Longitudinal Analysis of the Eco‐Design Management Standardization Process in Furniture Companies

This article discusses how eco‐design management standards have been adopted and the environmental and economic results that have been obtained by the Spanish furniture manufacturers. This is precisely the industry sector in Spain where the dissemination of eco‐design standards has been most important. Using multiple case‐study methodology, the research has shown that, in three companies, more than 90% of the environmental impact of the companies’ products occurs within the manufacturing phase. Companies have implemented tools for life cycle assessment with eco‐indicators values that allow them to assess complex products and evaluate their significant environmental impacts at each stage. The environmental strategies of these companies are based on the continuous improvement of the internal processes and the review and monitoring of their activities. In this approach, the proper choice of materials and the environmental management of the supply chain are the main problems for companies. The outcomes achieved by the companies included some improvements, such as a greater control of product management and a reduction in operating costs, that have allowed them to obtain competitive advantages. Moreover, the adoption of standard management has enabled the companies to drive innovation of products, improve the image of companies and their products, significantly reduce the environmental impact of their products, and adapt to new, more demanding environmental laws and regulations.     

Teratogen update: lead and pregnancy

This review focuses on the impacts of lead exposure on reproductive health and outcomes. High levels of paternal lead exposure (>40 microg/dl or >25 microg/dl for a period of years) appear to reduce fertility and to increase the risks of spontaneous abortion and reduced fetal growth (preterm delivery, low birth weight). Maternal blood lead levels of approximately 10 microg/dl have been linked to increased risks of pregnancy hypertension, spontaneous abortion, and reduced offspring neurobehavioral development. Somewhat higher maternal lead levels have been linked to reduced fetal growth. Some studies suggest a link between increased parental lead exposure and congenital malformations, although considerable uncertainty remains regarding the specific malformations and the dose-response relationships. Common methodological weaknesses of studies include potential exposure misclassifications due to the frequent unavailability of exposure biomarker measurements at biologically appropriate times and uncertainty regarding the best exposure biomarker(s) for the various outcomes. A special concern with regard to the pregnant woman is the possibility that a fetus might be exposed to lead mobilized from bone stores as a result of pregnancy-related metabolic changes, making fetal lead exposure the result of exposure to exogenous lead during pregnancy and exposure to endogenous lead accumulated by the woman prior to pregnancy. By reducing bone resorption, increased calcium intake during the second half of pregnancy might reduce the mobilization of lead from bone compartments, even at low blood lead levels. Subgroups of women who incurred substantial exposures to lead prior to pregnancy should be considered to be at increased risk.     

Synthetic biology: ensuring the greatest global value

Synthetic biology (SynBio) has tremendous, transformative potential. Like other technologies, it can be used for good or ill. Currently, the structure of the allocation of potential benefits and risks is biased in favor of richer countries. The underlying problem is simple: most risks from SynBio are universal and affect both the rich and the poor with equal force; but benefits from SynBio can be expected to accrue chiefly to the rich. The risk/benefit balance is therefore skewed in a way that may lead to inefficient and unfair decisions. One potential solution is presented in this paper, using the principles that underlie the Health Impact Fund (HIF). The HIF is designed to reward companies based on assessed health impact, no matter where it occurs in the world, so that extending the life of a poor person is as profitable as extending the life of a rich person. This paper considers both the potential benefits and costs of SynBio; examines how the current global pharmaceutical industry is structured; introduces the HIF proposal; and finally explores how the principles underlying the HIF could be used productively with SynBio for global health.     

Corporate preparedness for pandemic influenza: a survey of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in Montgomery County, Maryland

Objectives: We conducted a survey of corporate preparedness for pandemic influenza among biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in Montgomery County, Maryland, to determine the level of preparedness for this industry and geographic region. Methods: The survey, based on the HHS Business Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist, established whether a company had a preparedness plan specific to pandemic influenza, the contents of its plan, or its reasons for a lack of a plan. Results: A total of 50 companies participated in the survey. Of these, 40 did not have any type of preparedness plan, 3 were drafting plans, 6 had general preparedness plans that could be applied to an influenza pandemic, and only 1 company had a preparedness plan specifically designed to address pandemic influenza. Conclusions: Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in this geographic region are currently not well prepared for pandemic influenza. Public health officials should offer more help, possibly in the form of a model small business preparedness plan, and collaboration between companies should be encouraged to foster sharing of preparedness plans.     

