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The article reports on factors influencing the rate of cancer cases in the United States. It states that it is important for the United States population be aware of the disease that is considered a leading cause of death. It mentions several factors that hinder cancer prevention in the country which includes less federal support to researches concerning cancer prevention and environmental carcinogens, lack of legislative authority, suppression of data regarding carcinogenicity of vinyl chloride and distorted economic impact analyses.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) implementation of the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) has been timely and laudable. Implementation of Section 5 (new chemicals) revisions has been less successful. EPA has recently taken steps that reflect a significant positive shift in EPA's approach to reviewing new chemicals. The revised approach better implements the law as written and the national policy, articulated in TSCA Section 2 and unchanged since 1976, to review new chemicals 'in such a manner as not to impede unduly or create unnecessary economic barriers to technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first survey on soil pollution in China (2005 - 2013) showed a significant degradation in the condition of the soil. In 2017, 16.1% of lands in China, including 19.4% of cultivated land, was over the permitted pollution limit. Accordingly it is no surprise that soil pollution is regarded as amajor environmental obstacle to realizing the government's plan to build a 'well-off society in an all-round way.' This objective found legal expression on August 31 2018, when the Fifth Session of the Standing Committee of the 13thNationalPeople'sCongresspassedtheLaw on the Prevention and Control of Soil Pollution (PCSPL). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic peroxides are materials that belong to one of the 13 classes of dangerous goods, i.e., class 5.2. They are characterized by specific hazards and, due to that fact, require strictly determined conditions of storage and transport. Regulations that govern the issue of the road transport of dangerous goods and the storage of organic peroxides are separately contained in various legal acts. Storage conditions of organic peroxides are determined in the legal regulations in the form of general guidelines, which need to be described in detail, based on expert knowledge from the entities engaged in this process. This article attempts to provide details regarding the conditions of the road transport and storage of C-type organic peroxides using the example of benzoyl peroxide (concentration 75%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada is proposing a ban on asbestos, and the US Environmental Protection Agency has listed it among the first 10 materials it is investigating under the new Toxic Substances Control Act revisions. However, this effort is currently running up against enormous industry and political opposition. Here, we detail the activities in the early 1970s of the Friction Materials Standards Institute, an industry trade association, to stifle earlier attempts to regulate asbestos use in brake linings, one of the oldest and most obvious sources of asbestos exposure to mechanics, among others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EFSA is committed to assess and communicate the risks occurring in the food and feed chain from farm to fork and to provide other forms of scientific advice. This work, carried out by EFSA since its inception, has resulted in the adoption of thousands of scientific assessments. EFSA is obliged to re-assess past assessments in specific regulatory contexts such as those on food and feed additives, active substances in plant protection products and genetically modified food and feed. In other sectors, the consideration for updating past EFSA scientific assessments is taken on an ad hoc basis mainly depending on specific requests by risk managers or on EFSA self-tasking. If safety is potentially at stake in any area within EFSA's remit, the readiness to update past scientific assessments is important to keep EFSA at the forefront of science and to promote an effective risk assessment. Although this task might be very complex and resource demanding, it is fundamental to EFSA's mission. The present EFSA Scientific Committee opinion deals with scientific motivations and criteria to contribute to the timely updating of EFSA scientific assessments. It is recognised that the decision for updating should be agreed following careful consideration of all the relevant elements by the EFSA management, in collaboration with risk managers and stakeholders. The present opinion addresses the scientific approaches through which it would be possible for EFSA to increase the speed and effectiveness of the acquisition of new data, as well as, to improve the consequent evaluations to assess the relevance and reliability of new data in the context of contributing to the better definition of whether to update past scientific assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the harmful effects of e-waste on the developing world and the international environmental laws for e-waste regulation. It discusses the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes & Their Disposal . It mentions regulations to manage e-waste such as U.S Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the European Union's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive and the Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Hazardous Substances.

