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Has a UC Berkeley chemistry lab discovered the holy grail of plastic recycling?

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Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Despite the planet’s growing plastic pollution crisis, petroleum-based polymers have become an integral part of modern life. They make cars and airplanes lighter and more energy efficient. They constitute a core material of modern medicine by helping to keep equipment sterile, deliver medicines and build prosthetics, among many other things. And they are a critical component of the wiring and hardware that underlies our technology-driven civilization.The trouble is, when they outlive their usefulness, they become waste and end up polluting our oceans, rivers, soils and bodies.But new research from a team of chemists at UC Berkeley suggests a glimmer of hope when it comes to the thorny problem of recycling plastics — one that may allow us to have our cake, and potentially take a very small bite, too. Aggressive and impactful reporting on climate change, the environment, health and science. The group has devised a catalytic recycling process that breaks apart the chains of some of the more commonly used plastics — polyethylene and polypropylene — in such a way that the building blocks of those plastics can be used again. In some cases, with more than 90% efficiency.The catalysts required for the reaction — sodium or tungsten — are readily available and inexpensive, they say, and early tests show the process is likely scalable at industrial levels. It uses no water and has fewer energy requirements than other recycling methods — and is even more efficient than manufacturing new, or so-called virgin, plastics, the researchers say.“So by making one product or two products in very high yield and at much lower temperatures, we are using some energy, but significantly less energy than any other process that’s breaking down polyolefins or taking the petroleum resources and turning them into the monomers for polyolefins in the first place,” said John Hartwig, a UC Berkeley chemist who was a co-author of the study published recently in the journal Science.Polyolefins are a family of thermoplastics that include polyethylene — the material used to make single-use and “reusable” plastic bags — and polypropylene — the ubiquitous plastic that holds our yogurts and forms microwaveable dishes and car bumpers. Polyolefins are produced by combining small chain links, or monomers, of ethylene or propylene, which are typically obtained from oil and natural gas.Polyethylene and polypropylene account for the majority (57%) of all polymer resins produced, the study authors noted. They have proven a plague to the environment, and in microplastic form have been found in drinking water, beer and every organ in the human body, as well as blood, semen and breast milk.Hartwig and R.J. Conk, a graduate student who led the research, said they have not yet heard from the plastics, recycling or waste industries. They said they had been keeping their technology under wraps until publishing their paper and obtaining a patent on the process. A spokeswoman for the Plastics Industry Assn. declined to comment or provide an expert to review the paper.Hartwig said there are some caveats to the work. For instance, the plastic has to be sorted before the process can be applied. If the products are contaminated with other plastics, such as PVC or polystyrene, the outcome isn’t good.“We don’t have a way to bring those [plastics] back to monomer, and they also poison our catalyst,” said Hartwig. “So for us, and basically for everybody else, PVC is bad. It’s not able to be chemically recycled.”He said other contaminates — food waste, dyes, adhesives, etc. — could also potentially cause problems. However, the researchers are still early in the process.But plastic bags, such as the ones used to hold produce in supermarkets, offer promise as they are relatively clean and “nobody knows what to do with them.” He said plastic bags are problematic for material recovery facilities where they are known to gum up machinery. “There are places that do collect those bags. I don’t know what they do with them. Nobody wants them,” he said.But others are less sanguine.Neil Tangri, science and policy director at GAIA — an international environmental organization — said that while he was not a chemist or chemical engineer, and therefore couldn’t comment on the methods, he noted that there are broader “real world” issues that could prevent such a technology from taking off.“Plastic recycling is not something we do well ... we only get about 5% or 6% per year. So there’s a hunt for new technologies that will do better than that,” he said. “My basic warning is that going from small-batch analysis in the lab to functioning at scale with real-world conditions ... it’s a huge, huge leap. So it’s not like we’re going to see this move into commercial production in the next year or two.”He noted that while the reaction temperature cited was lower than that used in pyrolysis — the burning of plastic for fuel — or cracking — when plastics are made from virgin material — it still requires a lot of energy, and therefore potentially creates a fairly sizable carbon footprint. In addition, he said, 608 degrees — the reaction temperature cited — is the temperature “where dioxins like to form. So, that could be a challenge.” Dioxins are highly toxic byproducts of some industrial processes. But, Tangri said, even if you could solve all of those issues — as well as the sorting and contamination issues Hartwig cited — “it is so cheap to make virgin plastic that the collection, the sorting, the cleaning ... they were talking about ... all of those steps, the energy use, you just can’t sell your [recycled material] at a price that makes sense to justify all that .... And that’s not really the fault of the technical approach. It’s the realities of the economics of plastic these days.” It’s a point to which Lee Bell, technical and policy advisor for IPEN — a global environmental advocacy group — agrees.“What appears promising in the lab rarely translates to commercial scale success and high yields from mixed plastic waste,” he said. “Not only do they have to deal with the diabolical issue of unavoidable plastic contamination [because chemical additives are in all plastic] but also competing with cheap virgin plastic in the marketplace.“My view is that this is yet another lab experiment on plastic waste that will ultimately be thwarted by mixed plastic waste contamination and commercial realities,” he said. Newsletter Toward a more sustainable California Get Boiling Point, our newsletter exploring climate change, energy and the environment, and become part of the conversation — and the solution. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

