2/23/00
- Stagnant ponds become fuel pumps
2/3/00
- Study links El Nino and climate warming
to diarrhea increase
2/4
- Iceland sells its genetic history
2/2
- World Bank plants seeds for new forest policy
- Biosafety talks conclude in surprising accord
By BBC News Online's Damian
Carrington in Washington DC
Petrol stations could be replaced by
stagnant ponds if a breakthrough in
hydrogen fuel technology fulfils its
potential.
The new approach
harnesses an
emergency survival
strategy that green
algae use to survive
during hard times. The microscopic
plants switch from normal
photosynthesis, producing carbon
dioxide, to an alternative way of
"breathing" which produces hydrogen
gas.
The theoretical yields are high
enough for the process to be exciting
experts in the energy field as a future
source of fuel, perhaps in 20 years
time.
The fuel could be used to power fuel
cells in cars. The big advantage of
hydrogen as a fuel is that it does not
produce carbon dioxide or other
pollutants when it is burnt in pure
oxygen. And if produced by using
solar energy to split water, it is
entirely sustainable.
The new research was led by Tasios
Melis, from the University of
California-Berkeley. "I guess it's the
equivalent of striking oil," he told the
annual meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of
Science (AAAS).
He estimates that a small pond in
which the growth of the algae is
controlled could provide enough fuel
for 12 cars for a week.
Airtight pond
The key to the process is the element
sulphur. The algae need this nutrient
to grow and when it is not available,
the algae begin to consume the
oxygen in the water. In a short time,
the system becomes stagnant and,
said Professor Melis, "every other
plant on Earth would suffocate and
die".
"This algae do not - they have a
trick." They switch to a different
metabolic pathway which produces
hydrogen.
So to use the
algae is a two
step process. First
they are grown,
then the sulphur is
removed and a day
later the hydrogen
starts to flow. This
continues for a
few days before
the algae are so
starved they must
be returned to
normal photosynthesis.
However, there appears to be no limit
to the number of times this cycle can
be repeated, according to Professor
Melis. This approach could be applied
to a pond by using an airtight cover.
Currently, the process produces three
millilitres of hydrogen per litre of
algae solution, but improvements to
the system should deliver 10 times
this amount. The conversion
efficiency of the sunlight energy
would be about 10%.
Maggie Mann, from the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory,
Colorado, said biophotosynthesis was
likely to be one important way of
producing hydrogen fuel in the future.
Fuel from sewage
It also has advantages over using
solar energy to electrically produce
hydrogen as there is no need to
manufacture solar panels.
Future work in the area involves
developing mutants of the algae
which can tolerate oxygen whilst still
producing hydrogen - oxygen destroys
the key enzyme in the process, called
hydrogenase.
Elias Greenbaum, from Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, is using
laboratory techniques to select out
algae that have a natural tolerance
for oxygen.
"We do this by telling them that they
have to produce hydrogen or they
die," he said.
If oxygen-tolerance could be
achieved, then the two-stage
production cycle could be simplified
to one, continuous process.
It may even be possible to convert
sewage into hydrogen fuel. Tadashi
Matsunaga, at the Tokyo University of
Agriculture and Technology, has found
a photosynthesising bacterium which
produces hydrogen from waste water.
-top-
February 3, 2000
Web posted at: 3:53 PM EST (2053 GMT)
LONDON (AP) -- After linking El
Nino with illnesses such as
malaria, cholera and dengue
fever, scientists now have
connected the climatic
phenomenon with an increase in
childhood diarrhea.
The research led by the Johns
Hopkins School of Public Health
also suggests for the first time
that gradual temperature
increases related to global warming could foster outbreaks of diarrhea
in children
living in developing nations.
Diarrhea kills as many as 3 million children under the age of 5 worldwide
every year
and sickens millions more, mostly in developing countries.
It normally is more prevalent during the warmer seasons but, until now,
experts didn't
know whether a change in temperature could play a role.
The study of 57,331 children in Lima, Peru, found that an increase in
diarrhea cases
between 1993 and 1997 was linked to even small rises in temperature,
regardless of
whether it was summer or winter. In fact, the effect was greater in
winter, even though
the weather was cooler.
Overall, the study, published this week in The Lancet medical journal,
found that for
every 1 degree centigrade (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than normal
it became, 8
percent more children arrived at a local clinic for treatment of diarrhea.
The findings were similar for the 1997-1998 El Nino period.
The number of children brought to the clinic each day that winter was
double what
would have been expected for that time of year had El Nino not occurred,
the study
found.
El Nino, which involves the equatorial waters in the Pacific warming
up, creating
unusual weather patterns around the world, increased winter temperatures
in Lima by
about 4 degrees centigrade (about 7 degrees Fahrenheit).
A similar increase in temperatures brought on by El Nino in the summer
was still
connected to more diarrhea than usual, but the effect was not as strong,
accounting
for only a 50 percent rise in diarrhea cases, the researchers found.
"The potential effect of global warming on disease is controversial,"
said William
Checkley of Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins, who led the study. "This
study
suggests there may be something to it for diarrhea."
It's plausible the researchers' findings could apply in countries other
than Peru, said
Dr. Tony McMichael, an epidemiology professor at the London School
of Hygiene
and Tropical Medicine who studies the effects of climate on disease.
"In general, a large proportion of infectious disease agents are very
sensitive to
slight changes in climate," said McMichael, who was not involved in
the research.
"This would give us a reasonable indication of how diarrhea agents
react to changes
in temperature in general, whether in water or in food."
Checkley said the stronger effect in winter could be due to the fact
that the types of
diarrhea common in winter and summer are different.
