the importing country has provided written consent to the import and unless the wastes are directed toward an “adequate disposal facility.” For the UNEP proposed convention, the term “adequate disposal facility” could perhaps be defined as “something built, installed, or established to perform hazardous waste disposal operations in a manner such that any and all requirements pertaining to these operations as published in legislation, regulations, policies, or licensing rules in the country of exportation are met.” The OECD opts for a high degree of monitoring and control. In fact, many OECD member countries have defined such controls by means of domestic laws and regulations. There is empirical evidence that developing countries do not want to import wastes if they will be managed less stringently than required under the laws of the country of exportation. Countries of exportation are in the best position to know what standards of waste management need to be applied to wastes generated in their country. If these standards cannot be met, the inescapable conclusion
is that the potential for harm to humans and the environment from the wastes is in some way increased.
The future The basis for a global convention will almost certainly be adopted in 1989. Of necessity, ratification and full implementation will not occur until sometime in the future. In the interim, OECD member country governments have pledged to “make special efforts to ensure that the existing legal and administrative instruments for controlling transfrontier movements of hazardous wastes are applied, consistent with the intent of the draft OECD International Agreement and the draft global UNEP Convention. In so doing, particular attention will be given to measures intended to protect public health and the environment in developing countries.” Clearly, 1989 will be the year in which the bases for effective monitoring and control of transfrontier movements of hazardous wastes will be put firmly in place. The proposed global convention, when fully implemented and enforced, will ensure that this mon-
itoring and control occurs worldwide. Both instruments are still in the drafting stage, and although the aims of both drafts are very much alike, it can be assumed that the UNEP draft is more comprehensive as regards the obligation of countries in the field of monitoring and control. For example, under the UNEP convention developing countries could object to the transfer of wastes through their country. In order to avoid any conflict of requirements under the two conventions, UNEP and OECD will still have to decide on the relation between the two instruments. One caveat is necessary. There must be active, strong, and effective domestic waste management systems in force. If not, an international system may be built on a foundation of sand. The domestic control system must mesh with the international system in order to provide maximum protection for humans and the environment. The views expressed are solely those of the author and not of the OECD or its member
countries.
Environmental awards Winners of the 1989 Graduate Student Awards in Environmental Chemistry The ACS Division of Environmental Chemistry is in the fourth year of its program of awards for graduate students. Glenn C. Miller announced the winners earlier this year. Miller, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Nevada-Reno, chaired the awards committee. The 1989 environmental chemistry awards committee consisted of Herbert Allen of Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA), M a n Elzerman of Clemson University (Clemson, SC), Werner Haag of SRI International (Palo Alto, CA), Charles Shorten of EA Engineering (Sparks, MD), and Stanton S . Miller of the American Chemical Society in Washington, DC. Glenn Miller told ES&T that despite the small number of graduate students who competed and won awards this year, the quality of the students who applied was very high. He expressed the hope that the response next year will be greater. The awards consist of one-year memberships in the division and one-year subscriptions to ES&T. We extend our congratulations to the following 13 graduate students who are the winners for 1989. 0013-936)(189/0923-051 1$01.50/0
Lisa M. Alvarez of Stanford University, whose interests include the effects of sorption on the rate of biodegradation of trichloroethylene. Todd A. Anderson of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, who is studying structural activity relationships for the degradation of a mixture of organic materials in soil. Debera A. Backhw of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who is researching colloids in groundwater and their sorption potential for hydrophobic organic contaminants. Kathy Boswell of The Johns Hopkins University, whose research is in the reductive dissolution of mixed iron, cobalt, and manganese oxides with the subsequent release of toxic metals into natural water systems. Suda Bunduwongse of Tennessee Technological University, who is studying the optimum removal of organic compounds by granular activated carbon. Menachem Elimelech of The Johns Hopkins University, who is studying the chemical aspects of particle deposition in porous media. Mohamad R. Farvardin of
0 1989 American Chemical Society
Clarkson University, whose field of research is preozonation as an aid in the coagulation of humic substances. Gary M. Hutter of the University of Illinois at Chicago, who is conducting research in the soil gas diffusion coefficient of selected organic hydrocarbons. Seungdo Kim of the University of Illinois at Urbana, who is studying the chemical identity and characterization of organic phosphorus in a natural ecosystem. Leslie S. Laudon of the Colorado School of Mines, who is working on the determination of the forms of sulfur in an artificial wetland. Caroline B. Purdy of the University of Maryland, who is working with cosmogenic 36Clas a tracer in groundwater in the Aquia Aquifer of southern Maryland. Janice I! Stowell of the State University of New York at Buffalo, who is studying the chemical degradation of chlorendic (HET) acid by ozonation. Christine L. Tiller, whose research is in colloid stabilization by polyelectrolytes, including model development, experimental measurements, and application to aquatic systems. Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 23,
No.5, 1989
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ENVIRONMENTAL INDEX Total metric tons of U.S. pollution exported to Canada: 3.71 million Percentage of total US.emissions exported to Canada: 18 Millions of metric tons of sulfur dioxide exported from the US. to Canada in 1970 5.1 Millions of metric tons of sulfur dioxide exported from the US. to Canada in 1985: 3.2 Millions of metric tons of sulfur dioxide exported from Canada to the US.in 1970 2.1 Millions of metric tons of sulfur dioxide exported from Canada to the U.S. in 1985: 1.0 Number of lakes in eastern Canada susceptible to acidic deposition: 300,000 Number of lakes in the eastern United States susceptible to acidic deposition: 11,000 Number of eastern Canadian lakes in the process of being damaged: 150,000
Number of U.S. lakes that are in the process of being damaged: 3,800 Number of Canadian lakes already acidified: 14,000 Number of US. lakes already acidified: 1,100 Number of lakes in the northeastern United States whose chemical status has been determined: 768 Number of chemical parameters measured on US.lake water samples in the Eastern Lake survey: 26 Number of streams in the eastern United States that are susceptible to acidic deposition: 25,000 Number of U.S. streams that have been acidified: 3,300 Percentage of Canada's maple SYNP production produced by Quebec: 89 Percentage of sugar maples in Quebec showing signs of decline: 40 Annual dollar value of Quebec's maple SYNP production: U.S. $33 million
Sources are listed on page 515. 512 Envimn. Sci.Technol.. Voi. 23, No. 5, 1989
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