National (U.S.)

November 30, 2011

TSCA Reform Series: Risk Management

This webinar, convened by the Environmental Law Institute, will examine reform of EPA authorities to control the sale, distribution, releases and use of chemicals. Topics to be addressed include: standard of proof; the role of cost/benefit analysis; private firm obligations; approaches to new technologies such as nanotech; and role of downstream users of chemicals.

Visibility: 

Trouble in Toyland: "Pointlessly Dangerous Toys, 2011 Edition"

"Toys made with lead and phthalates continue to pose needless risks to U.S. children, according to the annual "Trouble in Toyland" report from U.S. PIRG.  Its findings are worth keeping in mind this holiday season as you shop or unwrap gifts for your kids -- especially for the babies and toddlers most as risk."

Jeff Gelles reports for the Philadelphia Inquirer November 22, 2011.

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/23/2011

"Northwest Oyster Die-offs Show Ocean Acidification Has Arrived"

"The acidification of the world’s oceans from an excess of CO2 emissions has already begun, as evidenced recently by the widespread mortality of oyster larvae in the Pacific Northwest. Scientists say this is just a harbinger of things to come if greenhouse gas emissions continue to soar."

Source: Yale Environment 360, 11/22/2011

"The Historian: a Hunt for the Motives Behind Doubt-Mongering"

"Naomi Oreskes is a science historian, professor at the University of California, San Diego, and co-author (with Erik Conway) of Merchants of Doubt, a book that examined how a handful of scientists obscure the facts on a range of issues, including tobacco use and climate change. Her seminal paper in the journal Science, 'Beyond the Ivory Tower: The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change,' challenged - back in 2004 - the notion that climate change science was uncertain. Her work has documented the spread of doubt-mongering from an industry practice to a political strategy."

Source: Daily Climate, 11/22/2011

Did Foreign Hackers Target US Water Plant? Or Someone Closer to Home?

Despite misleading and poorly sourced reports, it now appears that a successful and damaging cyberattack on a Springfield, Ill., water utility may have used a variant of the Stutznet worm. Reports have raised the question of whether the U.S. government, along with Israel, was involved in developing it.

Source: Wash Post, 11/22/2011

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