Has a UC Berkeley chemistry lab discovered the holy grail of plastic recycling? Maybe, but with a lot of caveats.

Despite the planet’s growing plastic pollution crisis, petroleum-based polymers have become an integral part of modern life. They make cars and airplanes lighter and more energy efficient. They constitute a core material of modern medicine by helping to keep equipment sterile, deliver medicines and build prosthetics, among many other things. And they are a critical component of the wiring and hardware that underlies our technology-driven civilization.

The trouble is, when they outlive their usefulness, they become waste and end up polluting our oceans, rivers, soils and bodies.

But new research from a team of chemists at UC Berkeley suggests a glimmer of hope when it comes to the thorny problem of recycling plastics — one that may allow us to have our cake, and potentially take a very small bite, too.

Aggressive and impactful reporting on climate change, the environment, health and science.

The group has devised a catalytic recycling process that breaks apart the chains of some of the more commonly used plastics — polyethylene and polypropylene — in such a way that the building blocks of those plastics can be used again. In some cases, with more than 90% efficiency.

The catalysts required for the reaction — sodium or tungsten — are readily available and inexpensive, they say, and early tests show the process is likely scalable at industrial levels. It uses no water and has fewer energy requirements than other recycling methods — and is even more efficient than manufacturing new, or so-called virgin, plastics, the researchers say.

“So by making one product or two products in very high yield and at much lower temperatures, we are using some energy, but significantly less energy than any other process that’s breaking down polyolefins or taking the petroleum resources and turning them into the monomers for polyolefins in the first place,” said John Hartwig, a UC Berkeley chemist who was a co-author of the study published recently in the journal Science.

Polyolefins are a family of thermoplastics that include polyethylene — the material used to make single-use and “reusable” plastic bags — and polypropylene — the ubiquitous plastic that holds our yogurts and forms microwaveable dishes and car bumpers. Polyolefins are produced by combining small chain links, or monomers, of ethylene or propylene, which are typically obtained from oil and natural gas.

Polyethylene and polypropylene account for the majority (57%) of all polymer resins produced, the study authors noted. They have proven a plague to the environment, and in microplastic form have been found in drinking water, beer and every organ in the human body, as well as blood, semen and breast milk.

Hartwig and R.J. Conk, a graduate student who led the research, said they have not yet heard from the plastics, recycling or waste industries. They said they had been keeping their technology under wraps until publishing their paper and obtaining a patent on the process.

A spokeswoman for the Plastics Industry Assn. declined to comment or provide an expert to review the paper.

