Government Watch ties, says John Trosko, a molecular geneticist at Michigan State University. He and Brian Upham, also of Michigan State, have already identified toxic activity in perfluoro-octanoic acid and perfluorodecanoic acid. In 1998, their published research showed that these compounds block cellto-cell communication and promote tumors. Analyzing fluorinated organic surfactants is a major challenge, says Steven Strauss, a Colorado State University chemist. Chemically, they are nonvolatile and very inert, which makes it difficult to separate or concentrate the compounds for analysis, he explains. Even isolating fluorinated surfactants from environmental samples is complicated because product formulation details are
confidential, says Field. Fluorinated surfactants in environmental samples also can be detected using 19F nuclear magnetic resonance, Mabury says. As part of an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development initiative aimed at assessing the problem on a global scale, U.S. EPA's chemical control division began a review of production and importation records for new chemicals over the past 20 years, according to Barbara Leczynski, the chemicals branch chief who managed the review. Agency officials are meeting with those from 3M and DuPont, in an effort to promote voluntary action and to explore regulatory options, first for PFOS, then for perfluoro-octanal carboxylic acid. —REBECCA RENNER
NRC urges pesticide alternatives In the push to make food safer for children through bans on many widely used pesticides, farmers could lose their quick-fix methods of handling pest and disease outbreaks. Replacing these conventional chemical pesticides with safer management techniques is addressed in a new National Research Council (NRC) report. The report, The Future Role of Pesticides in U.S. Agriculture, released in July, promotes an ecologi-
Almond and walnut growers in California have eliminated insecticide use by planting cover crops to attract beneficial predators that control mites, worms, and scales.
cally based approach to coping with pests, similar to Integrated Pest Management (IPM). The report recommends government policies and increased research to foster alternatives to chemical pesticides such as natural ecosystem processes, biological control organisms and products, and pestresistant plants. But chemical pesticides, especially new ones, should continue to be used, in the NRC panel's view, because of the reduced environmental and health risks of new pesticides and the lack of affordable alternatives. IPM experts in integrated pest management say this message could have little effect on U.S. farmers, who are the users of pesticides first and foremost and are unlikely to change, given the government's poor track record at promoting alternative pest controls. Nonetheless, a real movement is afoot to switch to more ecologically based methods of pest control, thanks in part to the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA), says Ann Sorensen, with American Farmland Trust, a nonprofit organization representing family farms.
EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) as the agency's "chief scientific and technical officer" was insufficient. "No single individual could reasonably be expected to direct a work class research program in ORD while also trying to improve scientific practices and performance throughout the rest of the agency," the committee writes. And because the ORD chief holds the same rank as the regulatory program officers, ORD's advice is routinely ignored by those developing policy. The report strengthens previous panel recommendations designed to enhance EPA's scientific stature and leadership by suggesting that ORD create the equivalent of endowed academic research chairs, to be offered to distinguished academic scientists who would work full-time at ORD national labs. In addition, EPA should no longer allow one individual to both manage a project and serve as its peer review leader, NRC writes.
Recycling computers Efforts to tame Europe's growing mountain of electronic waste took a big step forward in June when the European Commission proposed legislation that for the first time would require manufacturers to recycle obsolete equipment and eliminate certain hazardous materials from products ranging from computers to toasters. Originally drafted as one directive (Environ. Sci. Technol. 1999, 4 (6), 228-229A), the proposal was split to stem industrial opposition to the hazardous materials ban and recycling requirements. As it now stands, one directive would require that 60-80% of electronic waste be recycled by 2006.The other would order manufacturers to substitute less Continued on Page 375k
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Environmental News The FQPA requires EPA to reassess tolerance levels for pesticide residues on food to protect children, who, because of their small size and rapidly developing bodies, are more sensitive to pesticide exposures than adults [Environ. Sci. Technol. 1999, 33 (21), 445A). "Growers will probably lose the use of key pesticides such as the organophosphates and carbamates," Sorensen says. EPA has already banned certain uses of the organophosphates Dursban (chlorpyrifos), methyl parathion, and azinphos-methyl under the FQPA. Sorensen predicts that restrictions on pesticide use mean that farmers will have fewer weapons in their arsenal, leading to greater problems with pest resistance. "The more heavily a single strategy is used, the more problems you have," explains May Be-
renbaum, entomology professor at the University of Illinois-Urbana, and chair of the NRC report. "The take-home message of the report is that you need a diverse toolbox to manage pests." The report promotes an approach that the government has unsuccessfully advocated since 1972, according to Les Ehler, entomology professor at the University of California-Davis. In 1993, the Clinton administration set a goal for the year 2000 to practice IPM on 75% of cropland. The failure of the government to back its policies with funding is evidenced by die paltry 4-8% of cropland managed by IPM today, he says. The government should shift the debate to pesticide reduction, which can be readily measured, Ehler says. Environmentalists agree. Monica Moore, program director for
Pesticide Action Network North America, says she believes the NRC report does not place enough emphasis on pesticide use reduction. "The report should ask how quickly can we move away from reliance on dangerous compounds and what can we do to accelerate that shift," she says. Dale Shaner, coauthor of the NRC report and director of agricultural biotechnology with BASF, says that public perception of pesticide risk is much greater than what the environmental and health risks actually are. Companies have developed reduced-risk pesticides that can be integrated into an IPM system, he says. For instance, the pesticides of the future will be targeted at biological processes that are unique to the pest species and will not affect beneficial insects. —JANET PELLEY
Surprising human health-perchlorate link A statistically significant association has been found between ammonium perchlorate contamination of drinking water from the Colorado River and abnormal thyroid activity in Arizona newborns, marking the first time an associative link has been demonstrated between a human health effect and a potential low-level environmental exposure. Ammonium perchlorate is a component of rocket fuel and has been manufactured or used in almost every state. It was first discovered in drinking water in late 1996 in the western United States, spurring an interagency task force to look into potential health implications (Environ. Sci. Technol. 1998, 3 (5), 210A). Before that time, perchlorate could not be detected much below 400 ppb. Now that it can be detected at levels as low as 4 ppb, "it's showing up wherever people or agencies are taking the initiative to search for it in areas of potential release," which include the states along the eastern seaboard from New York to West Virginia, into the Midwest and Southwest, as well as in the Pacific Southwest,
Newborns studied in Yuma, AZ, had high TSH values, indicating perchlorate exposure, which may have come from drinking water drawn from the Colorado River.
says Kevin Mayer, U.S. EPA's Region 9 perchlorate coordinator. Perchlorate has long been known to have an effect on the thyroid gland. High doses of potassium perchlorate were used to treat hyperthyroidism in the 1950s and 1960s until its therapeutic use was linked with aplastic anemia. In finding the link between a human health effect and environmental contamination, a new study, which was presented at the annual American Water Works
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Association (AWWA) meeting in Denver, in June, looks at just two cities, Yuma and Flagstaff, AZ. The city choice is critical because of the difficulty in comparing urban water supply systems, which typically get their water from a number of sources. In this case, Yuma has a welldefined source, obtaining 100% of its drinking water from the Colorado River, whereas Flagstaff gets its drinking water from a variety of sources other than the Colo-
