Ban of e-waste export likely to worsen global environmental problem

March 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, March 22 (ANI): In a new study, researchers have determined that a proposal under debate in the US Congress to ban the export of electronics waste would likely make a growing global environmental problem even worse.

The researchers call into question conventional thinking that trade bans can prevent “backyard recycling” of electronics waste – primarily old and obsolete computers – in developing countries.

Primitive recycling processes used in these countries are dispersing materials and pollutants that are contaminating air, water and soil.

“Trade bans will become increasingly irrelevant in solving the problem,” said Eric Williams.

Electronics waste is often exported from the United States and other developed nations to regions in China, India, Thailand and less developed countries where recycling is done in a crude fashion.

To recover copper from e-waste, for instance, wires are pulled out, piled up and burned to remove insulation covering the copper.

This emits dioxins and other pollutants.

Toxic cyanide and acids used to remove gold from circuit boards of junked computers also are released into the environment.

According to the researchers, with the number of junked computers expected to triple in the next 15 years, the problem will grow much worse if an effective remedy is not put in place in the near future.

The main approach to solving the backyard recycling problem has been to ban trade in e-waste.

Some countries have officially banned e-waste imports, but in some cases, as in China, such legislation has pushed the trade to the black market.

Congress is debating House Resolution 2595, which would ban the export of e-waste from the United States.

“The underlying assumption of this bill and other trade bans is that most e-waste comes from outside developing nations, and that stopping trade with developed countries would cut off the supply of e-waste and stop backyard recycling,” Williams said.

But, authors of the Environmental Science and Technology article forecast that the developing world will generate more waste computers than the developed countries as soon as 2017, and that by 2025, the developing world will generate twice the amount of waste computers as what will come from developed nations.

“Rapid economic and population growth in developing countries is driving an increase in computer use in these parts of the world that is outpacing the implementation of modern and environment-friendly recycling systems,” Williams said.

“So without action, backyard recycling is certain to increase,” he added. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Studying Mars and complex chemical systems may help understand how life began

November 17, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Washington : Scientists have determined that to understand how life began on Earth, it is important to study the chemistry that preceded early life, as well as studying Mars.

These two new approaches for understanding how life started on our planet were discussed at a European Science Foundation (ESF) and COST ‘Frontiers of Science’ conference in Sicily, which was held recently.

The first applies complex systems theory to the chemistry that preceded early life. The second involves studying Mars, which may yield ample evidence about what Earth was like when life evolved.

Complex systems chemistry uses computer models to simulate combinations of reactions, involving membrane-forming reactions, self-replicating nucleic acids and metabolic energy-producing reactions.

Then it examines how these systems develop in time and space.

One promising area is the discovery of reaction systems that lead to the spontaneues generation of chiral asymmetry.

It is a universal property of life that compounds such as amino acids and sugars exist exclusively in a one-handed form although both forms are equally likely from an energetic point of view.

It is quite difficult to achieve this asymmetry in non-living chemical reactions. Chemistry tends to create equal proportions of the different forms, which behave like objects and their mirror images.

“The recipe for asymmetry is the co-occurrence of positive and negative feedback loops within such systems,” said Gunter Von Kiedrowski, of Ruhr Universitat Bochum in Germany.

Complex systems chemistry cannot tell the story of life entirely.

“We are in the same position as the physicists trying to understand the origin of the universe,” said Kiedrowski.

“We will not know exactly how life began, because we do not know the precise conditions at the time, but we can get a good model of how it could have happened with this approach,” he added.

Understanding the context of early life from the evidence on Earth is difficult. Because the Earth’s crust is so active, there is very little surface rock remaining from the time when life originated, before 3.5 billion years ago.

On Mars, by contrast, about 50 percent of the surface is from before 3.7 billion years ago, so there is a lot more to work with.

“Mars may be our best bet to find out about life’s origins on Earth,” said Tanja Zegers, a geoscientist from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. (ANI)

Filed Under: Technology News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Genetically modified soya bean can cut heart attack risk

November 4, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Genetically modified soya bean can cut heart attack riskLondon, A genetically modified soya bean, which can help to prevent heart attacks, has passed the first phase of trials in the United States.

Researchers at the University of South Dakota say that the promising results of the experiments have cleared the way for its use in foods such as spreads, yoghurts, cereal bars, and salad dressings.

The researchers said that their study had shown that oil from the GM soya could raise blood concentrations of long-chain omega3 acids, which are found chiefly in oily fish such as salmon, trout and fresh tuna.

They highlighted the fact that omega3 acids protect against cardiovascular diseases and diabetes and help the growth of brain cells in the young.

While health experts recommend a portion of oily fish every week, most adults ignore the advice. Efforts to promote fish consumption have also raised concerns about fragile marine stocks.

However, the university team says that the GM soya can offers a sustainable, fish-free way in which people can maintain a diet rich in omega3 fatty acids.

Biotechnology company Monsanto is said to have harvested 600 tonnes of the GM soya beans this year from trial plots in the US, some of which ahs already been passed on to food companies to develop products.

The company hopes to secure the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval for the GM soya as a food by 2011, something that will allow it to reach American supermarket shelves by 2012.

Soya products with health benefits of the omega3 oil could even be exported to Britain, should the European Food Safety Authority and the FSA’s novel foods committee approve them.

Any such product would be clearly labelled as GM, in the US and Europe.

“We’ll want to label it. Consumers will have a choice: some may choose not to try it, but others will,” Times Online quoted David Stark, Monsanto’s vice-president for consumer traits, as saying.

“It’s another reason for consumers to pause and consider whether GM has a role to play. I think it does, not only for how we deliver food for the planet, but also for how we protect our own health. We’ve shown for years that GM crops can control pests. That’s important to consumers, but not in a personal way. Hopefully this will be personal enough to make a difference,” he added.

A research article on the first phase of trials of the GM soya has been published in the journal Lipids. (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,