News Briefs Some of the world's poorest countries have significantly cut pollution by employing flexible, marketbased alternatives to "command and control" regulation, according to a study by the World Bank. Greening Industry: New Roles for Communities, Markets, and Governments highlights innovative programs that have "created a new model for pollution control in developing countries". The report is based on a six-year study that documents how countries like China India Indonesia and Brazil are employing tactics like charging polluters for their emissions and publishing community right-to-know reports To view the report on the Web go to wwwworldbank org/nipr Nationwide efforts to reduce solid waste cut the amount of trash dumped in U.S. landfills by 23.3 million tons in 1996, the latest year for which figures are available, according to EPA's Office of Solid Waste. The National Source Reduction Characterization Report is the first attempt to quantify how much waste was not generated since the first waste reduction policy initiatives were passed in 1990. "Grasscycled" yard wastes accounted for the majority of the reductions, but newspapers, wood packaging, and glass containers also saw significant declines. For a copy, go to http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/ osw/publicat.htm>www.epa.gov/ epaoswer/osw/publicat.htm. One billion tons of underwater sediments are sufficiently contaminated with toxic pollutants to pose risks to fish, wildlife, and humans who eat the fish, according to Muddy Waters: The Toxic Wasteland Below America'' Oceans, Coasts, Rivers, and Lakes. Annually, 400 million tons of dredged sediment are dumped back into U.S. coastal waters, lakes, rivers, and streams, according to author Beth Millemann. Sediments sampled by EPA at 21,000 sites contained 230 different chemicals, including mercury, pesticides, lead, and hydrocarbons. The report proposes longterm solutions to the problem,
including sediment storage and reuse. For a copy, contact the Coast Alliance at (202) 546-9554.
More than 12% of the printing and writing paper produced in the United States was projected to end up in catalogs in 1999, according to a report by the Alliance for Environmental Innovation, a project of the Environmental Defense Fund and the Pew Charitable Trusts. More than 17 billion catalogs were mailed to U.S. citizens in 1998 an average of 64 catalogs person and the numbers are projected to rise over the next five years according to Greener Catalogs. Because paper producin.2 i§ one of the most polluting industries in the United States the report's authors are calling on catalog companies to increase their use of recycled paper and to take further measures to reduce unwanted mailings For a CODV of the reDort go to wwwedfnewalliance ore/ catalogs html Only 1% of conservation areas are protected from extractive activities in 10 key developing countries, according to a study jointly conducted by The World Conservation Union for the World Bank and the World Wildlife Fund Alliance for Forest Conservation and Sustainable Use. So-called paper parks in such countries as Brazil, China, Tanzania, and Russia are vulnerable to human settlement, agriculture, logging, and mining. The Alliance calls for 50 million hectares (125 million acres) of existing but highly threatened protected forest areas to be secured from exploitation by 2005 A CODV of Threats to Forest Protected Areas san nb eccessed on the Web at www-esd worldbank org/wwf
7 2 A • FEBRUARY 1, 2000 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS
There were more than 600,000 chemical accidents in the United States between 1987 and 1996, according to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. Released in December, Accidents Waiting To Happen documents that 4860 facilities in 49 U.S. states store at least 100,000 lb of an extremely hazardous substance, noting that only 90,000 lb of methyl isocyanate were released in the Union Carbide accident in Bhopal. At least 100 facilities store more than 30 million lb of an extremely hazardous substance, according to the report, which recommends that better accident reporting methods be developed. To view the report 20 to www.pirg.org/chemical. Environmental factors such as exposure to toxic substances and pollutants, as well as diet, may play an important role in the development of birth defects, according to a new study by the Pew Environmental Health Commission at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. Data from many states and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the rate of birth defects has been rising steadily since the mid-1980s. Because one-third of the states fail to track birth defects, the report calls for legislation strengthening birth defects tracking and prevention A CODV of Healthy From the Start can be accessed on the Web at pewenvirohealth ihsph edu California's public school buses rank among "the oldest and highest-polluting in the nation", according to a report by the Los Angeles-based Coalition for Clean Air. Failing the Gradee How Diesel School Buses Threaten nur Children's Health ffcuses s n the problems California faces with its diesel school bus fleet, including the link between diesel exhaust particulates and childhood asthma. The report evaluates alternative engine technologies, pointing out that natural engines are cleaner than new diesel engines, which barely meet the California Arr Resources Board's standard for nitrogen oxides For a copv call (310) 441-1544
