Post by Sunday at midnight
1. Mark Whitaker
2. The Rush to "Korean Organic" Could Still Make You Sick--Because Korea lacks Legal Definitions of Organic, Still
3. I was unaware of this. Interesting that there is not a word from President Lee so far on expanding organic health standards as part of his claimed Green New Deal slogan, even though health and untrustworthy food and cosmetics was polled as what was of most concern to Koreans (even above fear of nuclear weapons, etc.) a few months ago. The article doesn't discuss food, though I assume that Korea doesn't have organic standards for food in addition to the lack of organic standards for beauty products (exclusively discussed below)?
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05-19-2009 21:08
Safety of Organic Baby Products Questioned [Because Korea Doesn't Have Any Organic Standards, Legally Speaking]
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Organic and natural beauty supplies are the fastest growing segment of the cosmetics market, but consumer rights advocates are now questioning whether these products are really green.
Consumers are more health-conscious than ever and the anger over the recent discovery of talc containing asbestos in baby powders, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals have organic products flying off local shelves.
Lotte Department Store said the sales of its brands, such as Aveda and Origins, have more than doubled from last year's numbers, and Hyundai Department Store is also reporting a significant increase in the sales of similar products.
``Consumers are increasing looking for products verified as organic items, and we really got a lot of inquiries around the talc fiasco,'' said a sales manager at Lotte Department Store's Sogong-dong outlet.
``Brands like Aveda, Kiehl's, L'occitane are becoming popular.''
The growing sales indicate that consumers in general are trusting these organic products to be healthier for their bodies and also for the environment. Obviously, many of them would be appalled to know that the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) has no answer when asked ``just what is an organic beauty product?''
The country has yet to establish certification standards for companies using the word ``organic'' in brand names, thus failing to control how much of a product is made from organic elements. There also aren't any requirements for companies to display the ``organic percentages'' of their products on packaging.
So, in many cases, a consumer would have no idea whether the lotion they just bought uses 90 percent organic ingredients or less than 1 percent.
And, despite all the claims about cleanness, a wide range of organic beauty supplies, such as shampoos and lotions, were found to contain undesirable substances known to linked with health problems.
A report by Consumers Korea, a Seoul-based civic group, found that seven out of nine organic baby products sold here contain substances that are identified as potential health hazards by American's Environmental Working Group and the European Consumers' Organization (BEUC).
The Nuk Natural Diaper Cream, a popular baby product imported by Boryung Medience, contains polyethylene glycol (PEG) compounds and paraben preservatives, chemicals that are believed to increase the risk of a variety of cancers.
PEG compounds were also found in Boryung's Pureganic Baby Body & Hair Wash and the company's Nuk Classic Face Cream contained levels of benzyl alcohol, which was also found in L'occitane Korea's Mom & Baby Cream and Skinvery Nature Baby Shampoo & Bath and Baby Cream.
And many products branded as ``organic,'' ``natural'' and ``green'' aren't revealing their usage of organic ingredients on their packages, which includes Boryung's Nuk Classic Face Cream and Dr. Atomild Essential Moisture Wash, Yuhan-Kimberly's Green Finger products, and Johnson & Johnson's Soothing Natural baby products.
``Consumers trust organic baby products to be safer than others, but you can argue that such beliefs aren't backed by much logic,'' said Jin Jeong-ran, an official from Consumers Korea.
``The products are taking advantage of consumer fears erupting from the talc fiasco and exploiting the country's lack of regulations in handling organic products.''
thkim@koreatimes.co.kr
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http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2009/05/123_45211.html
and
2. Korea turns to Ecological Modernization: Mosquitoes Fought Ecologically with Mudfish instead of Insect Sprays in Seocho District, Seoul
3. Interesting quote: some districts of Seoul use insecticides, though one district in Seoul is using ecological modernization to deal with mosquitoes: build an ecology to take care of them instead of just spray insecticides. Perhaps because of this solution, there will be mudfish swimming soon on the roof of many other areas of Seoul, in all apartment complex's water chillers on the roof? ^^
(Additionally, there are MANY natural chemical alternatives to chemical sprays to reduce the ever-present 'mogi'. ('Mogi': one of the first Korean words I learned. Appropriate?))
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05-19-2009 17:52
Warmer Weather Spawning Mosquitoes Early
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
With temperatures reaching summertime levels, mosquitoes are breeding earlier than in the past and they are already disturbing people's sleep.
