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The occurrence of fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs) was investigated in 94 food-contact materials (FCMs). We detected 6:2 FTOH (<0.60--1110 ng/g), 8:2 FTOH (<0.40--8490 ng/g), and 10:2 FTOH (<0.02--9350 ng/g) in most FCM samples, and four longer-chain C14-20 FTOHs were, for the first time, identified in FCMs with relatively high concentrations (<0.02--8450 ng/g for 12:2 FTOH, <0.02--1640 ng/g for 14:2 FTOH, <0.02--372 ng/g for 16:2 FTOH, and <0.02--130 ng/g for 18:2 FTOH). There were three typical profiles of FTOHs that were dominated by 6:2 FTOH (95.6 ± 8.1% in 9 FCMs), 8:2 FTOH (50.9 ± 20.8% in 22 FCMs), and 10:2 FTOH (44.5 ± 20.9% in 30 FCMs), indicating the congener-specific usage of FTOHs for different commercial purposes. All nine detectable FCMs produced in the United States were dominated by 6:2 FTOH, which was significantly different from those produced in China. The median concentration of total FTOHs in eco-friendly paper tableware was 2990 ng/g, which was lower than in popcorn bags (18 200 ng/g) but much higher than other FCMs (<0.55--38.7 ng/g). FTOHs could migrate from paper bowls, with migration efficiencies of 0.004--0.24% into water, 0.004--0.24% into 10% ethanol, 0.009--2.79% into 30% ethanol, 0.06--13.0% into 50% ethanol (v/v) simulants, and 0.04--2.28% into oil. Migration efficiencies decreased with increasing carbon chain lengths of FTOHs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The printing press helped to spread literacy, civic discourse, and even political dissent in colonial America. Without paper, however, the invention of the moveable type printing press would have been insignificant. This crucial communication medium was hobbled by a critical shortage of the raw material needed for printed matter. Paper was in short supply in the colonies and in the new nation as it could only be made from rags, and there was constant difficulty in obtaining enough rags to keep the presses rolling. Pleas for this essential ingredient were constantly seen in the newspapers in early America and there were severe shortages of both paper and the rags from which it was made during the American Revolution. This article examines how desperate were the early Americans for the paper which was necessary both for firing the muskets and for spreading the rhetoric of Revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the early twentieth century, American newspapers enjoyed high circulations while presenting readers with diverse and plentiful content. After 1920, radio broadcasting made even more information available for public consumption, giving audience members an abundant range of media choices. During a time of plenty for readers and listeners, companies in the business of media struggled with the opposite problem: scarcity. As the amount of media content proliferated, the practical ability to disseminate it was determined by the access to scarce resources, and this was true for both radio broadcasting and newspaper publishing. In many respects, the history of the American mass media in the early twentieth century might best be told as a tale of two scarcities, one—the electromagnetic spectrum—defined by absolute limits and the other—the newsprint—defined by access to markets for a particular material, the supply of which often fluctuated in availability and price. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]