Hartwig said there are some caveats to the work. For instance, the plastic has to be sorted before the process can be applied. If the products are contaminated with other plastics, such as PVC or polystyrene, the outcome isn’t good.

“We don’t have a way to bring those [plastics] back to monomer, and they also poison our catalyst,” said Hartwig. “So for us, and basically for everybody else, PVC is bad. It’s not able to be chemically recycled.”

He said other contaminates — food waste, dyes, adhesives, etc. — could also potentially cause problems. However, the researchers are still early in the process.

But plastic bags, such as the ones used to hold produce in supermarkets, offer promise as they are relatively clean and “nobody knows what to do with them.” He said plastic bags are problematic for material recovery facilities where they are known to gum up machinery.

“There are places that do collect those bags. I don’t know what they do with them. Nobody wants them,” he said.

But others are less sanguine.

Neil Tangri, science and policy director at GAIA — an international environmental organization — said that while he was not a chemist or chemical engineer, and therefore couldn’t comment on the methods, he noted that there are broader “real world” issues that could prevent such a technology from taking off.

“Plastic recycling is not something we do well ... we only get about 5% or 6% per year. So there’s a hunt for new technologies that will do better than that,” he said. “My basic warning is that going from small-batch analysis in the lab to functioning at scale with real-world conditions ... it’s a huge, huge leap. So it’s not like we’re going to see this move into commercial production in the next year or two.”

He noted that while the reaction temperature cited was lower than that used in pyrolysis — the burning of plastic for fuel — or cracking — when plastics are made from virgin material — it still requires a lot of energy, and therefore potentially creates a fairly sizable carbon footprint. In addition, he said, 608 degrees — the reaction temperature cited — is the temperature “where dioxins like to form. So, that could be a challenge.” Dioxins are highly toxic byproducts of some industrial processes.

But, Tangri said, even if you could solve all of those issues — as well as the sorting and contamination issues Hartwig cited — “it is so cheap to make virgin plastic that the collection, the sorting, the cleaning ... they were talking about ... all of those steps, the energy use, you just can’t sell your [recycled material] at a price that makes sense to justify all that .... And that’s not really the fault of the technical approach. It’s the realities of the economics of plastic these days.”

It’s a point to which Lee Bell, technical and policy advisor for IPEN — a global environmental advocacy group — agrees.

“What appears promising in the lab rarely translates to commercial scale success and high yields from mixed plastic waste,” he said. “Not only do they have to deal with the diabolical issue of unavoidable plastic contamination [because chemical additives are in all plastic] but also competing with cheap virgin plastic in the marketplace.

“My view is that this is yet another lab experiment on plastic waste that will ultimately be thwarted by mixed plastic waste contamination and commercial realities,” he said.

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The medicines we take to stay healthy are harming nature. Here’s what needs to change

Modern pharmaceuticals have revolutionised disease prevention and treatment. But eventually, the chemicals can end up in rivers, oceans and soils.