The number of collected mosquitoes at 38 sampling sites nationwide marked 300, about four times the average number over the past five years, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Management (KCDC). It reflects the rather high and humid climate surrounding the nation since early April.
A KCDC researcher said, ``mosquitoes lay eggs when the temperature is high and where there is enough water, and the current weather is perfect for them.'' The center expects the number to rise dramatically in couple of weeks.
In the past, mosquitoes are hardly seen until around June but these days they have been spotted from early May.
The sales of insecticide are already surging with large supermarkets recording more than a 150-percent increase so far this year.
Local administrations have been increasing efforts to deal with the mosquitoes that are known to carry infectious diseases.
Guro District of Seoul said Tuesday that it has developed an electronic device to detect mosquitoes, where every time a mosquito passes by an electronic sensor, an induction system sends a signal to its database. With the data collected, the ward office can measure the exact amount of pesticide needed to kill off the insects, ward official Wu Seon-ok said.
Seocho District of Seoul has been working on using a natural enemy ― mudfish.
The fish released in the water-collecting tanks of apartments eat up to 98.9 percent of the larva there, and is said to be one of the most effective ways to kill off the insect without polluting the environment and damaging human body with toxic chemicals.
``A mudfish can eat 1,100 larva daily and survive under extreme drought conditions for several days, a perfect match for dealing with disease carrying mosquitoes,'' Yu Jeong-ae, a district office staff member, said.
bjs@koreatimes.co.kr
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http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/05/113_45167.html
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I think Google/Blogger has created a framework to reduce all comments to '4096 characters'? Well, for the rest of the semester just post a link to the article instead of cut/pasting the whole article in the comment, like this:1. Mark Whitaker
ReplyDelete2. American Academy of Environmental Medicine Calls for Immediate Moratorium on All Genetically Modified Foods
3. Unsurprising to me. In other GMO news, GM-engineering/agricultural companies of US, Australia and I think UK [?] joined hands to press for expanding GM worldwide against a world that doesn't want it. Watch the film The World According to Monsanto: they unfortunately might just have the governmental 'power' (just authority, instead of power (to use Arendt's term for reserving power to legitimate force) to enforce consumption against widespread consumer dislike as well as against thousands of years of biodiversity in major staple crops.
More for the contentious discourses around material flows:
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Promoted to Headline (H2) on 5/19/09:
American Academy of Environmental Medicine Calls for Immediate Moratorium on All Genetically Modified Foods
by Jeffrey M. Smith
Today, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called on "Physicians to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM (genetically modified) foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks."[i]
They called for a moratorium on GM foods, long-term independent studies, and labeling.
AAEM's position paper stated, "Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food," including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. They conclude, "There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation," as defined by recognized scientific criteria. "The strength of association and consistency between GM foods and disease is confirmed in several animal studies."
http://www.opednews.com/articles/American-Academy-of-Enviro-by-Jeffrey-M-Smith-090519-809.html
1. Mikah Lee
ReplyDelete2. More on Cars
3. Here's some more news on the car industry, which seems to be struggling these days. Perhaps that is why car companies are now frantically shifting to more environmentally safe vehicles (especially with oil prices as high as they are today). Really, I'm sure that electric cars could be all over the streets by now if auto makers had put their minds to it-- it's just that they were doing just fine with selling 'old-fashioned' engines and never really saw the need to start mass producing zero emission vehicles. Now that sales aren't going so well, we see hybrid cars being advertised all over the place.
Apparently Obama decreed that there must be a million plug-in electric cars OR plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015. I'm not sure if the OR there was a particularly smart move, but it was probably necessary to keep the oil companies from complaining too much (hybrids still need gasoline, after all). But why 2015? And why so little? The article mentions that a million cars is much less than 1% of all the cars in the US today (wow). It seems to me that a better decree would be to convince car companies to start mass producing fully electric cars RIGHT NOW (I mean really, why wait?). Alas, that is much easier said than done, what with all the social/political issues that cannot be left out of the whole business.
Do we really have to wait till 2016 to see any significant changes on our roads (and all of this mostly concerns the US only... who knows how long it'll take until Korea picks up on electric cars)? Maybe the whole issue of reducing car emissions is like the flu-- it has to get worse before it gets better.
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May 21, 2009 – Vol.14 No.9
THE AUTOMAKERS: WHERE DO THEY GO FROM HERE?
by Bruce Mulliken, Green Energy News
As you most likely have heard, President Obama has set in motion new policy that will result in an average U.S. fuel economy standard of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. The new standards are nearly the same as California’s thus creating a 50-state rule. The policy is aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles by increasing fuel economy.