Environmental Impact and Intensity of Processes in Selected Services Companies

The study fills the gap in existing literature by comparing the economic costs and environmental impacts of processes in four services companies in Europe and the United States. Process-based life cycle assessment (LCA) and the case study method are used to compare companies both on four global-scale impacts and on environmental intensity (impacts per unit cost). The study builds on prior publications on the environmental contribution of processes. The processes include all the activities of the companies that result in an entry into the bookkeeping records. The results show that despite the substantial differences in organizational characteristics and line of business, all the cases had similar environmental contributions and intensity profiles. Wages, which accounted for over half of the costs, were assumed not to cause any environmental impacts. By contrast, the office premises, which generated less than 10% of the costs, caused around 50% of the environmental impacts. At a more general level, the results suggest that both the high environmental impact and the high intensity are attributed mostly to a few premises-related processes in the services industry. The results also seem to imply that the companies could gain added value by using life cycle assessment in determining the significant environmental impacts of their operations.     

Identified and unidentified challenges for reproductive biotechnologies regarding infectious diseases in animal and public health.

The aim of the present paper is to review the known and theoretical risks for in vivo derived and in vitro produced embryos as well as for nuclear transferred or transgenic embryos in terms of animal diseases or diseases of public health consequence. For in vivo derived embryos, a considerable number of experiments and scientific investigations have resulted in recommended guidelines and procedures that ensure a high level of safety. The effectiveness of these measures has been validated by field experience with the safe transfer of several million embryos over the past three decades. In vitro produced embryos have several characteristics that differentiate them from the former, in particular a structure of the zona pellucida that results in a more frequent possible association of pathogens with the embryo. However, the guidelines prescribed by the IETS, the international standard setting body (OIE) and existing national regulatory frameworks are in place to minimize the risk of disease transmission. No specific public health risks have been identified to date with respect to in vivo or in vitro derived embryos. In regard to nuclear transferred and transgenic embryos, theoretical risks have been identified in relation to the potential effects on some intrinsic viruses such as endogenous retroviruses but very little targeted experimental work has been carried out on infectious diseases that could have adverse consequences on animal or human health. Although there has been no report of such adverse consequences associated with the limited number of animals produced to date by such reproductive technologies, a precautionary approach is warranted given the potential negative impacts and it would be prudent to restrict at this stage, the international movement of such "manipulated" embryos.     

Climate change and local public health in the United States: preparedness, programs and perceptions of local public health department directors

While climate change is inherently a global problem, its public health impacts will be experienced most acutely at the local and regional level, with some jurisdictions likely to be more burdened than others. The public health infrastructure in the U.S. is organized largely as an interlocking set of public agencies at the federal, state and local level, with lead responsibility for each city or county often residing at the local level. To understand how directors of local public health departments view and are responding to climate change as a public health issue, we conducted a telephone survey with 133 randomly selected local health department directors, representing a 61% response rate. A majority of respondents perceived climate change to be a problem in their jurisdiction, a problem they viewed as likely to become more common or severe over the next 20 years. Only a small minority of respondents, however, had yet made climate change adaptation or prevention a top priority for their health department. This discrepancy between problem recognition and programmatic responses may be due, in part, to several factors: most respondents felt personnel in their health department--and other key stakeholders in their community--had a lack of knowledge about climate change; relatively few respondents felt their own health department, their state health department, or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had the necessary expertise to help them create an effective mitigation or adaptation plan for their jurisdiction; and most respondents felt that their health department needed additional funding, staff and staff training to respond effectively to climate change. These data make clear that climate change adaptation and prevention are not currently major activities at most health departments, and that most, if not all, local health departments will require assistance in making this transition. We conclude by making the case that, through their words and actions, local health departments and their staff can and should play a role in alerting members of their community about the prospect of public health impacts from climate change in their jurisdiction.     