ShutterstockEvidence is mounting that modern medicines present a growing threat to ecosystems around the world. The chemicals humans ingest to stay healthy are harming fish and other animals. Modern pharmaceuticals have revolutionised disease prevention and treatment. But after our bodies use medicines, they excrete them. Eventually, the chemicals can end up in rivers, oceans and soils. This is a problem, because medicines designed to treat humans can also affect other species in serious ways, changing their bodies and behaviour. The chemicals can also pass through food webs and affect animals higher up the chain. Urgent action is needed to design drugs that work on humans, but don’t harm nature. Wastewater entering rivers can harm aquatic life. Shutterstock Evidence of harm In the past two decades, studies have emerged showing the extent to which medicines persist in nature. In August this year, Australian researchers found the antidepressant fluoxetine – sold under the brand name Prozac, among others – can harm male guppies in ways that affected their body condition and breeding. Research in 2022 examined pharmaceuticals in rivers in 104 countries of all continents. It found pharmaceutical contaminants posed a threat to the health of the environment or humans in more than a quarter of locations studied. In 2018, a study of watercourses and surrounds in Melbourne found more than 60 pharmaceutical compounds in aquatic invertebrates and spiders. Researchers in the United States have found hormones in the contraceptive pill have caused male fish to produce a protein usually produced by female fish. This “feminisation” led to collapses in fish populations. And a psychoactive drug found in wastewater effluent has been found to alter wild fish behaviour and feeding. The antidepressant fluoxetine – sold under the brand name Prozac, among others – can harm male guppies. Per Harald Olsen, Wikimedia, CC BY Benign by design So how do we solve this problem? More effective and economical wastewater treatments must be developed to remove pharmaceuticals from wastewater before it is discharged into the environment. In addition, researchers developing pharmaceuticals must adopt a “benign by design” approach across the entire life of a drug. From the outset, drugs must be designed to decompose quickly and fully after being excreted by humans. It’s possible for drug scientists to alter the chemical and physical properties of drugs so after humans excrete them, the active ingredients mineralise, or change form, to base substances such as carbon dioxide and water. Traditionally researchers have designed drugs not to break down, either on the shelf or in the human body. While these properties remain important, drug developers should ensure medicines degrade quickly once in the environment. Researchers should adopt a ‘benign by design’ approach to pharmaceutical design. Shutterstock Taking action The principles of sustainable drug discovery should be included in Australia’s academic curriculum. This would hopefully produce a generation of drug researchers who prioritise, where possible, medications that don’t harm the environment. Regulation is also needed to ensure “greener” drug development. The International Pharmaceutical Federation last year took steps in this direction. The global body, representing more than 4 million pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists, released a statement calling for all medicines to be rigorously tested for environmental risk. The European Medicines agency has gone even further. It requires the environmental risk of a medicine to be assessed before it’s approved for use. The assessment considers a medicine’s chemical properties, potential ecological harm and where in the environment it may end up, such as water or soil. Pharmaceutical companies are also required to produce waste management plans that minimise environmental impact. Research has found Australia lags behind on introducing similar requirements for environmental risk assessments for medicines. By prioritising eco-friendly practices, the pharmaceutical sector can contribute to a healthier planet, while continuing to provide safe and effective medicines. Everyday Australians can also take action to reduce environmental pollution from medicines. The federal government’s Return Unwanted Medicines project allows household drugs to be returned to pharmacies for safe and correct disposal. By dropping off old medicines to your local chemist – instead of flushing or throwing them away, as some people mistakenly do – you can help look after fish and other wildlife in your area. The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

‘Pattern of negligence’: a chemical plant fire in Georgia forces tens of thousands to take shelter

The smell of chlorine pervades Conyers as residents say BioLab’s accident was a danger hiding in plain sightFor Vonnetta West the plume of smoke rising in the sky outside her home in the city of Conyers, Georgia, was a sign not just of immediate risk – but a danger that had been hiding in plain sight for years.The plume was the result of an accident at the BioLab pool and spa chemical company in the city of nearly 20,000 residents about 25 miles east of Atlanta. Tens of thousands of people were impacted by an evacuation order for those immediately nearby or by the wider shelter-in-place order for those further away. The smell of chlorine drifted over much of the Atlanta area. Continue reading...

