The Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) has been investigating mercury-added skin lightening products (SLPs) for several years, primarily due to their health risks, their illegality under many national laws, and the prohibition by the Minamata Convention on Mercury against the manufacture and trade of mercury-added SLPs, which generally became effective …
Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) in the Government of India constituted a Task Force, under the chairmanship of Sh. R H Khwaja, Additional Secretary in MoEF; in August, 2007 in view of the exigency for ensuring environmentally sound disposal of the used mercury-bearing lamps, particularly, with the exponential rise …
Mercury contamination in rivers can spread to nearby birds, even ones that don't eat fish or other food from the water. Researchers from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., found high levels of mercury in the blood of land-feeding songbirds living near the South River, a tributary …
Mercury is a persistent contaminant that biomagnifies up the food web, causing mortality, reproductive failure, and other health effects in predatory wildlife and humans. From 1930 to 1950, industrial mercuric sulfate entered the South River, a tributary of the Shenandoah River in Virginia (United States). To determine whether this mercury …
An environmental group has tested dogs and cats for chemical exposure and found some levels much higher than in humans. The analysis, being released today by the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group today, found levels of brominated flame retardants (used in furniture, fabrics and electronics) in cats 23 times higher …
Dental Offices May Be Source Of Mercury Pollution US: April 15, 2008 NEW YORK - Dental practices may be a source of a dangerous form of mercury contamination in the water supply, a small study suggests. In tests of wastewater from two dental practices, researchers at the University of Illinois …
finally, Hannah Poling got justice. A federal court in the us recently asked authorities to compensate the Georgia girl who became autistic after getting vaccine shots in 2002. She was 18 months old then. Many hope the ruling will also influence nearly 5,000 similar cases at the National Vaccine Injury …
Some of the paints may contain formaldehyde and benzene, which are carcinogenic while others have heavy metals like lead, mercury and phthalates, which are human and ecosystem toxins, writes Deepti Adlakha Make right choice: There is more to paint, especially harmful ingredients that one must take note of. There's nothing …
Melburnians tossed and turned through the warmest March night on record with the mercury dipping to a balmy minimum of 26.9 degrees just before 7.30am today. Weather bureau senior forecaster Peter Blake said it was the city's warmest March night, beating the previous record on March 3 1988, when Melbourne …
On mercury emissions: The US Environmental Protection Agency has violated the Clean Air Act by adopting a cap-and-trade rule that allowed oil and coal-fired plants to purchase credits to cover excessive emissions rather than installing pollution controls, a federal appeals court said. The lawsuit was filed by 18 US states …
Static renewal bioassay renewing 50% estuarine water in 24 hours was conducted following guidelines given in APHA (1980). Acute toxic effects of heavy metals such as Hg, Cd, Zn and Cu were studied on juveniles of Metapenaeus dobsoni. (2007)
Heavy metals in the atmosphere may travel over large distances before being re-deposited on land. One effective way of monitoring how deposition changes with time is to measure concentrations in moss. A bio-monitoring network coordinated by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) provides data on the concentration of …
More than 100 dental clinics in Colombo will participate in a "Go Green' project aiming for zero environmental effect from dental dangerous waste containing mercury. Amalgam separators will soon be installed at the clinics collecting 99 per cent of the amalgam which contains mercury. Sweden Recycling AB, a Swedish environmental …
Solar cells generate electricity from sunlight without producing' pollution, but some environmentalists have been concerned about the potential negative impact of this photovoltaic technology. This is because the manufacture of solar cells involves toxic metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium and produces carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming. …
Lawmakers are again asserting that the Bush Administration is meddling in science. House Science Committee Democrats charge that federal officials have suppressed a report on potential health threats from pollution in the Great Lakes. They also say officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, …
Across the world, consumers are being urged to stop buying dated incandescent light bulbs and switch to new spiral fluorescent bulbs, which use about 25 percent of the energy and last 10 times longer. In Britain, there is a Ban the Bulb movement. China is encouraging the change. And the …
THE US Environmental Protection Agency is in trouble again. Already under fire for failing to get tough on carbon dioxide emissions, the agency has now had its scheme for dealing with mercury pollution ruled illegal.
Two council members from the whaling town of Taiji, Japan, have come out publicly against the feeding of dolphin meat contaminated with mercury to children in school lunch programmes. It is the first time Japanese elected officials have criticised whaling and consumption of cetacean meat, and issued warnings of a …
non-stick gum: New easy-to-remove chewing gum is ready. Initial experiments show that the gum degrades naturally in water. The new gum adds a special polymer to modify its formulation, which alters the interfacial properties of the discarded gum cuds, making them less adhesive. The new gum is result of polymer …
If households in Delhi replace four ordinary bulbs with four compact fluorescent lamps (cfls), their annual savings would be around Rs 273 crore. Startling figure. The highly energy inefficient incandescent light bulb is on its way out. Replacing it is the new-generation and more energy-efficient cfl (see box: Energy efficient). …
