Environmental News Environmentalists are overstating the risks, charged Steven Strauss, a professor of forest science at Oregon State University and coauthor of the Nature Biotechnology statement. Strauss called the WWF report "gravely disappointing," and he said that "there is overwhelming consensus among scientists that biotechnology can be used safely and should move forward." Strauss has publicly decried the growing vandalism and protests against GM forestry. Otiier scientists, like Vincent Chiang, director of the Michigan Technological University's Plant Biotechnology Research Center, stress mat they have been putting very careful thought into the risks of genetic pollution. In addition to creating sterile trees, Chiang, who has been working on a project to create GM aspen trees with very low lignin contents in hopes of reducing the amount of chlorine-containing chemicals
required in paper production, says that paper companies could easily prevent genetic pollution by harvesting GM trees before they flower. After all, he pointed out, trees do not normally flower for 5 or 7, sometimes even up to 20 years. Although Strauss stressed that "there's no grave danger out there," he acknowledged that many proposals he has made for studying the environmental effects of planting GM trees have not received funding from the National Science Foundation or USDA because the organizations are not supporting much basic research. "The research definitely needs to be done," he said. The USDA did not return phone calls regarding what GM tree research was being conducted. Both Strauss and Jeanrenaud expressed concerns about the anecdotal reports that large plots of GM trees are being planted in China. Jeanrenaud said there was
some evidence that they could represent commercial-scale plantings. Strauss disagreed that size was necessarily an indication of commercial status, countering that GM tree developers need to test on a large scale at the end of the development cycle. "I know that the crops [in die Chinese project] are not certified for commercial use by the government," he said. Because the Chinese project reportedly involves developing poplar trees that are resistant to a caterpillar pest, "the key question from a perspective of environmental safety is how are tiiey going to deploy and monitor mem?" Strauss said. "Are there any reasons to think there are ecological impacts mat are greater than whatever they're doing now to control their insect pests? Those are me kinds of questions you hope they're looking at. I don't know if they not." KELLYN S. BETTS
European governments urged to consider environmental benchmarks Europe's heads of government have failed to provide leadership in changing environmentally damaging trends in the agriculture, energy, and transport sectors claims the European Environment Bureau (EEB), the largest federation of environmental groups in Europe. European Union (EU) political leaders approved the strategies developed by these sectors to integrate environmental policy and sustainable development into their economic plans when they met in December in Helsinki, Finland. The summit called for "regular evaluation, followup, and monitoring . . . so that the strategies can be adjusted and deepened". But the EEB, which represents 139 environmental groups, says the strategies did not contain proper targets, timetables, or actions. "The political message, which is not good, is that Europe is not taking integration very seriously," said Christian Hey, EEB's
EU policy director, who added "We would have hoped that heads of government would have given a clear mandate for targetsetting." John Hontelez, EEB secretary-general commented that the leaders did not impress on the ministers of the relevant sectors that they should consider the environment a priority. "What we needed from the summit was the message about the directions to take and the urgency involved Someone must make an end to the complacency of ministers the EU's Environmental Council should become much more aggressive in challenging the business-asusual aDproach of their colleagues " Hontelez said However, the EEB was pleased that the summit requested that the European Commission prepare a proposal for a long-term strategy that dovetails economic, social, and ecological aspects of sustainable development policies for discussion at the summit in
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June 2001. Hontelez noted, "We are looking forward to an open and inclusive process to elaborate this strategy. [It] must be guided by a set of key targets and timetables, with a legally binding character. The strategy should lead to an EU that lives within its environmental space by the year 2030 and contributes positively to sustainable development globally." The EEB is hoping that its 10 Environmental Benchmarks for Sustainable Development, published last October, will feed through into debates within the commission. The benchmarks, which can be found at EEB's Web site (www.eeb.org), consist of targets, timetables, and indicators in 10 key areas: air quality, water quality, water use, climate change, hazardous substances, land use, biodiversity, material 1 JSP and sectoral targets for transport and agriculture. The EEB is convinced that most of the targets can be
achieved within 30 years. These include a 75% reduction of greenhouse gases, air quality that does not affect human health anymore, a 10-fold reduction of nonrenewable material use, and stabilization of traffic. Other targets can be achieved within 20 years, including the phaseout of the release of hazardous substances into the environment and a ban on all pesticides that are not compatible with organic farming. —MARIA BURKE
Did You Know? Explosives eaten by spinach: Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have found that nitroeductase enzymes in spinach and other natural compounds can eat, digest, and transform explosives such as TNT into low-toxicitv byproducts. Source: Breakthroughs, Spring 1999.
Health Assessment Long-running diesel health assessment needs tweaking, EPA science advisors say For the fourth time, an EPA science advisory panel declined to put its stamp of approval on an agency document analyzing the human health effects from diesel exhaust. But the CASAC did support classifying diesel exhaust as "likely to be carcinogenic to humans". When finalized, the assessment, which has been more than 10 years in the making, is likely to affect several new regulations. At its Dec. 1 meeting last year, everyone on EPA's Clean Air Act Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) "agreed by far that this draft was an improvement over the last one," said Joe Mauderly, director of the National Environment Respiratory Center at the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute in Albuquerque, NM. Frank O'Donnell of the Clean Air Trust, a watchdog group in Washington D.C. which has raised concerns about the potential cancerous effects of diesel exhaust agreed with Mauderly The panel was "the closest it has ever been to signing off on the document" O'Donnell said Nonetheless, enough issues were raised that the panel declined to approve it in full and narrowly agreed that it will review the revised document again, most likely this year. The CASAC disagreed with EPA's description of diesel exhaust as "highly likely to be carcinogenic to humans" and instead supported the phrase "likely to be carcinogenic."
EPA continues to refine its diesel health assessment, which could play an important role in standards development. Some scientists felt, as they have in the past, that there are not enough nonoccupational epidemiological data to allow the agency scientists to calculate the cancer hazard to individuals in an environmental setting. And EPA's new cancer classification does not include "highly likely," Mauderly said. The CASAC also objected to the draft's Reference Concentration (RfC) for diesel exhaust, or the "safe" level of exposure that will cause no toxicity effects over a lifetime. The draft employs two different health effects in its RfC calculation instead of one which is a more traditional way to develop an RfC Mauderly said
The "Draft Diesel Health Assessment Document for Diesel Emissions" sets no regulatory standards, but once finalized, it could carry significant weight. This spring, EPA is expected to propose new rules requiring much lower sulfur levels in diesel fuel and tougher standards for heavy-duty diesel engines. New standards requiring lower diesel emissions from off-road vehicles are also on the drawing board. If EPA is able to finalize a rule reducing the sulfur content in diesel fuel automobile makers are likely to install more fuel-efficient diesel engines in their popular sport utility vehicles to meet forthcoming rules to address global warming said Greg Dana vice president of environmental affairs for the Allianrp of Automobile Manufacturers Washinnlnn D P
The assessment's outcome concerns environmentalists, too. Diesel exhaust is a complex mixture of gases and fine particles, which contains more than 40 substances that EPA considers hazardous. In August 1999, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) listed diesel exhaust particulate matter as a toxic air contaminant And in November, regulators in Southern California approved their report noting that particulates in diesel exhaust make up 70% of the cancer risk from air pollution in the region. EPA's and CARB's assessments review the same diesel studies. —CATHERINE M. COONEY
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