RENEWABLE ENERGY
▸ Pricing pollution would encourage clean energy, report says Congress should consider setting a price on pollution to encourage use and development of clean energy sources, recommends a National Academies report. Governments should also better support clean energy technologies, the report says. These recommendations are the top two among several steps identified by the report’s panel to improve the performance and cost-competitiveness of clean electricity generation and grid technologies. Carbon-dioxide-free, nonpolluting electricity generation is among the U.S.’s “greatest challenges” and “greatest opportunities,” notes Charles O. Holliday Jr., chairman of the report’s panel and of Royal Dutch Shell. The report acknowledges recent market expansion and price declines for some clean electricity technologies but warns that much greater market penetration of these technologies is needed to address the impacts of climate change and harms to human health caused by pollution. The report provides an overview of clean energy development needs, but many of its recommendations have been voiced in earlier reports and have proven politically difficult to implement.—JEFF
JOHNSON, special to C&EN
BIOFUELS
▸ Biofuel production destroying midwest bee habitat
C R E D I T: S H UT T E RSTO C K
Ploughing under prairie grasses and replacing them with corn and soybean crops for ethanol and other biofuels is destroy-
POLLUTION
U.K. aims to reduce microplastics in oceans The U.K. is developing policies to stop microplastics from ending up in oceans and seas. U.K. Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom earlier this month announced plans to ban the manufacture and sale of minute plastic beads used in some cosmetics and personal care products. Leadsom points out that 25 U.K. companies that make cosmetics and toiletries are voluntarily phasing out microbeads from their products. After banning tiny plastic spheres in these items, she says, the U.K. government will gather data on the extent of environmental harm from microbeads used in household and industrial cleaning products. In the future, the U.K. will study how to prevent small fragments of plastic, such as microfibers from synthetic fabrics, from entering the marine environment. Wastewater treatment plants don’t remove small bits of plastic, which are resistant to biodegradation, so they end up in the world’s oceans and lakes. Toxic substances can adsorb onto these particles, which are often ingested by fish and other sea life.—CHERYL HOGUE
ing bees preferred habitat and harming midwestern bee colonies, according to U.S. Geological Survey scientists (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2016, DOI: 10.1073/ pnas.1603481113). Looking at cropland in South and North Dakota, the scientists report that these land use changes affect habitat for more than 40% of U.S. commercial bee colony stock. They note that commercial beekeepers in the U.S. Northern Great Plains want to avoid corn and soybean crops because they are not as favorable for bees as grasslands. The scientists found an increase between 2006 and 2014 in biofuel crops of almost 3 million acres around apiaries mainly located in the Dakota’s prairie pothole region. Most of the commercial honey bee colonies in the area provide pollination services for crops such as almonds, melons, apples, and cherries elsewhere in the U.S., the scientists add. The region has served as refuge for commercial beekeepers because of the abundance of uncultivated pasture and rangelands, the
Converting prairie grasslands into cropland for biofuel production in the U.S. Northern Great Plains is destroying habitat for commercial honeybees in the region.
scientists say.—JEFF JOHNSON, special to
C&EN
DRUG SAFETY
▸ India aims to improve drug quality India has made it mandatory for all personnel employed in pharmaceutical manufacturing to complete a certification program. This is the first-of-its-kind government initiative aimed at substantially improving the quality of India’s pharmaceutical products and enhancing the skills of the industry’s workforce. Employees of pharmaceutical companies in India must complete the certification process by Jan. 1, 2018. “No person shall be employed in any pharmaceuticals/ biopharmaceutical manufacturing units unless he has obtained a formal diploma or degree in the relevant area, or has been certified,” the Drug Controller General of India, G. N. Singh, said in a statement. The rapidly growing Indian pharmaceutical industry faces a huge shortage of skilled workers. The move comes as some of India’s drug companies face problems abroad, particularly in the U.S. and other regulatory markets, due to product quality concerns, poor manufacturing facilities, and improper documentation. India’s drug industry has been facing increased regulatory scrutiny by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration as reflected in an increase in warning letters and import alerts.—K. V. VENKATASUBRAMANIAN,
special to C&EN SEPTEMBER 12, 2016 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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