluating data on the health risks from exposures to chemical mixtures. The emphasis is on dose response and risk characterization. The principles and concepts put forth in the Guidelines remain in effect. The new guidance provides further detail on these principles and their applications.

Procedures are described for assessment using data on the mixture of concern, data on a toxicologically similar mixture, and data on the mixture component chemicals. The state of the science varies dramatically for these three approaches. Guidance is given for each of the approaches depending on the nature and quality of the data. The appendices contain definitions, a discussion on toxicologic interactions and pharmacokinetic models, and a reprint of the 1986 Guidelines.

National Centre for Environmental Assessment: “Supplementary Guidance for Conducting Health Risk Assessment of Chemical Mixtures”, EPA/630/R-00/002. Available at www.epa.gov/ncea/chem_mix.htm

Remediation technology case studies

The Federal Remediation Technologies Roundtable (FRTR) has released 56 new case study reports describing the cost and performance of remediation at hazardous waste sites. The studies were compiled by the US Army, Navy, Air Force, DOE, and EPA as part of an on-going commitment to document and share their experiences based on actual field applications of cleanup technologies. With the addition of this new information, 274 case studies are now available covering a wide variety of technologies for the remediation of contaminated soil and ground water.

These new reports cover topics in groundwater and drinking water, optimisation of groundwater cleanup systems, and cleanup of small dry cleaner sites (including reports from state agencies). Specific technologies in the update feature various in situ processes, including bioremediation, flushing, chemical oxidation, air sparging (injecting air), and monitored natural attenuation. The FRTR has also published 39 case study reports on site characterization technologies.

All 274 reports are available on the FRTR web site at www.frtr.gov or on CD-ROM from the National Service Center for Environmental Publications at 1-800-490-9198

Revisions to mercury quality test

Following an earlier settlement with an automobile manufacturers group and others, EPA has issued amendments to EPA Method 1631, Revision B: Mercury in Water by Oxidation, Purge and Trap, and Cold Vapor Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry, which is part of the agency's Guidelines Establishing Test Procedures for the Analysis of Pollutants. The previous version of the method, used to determine compliance with EPA's Great Lakes Water Quality Guidance and the National Toxics Rule, was promulgated on 8th June 1999 (64 FR 30417). According to EPA, the amendments consist of “minor technical corrections to clarify the use of field blanks for mercury testing under the Clean Water Act”. The agency said it plans to propose additional changes to the method later this year, including new “clean techniques” and quality control requirements.For full details see the Federal Register: www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-WATER/2001/June/Day-18/w15145.htm.

Review of PM health research

HEI Perspectives is a new series of reports from the Health Effects Institute reviewing findings across several HEI studies or entire research programmes. The reports describe and interpret results bearing on important and timely issues for a broad audience interested in environmental health. The first report looks at the contributions of HEI's epidemiological research programme on particulate matter (PM). Specifically, it addresses the possibility that the reported associations between exposure to PM and adverse health effects could be interpreted as being due to other factors, such as environmental factors, or errors in measurement of exposure. Future Perspectives will consider toxicological issues associated with human and animal exposure to particles, particle characteristics and the search to understand the biological plausibility of epidemiologically observed effects.“Airborne Particles and Health: HEI Epidemiologic Evidence”, www.healtheffects.org/Pubs/Perspectives-1.pdf

Objectives for risk assessment

NCEA is developing a supplement to the EPA Guidelines for Ecological Risk Assessment of 1998. It is designed to help decision-makers work with risk assessors, stakeholders, and other analysts to plan for ecological risk assessments that will effectively inform the decisions to be made.National Centre for Environmental Assessment: “Planning for Ecological Risk Assessment: Developing Management Objectives (External Review Draft)”, June 2001. Available at www.epa.gov/ncea/raf/dmo.htm

Dioxin database

This database documents congener-specific emissions and environmental releases of polychlorinated dibenzo-para-dioxins (CDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (CDFs) from known source activities in the United States.National Center for Environmental Assessment: “Database of Sources of Environmental Releases of Dioxin-Like Compounds in the United States”, EPA/600/C-01/012, March 2001. See www.epa.gov/ncea/dioxindb.htm

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