...
--- Some electric cars and plug-in hybrids. Obama wants a million plug-in electric or plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015. One million is a lot of cars but much less than one percent off all the cars on U.S. roads today. That’s not many in the grand scheme of things. Nevertheless the automakers will be selling electric cars as they have planned and under CAFE rules be able to take multiple credits for each electric vehicle sold thus make the CAFE equation easier to meet. However, the market penetration of electric vehicles will be slow until lithium batteries get much cheaper. Other battery chemistries are possible, such as nickel metal hydride or even lead-carbon, but the auto manufacturers are hooked on lithium at the moment. (Isn’t there a cure for that?) Lithium technology is steadily improving, such as Hitachi’s next generation battery for cars just announced;
...
The problem with the new standard is that it’s only a first step. As the vehicular fleet grows in the U.S. gross emissions will grow along with it. CAFE rulings will continually need upgrading every few years until vehicular emissions are neutralized or negative and the country cuts its dependence on imported petroleum fuels. Eventually the roads will be totally filled with something entirely different, but not by 2016.
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http://www.green-energy-news.com/arch/nrgs2009/20090041.html
1. Yoo GaEun
ReplyDelete2. Keeping Chlorine Ouf of the Pool
3. After reading the article professor posted
which was about natural chemical alternative to
kill mosquitos, I searched for the similar topic
that can show me ecological approach to solve
chemical-related matters.
This article covers how exisiting method to keep
the pool water clean can be altered to something more natural and conducive to health.
Because the summer has come upon us again! most
people will plunge into to the pool soon.
I want many summer resorts will try this method
as a first step to initiate an eco-friendly
managing policy.
However, reading this article, I couldn't help
but doubt the authenticity of natural-friendliness of this method because materials that are used are anyway something chimecals!
Although I'm not familiar about scientific elements, I think there might be really ecological way to replace chlorine!
For now, just to keep what this article suggests will be helpful to rethink and broaden our perspectives toward more ecological application of pool maintainer.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/garden/29pool.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&sq=Keeping%20Chlorine%20Out%20of%20the%20Pool&st=cse&scp=1
1. Lee, Soo-Bin
ReplyDelete2. Kuwait: 18 swine flu-infected US troops have left
3. swine flu is spreadig across the world at a very rapid rate. It is not sure that it occured in Mexico or US first. However the point is that it is spreading. This is the reason why enviornment can't be apart from other field. Because the world is becoming closer and closer, local problem can be a global one. One of the reason why the flu is spreading rapidly is that people can fly to the other part of the world.
As we can see technologycal developement brings positive effect. But it could be the main fatal reason of the disaster. Realistically we can't stop the stream of golobalization. So there should be countermeasures. And I think envrionmental friendly policy should be one of them.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gzz357patY4-QaJFvo9O95zMM_EQD98CK5S80
1. Yoon Hye Sung
ReplyDelete2. Adapt to rising seas? Maldives faces test
Some islands might be protected by building higher ground
3. Sea level rise. It's a quite serious problem. I think the result(effect) of global warming is happening obviously. I've heard that the sea level of islands would rise, so some islands would vanish someday. When I heard this, I was really afraid of the news and couldn't believe it. However, it became true. Maldives which I heard a lot about are in danger of disappearing. Although it is uncertain that the sea level will rise, I think people in Maldives have to prepare some safe ways for the sea level rise. We can't predict the future, but being ready for something is better than doing nothing. What will happen if the islands really vanish? I think other continents will be also endangered when islands disappear. What can we do to prevent that situation? Global warming will destroy many things in nature. I'm very fearful.
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MAAYA THILA, Maldives - Since climate change fears first gripped the globe, tourists have flocked to the Maldives to enjoy the islands' spectacular vistas before they vanish.
Do they really need to rush?
Scientists have long warned that the Maldives, an archipelago nation of nearly 1,200 islands in the Indian Ocean, will be wiped out by rising sea levels in the coming decades. President Mohamed Nasheed is so convinced of his nation's demise he has proposed relocating all 350,000 inhabitants to other countries. On average, the islands are 7 feet above sea level, making them the lowest-lying nation on Earth.
Most experts agree the Maldives have plenty to worry about: In the worst-case scenario, if global sea levels rise higher and faster than expected, the islands may indeed be swallowed up.