基于多风险源胁迫的西南地区生态风险评价

西南地区生态环境复杂、人地矛盾突出,生态系统面临着多种风险胁迫,进行生态风险评价对区域生态风险的预警和防控具有重要的意义。基于西南地区的生态环境特征,将生态风险分为自然灾害风险与人类活动风险,从风险源危险性、生态系统潜在损失度、生态系统易损性3个方面构建单一风险评价模型,将单一风险评价结果进行综合分析得到西南地区综合生态风险结果。研究表明,西南高生态风险区面积为17.02万km2,占研究区总面积7.4%,主要分布在念青唐古拉山、邛崃山、哀牢山、无量山、金沙江、怒江、澜沧江、大渡河流域等地,以及成都、重庆、贵阳等人地作用强烈的大城市周边。这些地区环境复杂,灾害易发,应加强防控与监测,优化产业结构,继续推进生态保护工程,降低生态风险。     

Industrial symbiosis in the forestry sector: A case study in southern Brazil

Industrial symbiosis (IS) is an important concept in the field of industrial ecology that has disseminated worldwide as a practice to decrease the ecological impact of industrial processes through the exchange of by‐products and waste between units in a system. The forestry industry is the main economic activity in the region of Lages in southern Brazil. IS relationships have expanded with the use of waste material from wood processing and strengthened cooperation between companies in different sectors. The aims of this article were to: a) quantify the level of IS in the system, b) identify the benefits of IS for participants, and c) explain why the network further developed IS to the formation of an industrial ecosystem. A questionnaire was administered during visits to 24 forestry companies in order to analyze their products and processes, commercial relations, positive impacts, and local insertion. The industrial symbiosis indicator (ISI) was determined using waste stream data from the system to represent the level of symbiosis among the companies in this region. The results show that the companies participate in a symbiotic network, mainly involving the exchange of chips, bark, sawdust and shavings. In most cases, these exchanges occur between nearby companies, constituting an extensive industrial ecosystem.     

Opportunistic infections in immunologically compromised nonhuman primates

Despite advances in the husbandry of nonhuman primates, natural and experimentally induced diseases continue to pose risks to animal health. These risks are particularly important when such disease results in immunodeficient states that provide an opportunity for the development of opportunistic infections. Because opportunistic agents may serve as significant confounders to research and hold potential for zoonotic transmission, knowledge of disease pathogenesis, surveillance, and risk reduction is particularly important to individuals who work closely with primates. Endogenous diseases of primates that result in blunted immune responses and thus allow for the development of opportunistic infection include simian type D retroviruses and measles. In addition, simian immunodeficiency virus is a frequently studied experimental cause of immunosuppression. This article focuses on clinical and pathological aspects of the most common opportunistic infections that occur in nonhuman primates maintained in research settings. The complete elimination of all infectious agents from primate colonies may be impossible and unwarranted, but microbial surveillance programs can help both to define the complement of agents present in a colony and to elucidate their potential impacts on colony health, zoonotic risk, and experimental research. We discuss risk reduction through the use of quarantine procedures, specific pathogen-free animals, and environmental controls.     

Prevention of future incidents and investigational lines

All radiation devices in use nowadays are subject to cause serious incidents and accidents, with potential risks in exposed population groups. These risks may have immediate or long term health implications. The detection of radioactive incidents is a procedure that should be systematized in economically developed societies. International organizations may provide support to other states in the event of a radioactive incident. Prevention, mitigation and treatment of the radiation effects are done by anticipating the moment of exposure and by establishing new efforts for investigation of radioprotective products.In this article we will analyze the causes of radiological incidents, the means to detect them, and the current preventive and therapeutic procedures available, with special emphasis on new biodosimetry methods for triage and investigational radioprotective drugs. Finally, we will explore the most efficient measures, for future prevention.     