For Vonnetta West the plume of smoke rising in the sky outside her home in the city of Conyers, Georgia, was a sign not just of immediate risk – but a danger that had been hiding in plain sight for years.The plume was the result of an accident at the BioLab pool and spa chemical company in the city of nearly 20,000 residents about 25 miles east of Atlanta. Tens of thousands of people were impacted by an evacuation order for those immediately nearby or by the wider shelter-in-place order for those further away. The smell of chlorine drifted over much of the Atlanta area.For West, 50, it was also a wake-up call, as BioLab was the site of an industrial accident for the third time in the last two decades. West, a consultant in nonviolent community-building who has lived in Conyers for 15 years, said the incident made her realize “there’s this facility that could be potentially very damaging in my backyard … It reminded me of the need to care about each other, people over profit.”West said she could see the factory’s billowing smoke from the deck of her house when it was at its largest Sunday afternoon. Although she lives outside the triangle-shaped evacuation zone in the immediate vicinity of the fire that authorities announced around that time, she took seriously the suggestion of staying put in her house.Like many, she went on social media to advise her neighbors to stay put as smoke and an odor of chlorine spread from the city of Conyers to locations as far as dozens of miles away, following prevailing winds. But she also vented her frustrations.Sulfur acid clouds in the air in Conyers, on Monday. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images“I’ll also be working to ensure that this facility DOES NOT REOPEN,” West posted on Twitter/X, referring to BioLab.Separately, another Conyers resident named Shelly Thompson had gathered more than 1,500 signatures, most from the Atlanta metro area, on a Change.org petition Monday, to “Shut Down the Bio Lab in Conyers, Georgia for Health and Environmental Safety [sic]”.One person who signed wrote: “Biolab should’ve been shut down years ago. They are dangerous and their pattern of negligence shows they have little regard for safety precautions.” Another wrote: “I am signing this petition to stop the environmental pollution that affects my neighborhood.”The chemical fire had caused authorities to order an evacuation for part of the city and a “shelter-in-place” for Rockdale, the surrounding county. Reports of odors resembling chlorine and videos and photos showing a thick fog ricocheted across the metro area Monday, from Atlanta to the west to Gwinnett county to the north-east.Authorities also revised their orders as the incident unfolded. On Sunday night, the county told Piedmont Rockdale hospital to evacuate its patients. Two were moved to Newton, nearly 10 miles away, but within hours the county told the hospital to “shelter in place” as well, said spokesperson Sarah Teach. No county residents came to the hospital with health issues resulting from the fire, Teach added.For West, the fire was added insult to injury.Like many Georgians, she was still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, as a niece living less than two hours east in Augusta was likely going to be without water for several weeks. “I was just asking her: ‘Do we need to send you things?’” West said. “Everything is compounded. It’s very stressful and traumatic for people.”Not everyone outside the evacuation zone stayed home Monday.A chemical fire in a BioLab plant sends dangerous sulfur acid clouds in the air and caused mandatory evacuations in Conyers, on Monday. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty ImagesAngela, who preferred using only her first name, has lived in Conyers, Georgia, her entire life; now “over 50”, she said she and her husband had “nowhere else to go” as smoke plumes spread above her city and beyond – so they went to work.The two could see the orange and black smoke from BioLab several miles from their backyard Sunday. The enormous billow had become smaller by Monday afternoon and turned mostly white. By that time, there was no fire at the BioLab plant, but chemicals interacting with water continued to produce smoke, according to Rockdale county fire chief Marian McDaniel.Angela, who preferred using only her first name, said her brother had to evacuate his house because he lives within the triangular area named by the county. Conyers was mostly empty Monday afternoon, but some people moved about in their cars, and she found a chicken restaurant open for lunch. Her workplace also received deliveries from FedEx and Amazon.Among friends and family, she said: “There are a lot of frustrated people […] They feel like [Bio Labs] should not be allowed to stay in Rockdale county.”Kik Consumer Products – BioLab’s parent company, located in Lawrenceville, Georgia – would not answer questions from the Guardian about the cause of fire or other issues, and instead repeated a statement posted on its website, asserting: “Our top priority is ensuring the community’s safety.”Meanwhile, Georgia’s emergency management agency issued a statement indicating that the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is “monitoring air quality for chlorine and related compounds. Chemical levels are unlikely to cause harm to most people.”That did not reassure some residents.“‘Unlikely’? What does that mean?” said West.The people of Conyers had already experienced two similar incidents at BioLab – in 2004 and 2020.Peter Stolmeier has lived in Conyers for 15 years. He was glad that by Monday late afternoon the sky was clearing up near his house, but he too was concerned about BioLab’s track record.“Just about everyone I’ve spoken to locally or not agrees that factories can be dangerous, but three times in living memory is just too many for anyone,” he wrote in an email. “It’s my hope lessons are learned this time for other facilities but that this one is never opened again.”

