Clipmarks | Togo's clips

Tests on sunscreen nanoparticles

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:23:58 GMT

clipped by: Togo
clipper's remarks: Not very reassuring

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

studies still cannot tell us the actual risk of using products containing these tiny particles.

You put these materials on your skin and they disappear,

Are they being absorbed through the skin?

tested the toxicity of a range of nanoparticles, including zinc oxide, to human immune cells over period of 24 hours.

zinc oxide particles were the most potent

But quite a high dose of zinc oxide nanoparticles were needed to cause a response in immune cells,

Studies have limits

Even after these studies are done, the results may not tell us the actual risk of using commercially available nano-sunscreens.

the formulation of a sunscreen itself may have unique effects.

"It's a catch 22 because producers are modifying these things to make them work better

commercial formulations are trade secret

find something untoward about this then this could cause our products to be taken off the market plus could destroy the industry full stop

Tags: health, human interest, science

Regenerators battling an ecological bulldozer

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 07:20:35 GMT

clipped by: Togo
clipper's remarks: Poisonous Plants that were listed in the report as having caused deaths in Australia include Arum Lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica), Lantana (Lantana camara), Oleander (Nerium oleander), White Cedar (Melia azedarach) and Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima).

Clip Source: wwf.org.au

escaped garden plants that are smothering remaining natural areas in eastern Australia.

171 escaped garden plants that have invaded remnant bush areas. The report documents the on-going emergence of new invasive plants as well as established problem species spreading into new areas.

many of the garden plant species that are confirmed as ravaging NSW's native bushland are not declared under the State's Noxious Weeds Act 1993. Hence the vast majority of these plants can still be promoted and sold as garden plants in NSW,

invasive plants were the biggest threat to the survival of native species after land clearing.

The Government cannot continue to rely so heavily on volunteer bush regenerators to carry the can for them on this major environmental issue"

Clip Source: wwf.org.au

Consumers have a right to know what they are buying

95 per cent of Australians surveyed believe that poisonous and invasive plants should be labelled with a warning.

Tags: ecology, environment, weeds

Tuna sells for record

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 21:11:23 GMT

clipped by: Togo
clipper's remarks: Whales or tuna....Japan fail to realise the impact of exceeding existing quotas.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

A Hong Kong sushi restaurant owner paid a record $63,000 for a massive bluefin tuna in the first auction of the year

- caught off Japan's northern region of Aomori sold for about $231 per kilo

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Japan says it is premature to respond to allegations of over-fishing of southern blue fin tuna.

He says Japan has illegally taken $2 billion worth of southern blue fin tuna worldwide over the past 20 years.

Japan had exceeded its 2005 quota by 25 per cent.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Australia's fishing industry is hoping to sell more bluefin tuna to Japan

[Europe] for example market about 20,000 tonnes a year and us about 10,000 tonnes and you can imagine that them ceasing to catch this year, and their catch was already at a lower level as well, has very strong positive impacts for South Australia

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Environmentalists have warned that tuna face eventual extinction if fishing continues at current rates to feed a worldwide fad for Japanese food such as sushi.

Japan, which eats a quarter of the world's tuna,

Tags: human interest, environment, japan, australia

Ocean fetilisation: no solution to climate change

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 21:11:09 GMT

clipped by: Togo
clipper's remarks: This current mess is due to burning fossil fuels at a rate millions of times faster than they are naturally laid down. Such a gross disturbance to the natural cycle means that desperate measures may be required now.

STOP destroying ecosystems for short-term gains!And could 'global warming' actually be an opportunity rather than a threat? It may force all of humanity to work together for once.

Remember, greed and scientific wisdom has taken us close to destroying our planet. Will science and technology save us without the use of common sense?

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Adding nutrients, such as iron or nitrogen, or pumping nutrient-rich deep waters up into surface waters in the hope that the resulting bloom will provide long-term storage of carbon dioxide, should not be considered as a potential solution to climate change.

Experiments to date have shown that the amount of carbon actually exported to the deep ocean is small and highly uncertain.

Nevertheless, it continues to be touted as a simple solution to climate change.

possible ecological effects include shifts in plankton community structure that could dramatically alter food webs, creation of dead zones deprived of oxygen as the excess plant life decays, and harmful algal blooms.

atmospheric scientists are concerned that artificially-stimulated blooms could exacerbate climate change by increasing the production of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide.