Review: Nutritional ecology of heavy metals

The aim of this review is to focus the attention on the nutrition ecology of the heavy metals and on the major criticisms related to the heavy metals content in animal feeds, manure, soil and animal-origin products. Heavy metals are metallic elements that have a high density that have progressively accumulated in the food chain with negative effects for human health. Some metals are essential (Fe, I, Co, Zn, Cu, Mn, Mo, Se) to maintain various physiological functions and are usually added as nutritional additives in animal feed. Other metals (As, Cd, F, Pb, Hg) have no established biological functions and are considered as contaminants/undesirable substances. The European Union adopted several measures in order to control their presence in the environment, as a result of human activities such as: farming, industry or food processing and storage contamination. The control of the animal input could be an effective strategy to reduce human health risks related to the consumption of animal-origin products and the environmental pollution by manure. Different management of raw materials and feed, animal species as well as different legal limits can influence the spread of heavy metals. To set up effective strategies against heavy metals the complex interrelationships in rural processes, the widely variability of farming practices, the soil and climatic conditions must be considered. Innovative and sustainable approaches have discussed for the heavy metal nutrition ecology to control the environmental pollution from livestock-related activities.     

Alleged misconceptions' distort perceptions of environmental cancer risks.

In a series of papers, Ames and colleagues allege that the scientific and public health communities have perpetuated a series of 'misconceptions' that resulted in inaccurate identification of chemicals that pose potential human cancer risks, and misguided cancer prevention strategies and regulatory policies. They conclude that exposures to industrial and synthetic chemicals represent negligible cancer risks and that animal studies have little or no scientific value for assessing human risks. Their conclusions are based on flawed and untested assumptions. For instance, they claim that synthetic residues on food can be ignored because 99.99% of pesticides humans eat are natural, chemicals in plants are pesticides, and their potential to cause cancer equals that of synthetic pesticides. Similarly, Ames does not offer any convincing scientific evidence to justify discrediting bioassays for identifying human carcinogens. Ironically, their arguments center on a ranking procedure that relies on the same experimental data and extrapolation methods they criticize as being unreliable for evaluating cancer risks. We address their inconsistencies and flaws, and present scientific facts and our perspectives surrounding Ames' nine alleged misconceptions. Our conclusions agree with the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the National Toxicology Program, and other respected scientific organizations: in the absence of human data, animal studies are the most definitive for assessing human cancer risks. Animal data should not be ignored, and precautions should be taken to lessen human exposures. Dismissing animal carcinogenicity findings would lead to human cancer cases as the only means of demonstrating carcinogenicity of environmental agents. This is unacceptable public health policy.     

Safety,Health, and Environmental Risk Assessment of a Gas Power Plant: A Case Study from Southern Iran

This research was conducted to assess health, safety, and environmental risks of a gas power plant in southern Iran. In order to identify the subject risks of the power plant at operational phase a questionnaire was designed using the Delphi method. The questionnaires were put at the disposal of 99 electricity industry experts. Risk assessment was done using multicriteria decision-making methods such as technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), entropy, and Eigenvector technique. Following prioritization of risks at each power plant unit, top-priority risks were determined by one-way ANOVA. The obtained results indicated that the risk of working with medium voltage boards with a weight of 0.879 at the power plant's Electricity Unit is the most important safety and health risk in the studied power plant while risk of servicing the unit with fuel of gas weighting 0.807 and delivery of gas fuel with weight of 0.630 in the Exploiting Unit and work on liquid fuel clutch with weight of 0.603 in the Mechanical Unit are the most important environmental risks in the gas power plant. In conclusion, this study concludes that health, safety, and environmental risk assessment can be a structured and used as a systematic approach to plan for environmental protection and personnel health.     