But some recent data challenge the widespread belief that the islands are destined to disappear — and a few mainstream scientists are even cautiously optimistic about their chances for surviving relatively intact beyond the next century.
"The outlook for the Maldives is not all doom and gloom," said Paul Kench of the University of Auckland in New Zealand. "The islands won't be the same, but they will still be there."
Kench said his studies of the Maldives show the islands can adjust their shape in response to environmental changes, such as the rising seas and warmer temperatures predicted in the next century.
..........
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URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30808160/
3. the remaining part of the article
ReplyDelete----------------------
Kench suggests the islands might move onto their reefs and build vertically, offsetting the potential threat of sea level rises. His research — published together with other scientists from Australia, New Zealand and the Maldives — shows some islands have rebuilt themselves as much as 1.6 feet higher. Their studies have been published in recent years in journals including Geology and the Journal of Geophysical Research.
"It's quite convincing work and seems to be quite widely accepted by the scientific community," said Andrew Cooper, a professor of coastal studies at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland.
"They have detailed geological evidence that this kind of growth has happened before in the past. ... I think the question of the Maldives being completely wiped out may be overstated."
Following the devastating 2004 Asian tsunami, many scientists assumed the Maldives would be damaged. But Kench and his colleagues not only found little evidence of island erosion, but also that the tsunami had washed sediment ashore, making some islands taller than they were before the catastrophe.
Most populated isles in trouble
Kench warned, however, that while only a small number of Maldivian islands may not be able to adapt to rising sea levels, those are unfortunately the ones where many people live: Male, the nation's capital, and Hulule. Residents of those islands will probably need to relocate to another country or move to other Maldivian islands that won't disappear so quickly, he said.
Building taller and moving to higher ground are examples of a hot trend in climate change policy: emphasizing adaptation.
While much global warming work aims to limit emissions, adaptation advocates argue for the need to combat the inevitable effects of climate change through forward planning and construction. That includes moving people, building sea walls, and new construction techniques.
Sea levels worldwide have been steadily rising, except in a handful of places, including the Maldives. But in the last 50 years, some data from satellite pictures and tide measurements suggest sea levels in the Maldives have dropped by as much as 12 inches.
"That was definitely unexpected," said Jonathan Overpeck, director of the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth at the University of Arizona. Overpeck said the decline in the Maldives' sea levels is probably due to local factors like ocean temperatures and currents.
Such data is inconclusive, however — and with few available records, the Indian Ocean remains one of the world's least understood oceans.
Jianjun Yin, an assistant research scientist who monitors sea levels at Florida State University, said the drop in the Maldives could be caused by increased evaporation in the Indian Ocean. Evaporation makes water more dense, thus lowering sea levels.
Yin said the Maldives' defiance of the global trend of rising sea levels could be temporary. "I don't think the Maldives will disappear in a few decades, but maybe in another hundred years it will become a very serious situation," he said.
.......
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URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30808160/
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1. Dakyung Lee
ReplyDelete2.Viruses spread by food factories
3. Influenza A continues to concern many people internationally, as it is said to be circulating among humans at this very moment. Because it is transmittable and there have been known human pandemic deaths due to the influenza A, countries around the globe are taking caution and seeking ways to monitor the influenza from spreading further.
When little knowledge and facts were known to the public about this new influenza, there were assumptions that the virus came directly from contact with pigs. Even in Korea, the myth about the influenza A was believed by many, who believed that consuming pork was unsafe and could result in the illness. However, we now know that it is not a food safety issue.
While this commentary article is one person’s reflection on the virus, I thought it was interesting that she pointed out the fact that the unsanitary conditions of the food industry could have contributed to the current health crisis. In looking further into the background of Smithfield Foods, discussed in this article, I found out that there are currently legal actions that are taking place against Smithfield, by those who believe that the virus may have been caused in part by the conditions under which the farm operates.
While the real cause of the influenza A is unknown and researches are being conducted to find the origin and possible cures for this disease, this author’s perspective made it clear that there needs to be serious monitoring of food industries in terms of sanitation so that other health problems can be avoided in the future. Similarly, it seems sensible that EPA needs to do a better job at enforcing companies like Smithfield with stricter regulations and policies so they can prevent these industries from continuing to produce food at poor conditions. It will be interesting to see what scientists find during their further research of the influenza and to see if the way food is produced relates to the virus in any way.
