Using Living Cells as Nanotechnology Factories

In the tiny realm of nanotechnology, scientists have used a wide variety of materials to build atomic scale structures. But just as in the construction business, nanotechnology researchers can often be limited by the amount of raw materials. Now, Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University researcher Hao Yan has avoided these pitfalls by using cells as factories to make DNA based nanostructures inside a living cell. (More....)

EPA awards $271,278 in grants to 11 Midwest environmental education projects

(Chicago, Ill. - Nov. 21, 2008) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 has awarded $271,278 in grants to fund 11 projects that enhance environmental education in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

The annual grants are given to community groups, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, schools and universities for projects that increase knowledge and awareness of science and the environment. The funding will promote and advance environmental literacy and sustainable practices.

"These grants support projects that help students and teachers learn more about ecosystems, climate change, safe chemicals and how to be good stewards of the environment," said Megan Gavin, environmental education grants coordinator in EPA's Region 5 office. "We are impressed year after year with how much the recipients are able to accomplish with these grants."
The 2008 environmental education grant recipients are:

Illinois
Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, Wheaton, $11,054. For its Earth Partnership for Schools curriculum, a nationally recognized model for restoration-based educational programming. The program will train teachers in methods for active engagement of their students in an inquiry-based process for restoring native plant landscapes. Contact: David Guritz, 630-462-5654.

Chicago Horticultural Society, Glencoe, $14,000. For its Fairchild Challenge Chicago, a series of multidisciplinary educational challenges that increase student knowledge of local environmental issues and facilitate informed decision-making and problem-solving skills that enable students to address those concerns. Contact: Melissa Matterson, 847-835-8257.

Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, $26,689. For training teachers on integrating the concept of "no child left inside" within the No Child Left Behind framework through design, development and delivery of innovative workshops on environmental education. Contact: Sabiha Daubi, 815-754-0723.

Illinois Department of Public Health, Springfield, $40,589. For its Safe Chemicals in Schools workshop, a successful environmental education program for teachers to learn about proper chemical storage and handling. Contact: Ken Runkle, 217-785-1666.

Indiana
Ball State University, Muncie, $36,630. For its Envirotech Project designed to initiate, enable and facilitate a critical examination of a contemporary issue which ultimately enhances environmental literacy of technology teachers and their students. Contact: Annette Rose, 765-285-5648.

Michigan
Dickinson Conservation District, Kingsford, $23,508. For its Energized for the Future program that takes curriculum lessons on energy, fossil fuels and sustainable resources and makes those lessons come alive for students. Contact: Ann Hruska, 906-774-8441.
Inland Seas Education Association, Suttons Bay, $29,770. For its Invasive Species Education Initiative whose objective is to increase awareness and knowledge of invasive species and provide educational materials for integration of invasive species research into classrooms and local communities and to form networks to increase access to resources concerning invasive species. Contact: Tom Kelly, 231-271-3077.

Minnesota
Proctor Public Schools, Proctor, $44,446. For hosting a Lake Superior youth symposium for middle and high school students. The goal of the symposium is to enhance the ability and motivation of middle and high school students and teachers to understand and act on the environmental issues facing Lake Superior both now and in the future. Contact: Diane Podgornik, 218-628-4926.

Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs, St. Paul, $15,000. For a two-week immersion course for undergraduate students called Environment and Agriculture. The program offered in the spring focuses on connections among agriculture, sustainability and global environmental justice. Contact: Julia Frost Nerbonne, 651-646-8831.

Ohio
Ohio River Foundation, Cincinnati, $19,592. To provide hands-on learning about watersheds and storm water management to students in grades 6-12 participating in a school rain garden program. Students will design and develop rain gardens that serve as a model for the community at large. Contact: Erin Crowley, 513-460-3365.

Wisconsin
Wisconsin Children's Museum, Madison, $10,000. For its Leap into Lakes, an inquiry-based, hands-on experience that immerses preschool children in the underwater world of lake critters and plants, and plays on their innate connection to living creatures while connecting them to larger ecological concepts such as stewardship. Contact: Allison Hildebrandt, 608-256-6445.
The grants are awarded yearly under the National Environmental Education Act, which was passed in 1990 to stimulate environmental education through design, demonstration and communications projects conceived by local organizations.