Quality Control of Fungal and Viral Biocontrol Agents - Assurance of Product Performance

An essential feature of the production of all microbial control agents is an effective quality control system. Well-defined product specifications with accompanying quality control procedures help to maximize product performance, ensure product safety, standardize manufacturing costs and reduce the risks of supply failure, thus building user confidence. A production system that does not have a quality control system is one whose output is uncontrolled and a lack of thorough quality feedback can result in batches of product with variable concentrations of active agent. This results in products with variable performance leading to control failures by users and serious loss of user confidence. Strict quality control procedures are not only essential for product consistency, but also for safety. Where quality control is inadequate, microbial contamination of the final product is inevitable. In most of such cases this will merely lead to a loss of efficacy due to dilution of the active ingredient by competing microorganisms, but also the potential of producing human pathogens must be ruled out. Recognition of contaminants and quantification of the degree of contamination are therefore important in determining any possible risk to human health. Many low technology production systems in use around the world have minimal or no quality control procedures. This is unacceptable and can damage the reputation of microbial control in addition to possibly posing health risks to those that produce or are exposed to the product. Two case studies from developing countries, are used to illustrate how the lack of quality control procedures can lead to the production of low viability, highly contaminated products with low or negligible concentrations of the active ingredient. However, it is also demonstrated that low technology production systems in developing countries can produce high quality products, provided appropriate quality control procedures are firmly implemented. It must be recognized that quality control procedures can be more complex and technologically demanding than the production procedures themselves, but it is largely on the effectiveness of these control procedures that the long-term acceptability of fungal and viral products depends. This paper details the quality control procedures considered necessary in the mass production of fungi and viruses for use as biocontrol agents, and attempts to suggest reasonable standards that can be achieved by all producers.     

Expanding Disease Definitions in Guidelines and Expert Panel Ties to Industry: A Cross-sectional Study of Common Conditions in the United States

Background

Financial ties between health professionals and industry may unduly influence professional judgments and some researchers have suggested that widening disease definitions may be one driver of over-diagnosis, bringing potentially unnecessary labeling and harm. We aimed to identify guidelines in which disease definitions were changed, to assess whether any proposed changes would increase the numbers of individuals considered to have the disease, whether potential harms of expanding disease definitions were investigated, and the extent of members'' industry ties.

Methods and Findings

We undertook a cross-sectional study of the most recent publication between 2000 and 2013 from national and international guideline panels making decisions about definitions or diagnostic criteria for common conditions in the United States. We assessed whether proposed changes widened or narrowed disease definitions, rationales offered, mention of potential harms of those changes, and the nature and extent of disclosed ties between members and pharmaceutical or device companies.Of 16 publications on 14 common conditions, ten proposed changes widening and one narrowing definitions. For five, impact was unclear. Widening fell into three categories: creating “pre-disease”; lowering diagnostic thresholds; and proposing earlier or different diagnostic methods. Rationales included standardising diagnostic criteria and new evidence about risks for people previously considered to not have the disease. No publication included rigorous assessment of potential harms of proposed changes.Among 14 panels with disclosures, the average proportion of members with industry ties was 75%. Twelve were chaired by people with ties. For members with ties, the median number of companies to which they had ties was seven. Companies with ties to the highest proportions of members were active in the relevant therapeutic area. Limitations arise from reliance on only disclosed ties, and exclusion of conditions too broad to enable analysis of single panel publications.

Conclusions

For the common conditions studied, a majority of panels proposed changes to disease definitions that increased the number of individuals considered to have the disease, none reported rigorous assessment of potential harms of that widening, and most had a majority of members disclosing financial ties to pharmaceutical companies. Please see later in the article for the Editors'' Summary     

Applying Mental Models to Qualitative Risk Assessment at the Tar Creek Superfund Site

Re-suspension of heavy metal residuals generated by former mining activities conducted at the Tar Creek Superfund site may result in exposures of nearby residents. Currently, remediation and mitigation activities include removal of yard soil containing high concentrations of heavy metals, removal of selected chat piles, and providing assistance for families with young children. Although these are important activities to reduce potential risks to Tar Creek residents, a qualitative assessment of the site that uses mental models identifies other potential contaminants of concern, transport, and exposure pathways that may require further investigation. Mental models structure judgments about hazards and risk by visually representing a contaminated site through the use of influence diagrams. A mental model was applied to the Mayer Ranch area of the Tar Creek Superfund site in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, to support a qualitative assessment of the health risks from heavy metals exposure. Documents were reviewed to develop influence diagrams illustrating the processes, interactions, and potential exposures that could subject a hypothetical individual recreating at Mayer Ranch to various health risks. The diagrams were modified to reflect expert judgments. The mental model includes four influence diagrams: source term, fate, and transport processes that may influence human health risks due to exposure to heavy metals; natural wetland processes that could remove heavy metals; net alkaline constructed wetland processes that could remove heavy metals; and potential future impacts from the removal of sediment and land development that could increase risk. Policies, regulations, and technologies that could most reduce the probability of exposures can be determined and evaluated by focusing on the environmental transport pathways and contaminants that pose the greatest potential risks and determining the difference between the risks. Also evident are the knowledge gaps with respect to the processes within wetlands.     

