News Briefs Corporate environmental reporting drops Corporate sustainability reports have increased 45% in average length over the past two years without an increase in overall quality, according to Trust Us, the second report in the Global Reporters Series prepared by SustainAbility, a business think tank, for the United Nations Environment Programme. International survey scores and analysis of 100 reports demonstrate more reporting on social and ethical matters. To move corporate sustainability forward, the critical environmental issues or performance areas need to be identified and integrated as priorities, say the authors. To obtain a copy of the report, go to www.sustainability. com/trust-us.
Phthalates hide under makeup Tests of 34 name-brand cosmetic products revealed that 80% contained one or more phthalates, according to a November report published by the advocacy groups Women’s Environmental Network, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, and Health Care Without Harm. Linked to reproductive birth defects and developmental toxicity, phthalates are found in perfumes, deodorants, and hair care products, in which they perform the function of moisturizing, dissolving, or fixing other ingredients. The phthalates are not listed on product labels because they are considered proprietary information. The report asserts that the industry fails to consider additive exposure through consumers’ use of multiple cosmetic products. Pretty Nasty: Phthalates in European Cosmetic Products is found at www.wen.org.uk/health/ Reports/Prettynasty.pdf.
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Researchers estimate that some 100–1000 tons of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were spread throughout lower Manhattan and beyond as a result of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. The estimates are based on concentrations found in samples of settled dust in the first few days following the attacks from 14 locations around the epicenter of the disaster. In previous analyses of the dust (Environ. Health Perspect. 2002, 110, 703–714), Paul Lioy, associate director of the Environmental and Occupational Health Science Institute, and his colleagues looked for a wide range of pollutants—essentially Dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center “everything people could spread PAHs over Manhattan. have been exposed to,” Lioy says. But for the study published in They found the highest PAH conthis issue of ES&T (pp 502–508), centrations at sites closest to the fires which was led by John Offenberg, a that continued to burn after the professor at Rutgers University, the buildings’ collapse and surmise that researchers honed in on the persisthe various fires associated with the tent organic pollutants with the disaster probably burned at differing greatest potential for long-term temperatures, leading to a range of health and ecosystem effects— unburned and partially burned hynamely, PAHs, polychlorinated drocarbons from the diverse mix of biphenyls (PCBs), and organoplastic, metal, wood, and other synchlorine pesticides. thetic products in the rubble. BeThey found PAH levels in the cause the fires burned for months, settled dust samples to be roughly the samples, which were collected in 3 times higher than levels found in the first few days, do not likely represuspended particulate matter samsent the total impact of these smolples from Jersey City, N.J. However, dering fires, Offenberg says. Offenberg notes that the compariThe levels of PCBs that they meason, the best they can offer under sured, on the other hand, were similar the circumstances, is not really to those found in the general environfair. ment, and the organochlorine pesti“There’s normally 20–30 microcide concentrations were well below grams [of PAHs] per cubic meter in average ambient concentrations. the air, and you’re comparing that Most of the particulate matter to 3–6 inches of settled dust, so the measured in the samples was larger concentrations are the same, but than 10 micrometers in diameter, the loading per square meter or the and consequently would not have amount someone would have come been deposited deeply into lungs, into contact with was much greater Lioy says. He cautions, however, because the amount of material that “even though percentage-wise, was so much higher in lower the amount of fine particles was Manhattan,” Offenberg notes. small, there was still a large amount
ASSOCIATED PRESS
High PAH levels in dust from 9-11 disaster
Environmental▼News of material there, especially in the first 24–36 hours.” What all of this means in terms of long-term health and ecosystem impacts is still unclear, but “it gives us a fairly decent idea of what people were exposed to” and therefore what to look for in future health studies, Lioy says. Additionally, ensuing rains could have washed out contaminants in the settled dust, and this could lead to a noticeable signature in the sediments surrounding lower Manhattan, Offenberg says. The U.S. EPA and other federal agencies have found no evidence of any elevated pollution levels from environmental sampling they have conducted (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2002, 36, 11A–12A; 449A). However, Lioy and Offenberg point out that
the agencies’ more extensive sampling efforts didn’t begin until a couple of weeks after the attacks and don’t include what was in the massive dust cloud emanating from the buildings’ collapse. EPA has classified PAHs as probable human carcinogens, and this paper shows that “there’s no question that PAHs were there in the initial plume,” says Philip Landrigan, a physician at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. “Whether or not any cancer will result as a consequence of exposure is really a question of how much people were exposed to and for how long that will determine the risk.” Landrigan and his colleagues are conducting detailed examinations of 8500 people that worked at or near
Insight into mountains at risk The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has produced the first global “snapshot” of mountain regions, which highlights the most threatened areas and helps policy makers identify conservation priorities. The Mountain Watch report, compiled by the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre and the UNEP Mountain Programme, considers seven pressures or causes of environmental change in mountains: natural hazards, fire, climate change, infrastructure growth, violent human conflict, changes in land cover, and agricultural intensification. The authors then overlaid maps of ecosystem and indicator species groups with information about the various pressures to produce this overview map. The report recommends, for example, that regions in the Caucasus, California, and the northwest Andes should be
the disaster’s epicenter, as well as pregnant women who were in the area at the time of the attacks and their babies. So far, they are finding a lot of respiratory disease, including persistent coughs, bronchitis, and new cases of asthma, in those involved in the cleanup effort (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2002, 36, 273A). They plan to track these people for years to come. “There’s a real risk there will be future unnecessary cases of lung cancer among the men and women who worked at the pit,” predicts Landrigan. “What’s so sad about it is that this would’ve been completely preventable” had the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration enforced the rules requiring respiratory protection of those workers, he adds. —KRIS CHRISTEN
made conservation priorities to preserve their biodiversity. It warns that climate change will severely affect 98% of Greenland’s mountains by 2055, while Africa’s mountain regions are the worst hit by agricultural intensification, fire, and violent human conflict. The survey was undertaken for the Global Mountain Summit, the culmination of the 2002 U.N. International Year of Mountains, which took place in November in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Meeting participants from 60 countries adopted the “Bishkek Mountain Platform”, a document designed to promote environmentally sound management in mountain regions, particularly in developing countries. Its declared goal is “to improve the livelihoods of mountain people, to protect mountain ecosystems, and to use mountain resources more wisely.” It will be forwarded to the U.N. General Assembly for discussion. More information is available at www.unep-wcmc. org. —MARIA BURKE
Pressures and values 3 areas, 3–6 pressures 3 areas, 1–2 pressures 2 areas, 3–6 pressures 2 areas, 1–2 pressures 1 area, 3–6 pressures 1 area, 1–2 pressures
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