Procedural standards of participation have the capacity to structure and constrain the exercise of authority. Focusing on the way decisions are formed, this article argues that the depletion of such standards in processes of reception of transnational and international decisions within the EU potentially leads to situations of unrestrained authority and can constitute a challenge to the rule of law. It sets out the basis for a conceptual and normative analysis underpinning the argument that procedural standards of participation can be considered part of the rule of law.The depletion of such standards is one facet of a broader problem. Intertwined decision-making procedures that cut across EU and international levels of governance challenge the ability of law to limit executive action. The challenges that internationalized rulemaking procedures pose to law can only be apprehended if they are seen in their entirety as segments of a broader regulatory cycle. On this basis, this article proposes a reconceptualization of the decision-making procedures that operate the substantive coordination between different sites of governance. Having an EU focus, the article contributes to the analysis of the challenges and possibilities of the rule of law in the current realities of the diffusion of power resulting from internationalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In global environmental cooperation, legally binding agreements remain a customary way for states to set common goals and standards. This article analyzes the Minamata Convention on Mercury by addressing three questions: First, how did linkages to earlier agreements shape the negotiations? Second, what were the main legal and political issues during the negotiations? Third, what are the major issues moving forward with treaty implementation and mercury abatement? The analysis shows that the decision to start treaty negotiations was influenced by related policy developments on hazardous chemicals as well as differences in national interests. Five sets of issues dominated the negotiations: 1) supply and trade, 2) products and processes, 3) emissions and releases, 4) artisanal and small-scale gold mining, and 5) resources and compliance. The article concludes that future mercury abatement hinges on the parties' ability to move beyond the initial mandates, as the convention may affect decisions by a wide range of public, private, and civil society actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Flame Retardant Association (EFRA) combines leading companies offering the largest spectrum of flame retardants (FRs). EFRA conducted many studies on the recycling of FRplastics. This study concerns the recycling of plastics from liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and addresses the RoHS and WEEE directives (Restriction on Hazardous Substances and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), requiring a higher tonnage of recycled plastics. Recycling standards are developed within the committee IEC TC111. A new technical report IEC/TR 62635 Ed1.0: "Guidelines for End-of-Life information provision from manufacturers and recyclers, and for recyclability rate calculation of Electrical and Electronic Equipment", aims for better and higher quality of recycled materials. EFRA cooperated with REWARD, a project in the ECOINNOVATION program of FP7, with partners Recycling Consult, Coolrec/PHB and BRGM. Due to higher external fire safety requirements for TV housings in Europe, more FR-plastics need to be recycled following the recast of the WEEE directive. As a consequence WEEE plastics need to be processed by mechanical recycling instead of energy recovery. The EFRA and REWARD study describe composition, characterization, identification, size reduction and separation techniques. This article provides guidance to achieve the required plastic qualities and its limitations due to separation constraints and miscibility problems of the different plastics. A separation route on paper is developed for plastics from back covers of LCDs. It is found that a combination of mild size reduction, density separation and sensor based sorting gives the best results. Fractions are tested for their miscibility with virgin plastics by producers. The findings are of importance since presently solutions for FR-plastic separation are hardly offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses why the act of war defense failed and also highlights law for property owners who assert this defense. Topics discussed include liability standards under the U.S. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), types of defenses that people may raise against CERCLA liability, and the legislative history of the act of war defense clause. It also mentions government regulations on hazardous substances.

The article discusses the dental practice risk assessment process. It says that the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASAW) is a legislation in Great Britain which centers on occupational health and safety while the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) imposes rules on toxic chemicals in the workplace. Meanwhile, the risk assessment process include identifying threats, assessing staff's vulnerability, and identifying ways to reduce the said risks.

