battery powered. According to Daniel Dye, a research engineer at the University of Nevada’s energy systems lab, the researchers have been able to convert 12% of the infrared light to power. Further demonstrations of the HSL technology are planned by the Tennessee Valley Authority, the largest public power company in the United States; the Mississippi Technology Alliance; and the Sacramento (Calif.) Municipal Utility District. These projects will generate additional data on technical performance, demonstrate feasibility in different settings, and show energy savings potential in different environments, Muhs says. —KRIS CHRISTEN
GM crops may harm biodiversity
COREL
Many types of wildlife do better with conventional sugar beet and spring oilseed rape crops than with their genetically modified (GM), pesticide-resistant counterparts, according to the largest comparative field trials of these crops to date, which were conducted in the United Kingdom. The reverse is true of GM maize, although some
Wildlife do better with conventional sugar beets than their GM counterparts, according to a U.K. study.
doubt hangs over that outcome because the herbicide atrazine, which was banned for use in the European Union a week before the results were published, was used in these trials. The findings are the result of a four-year study to determine if growing herbicide-tolerant GM crops affects wildlife biodiversity. The experiments involved monitoring arable fields on a scale never before undertaken anywhere in the world, stresses Les Firbank, research consortium coordinator. “The U.K. is miles ahead of other countries in studying the impact of GM crops on biodiversity,” he says. “We are setting standards for the world to follow.” The differences arose not because the crops were GM, but because farmers use different herbicides and apply them differently on GM than on conventional crops, Firbank stresses. “The effect of GM cropping on biodiversity was remarkably consistent for each crop,” adds Firbank. “We are confident that our findings represent
News Briefs Green buildings pay off An investment of up to $100,000 to incorporate green building features into a $5 million project would result in a savings of at least $1 million over the life of the structure, according to a new report by the U.S. Green Building Council, a coalition of building industry leaders. The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings is the most comprehensive analysis conducted to date. It is based on data for 33 green buildings in California that follow the sustainable building objectives set forth in the state’s Executive Order D-16-00. The average cost of these buildings is slightly less than 2% more than that of conventional designs for a similar building, which the report stresses is substantially lower than commonly perceived. The benefits of the green buildings include lower energy, waste disposal, and water costs; lower environmental and emissions costs; lower operations and maintenance costs; and savings from increased productivity and health. To read the report, go to www.usgbc.org.
Japan embraces sustainability reporting More than 800 corporations on the Tokyo Stock Exchange now publish sustainability reports, according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), an independent institution that has developed globally applicable Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (Environ. Sci. Technol. 1999, 9, 189A). Japan also publishes more reports following the GRI’s formula than any other nation. For a list of those companies, go to www.globalreporting.org/guidelines/ rep_country.asp?country=56.
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electricity, and less than half of that is changed back into visible light by the electric lamps. The remainder gets converted into heat, which adds to the demand for air conditioning. HSL lights may become even more efficient as the result of a collaboration between researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno, and JX Crystals, Inc. Currently, ORNL’s prototype sunlight collector strips out the ultraviolet and infrared portions of the light spectrum because they can degrade the fiber optics over time. By redirecting the infrared light to a highly efficient thermo-photovoltaic array, electricity can be generated to operate the collector’s sun tracker, which is now
Environmental▼News what would happen under largescale growing, unless the management regimes altered.” Anti-GM activists claimed vindication of their warnings about these bioengineered crops. “The conclusions clearly show that the alleged benefits of the use of GM seeds do not exist. For years, the GM corporations have been claiming that their crops would reduce weed killer use and benefit wildlife. Now we know how wrong they are,” says Doug Parr, science director of Greenpeace U.K. The pro-GM lobby also viewed the results as good news. “It was not GM versus conventional farming that was significant, but different approaches to crop type, herbicide use, and management practices,” says Paul Rylott, chair of the agrochemical industry’s Agriculture Biotechnology Council. “This research highlighted that the impact on biodiversity is all to do with how farmers control weeds; when you want to grow a highquality, safe, affordable food, you have to control weeds that otherwise degrade quality, safety, and affordability. This evidence reiterates commercial experience around the world, that GM crops are more flexible and can enhance biodiversity.” GM supporters also claim that pesticide-resistant crops encourage environmentally friendly “no till” farming. Still to be heard is the U.K. government, which will use these results, published as eight papers on November 29 (Philos. Trans. R. Soc. 2003, 358, 1775–1889), to help it decide whether to allow such GM crops to be grown commercially. The government expects to reach a decision in the first half of next year. In the trials, 273 fields were each divided into half GM and half conventional crops. The farmers decided how and when to plough the fields and apply herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers, following normal commercial practice. The GM maize and rape were resistant to the herbicide glufosinate-ammonium, and beet was resistant to glyphosate.