All this makes ocean fertilisation a highly unfit candidate for carbon credits.

Tags: climate change, science, technology global warming, technolgy

Greenpeace takes on gaming giants

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 20:25:16 GMT

clipped by: Togo
clipper's remarks: A lot more can be done to clean up the toxic content in gaming consoles!

In another initiative Greenpeace has been drumming support by teaming up with teenage social networking site Habbo to find out more about youngsters attitudes to global warming.

50,000 teenagers responded to the survey, with 74% rating global warming over drugs, violence and war as the issue they were most concerned about.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Game console manufacturers are lagging way behind the makers of mobile phones and PCs who have been reducing the toxic load of the products over the past year

contain many of the same components as PCs

Greenpeace has launched a 90-second video

Gamers can compare how each console meaures up on toxic materials, recycling and energy efficiency, as well as logging their support for the campaign.

The campaign is aimed at the big three game console manufacturers - Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft.

It does not believe that current legislation goes far enough and on its hazard hit list are brominated fire retardants and PVC, the use of which it claims can lead to dangerous chemicals building up in the environment and in human and animal tissue.

Leading mobile phone makers, including Motorola, LG, Sony Ericsson and Philips, have all implemented eco-design aspects

six substances (lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, PBB and PDBE) from products that are either made or sold in the EU.

Tags: technolgy, gaming, environment, global warming

Australia ratifies Kyoto

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 22:02:56 GMT

clipped by: Togo
clipper's remarks: There is fear on the economic impact of Kyoto such that:

* the cost of energy is driven up in countries with targets.
* This in turn drives up the price of manufactured goods.
* The higher price of goods means that local manufacturing is reduced
* There are then fewer exports and more goods imported from countries that don't have
* The economic effects of the trade imbalance reduce consumer demand, so we eventually have to use less energy.

... surely it would be better to get on board the new energy economy than be stuck with the dinosaur industries related to fossil fuels! Living in a CLEAN world is what's important.

Needless to say Australia's carbon output is a small fraction of India,China, Indonesia etc. and without 3rd world compliance our efforts are meaningless.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

says Australia's decision to ratify the Kyoto Protocol puts the nation back on the map in the fight against climate change.

It opens up opportunities in the clean development mechanism initiative. It opens up opportunities for Australian companies, through joint implementation, to work with other companies in developed countries

the new Federal Government will need to tackle old growth logging if it is to meet its Kyoto targets

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

deforestation, which produces 20 per cent of global emissions, mostly from developing countries.

Australia says it will sign up to the next round of the Kyoto agreement to cut global pollution if countries like China and India agree to a binding commitment to cut emissions.

emissions targets from industrialised countries to range from between 25 and 40 per cent by 2020

there have been discussions on incentives for developing countries to limit the growth of their emissions

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Australian business can now benefit from the trading that surrounds the Kyoto Protocol.

Tags: global warming, climate change

Why grow GM canola in Australia?

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:03:54 GMT

clipped by: Togo
clipper's remarks: Genetically modified canola is already grown in some States. Bees do not recognise State boundaries and contamination already exists, so the prinmary producers are already in the hands of the multi-nationals.

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

The decision to allow farmers to grow genetically modified canola has been criticised by some farmers and environmental groups

Queensland allows GM crops and Tasmania is currently reviewing its ban.

The rest of the states and territories retain bans.

gene technology allowed farmers to develop more environmentally-sustainable, drought resistant and better yielding crops.

the new laws also opened the way for top Australian scientists to stay in the country and be challenged by developing better bio-science.

However, allowing GM crops in Australia meant handing over the ownership of control of much food supply to foreign multinationals the Bayer group and Monsanto

GM canola would cause "weedy relatives" to spread including pesticide-resilient radish, turnip and charlock weeds.

GM canola now responsible for 70 per cent of the world's trade

The largest importer of our canola, Japan, wants canola-free and so does the retailer Coles, our largest producer

"Why grow GM, it just doesn't make sense?"

Tags: science, technoly, genetic engineering

Apple iPhone endanger family jewels?

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 21:24:40 GMT

clipped by: Togo
clipper's remarks: The "Guide to Greener Electonics" makes for some interesting revelations and is a worthwhile read for computer geeks.

Clip Source: www.zdnet.com.au

the headphone cables that ship with iPhones and iPods feature levels of chemicals called phthalates that would be classified in Europe as being "toxic to reproduction".