More information on EPA's environmental education grants is at http://www.epa.gov/enviroed/grants.html.

Pharmaceuticals

The EPA is proposing to add hazardous pharmaceutical wastes to the Universal Waste Rule in order to provide a system for disposing hazardous pharmaceutical wastes that is protective of public health and the environment. The proposed addition will make it easier for generators to collect and properly dispose of these items as hazardous wastes, resulting in a simpler and more streamlined waste management system.

This proposed rule applies to:
pharmacies,
hospitals,
physicians’ offices,
dentists’ offices,
outpatient care centers,
ambulatory health care services,
residential care facilities,
veterinary clinics, and
other facilities that generate hazardous pharmaceutical wastes.

The rule encourages generators to dispose of non-hazardous pharmaceutical waste as universal waste, thereby removing this unregulated waste from wastewater treatment plants and municipal solid waste landfills. The addition of hazardous pharmaceutical waste to the Universal Waste Rule will facilitate the collection of personal medications from the public at various facilities so that they can be more properly managed.
Currently the federal Universal Waste Rule includes batteries, pesticides, mercury-containing equipment, and lamps. Universal wastes are typically generated in a wide variety of settings including industrial settings and households, by many sectors of society, and may be present in significant volumes in non-hazardous waste management systems. (More.....)

Three new guidelines from AIHA

The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) just released three new publications:

• Guideline for Implementing an Integrated Health, Safety, and Wellness Program for Small Businesses
• Guideline on Occupational Exposure Reconstruction
• Storage Rack Safety Guideline

Link: http://www.aiha.org/Content/AccessInfo/press/AIHA+Press+Release-+AIHA+Releases+Three+New+Guidelines.htm

Control of Hazardous Energy Standard

The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) recently announced that the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved the reaffirmation of the American National Standard ANSI Z244.1-2003 (R2008) ‘Control of Hazardous Energy – Lockout/Tagout and Alternative Methods,’ which aims to protect workers from hazardous energy associated with machines, equipment or processes that could cause injury.

Link
http://www.asse.org/newsroom/release.php?pressRelease=1147

Entrapment risk in public swimming pools

On December 19, 2008, the Consumer Product Safety Commission rules for the elimination of suction and hair entrapment risk in public swimming pools will go into effect. State of Wisconsin plan review is necessary when modifying swimming pools and water attractions to comply with the December 2008 federal Virginia Graeme Baker suction regulation. [read more of the Wisconsin Department of Commerce bulletin]

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff has also prepared a guidance
document that spells out the technical requirements of the regulation.

There are many resources made available by the Association of Pool & Spa Professionals, including pages on:
Summary analysis of the legislation
Entrapment prevention in pools and spas

Additional notes--
December 10, 2008: Link to Wisconsin Department of Commerce S&B Public Swimming Pools Program
December 16, 2008: Link to CPSC news release (12/15/2008)

Links:
http://www.commerce.wi.gov/SB/SB-SwimmingPoolsWisGraemeBaker.html
http://www.cpsc.gov/BUSINFO/vgpsa.pdf
http://apsp.org/clientresources/documents/Siddiqui_EntrapmentPools,Spas_reprint.pdf
http://apsp.org/clientresources/documents/Summary_PSSafetyAct07-08.pdf
http://commerce.wi.gov/SB/SB-SwimmingPoolsProgram.html
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09065.html

How does bleach kill bacteria?

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Developed more than 200 years ago and found in households around the world, chlorine bleach is among the most widely used disinfectants, yet scientists never have understood exactly how the familiar product kills bacteria.

New research from the University of Michigan, however, reveals key details in the process by which bleach works its antimicrobial magic.

In a study published in the Nov. 14 issue of the journal Cell, a team led by molecular biologist Ursula Jakob describes a mechanism by which hypochlorite, the active ingredient of household bleach, attacks essential bacterial proteins, ultimately killing the bugs.

