CHRIS ANAYA
The baseball and football fields at Oak Ridge High School were closed for play in August, but students still maintain them despite the health risks.
show that exposure to tremolite asbestos also causes a range of respiratory illnesses, says EPA scientist Christopher Weis, who collaborated on a 2000−2001 clinical study in which about 6800 Libby residents had chest X-rays. About 18% of the population had scarred lungs, including about 40% of men over 65 (Environ. Health Persp. 2003, 111, 1753–1759). “Nothing like this has ever been recorded before,” says Weis. “The results really rocked us; we were completely surprised.” The California Air Resources
Board (CARB) has been monitoring the air in the El Dorado region since 1998. However, CARB has mainly conducted ambient air monitoring above the human breathing zone and not disturbed the soil, so the organization’s data may not be relevant, says ATSDR’s regional representative Libby Levy. Recent experiences with amphibole asbestos in Libby and in the World Trade Center cleanup have demonstrated the need for aggressive sampling to get an accurate reflection of exposure, says Arnold
News Briefs A rare commodity “Too many MBA students still graduate without an understanding of social impact and environmental management,” says Judith Samuelson of the Aspen Institute, which has released a report on business schools jointly with the World Resources Institute; both are nonprofit organizations. Beyond Grey Pinstripes 2003: Preparing MBAs for Social and Environmental Stewardship includes data from 100 business schools in 20 countries. The report lauds six schools for preparing future executives with solid training in managing environmental and social impacts: George Washington University’s School of Business and Public Management; the University of Michigan Business School; the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School; the Stanford Graduate School of Business; the Yale School of Management; and York University’s Schulich School of Business. For more information, go to www. beyondgreypinstripes.org.
WERF to investigate health complaints related to sewage sludge The Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) announced in September that it will spend $200,000 to jump-start the creation of a scientific “SWAT team” that could rapidly investigate health complaints related to the land application of sewage sludge. Participants at a biosolids meeting in July organized by WERF, the U.S. EPA, and the New England Biosolids and Residuals Association ranked this project as the most important way to begin to address the 2002 National Research Council recommendations that called for a more current and thorough treatment of pathogens in sludge and their possible health effects (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2002, 36, 338A). However, several invited representatives of citizen groups boycotted the
conference in protest over the treatment of former EPA microbiologist David Lewis. WERF will work with EPA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and stakeholders to draft a plan for a pilot project. Included in the models to be considered are teams that evaluate the spread of infectious disease, said a WERF spokesperson. Coming to grips with the causes of odor and figuring out how to control smells were also ranked highly among the 31 research projects that were sketched out at the meeting. However, WERF has no plans to increase the $1.5 million in grants the foundation awards each year in biosolids-related research projects. —REBECCA RENNER
If you have never seen a “bevelope,” keep your eyes open. In early October, the U.S. EPA announced that bevelopes won a contest aimed at reducing the environmental impact of shipping the millions of books purchased online each year. EPA and McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, a major proponent of the cradle-to-cradle design philosophy, cosponsored the contest. Allen Schluger Co. and Shorewood Packaging collaborated on the bevelope contest entry. Microsoft currently ships DVDs in bevelopes, which are made from 100% post-consumer waste and have expandable “bevels.” For more information on the contest, visit www.mbdc.com/challenge.
DECEMBER 1, 2003 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY ■ 427 A
MBDC
Green packaging