Phthalates are used to give iPhone and iPod headphones cords their flexibility. Greenpeace argues that these chemicals also have the ability to interfere with sexual development in mammals, particularly males.

affect male development in the womb, with effects ranging from undescended testes at birth to low sperm counts later in life.

Greenpeace, which has taken exception to Apple's green credentials several times in the past

However, the iPhone's overall green record is largely favourable

-- with no trace of harmful metals such as cadmium or mercury and very low concentrations of lead and chromium.

Clip Source: www.zdnet.com.au

Greenpeace released the latest edition of its Guide to Greener Electronics, designed to help consumers and businesses gauge how green tech companies are

Tags: technology, health, ipod

Aussie broadband at mercy of politicians

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 21:25:50 GMT

clipped by: Togo
clipper's remarks: Now that John Howard has finally called the election, those with any interest in broadband wait to see the future direction for Australia's infrastructure.

Clip Source: www.zdnet.com.au

Australian broadband has gone from geek speak to barbeque conversation stopper in recent years

Broadband is fast on its way to becoming as important to the Australian economy as rain

Yet in this election, it seems politicians are finally realising the power of technology both as a vote winner and a means of communicating with the increasingly tech-savvy electorate.

both Rudd and Howard are attempting to showcase just how very down with technology they are by using YouTube to broadcast their video pledges.

Labor's broadband strategy has rotated around a fibre-to-the-node plan -- complete with figures borrowed from Telstra.

the plan remaining very light on detail and disappointingly unambitious in terms of speed

Coonan, meanwhile

launched her re-election campaign back in June with the announcement of a AU$1 billion funding boost for the OPEL group,

Maybe one day all the voters they are trying to reach will have the broadband speeds necessary to watch them.

Tags: internet, politics, australia

Cities take the lead on climate change

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 07:57:07 GMT

clipped by: Togo
clipper's remarks: It is encouraging to see major cities adopting their own emissions targets and exchanging ideas on tackling climate change. Switching a percentage of the public transit system to alternative fuels is a positive step.

Transport is one of the hardest areas for local leaders to control since traffic is not confined to a single city. Without stronger national policies promoting biofuels over gasoline, Vaxjo, for one, will never reach its long-term target of becoming free of fossil fuels.

A lot of cities would not even know what they are emitting and the local leaders would remain skeptical to setting such difficult targets.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

VAXJO, Sweden - When this quiet city in southern Sweden decided in 1996 to wean itself off fossil fuels, most people doubted the ambitious goal

"People used to ask: Isn't it better to do this at a national or international level?" said Henrik Johansson, environmental controller in Vaxjo, a city of 78,000 on the shores of Lake Helga, surrounded by thick pine forest in the heart of Smaland province. "We want to show everyone else that you can accomplish a lot at the local level."

Vaxjo, which aims to have cut emissions by 50 percent by 2010 and 70 percent by 2025.

Climate change is a global problem but the origin of the problem is very local."

In Vaxjo, (pronounced VECK-shur), the vast majority of emissions cuts have been achieved at the heating and power plant, which replaced oil with wood chips from local sawmills as its main source of fuel. Ashes from the furnace are returned to the forest as nutrients.

been impressed by the city's progress and uses it as an example of "best practices"

Tags: climate change, technology

Nobel Prize awarded to surface chemist

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 21:51:50 GMT

clipped by: Togo
clipper's remarks: Worthwhile research paving the way for possible clean fuels in the future.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Gerhard Ertl of Germany has won the Nobel Chemistry Prize

Ertl's work helps explain why Earth's protective ozone layer is damaged through chemical reactions on the surfaces of minute ice crystals in the stratosphere.

Ertl as a forerunner in surface chemistry, a branch that evolved in the 1960s

the modern chemistry industry could not function without catalysts, and surface chemistry itself plays a crucial role in that area.

The advent of fuel cells - a clean substitute to CO2-spewing fossil fuels - will depend on enhanced catalysts

Great birthday present

Born on October 10, 1936 in Bad Cannstadt,

He says the honour is a once-in-a-lifetime birthday present.