The article focuses on green chemistry which is defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the design of chemical products and processes that lessen or remove the utility or generation of hazardous substance. It states that a business-to-business standard for hazardous substance reduction is being crafted by the American Chemical Society (ACS), through its Green Chemistry Institute (GCI) with the collaboration of federal agencies, nonprofits, end users, and industry. It mentions the efforts of the Department of Defense (DOD) regarding the promotion of green chemistry. It also discusses the Registration Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemical Substance (REACH), the legislation that promotes green chemistry created by the European Union. INSET: The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry.

As a result of concerns about the toxicity of phthalates to humans, several expert panels were convened toward the end of the 1990s to evaluate the implications of the scientific evidence for the risks of phthalates to humans of all ages. These panels concluded that the risks were low although they had concerns about specific applications of some phthalates, e.g., in medical devices. These groups identified data gaps and recommended additional studies on exposure and toxicity be conducted. In light of the additional data, reevaluations of the risks of phthalates were conducted. While these assessments were being undertaken, U.S. state governments and European authorities proposed and promulgated regulations to limit the use of certain phthalates, i.e., di-n-octyl phthalate (DnOP), di-isodecyl phthalate (DIDP), di-isononyl phthalate (DINP), butylbenzyl phthalate (BBP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), and diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), especially in consumer products to which children are exposed. Very recently, similar regulations were promulgated in the United States under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. This article summarizes recent evaluations of the risks of these phthalates, and addresses the public health implications of the regulations that were enacted. The analysis considers biomonitoring studies and epidemiological research in addition to laboratory animal evidence. Analysis of all of the available data leads to the conclusion that the risks are low, even lower than originally thought, and that there is no convincing evidence of adverse effects on humans. Since the scientific evidence strongly suggests that risks to humans are low, phthalate regulations that have been enacted are unlikely to lead to any marked improvement in public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical and electronic equipment manufacturers are subjected to an increasing number of restrictions on the substances that they can use to build their products. Many are hazardous substances that could potentially harm human beings or the environment, whereas some other more recent restrictions affect substances where no risk has been demonstrated. Legislation is being imposed worldwide with the EU in the forefront, with other countries following with similar restrictions. This article describes current restrictions worldwide and possible new future restrictions that might be imposed in the foreseeable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the experience of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to demonstrate the value of accurate information in risk-based environmental regulation. In monitoring sources of hazardous air pollutants (HAP), the TCEQ used modern mobile-monitoring technologies which provide immediate feedback to the team involved in HAP monitoring and assessment. In contrast, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employed the residual-risk paradigm which is based on the iterative process mandated by the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act.

In recent years public health problems caused by indoor air pollution, known as 'Sick Building Syndrome in housing', or 'Sick House Syndrome' in Japan, have been drawing strong public concern. After conducting extensive exposure assessment, government authorities have taken effective measures to solve the problem. However, as a result of diversification and increase in quantities of industrial chemicals, existing regulations do not cover enough ranges of various potential hazardous chemicals. Hence, the regulations seek to be changed from hazard-based regulation to a risk-based one. Good indoor air quality (IAQ), which does not pose unacceptable health risks from all pollutants affecting indoor air, should be ensured for all public people. The objective of this study is to clarify the remaining issues to be solved urgently, related to the regulations to ensure a good IAQ. We reviewed enormous numbers of the existing governmental and industrial voluntary standards and/or guidelines, literature and documents concerning IAQ research in the past 40 years. Our results showed six subjects from those remaining issues. Based on these subjects we created a new scheme to control the IAQ; we especially regarded a comprehensive labeling system as one of the important strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the failure of chemical regulation in the U.S. and explores regulatory reform that causes market competition between firms to produce information on chemical products toxicity. It explains how the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) affects the selection in the chemical market by failing to promote toxicity testing. It examines how competition-based approach to chemical regulation is appropriate within the regulatory toolkit and whether such measure can be transferred to the regulation of other products and polluting activities.