More insects, such as butterflies and bees, were found in and around the conventional beet and spring rape fields because a greater number of weeds grew to provide food and cover. Moreover, there were 60% fewer weed seeds in GM beet fields and 80% fewer weed seeds in GM spring rape fields. Such seeds are important in the diets of some animals, particularly farmland birds. In contrast, there were more weeds in and around the GM maize crops, more butterflies and bees around at certain times of the year, and more weed seeds than in the conventional maize fields. The
fields sown with conventional maize were the poorest in plant and animal life. The broad-spectrum herbicides used on GM rape and beet were more effective on weeds than the herbicides applied to the conventional counterparts, says Firbank. However, most conventional maize farmers used atrazine either before or just after weeds started to grow, because it was better at killing weeds than the herbicide used on GM maize. Background information on the trials can be found at www. defra.gov.uk/environment/fse/ index.htm. —MARIA BURKE
Asbestos investigation under way After years of local controversy over the health risks from naturally occurring tremolite asbestos (Environ. Sci. Technol. 1999, 33, 348A–349A), a federal agency on October 20 began an investigation in one of the fastest growing regions of California. Some researchers believe that the study might reveal a major public health problem. The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substance Disease Registry (ATSDR) comes to El Dorado, a suburb of Sacramento, with experience investigating the effects of tremolite exposure in Libby, Mont. In Libby, tremolite asbestos occurs as a contaminant in vermiculite that was mined primarily for use as insulation. Asbestos exposure in the small town of about 12,000 has led to 192 deaths and has sickened hundreds of others, according to a 2001 story by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Tremolite asbestos has long been known to promote mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the lining of the lung. A U.S. EPA expert panel in February 2003 unanimously agreed that the carcinogenic potency of tremolite fibers is 2 orders of magnitude greater than for chrysotile fibers. EPA is currently reevaluating its 1986 assessment of asbestos toxicity, which considers all asbestos fibers to be equally hazardous. The ATSDR health evaluation will use this assumption. Some asbestos health experts fa-
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miliar with both places believe that El Dorado County, whose population is projected to grow to more than 200,000 in the next 10 years, has the makings of a much bigger tragedy. “Thirty years from now, everybody will forget Libbybut El Dorado will be one of the greatest public health disasters of the 21st century in the United States” if development continues unchecked, says pathologist and epidemiologist Bruce Case at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. El Dorado’s population is 10 times that of Libby, and tremolite asbestos is widespread near the surface. Activities that stir up the soil can lead to exposure. In Libby, exposure came from vermiculite mining operations, which lofted tremolite into the air. Miners are also thought to have brought tremolite into their homes on their clothes. Pathologist Jerrold Abraham at the State University of New York’s Upstate Medical University recently found extremely high concentrations of asbestos fibers in the lungs of a dog that had lived in El Dorado for more than 13 years. The data are slim, but they indicate that it is likely that substantial human exposures in this area have already occurred, he says. Since it takes decades for mesothelioma to develop, such lung data may be one of the few ways to predict the future. New studies of Libby residents