As climate change helps mosquitoes spread disease, critics push for alternatives to pesticides

In response to outbreaks of West Nile virus and EEE, cities spray chemicals to kill mosquitoes. Is there a better way?

In early July, New York City health officials conducting routine tests on the city’s mosquito population found a concerningly large number were carrying West Nile virus. The virus, which originated in the Eastern Hemisphere and is spread by Culex mosquitoes, was first detected in New York in 1999. In the decades since, the city had honed its response down to a science. Officials considered data on the concentration of mosquitoes, along with the vulnerability of the neighborhood to infection, to decide what to do next. On the night of July 15, trucks trundled down residential neighborhoods in the borough of Queens for the first time this summer, fogging the air with a mix of pesticides meant to kill the mosquitoes before they could spread the virus to humans.  Spraying pesticides to kill fully-grown mosquitoes, a technique known as adulticiding, is a central pillar of cities’ public health strategy as mosquito populations expand, migrate to new areas, and appear earlier in the season, driven in part by a changing climate. Some of them are spreading diseases that were previously limited to tropical areas, like West Nile, malaria, and dengue. An outbreak of the rare but deadly eastern equine encephalitis, or EEE, is currently underway in the Northeast; one person in New Hampshire and another in New York have died of the disease.  But the use of toxic chemicals to control mosquito populations — which officials say is necessary to safeguard public health — has long run into opposition from environmental and community groups, who say that the strategy endangers the very neighborhoods it’s meant to protect. They argue that the potential health effects of these substances, particularly on the endocrine system, are not taken into account when planning mosquito control strategies, and urge public agencies to focus more on prevention and public education. Jay Feldman, director of the environmental group Beyond Pesticides, called the rise in mosquito-borne illnesses “a concern that must be taken seriously,” particularly as climate change increases pressure on governments to protect vulnerable people.  “But like other decisions to use toxic chemicals over broad swathes of the population, those decisions have to be made with transparency,” Feldman said. “And that’s where I think we have failed the public.”  A Culex pipiens mosquito, one of the species that spreads West Nile virus. Patrick Pleul / picture alliance via Getty Images Americans have long sought to combat the nuisance — and public health threat — posed by mosquitoes through spraying. In the 1950s and 60s, trucks spread dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane — an insecticide developed in the 1940s and known more commonly as DDT — across farm fields and residential neighborhoods, aiming to combat diseases like malaria and typhus. It was banned nationwide in 1972 after Rachel Carson exposed its harmful effects on wildlife in her book Silent Spring, jumpstarting the environmental movement. But even after DDT was phased out, adulticiding with other chemicals remained common, both by public agencies and by pest control companies like Orkin and Terminix.  City and county public health departments and mosquito control agencies across the country utilize adulticiding in combination with other tools. These include larvicide  — chemicals that kill mosquito larvae before they have a chance to develop into adults, and are typically less toxic to other organisms than adulticides — and eliminating mosquito habitat, such as pools of standing water. The New York City Department of Health has sprayed adulticides 137 times between 2018 and 2023, according to city data, and another 20 times this year. There are more than 1,100 vector control agencies around the country, and many of them utilize adulticides, including in California, Florida, and Texas.  The main goal of mosquito spraying programs is to prevent the outbreak of diseases like West Nile virus, which has killed more than 2,300 people across the United States over the past 25 years. The CDC has so far reported 748 cases of West Nile virus this year in 43 states, while deaths have occurred in states ranging from Illinois to Mississippi to New Jersey.  Read Next When West Nile virus turns deadly Zoya Teirstein Climate change is now supercharging the spread of diseases like West Nile, as warmer temperatures push mosquitoes to develop faster, bite more frequently, and become better incubators for viruses. Milder winters allow disease-carrying mosquitoes to survive into the following summer, while increased rainfall — like that recently unleashed across the South by Hurricane Helene — creates standing pools of water that serve as breeding grounds for the insect. Earlier hurricanes, meanwhile, are driving outbreaks in damaged areas. Other factors are at play, too; growing urbanization is also putting mosquitoes in more frequent contact with humans, while the decay of leftover amounts of DDT in the environment has allowed populations of the insect to rebound.  “We have to be more aggressive,” New York City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan told Grist about the city’s mosquito control efforts this year, when officials have had to increase spraying as well as other measures in response to higher-than-normal rates of West Nile virus in the mosquito population. “This is now the new normal in terms of what public health looks like in the face of a changing climate.”  