6th SETAC-Europe Meeting: LCA — Selected Papers

A study of industry’s use of LCA has been performed as a special analysis of the Business Environmental Barometer (B.E.B.). The B.E.B. is an international questionnaire survey on industry’s environmental management practices (LCA included), repeated every two years. The first round in 1993 included the Nordic countries. The 1997 round will include eight European countries. This analysis intends to describe industry’s LCA use as such (e.g. active industrial sectors, applications, changes over time) and differences between companies working with LCA and those not working with LCA. The survey indicates that industry is in the process of internalising LCA knowledge, although most companies are still in the learning phase. LCA companies have more developed environmental management systems than non-LCA companies. A company’s LCA use seems to be a competitor-driven activity, judging from LCA distribution among industrial sectors.     

The effects of cleaning and disinfection in reducing Salmonella contamination in a laboratory model kitchen

AIMS: To establish a laboratory model to compare the effectiveness of detergent-based disinfection procedures for reducing cross-contamination risks during handling of contaminated chicken. METHODS AND RESULTS: During handling of chickens, artificially contaminated with Salmonella enteritidis PT4, the organism was widely spread to hands, cloths, and hand- and food-contact surfaces. Hygiene procedures were assessed on the basis of their ability to reduce the number of recoverable salmonellas to <1 CFU. Although detergent-based cleaning using a typical bowl-wash routine without rinsing produced some risk reduction (from 100 to 61.4% of contaminated surfaces), it was insufficient to consistently restore surfaces to a hygienic state. By combining detergent-based cleaning with a rinsing step or with hypochlorite at 500 ppm (of available chlorine) some further reduction in microbial risk was achieved, but was not considered satisfactory for food hygiene purposes. By contrast the risk reduction produced by hypochlorite at 5000 ppm was highly significant and was sufficient to reduce the number of contaminated surfaces to 2.9%. CONCLUSIONS: A key step in achieving a hygienic state through detergent-based cleaning is rinsing but even this will not produce a 'hygienic' result for difficult surfaces such as the chopping board or the dishcloth. Disinfectant compounds should be considered in order to reduce the potential for foodborne cross infection within the home environment. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Although tests are available to determine the performance of disinfectants, there are no quantitative procedures available to compare the risk reduction achieved by disinfection with that produced by detergent-based procedures. This study describes a reproducible laboratory method which can be used to differentiate the effectiveness of different hygiene procedures for reducing cross-contamination risks during food handling.     

The Impact of Energy Management Control Systems on Energy Efficiency in the German Manufacturing Industry

Although previous studies point to much (untapped) potential for energy efficiency enhancement in industry, empirical research that adapts findings of environmental control to the context of energy management remains widely neglected. Specifically, previous environmental research suggests that the implementation of energy management control systems (EnMCS) could be an effective lever for companies to enhance their production systems and operations toward energy efficiency. Yet, empirical evidence for this theoretical proposition is rather missing; thus, debate continues regarding whether the high investments to set up a comprehensive EnMCS pay off in the long run. Based on a sample of 236 German manufacturing companies, this study combines primary data that capture the configuration of EnMCS with secondary data that were used to calculate energy efficiency. The results provide evidence that the extent of EnMCS implementation positively relates to firms’ energy efficiency. Findings from additional moderation analysis suggest that companies might enhance the relationship of EnMCS and energy efficiency performance by establishing a full‐time energy manager or by using external energy consulting support.