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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080521.wnano21/BNStory/National/

Tiny substances should be banned in foods, clearly labelled in personal-care products, environmental law group says

MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT

From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail

May 21, 2008 at 4:53 AM EDT

Nanomaterials should be banned in foods and some packaging, and there should be mandatory labelling for these novel compounds in cosmetics, personal-care products and cleaning agents, says the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy.

The institute says the food ban should be in place by November of 2009 and the labelling requirement by May of 2010. It contends that the “extremely rapid commercialization” of consumer products containing nanomaterials “requires an unprecedented sense of urgency by government in the creation of policy for this area.”

Nanomaterials are extremely small, engineered substances that many environmentalists worry could be the next frontier for hazardous chemicals in consumer goods. They’re currently being added to many products, including wrinkle- and stain-resistant fabrics, sunscreens and sports equipment, such as tennis racquets, among other items.

CIELAP, a Toronto-based environmental policy think tank, is issuing the timelines and recommendations in a report being released today.

Although the health or environmental threats, if any, posed by nanomaterials are not known, Susan Holtz, a senior policy analyst at the institute, said “this is an emerging issue” driven by the fast growth in commercial applications for the new technology.
The regulatory framework for ensuring the safety of these novel materials isn’t well developed in Canada or elsewhere around the world, Ms. Holtz said. She said the labelling requirement would give consumers more information with which to decide whether to buy a product.

The report, written by Ms. Holtz, also recommends that the federal government create a Canadian inventory of products containing these compounds, a record of research activities on them, and a worker safety program for those involved in their manufacture.

More than 500 consumer items incorporate nanomaterials, according to a non-governmental tally maintained by the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, with three of them made by Canadian firms. One industry estimate projected that about $1-trillion worth of products incorporating nanotechnology will be on the world market by 2015.

Nanomaterials are very minute - ranging in size from one to 100 nanometres. One nanometre equals a billionth of a metre, and it would take about 100,000 particles the size of one nanometre to equal the diameter of a human hair.

Scientists make nanomaterials by arranging metals and other compounds at the level of the atom in unique ways, often into shapes resembling rods or spheres, creating new substances with more strength, conductivity or durability than the original materials from which they are constructed.

Because of their small size, there are fears that when products using nanomaterials break down, some of the tiny particles will be able to cross into cell membranes or become embedded in tissues in a way that is similar to such carcinogens as asbestos or such health hazards as the small particulates, or soot, contained in air pollution.

Ms. Holtz said nanomaterials are also being used in medical applications. She is worried that nanomaterials containing silver as an anti-bacteriological agent in wound dressing, for instance, could get into the environment and harm wildlife. She said there is “beginning to be an accumulation of evidence that things like this have ecological impacts.” Environment Canada and Health Canada issued a proposed regulatory framework for nanomaterials last year in September.

The government wants to regulate nanomaterials in the same way as new chemicals, if they have a unique structure or molecular arrangement. The requirement would expose nanomaterials to additional safety testing, but Ms. Holtz said the scientific protocols for evaluating these substances have not yet been determined.

http://www.enterprisenews.com/archive/x489859442/Grow-green-Try-an-environmentally-friendly-approach-to-a-lush-lawn

By Pam Adams
GateHouse News Service
Posted May 19, 2008 @ 09:55 PM
PEORIA, Ill. —
When it comes to synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, just say no.

Think of synthetics as your lawn on drugs, says Clark Abraham.

“The more you use, the more you need.”

Once out of rehab, however, the drug-free lawn gets by on less of everything — less fertilizer, less watering, less mowing. More importantly, the clean-and-sober lawn is safer for people and their environment, he says. Not to mention, “drug” prices, in this instance, are rising right along with the price of gas.

Abraham is one of the undoubtedly few area residents who has signed on to the SafeLawns Challenge, a national campaign to promote environmentally-friendly lawn care. But an eco-green lawn is a natural for him. He owns and operates Abraham’s Eco-Lawn Organics in Normal. He hasn’t used man-made chemicals on his own yard in 11 years.

The question is, how many others will join him, particularly in central Illinois?

That’s the challenging part for the SafeLawns Challenge, which aims to convince Americans — including homeowners, businesses, schools and other institutions — to convert one million acres of grass to organic lawn care by 2010.

“Organic lawn care is taking off on the East Coast and the West Coast,” says Paul Rosenbohm, owner of LAF Compost Inc. in rural Peoria. “They jump on the bandwagon first, we wait and let them work out the mistakes.”

Franz Hoerdemann, of Hoerdemann’s Landscaping in West Peoria, agrees. Though he tries to use as little synthetic fertilizer as possible, he suspects farmers are using more organic products than landscapers to fertilize or to control weeds and insects.

“I’m looking at it because it’s something we’re going to have to get used to,” Hoerdemann says. “But right now it’s not cost effective, even though fertilizer has gone up 40 to 60 percent because of oil prices.”

However slowly, even the traditional lawn-care industry is moving away from petrochemicals to organic products made of manure or bone meal.

The SafeLawns Challenge is sponsored by the SafeLawns Foundation, a not-for-profit based in Maine geographically and online at safelawns.org. Both are the brainchild/marketing tool for Paul Tukey’s mission. He’s a reporter-turned-landscaper who turned organic lawncare advocate after he was diagnosed with acute chemical sensitivity, brought on by an overexposure to chemicals.

Tukey, founder of a “People, Places and Plants” magazine and former host of a cable television show of the same name, is author of “The Organic Lawn Care Manual.” SafeLawns Foundation came about as a result of discussions with the publisher about how to promote the book. The foundation got off the ground just as Land O’ Lakes Purina Feed launched Bradfield Organics, a fertilizer billed as safe for people, pets and the environment.

The two have been linked ever since. For instance, Bradford Organics sponsors how-to videos on the SafeLawns Web site, and SafeLawns selected Bradford products to use on its National Mall demonstration project.

But Tukey sees the SafeLawns Challenge and other activities as a public education campaign. He’s trying to change minds and myths, lawns and laws.

Traditional lawn-maintenance programs typically involve a four-step program — pre-emergent weed control, weed killer, a summer fertilizer, and a fall weed and seed. Tukey likes to say organic lawncare is a 12-step program, beginning with mental detoxification.

The perfect lawn is a marketing myth, he says, and the idea that organically-maintained lawns are ugly is a misconception. Using eco-friendly techniques on four acres of the National Mall, for instance, is designed to dispel the misconception that going organic is going ugly.

“Changing the tolerance level for what we call weeds is part of this,” Tukey says. For instance, people loved clover in the yard until the 1960s. “Now they’ve been convinced that, somehow, it’s un-American.”

Tukey also points out that traditional lawn-care practices also contribute to pollution, from chemical run-off into water systems to noisy lawn mowers.

“With organic lawn care, the soil needs to be every bit as alive as you and me,” he says. “If you’ve been using a chemical fertilizer program for any length of time, the soil is dead. The only way you can grow plants in dead soil is to use more and more synthetic fertilizer.”

Thus, Tukey’s lawn-care intervention.

Going organic is more costly and labor-intensive initially, he explains, because it’s a process of bringing soil back to life. Composting, leaving grass clippings down, and not cutting grass too low are part of the drug-free lawn rehabilitation program.

Organic lawn care practices are more cost effective in the long run. Eventually, lawns require less fertilizer, far less watering and maintain better in drought conditions.

The SafeLawns Foundation is also among the growing number of local and national organizations pushing for laws banning or limiting the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

Between the legislative push and the price of fossil fuel, the country is hitting bottom, Tukey says. “Frankly, people are going to have to change, whether they like it or not.”