Directive 2002/95/EC, the Restriction of Hazardous Substances or ‘RoHS’ Directive, restricts the use of environmentally hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment distributed and sold in the EU from 1 July 2006. The Directive's objectives are to harmonize EU Member States’ national legislation and protect human health and the environment. This article reveals differences in the implementation of the RoHS Directive at the time it took effect. Differences were revealed in the analysis of results obtained from telephone interviews conducted with all but four of the 25 EU Member State RoHS enforcement officials. Differences in implementation created barriers to the achievement of the RoHS Directive's objectives and caused problems for producers of electrical and electronic equipment. The article attributes the principal cause of differences in implementation to insufficiently detailed text in the RoHS Directive. The article also considers how barriers and problems could have been prevented and makes proposals to solve them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Japan, organophosphate and polybrominated flame retardants are used in building materials and electric appliances to protect them from fire hazards. In this study, to identify the emission sources of these flame retardants to indoor air, the migration rates (flux) of organophosphate and polybrominated flame retardants from building materials and electrical appliances to solid extraction disks that were placed in contact with the interior surfaces were measured. In addition to the migration test, indoor air and outdoor air concentrations of these flame retardants were investigated. With regard to building materials in a newly built house, triethylphosphate (TEP) and tributylphosphate (TBP) were detected in the wall and ceiling coverings, and tris(2-butoxyethyl)phosphate (TBEP) was detected in the wooden flooring cleaned with a floor polish agent. With regard to electrical appliances, triphenylphosphate (TPHP) was predominantly detected in computer monitors and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) in television (TV) sets, with the highest median levels. Among the polybrominated compounds, only 2,2′,4,4′-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-47) was detected from a few old TV sets manufactured before 1995. In an indoor and outdoor air survey, nine organophosphates and nine polybrominated flame retardants were detected from indoor air. In outdoor air, only four organophosphate flame retardants were detected. The maximum level of indoor organophosphate compounds was 1260 ng/m3 with tris(2-chloro-1-methylethyl) phosphate (TCPP), and that of polybrominated compounds was 29.5 ng/m3 with hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD). Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) was not detected in this study, although it has the largest demand among flame retardants in Japan. The results of the migration test and the indoor air survey revealed that in indoor air, organophosphate compounds were more predominant than polybrominated compounds in Tokyo. Practical Implications Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) are commonly used as flame retardants in plastics. The use of these two compounds in electric appliances will be banned in 2007 by the EU Directives on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances (RoHS) in electrical and electronic equipment. In Japan, the use of PBB was banned and that of PBDE diminished in the early 1990s by the self-imposed controls of the Japanese Flame Retardants Conference ( Akutu and Hori, 2004 ). In Japan, the predominantly used organic flame retardants were tetrabromobisphenol A and organophosphate compounds. Tetrabromobisphenol A has been reported to disrupt endocrine systems ( Kitamura et al., 2005 ), and some organophosphate flame retardants were recently reported to have neurochemical hazardous effects. Furthermore, organophosphate compounds were suspected to cause endocrine-disrupting effects ( Fang et al., 2003 ; Ohyama et al., 2005 ) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) ( Winrow et al., 2003 ). In this study, organophosphate and polybrominated flame retardants were surveyed in indoor environments in Tokyo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines recent changes in toxic waste policy in the United States. It argues that major deviations from the framework established by the Comprehensive Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) have occurred. Examples include a shifting of program authority to the states, a modification of traditional command and control program structures, and perhaps most important, the adoption of economic development as a core program goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an article explaining how to comply with the new OSHA, (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) standard `29 CFR part 1910, Occupational Exposures to Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories.' The fume hood is the most important laboratory safety appliance and OSHA recommends number required per person, performance criteria, construction details, and the need to instruct all personnel in their proper use. INSET: About the editor..

Reports that the Center for Occupational Research and Development has released its Hazardous Materials Management Technology Skills Standard. Contact information; Retail price.

Part V. Explores the impact of the use of parathion as a substitute to DDT on workers in the United States (U.S.). Information on the decision of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ban DDT insecticide; Environmental impact of DDT; Increase in poisoning related to the increase use of parathion.