But as the need to deal with deadly mosquitoes grows more urgent, advocates are calling for officials to take a closer look at the application of adulticides, raising concerns about their potential harms to human health and the environment. The main adulticides used by the New York City health department are Anvil 10+10 and Duet, both of which contain synthetic pyrethroids, a class of chemicals that kill insects by targeting their nervous system. Pyrethroids such as sumithrin, the active ingredient in both Anvil 10+10 and Duet, are also endocrine disruptors, which can mimic hormones in the body and are particularly dangerous to unborn children. A study published in May in the journal Frontiers in Toxicology found that although data on the health impacts of endocrine-disrupting pesticides is scarce, pyrethroids have been associated with lower sperm count in men.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not screen pesticides for their potential effects on the endocrine system. Feldman of Beyond Pesticides said that means compounds like Anvil 10+10 shouldn’t be considered safe just because they’re approved by the federal government. Other chemicals present in the insecticides have also been linked with health problems; the cancer-causing “forever chemicals” known as PFAS have been found in pesticides including Anvil 10+10, mainly from storing them in shipping containers coated with the substances. Anvil also contains piperonyl butoxide, an additive used to increase the potency of the pesticide, which the EPA considers a possible human carcinogen.  A mosquito control truck drives through a suburban neighborhood spraying insecticide to control mosquito populations. Edwin Remsberg / VWPics / Universal Images Group via Getty Images New York City’s health department says mosquito spraying takes place at low enough concentrations that it does not pose a danger to human health, although the agency recommends people stay indoors while their neighborhoods are being sprayed and warns that people with respiratory conditions or others “who are sensitive to spray ingredients may experience short-term eye or throat irritation, or a rash.” An environmental impact statement conducted by the city in 2001 concluded that any adverse public health effects from adulticides “would not be considered significant” compared to the risks to public health from allowing mosquitoes to proliferate. Clarke, the manufacturer of Anvil 10+10 and Duet, told Grist that its products were reviewed by the EPA and that “adult mosquito control — used in concert with larviciding and source reduction — is the best tool to reduce adult mosquito populations in areas experiencing an outbreak.” A Clarke spokesperson also told Politifact last year that droplets of the company’s pesticides are specifically designed to work on mosquitoes, and that they break down once they touch the ground. But advocates say adulticides are at best a temporary solution because of the tendency of mosquitoes to evolve resistance to these substances. Recent research from Arizona State University found that some mosquitoes are becoming resistant to the main pesticides used to control them. This creates a “treadmill effect,” Feldman said, where greater amounts of chemicals, as well as new kinds of pesticides, are needed to kill increasingly tolerant insects.  Read Next The disease after tomorrow Zoya Teirstein In its 2024 Comprehensive Mosquito Control and Surveillance Plan, New York City said it only applies adulticides as a last resort. This reflects best practices in the mosquito control industry, said Dan Markowski, the technical advisor for the American Mosquito Control Association, a professional association of mosquito control workers, public agencies, and private mosquito control applicators across the country, which receives funding from pesticide makers including Clarke. The organization is working to build a nationwide database for mosquito surveillance, track pesticide resistance, and develop a model for spraying based on real-time weather data, with the goal of helping its members target and reduce their adulticide use.  “No one wants to apply pesticides in a wide area, but you very often have to because none of the other methods are 100 percent effective,” Markowski said. “And when you have an outbreak … at that point, you don’t have a lot of other options.”  Some governments are also experimenting with releasing genetically modified mosquitoes into the wild to breed sterile offspring, reducing mosquito populations. Nanopesticides, which are less toxic to mammals but still affect mosquitoes, are also a promising area of research. However, advocates say that the most proven way to deal with mosquitoes is by reducing their ability to breed — by clearing away pools of standing water, and utilizing larvicides — and educating the public to protect themselves using long clothing and repellents.  Feldman pointed to the success of programs in cities like Boulder, Colorado, and Washington, D.C., as proof that adulticides don’t need to be a major part of mosquito control efforts. The agency responsible for tracking and preventing the spread of West Nile virus in the nation’s capital, for example, does not use adulticides; instead, the D.C. Department of Health concentrates its efforts on larviciding, even handing out free larvicides for residents to apply in their own neighborhoods. Boulder, meanwhile, utilizes an explicitly “ecological” approach; boosting biodiversity, local officials have found, can lower populations of disease-carrying mosquitoes by forcing them to compete for resources with other species of mosquitoes as well as other kinds of insects. “Until we start thinking systematically about these problems,” Feldman said, “we’re going to be chasing our tail on chemical after chemical, disease after disease, insect after insect, as we see escalating pressure on society to find the silver bullet that doesn’t exist.”  This story was originally published by Grist with the headline As climate change helps mosquitoes spread disease, critics push for alternatives to pesticides on Oct 1, 2024.

