Clearinghouse Update
From time to time we update our readers on situations which have been described in our Newsletter.
MTBE discontinued in California
Since our Winter 1999 report that a study commissioned by the University of California, Davis, recommended phasing out MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) from gasoline, California Governor Gray Davis in later March announced discontinuance of MTBE in California. Federal law still requires addition of oxygenates to gasoline, however; so, at least for the time being, another oxygenate, such as methanol or ethanol, will have to be used instead.
PCBs not so bad after all?
The 23 February 1999 issue of The New York Times reported that concentrations of PCBs (PolyChlorinated Biphenyls) in bass caught in the lower reaches of the Hudson River were now low enough to make the bass edible. Then on 10 March 1999 The New York Times reported on a study financed by General Electric that showed "no significant increase in cancer deaths among workers who were exposed on the job." Keep in mind, though, that the sponsor of this study is the company which faces huge financial penalties for dumping into the Hudson River the same PCBs to which their workers were exposed.
DOE finally opens disposal site for its weapons waste
While the debate continues about depositing radioactive wastes from commercial reactors at Yucca Mountain, NV, the US Department of Energy finally opened its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) site near Carlsbad, NM, on 25 March 1999. The first shipment was from nearby Los Alamos National Laboratory, and others will come from other sites involved with the production of nuclear weapons such as Hanford, WA, Rocky Flats, CO, and Fernald, OH.
Judges to have Discretion over "Junk Science"
According to the 24 March 1999 issue of USA Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that "federal judges have broad discretion to exclude questionable expert witnesses, such as handwriting experts and engineers, who don't meet standards of reliability." The suit originally bringing this issue to the Supreme Court concerned the allowability of testimony of a "tire failure expert."
Reprieve for Smallpox Virus?
The Clearinghouse Update for Fall 1998 cited plans to destroy the remaining world supplies of the smallpox virus on 30 June 1999, but an article in the 16 March 1999 issue of The New York Times reports that a committee of the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, feels that "preserving the last known samples of deadly smallpox virus in Russia and the United States may provide important scientific and medical opportunities."
Schlictmann visible in New Jersey
The credits following the movie of A Civil Action, on which Betty Chan reported in our Fall 1998 issue, note that Jan Schlichtmann, whose involvement with a citizens' lawsuit against alleged groundwater polluters in Woburn, MA, cost him his Boston law firm, was now representing a group of citizens in Toms River, NJ. Schlichtmann appeared with Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) when he announced a proposed amendment to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, as reported in the 23 February 1999 issue of the Trenton Times.
National Institute of Environmental Health Science classifies EMF as "possible carcinogen"
Aside from reporting Robert Adair's tutorial on electromagnetic fields (EMF) at last fall's Northeast Regional Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers in our Winter 1999 issue, we have not visited the "EMF issue" since our Clearinghouse Update in Winter 1997, at which time we noted the awaiting of a report from the National Institute of Environmental Health Science in 1998. In his talk on "Biological Effects of Low Frequency Electromagnetic Fields" at the American Physical Society centennial meeting in Atlanta on 25 March 1999, David Hafemeister mentioned that the Institute had classified electricity as a "possible carcinogen," which we confirmed in greater detail by consulting the World Wide Web at http://www.niehs.nih.gov/emfrapid/html/WGReport/Chapter5.html. This will take you directly to the concluding chapter of the report following the 16-24 June 1998 meeting of their working group, "Assessment of Health Effects from Exposure to Power Line Frequency Electric and Magnetic Fields." After examining the evidence from available studies, the working group determined that ELF (Extremely Low Frequency) EMF are "possibly carcinogenic to humans" because of "limited evidence that residential exposure to ELF magnetic fields is carcinogenic to children on the basis of the results of studies of childhood leukemia" and "limited evidence that occupational exposure to ELF magnetic fields is carcinogenic to humans on the basis of results of studies of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)." The working group also determined that there is "inadequate evidence that residential exposure to ELF magnetic fields is carcinogenic to adults." The URL for the EMF Research And Public Information Dissemination (EMFRAPID) Program, through the US Department of Energy and the National Institute of Environmental Health Science of the National Institutes of Health is http://www.niehs.nih.gov/emfrapid/home.htm.
Making Hypoallergenic Peanuts?
The 7 September 1998 issue of Chemical & Engineering News reports that while our bodies develop a tolerance to most of the foreign proteins in our food, occasionally an inappropriate immune response results, in which immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies are produced. In the vernacular, this is an allergic reaction. Gary Bannon of the University of Arkansas has identified the IgE binding sites on the peanut protein (Ara h 1) that causes the allergic response described in our Winter 1999 Clearinghouse Update. He has also modified the gene responsible for this protein so that a hypoallergenic protein is made instead. Making hypoallergenic plants requires introducing the modified gene back into the peanut plant in such a way that also silences production of the protein responsible for the allergic response.
Bayer Facts of Science Education V
As it has in each of the past four years, Bayer Corporation has funded a survey about key issues regarding science education. This year's survey of 1712 NSTA members teaching in grades K-12 found an encouraging 80% involved in science education reform efforts but that 80% of this 80% had experienced barriers in implementing their efforts, including lack of adequate time to plan and work with other teachers (81%), shortage of materials, resources, and facilities (58%), and lack of financial support for relevant professional development (45%). Although more than two thirds of the teachers surveyed felt that "science literacy" (see p. 5, Fall 1998 issue) is "essential" for adults, only 2% of them believe that the general public shares this feeling.
Home Spring 99 Full Screen
The TEACHERS CLEARINGHOUSE FOR SCIENCE AND SOCIETY EDUCATION