Read more of the University of Michigan press release.

Hear Dr. Jakob discuss her research on NPR's Talk of the Nation.

EPA Releases Mercury Documents

EPA Encourages the Use of Mercury-Free Alternatives. EPA has posted a Risk Based Prioritization (RPB) document for mercury (PDF) (7 pp., 67KB, about PDF) under EPA’s Chemical Assessment and Management Program (ChAMP). This preliminary assessment describes uses of elemental mercury in a number of products and concludes that switches, relays, button cell batteries, non-fever thermometers, and measuring devices such as thermostats do not have to contain mercury. Based on this assessment, EPA determined that mercury in these products poses a “high priority, special concern.” The Agency plans to take prompt regulatory and voluntary action to encourage the use of mercury-free alternatives and reduce the use of mercury in products.

• November 2008: EPA has also developed a searchable database of information from various sources to help identify consumer and commercial products that contain mercury and their possible non-mercury alternatives. EPA encourages people to use non-mercury alternatives whenever possible as an important way to prevent exposure to mercury, including exposure due to breakage.

http://www.epa.gov/hg

Recent recalls

The following items of interest have been subject to recent product safety recalls:

Sherwin-Williams Co. Recalls Krylon UV Fabric Protector Due to Respiratory Hazard

PC Notebook Computer Batteries Recalled Due to Fire and Burn Hazard

Homelite Consumer Products Announce Recall to Repair Chain Saws Due to Chain Brake Failure

Power Adapters Used with Notebook Computers Recalled by Battery-Biz Due To Burn Hazard

Portable Generators Recalled by General Power Products Due to Fire Hazard

A complete listing of products listed by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission is available at their website.

Slips, trips and falls campaign

The Bureau of State Risk Management (BSRM) be will starting the Slips, Trips and Falls Reduction Campaign in November. The campaign plan consists of:

• Winter slips and falls poster (pictured at right, planned to be available at the RM Conference in Madison on November 12-13).
• Winter slips and falls webcast (will be shown at the RM Conference at the Safety booth) to be available on the BSRM webpage for agency use. This is scheduled to be available during the week of the conference.
• Safety booth with Slips, Trips and Falls information
• Weekly emails in November regarding Slips and Falls prevention
• Spring webcast on slips, trips and falls.

Safety message for facility services staff

I've been having many discussions lately, both verbal and email, on the topic of management support for occupational safety throughout our system campuses. One recent example of a clear message of management support for safety over expediency comes from the latest newsletter for UW-Milwaukee's Facility Services Department. On page one, director Dave Danielson gives both general support to the safety attitude he wants from his employees, and specifically mentions certain tasks and injury causes for extra attention.

In addition to that safety endorsement, page 4 discusses back safety and makes use of the signage developed by UW-Madison. (Jeff Nytes from UW-Madison presented an overview of their back safety program at our recent campus meeting in September.) Page 5 has a report on campus sustainability issues.

Neil Young on gas guzzlers: Long may you run

Al Saracevic, (San Francisco) Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, November 3, 2008
(11-02) 21:16 PST -- Leave it to Neil Young to make green technology cool.
The rock legend has created a company called Linc Volt Technology to promote the conversion of existing gas-guzzling cars into vehicles that run on alternative energy. (More...)

Driving while distracted

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company’s second annual Driving While Distracted survey shows that increased use of technology, along with the societal need to be available at all times, are increasing the frequency and severity of driving while distracted. According to the DWD survey results, even those who practice safe driving admit to doing outlandish things behind the wheel, including changing clothes, balancing a checkbook and shaving.

For a summary and other info on the survey, check out Nationwide's web page.

Hazmat inventory fee increase sought by WEM

Late last week, Wisconsin Emergency Management (WEM) gave notice of intent to develop a request for a fee increase for facilities that store hazardous materials and extremely hazardous substances. No information on the specifics of the fee increase (like, how much more are you going to have to pay?) are available at this time.