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refer to link for article (too long so it exceeds the limit of words)
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http://www.downtoearth.org.in/editor.asp?foldername=20090531&filename=Editor&sec_id=2&sid=1
1. Martin Weiser
ReplyDelete2. Bio-Bottles for Coke
3. Coke will now introduce bottles made partly of bio-plastics to get closer to a closed cycle product. The real break-through I see is however not the use of bio-plastics but the possibility to seperate it from the PET in the recycling facilities which was the main cause of preventing bio-plastics from introduction.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2009/2009-05-18-092.asp
1. Daniel Cheng
ReplyDelete2. Sweeteners Linger in Ground Water
3. Professor Whitaker - "모기" was one of the first words I learned too!
Onto the topic: I work in a coffee shop in the United States, and I estimate that half of the coffees I make use sugar substitutes of some sort. This article basically states that the ingredients found in sugar substitutes do not degrade even after it goes through sewage treatment plants.
The article goes on to say that there have not been any tests to determine whether or not these chemicals do harm to the rivers and lakes that it is found in. If anything, it is safe to assume that it isn't natural for these chemicals to be the lakes, so it is not a good thing for fish to be consuming small amounts of it. But luckily the amount of acesulfame will never be high enough as a result of sugar substitutes through human waste.
On a side note, I have not noticed any sugar substitutes in Korea. Maybe it is because I don't look for it as I don't drink coffee with sugar anymore. It is amazing how even the littlest things such as what is put into coffee can end up in the same place you may swim weeks later.
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Sweeteners Linger in Groundwater
Emily Sohn, Discovery News
May 22, 2009 -- After tickling the tongue, artificial sweeteners pass through our bodies and end up in wastewater virtually unchanged. Some sweeteners are particularly widespread in the environment, according to a new study, making them ideal markers for following pollution from treatment plants and other sources into the environment.
"Groundwater can be polluted by several sources, and it's sometimes not clear where that pollution comes from," said Ignaz Buerge, an environmental chemist at the Swiss Federal Research Station in Schloss. "We now have a marker of domestic wastewater which can be used in tracing pollution."
Contaminated groundwater is both an environmental and public health issue. Once run-off gets into the environment, though, it can be hard to know whether it came from industry, agricultural fields, traffic, homes or other sources. Scientists have been looking for marker molecules that might help them track down and possibly reduce some of these inputs.
Previous candidates for markers have included caffeine, pharmaceuticals and components of personal care products. Most of these chemicals, however, either break down quickly, appear in quantities too small to easily detect, or seep out of the water and into the soil.
Buerge and colleagues wondered if artificial sweeteners might work. People consume large quantities of them, for one thing. And previous work suggested that the chemicals pass through the human body unchanged and end up in untreated wastewater.
The scientists collected both treated and untreated samples from 10 wastewater treatment plants. They also collected urban groundwater, tap water, and water from four rivers and eight lakes near Zurich and from a remote alpine lake.
In each sample, the researchers looked for evidence of four sweeteners: Acesulfame K, saccharin, sucralose, and cyclamate. All four are commonly used in the United States except cyclamate, which is banned.
Results, published in Environmental Science & Technology, found evidence of all four sweeteners in untreated wastewater. In treated water, 90 percent of saccharine and 99 percent of cyclamate were eliminated. Sucralose endured, but concentrations were small.
When it came to acesulfame, a significant amount survived the treatment process unharmed. The scientists measured the equivalent of 10 milligrams per person per day of the sweetener in untreated waters, Buerge said, and the same concentrations in treated waters, which often ended up in lakes and rivers.
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http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/05/22/artificial-sweetener.html
rest of the article: "These concentrations are astronomically high," said Bruce Brownawell, an environmental chemist at Stony Brook University in New York. "If I had to guess, this is the highest concentration of a compound that goes through sewage treatment plants without being degraded."
ReplyDeleteWhile the team found no sweeteners in the remote alpine lake, levels of acesulfame increased proportionately in bodies of water as nearby human population sizes went up. The sweetener also showed up in 65 out of 100 groundwater samples and even made its way in small amounts into tap water, suggesting that acesulfame remains stable as it moves with wastewater.
Levels were too low to be of concern to human health and far too low to make the affected water taste sweet. But the fact that acesulfame is easily detected in groundwater makes it a promising tool for determining whether contamination comes from domestic sources, Buerge said.
"We basically proved," he said, "that these sweeteners can be used quantitatively as a marker."
One thing that scientists still don't know is whether acesulfame has any impact on fish or the environment. Those tests haven't yet been done.