Tags: climate change, technolgy, science awards

EPA approves 1-year use of carcinogenic pesticide

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 07:41:13 GMT

clipped by: Togo
clipper's remarks: So the chemical companies have been struggling to find an alternative product to the banned methyl bromide, while the struggling farmer is to be used as a guinea pig.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

The Environmental Protection Agency gave the go-ahead for one-year use of a new agricultural pesticide

Methyl iodide, also known as iodomethane, will be allowed to control soil pests

before planting a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

developed by Tokyo-based Arysta LifeScience Corp. as an alternative to the widely used fumigant methyl bromide, which has been banned under an international treaty because it depletes the ozone layer.

54 scientists, including six Nobel Prize winners, sent a letter to EPA urging that the pesticide not be registered for use because of the potential danger to pregnant women and children, the elderly and farmworkers.

lists the chemical as a carcinogen

repeated concerns about the lack of specific tests evaluating danger to the developing brains of fetuses and infants

the EPA instead should "focus on alternatives that don't view us as disposable human beings who can risk cancer and miscarriages in the name of supposed economic gain.

Tags: health, environment

Melting ice pack displaces Alaskan walrus

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 07:24:31 GMT

clipped by: Togo
clipper's remarks: Global warming and its effects on wildlife is rarely discussed, and is happening faster than predictions.

There are two solutions for the Alaskan walrus - it is prevention on a global scale or EXTINCTION. That's why urgent action must be taken worldwide to reduce gaseous greenhouse emissions...........before it is TOO LATE!

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Thousands of walrus have appeared on Alaska's northwest coast in what conservationists are calling a dramatic consequence of global warming melting the Arctic sea ice.

September sea ice was 39 percent below the long-term average from 1979 to 2000. Sea ice cover is in a downward spiral and may have passed the point of no return, with a possible ice-free Arctic Ocean by summer 2030

animals are shifting their distribution to find prey

Walrus feed on clams, snails and other bottom dwellers.

he big question is whether they will be able to find sufficient prey i

biologists fear walrus will suffer nutritional stress if they are concentrated on shoreline rather than spread over thousands of miles of sea ice.

Walrus need either ice or land to rest. Unlike seals, they cannot swim indefinitely and must pause after foraging.

If they've got to travel farther, it's going to cost more energy. That's less energy that's available for other functions

maintaining ice habitat, that's something way,

beyond us

Tags: global warming, conservation, wildlife

BURMA: China Has Much at Stake

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 22:19:01 GMT

clipped by: Togo
clipper's remarks: China may regret the upcoming Olympics and the heightened awareness of the international stage.

Clip Source: www.ipsnews.net

one of China’s more liberal official newspapers -- has chosen to run a lengthy feature

Tellingly, the weekender article steered around Burma’s current state of turmoil and the brutal suppression by the military junta

Since 1990 China has been the only big country backing the military junta that rules Burma, supplying it with aid and arms.

In return, China has received teak and gems, promises of Burma’s oil and gas reserves through a planned pipeline and access to a large market for its cheap consumer goods.

Protecting its investments and business interests, China has also come to play the role of Burma’s staunchest supporter at the United Nations.

While the international community deplored the bloodshed in Rangoon and other cities last week, China blocked calls for a strong statement condemning Burma’s repressive actions.

2008 Beijing Olympics has brought heightened international scrutiny

leaders are loath to see the preparations marred by any association with a Burmese massacre

Tags: world politics, conflict, china, burma

Beware of "popcorn lung"!

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 22:35:36 GMT

clipped by: Togo
clipper's remarks: A bill was passed on Wednesday by the House of Representatives, to limit the exposure of popcorn plant workers to diacetyl, defying a White House veto threat.

Thank goodness two companies have taken the precautionary approach, and stopped using the popcorn additive in their product. I know which brands I will be looking for on the supermarket shelf!

Clip Source: au.health.yahoo.com

Exposure to a microwave popcorn additive linked to a deadly lung disease

The Food and Drug Administration said on September 5 it was investigating a report of a man who came down with the life-threatening disease after eating several bags of butter-flavored microwave popcorn each day.

workers at factories making food flavorings and popcorn run the risk of contracting the disease, which causes coughing and shortness of breath and steadily worsens.

The Bush administration said on Tuesday it would be "premature" to regulate diacetyl -- which gives microwave popcorn a buttery flavor

Two makers of microwave popcorn, ConAgra Foods Inc and Weaver Popcorn Co Inc, have said they would stop using diacetyl.

Tags: health, food regulation