A risk assessment model is developed to relate adverse health effects to alternative carbon monoxide standards. The analysis requires information in the form of available data and expert judgments concerning factors such as ambient CO level, human exposure to CO, physiological responses, and dose-response relationships. Quantitative estimates, including probabilities, are obtained for selected summary measures of adverse health effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK, the COSHH Regulations give specific guidance that employers have duties to inform, instruct and train their employees about occupational risks and provide them with suitable health surveillance. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of the Regulations on employees with occupational asthma. One hundred consecutive patients attending an occupational lung disease clinic completed a questionnaire assessing the implementation of the COSHH Regulations in their workplace. Twenty-eight per cent had a pre-employment inquiry about asthma, 31% had regular health surveillance by questionnaires and 19% had regular lung function assessment at work. Pre-employment spirometry was carried out in 44% of the workers who were exposed to one of the original seven prescribed agents, significantly more than those who were exposed to other agents (19%) (p < 0.05). Moreover, figures for spirometry during employment were 31% and 8% respectively (p < 0.05). The patients who worked after ‘COSHH’ but before ‘MS25’ had a tendency to be provided with health surveillance more than those who worked after both ‘COSHH’ and ‘MS25’. Ninety-one per cent of the patients had never been informed about the risks of getting asthma at work and 73% had never seen the safety data sheets. The workers who (1) worked after ‘COSHH’ introduction; (2) worked in larger firms and (3) were exposed to one of the original seven prescribed agents, had a tendency to be informed, instructed and trained more than the rest. However, there were only significant statistical differences (p<0.05) in terms of the safety data sheet provision between the cases who worked before the time of the legislation and those employed afterwards. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Hairdressers are known commonly to suffer work-related skin problems. To explore the steps taken by employers and employees to prevent or control such problems, we visited 12 randomly selected high street hairdressing establishments in North Wiltshire and interviewed the proprietors and 43 of the employees by means of structured questionnaires. Relatively few of the establishments had taken any steps to comply with the statutory requirements of the Control of Substances Hazardous Health (COSHH) Regulations 1988. Some premises lacked basic skin care facilities and employers often failed to provide hand care training and health monitoring. More than half of the employees had experienced work-related skin problems, typically dermatitis. Those with skin problems more commonly identified precautionary skin care measures; however, many employees could not identify desirable skin precautions when questioned. A fifth had never received skin care training. For the remainder the median elapsed interval since last trained exceeded 6 years. Only one establishment had a satisfactory skin care programme. Future efforts should be directed at training and influencing the attitudes of hairdressing employers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article addresses the means by which the public problem of hazardous technologies are addressed via the public law model (regulation) and the private law model (litigation). The author explores the tension that exists when these two models co-exist, as they do in the US, and the role of the US judicial system in juggling these conflicting models. The article presents the premises and assumptions of public and private law, examines where the courts have been active in refining and delimiting these competing models, and discusses the implications of the US legal culture's unique way of managing value conflicts when addressing potentially risky technologies. Consideration of the way that other legal cultures manage technology is considered in light of this discussion.

The article discusses the South African regulations for hazardous materials or products supplied to mines under the Mine Health and Safety Act. Miners are required to issue a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) as a component of product knowledge and workplace safety. The country uses the Naval Engineering Standard (NES) 713 to determine the toxicity of materials.

This article looks at challenges facing industrial engineers in sustainable manufacturing. It identifies the causes of the emergence of sustainable manufacturing, including the belief that sustainability is the key to innovation. It also relates the trend to the introduction of a directive by the European Union (EU) to restrict the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.

The article focuses on a series of draft documents and discussion papers on environmental policy including climate change measures, energy and contaminated land remediation released by the New Zealand government. A range of options to reduce emissions caused by the transportation sector are being proposed in the Draft Energy Strategy. It cites the proposed changes to the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act (HSNO) 1996. The government plans to increase the level of national information collection on contaminated land.