Water Samples Tested After Maine Firefighting Foam Spill, Below Guidelines for Dangerous Chemicals

Maine environmental officials say all water samples analyzed so far after the state’s largest recorded accidental spill of firefighting foam are below its guidelines for potentially dangerous chemicals

BRUNSWICK, Maine (AP) — Maine environmental officials said all water samples analyzed so far in the wake of the state's largest recorded accidental spill of firefighting foam are below its guidelines for potentially dangerous chemicals.A fire suppression system at a hangar at Brunswick Executive Airport discharged more than 1,400 gallons (5,300 liters) of the foam concentrate mixed with 50,000 gallons (190,000 liters) of water at the former Navy base on Aug. 19. The discharge triggered an investigation and also prompted a warning from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to limit consumption of freshwater fish from nearby bodies of water.The foam contained chemicals known as PFAS that are associated with health problems including cancer. The foam was removed after the accident. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection sampled 34 water supplies in the area of the spill and has contacted property owners to discuss the results, the agency said Thursday. The water supplies will be tested every three months for a year, the agency said.The department has also evaluated eight rounds of surface water results from the nearby watershed and found concentrations are continuing to decline, the agency said in a statement.“PFAS levels in the watershed have not yet returned to pre-spill concentrations and testing of surface water will continue to track the trends,” the department's statement said.Some fire departments have also started to phase out using foam that contains PFAS because of concerns the chemicals leach into groundwater and can put firefighters at risk. PFAS are often described as forever chemicals because some don’t degrade naturally and are believed capable of lingering indefinitely in the environment.The Maine Department of Environmental Protection said soil results have also been received from four areas identified as either most likely to be impacted by the foam release or having the greatest risk of potential exposure to recreational users. A preliminary review of the results shows some PFAS detected in all the soils tested, the department said. Comprehensive evaluation of the soil testing is still ongoing, the department said.The department said fish and shellfish tissue samples will take longer to process. The advisories against consuming freshwater fish from nearby waterbodies remained on the Maine CDC website on Monday.Maine CDC said it is advising residents to abstain from recreational activities such as swimming and boating that could result in contact with foam or affected waters until the effects of the foam release on bodies of water in the area have been thoroughly evaluated.Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Sept. 2024

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