Phthalates Phthreaten Health

Every year the plastics industry adds a billion pounds of phthalates (pronounced tha-lates) to plastics, to render them pliable and soft. The environmental newsletter News On Earth says scientists believe phthalates mimic the female sex hormone estrogen and interfere with the male sex hormone, causing birth defects including breast development in female babies, killing of cells that produce sperm, and inducing cases of undescended testicles in lab animals. NoE says phthalates are "the most abundant synthetic chemical in the environment." They can be found in food packaging, building materials, toys, blood bags, covering on wires and cables, carpet backing, vinyl tiles, artificial leather, flea collars, insect repellants, skin emollients, hair sprays, nail polish, perfumes, and more. Send $2 to News on Earth, 101 W 23rd St, PMB 2245, NYC, NY 10011 for a copy of this important issue.

Radioactive Backyard Soil

(ENS)--The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is planning to allow nuclear power plant operators to market their radiologically contaminated soils to construction companies, farmers, golf courses and other commercial entities. The NRC says the country's stockpile of low level contaminated soils could be safely used for a number of private and public endeavors, such as home landscaping projects, athletic fields, and playgrounds.

Corporate Spying on Enviros?

A representative of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition [SVTC] has questioned Sony's plan to take back its old electronics items in Minnesota. Is the plan to divert attention from its alleged spying on enviro groups in Europe?

An internal Sony document was recently leaked to the InterPress Service based in Italy. The document revealed that Sony had spied on groups working to hold electronics manufacturers responsible for their toxic wastes.

"In some sense [the Minnesota recycling program] looks like it's a bit of damage control," said Ted Smith, of SVTC, which was listed in the internal Sony document. The leaked document also named Friends of the Earth, the Northern Alliance for Sustainability, Greenpeace, and the European Environment Bureau.

The document suggested that the electronics industry should set up "detailed monitoring and contact network [on] the [pro-environment] groups."

Sony and other electronics manufacturers have been fighting the push toward laws that would hold them accountable for the environmental and health damages incurred through the manufacture, use, and disposal of their products.

In Europe, that push has culminated in a draft law known as the European Commission Directive on Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). Under WEEE, electronics manufacturers would be required to manage their products throughout their lifecycles, including disposal. Netherlands already takes back and recycles consumer electroscrap, and France has signed a law to do this. The United States, led by the Clinton-appointed Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky, has campaigned to derail WEEE on the grounds that it would constitute a barrier to international free trade.

Population Math

(ENS)--North American pollution controls are working, but their full benefits are being offset by population growth, energy demand, and increased reliance on motor vehicles, according to a recent comprehensive scientific report.

The North American Research Strategy for Tropospheric Ozone (NARSTO) said in its report that reducing ground level ozone, or smog, is possible, but in 1995 some 70 million people lived in or near U.S. counties where ozone exceeded the standards. So did more than 13 million Canadians and 20 million people in Mexico. The NARSTO report said "much of the potential for real air quality improvement has been offset by expanding populations and human activity levels in North America."