In hot weather, diarrhea caused by bacteria or parasites is more likely.
Cooler
temperatures appear to enhance the transmission of viral diarrhea,
he said.
When the winters are hotter than normal, it could be that children are
exposed to
more sources of diarrhea, including the bacterial and parasite sort.
El Nino also may
prompt diarrhea-promoting behavior more common in the summer, such
as more
demand for water, the study said.
Dr. Olivier Fontaine, a diarrhea expert at the World Health Organization,
said the
observed link makes sense.
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press.
CNN 2/2/00
World Bank plants seeds for
new forest
policy
February 2, 2000
Web posted at: 3:01 PM EST (2001 GMT)
By Environmental News Network staff
The World Bank has admitted that its approach
to forest issues is flawed following a report last
week on the accomplishments of its 10-year-old
forest strategy.
The candid internal evaluation, commissioned by
World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn,
found that the 1991 forest strategy was poorly
implemented and needs to adapt to the changing
forest sector and the aspirations of developing
countries. In particular, the strategy's strict bias
toward conservation of existing forests was found to discourage creative
experimentation and
partnerships between the private sector and local communities.
"The bank's strategy was quite successful in reorienting lending toward
conservation and in
ensuring that the Hippocratic oath of 'doing no harm' in the anti-logging
policy was duly
observed in the design and implementation of bank-financed projects,"
said Uma Lele, who
headed the evaluation team in the bank's independent Operations Evaluation
Department.
"However, it also discouraged creative experimentation and partnerships
with the private sector
and local c ommunities,"
The analysis was discussed during a two-day World Bank
workshop that included forestry experts, environmental
activists, industry representatives and government
policy-makers who were asked to contribute ideas to a new forest policy.
"The OED forestry analysis illustrates that donor policies need to be
more flexible if they are to
promote the right balance between prudence and results for optimal
development impact, " said
OED Director-General Bob Picciotto, who headed the evaluation team.
The review looked at forest operations in three forest-rich countries
(Brazil, Cameroon and
Indonesia) and three forest-poor countries (China, Costa Rica and India).
For the most part, World Bank involvement was highly beneficial in forest-poor
countries
where it promoted regeneration and tree planting and helped meet the
basic needs of the poor
through production forestry. Nevertheless, the bank claims that its
conservative strategy
inhibited a fruitful dialogue with officials in forest-rich countries.
Changes in the global economic environment,
such as the growing demand for wood products,
weak forest protection mechanisms in
developing countries and stagnant aid flows,
have changed the realities under which the World
Bank operates, according to the report.
Environmentalists have blamed the World Bank
for using public money to support ill-conceived
development efforts around the world — efforts
that, they say, frequently ravaged unique
ecosystems and harmed the very communities
they were intended to help.
"This is one of the most important documents
on forest policy the bank has issued in a
decade," said Korinna Horta, a senior economist at Environmental Defense.
"It shows the bank
has failed to comply with its own 1991 forest policy to protect the
world's forests and alleviate
poverty."
"The recognition that some economic policies promoting globalization
and corruption are
causing deforestation presents a welcome and fundamental shift away
from the World Bank's
previous thinking, which pointed to poor people in developing countries
as the main culprits,"
said Horta. "Unfortunately, the majority of the World Bank's own lending
consists of
structural-adjustment loans that promote the very economic policies
that were identified by the
bank's evaluation report as driving forces of deforestation."
In the developing world, 20 million hectares of forest disappear each
year and tropical moist
forests are shrinking fast. One out of four of the world's poor depend
directly or indirectly on
forests for their livelihood. Biodiversity, climate change and protection
of indigenous peoples
depend on effective protection and management of forest resources.
A revised forest protection strategy is under preparation by the World Bank.
CNN
Biosafety talks conclude
in
surprising accord
February 2, 2000
Web posted at: 12:07 p.m. EST (1707 GMT)
By Environmental News Network staff
The Biosafety Protocols negotiated in
Montreal this past weekend are being
cautiously praised by both
environmentalists and industry
representatives. The agreement on rules
to regulate the international trade of
genetically modified organisms has been
extremely controversial and five years in
the making.
Greenpeace called the agreement a
historic step toward protecting the
environment and consumers while
industry representatives called the rules
"workable."
"The significance of establishing the precautionary
principle, which environmentalists have lobbied for
across many issues, can not be understated," said
Philip Bereano of the Council for Responsible
Genetics.
Under the protocols the precautionary principal allows countries to
refuse to accept
a shipment on the basis that it might cause harm to the environment
or human
health. Bereano, who is a professor at the University of Washington
in technology
and public policy, attended the Montreal meetings in his capacity as
a
representative of a non-government organization (NGO).
"In addition, the provisions of this treaty signifies that GMOs (genetically
modified
organisms) are not the same as conventionally grown crops. Industry
has been
making this argument while at the same time taking out patents that
say they're
completely different. This treaty emphatically establishes that GMOs
present
different kinds of risks that require particular scrutiny. The agreement
is a
tremendous victory for the environment."
Genetically modified products include seeds, grains, processed food
and feed that
have been bioengineered for a specific trait, such as resistance to
pests, increased
production or delayed ripening times. Advocates of GMOs emphasize the
benefits
of bioengineering: less pollution from pesticides and fertilizers and
increased
production to help combat world hunger. Opponents fear that unleashing
biologically altered organisms into the environment could lead to a
catastrophic loss
in biodiversity.
The United States and its biotech allies ? Uruguay, Argentina, Canada,
Chile and
Australia ? managed to scuttle agreements in 1995 and 1999, fearing
that the rules
would restrict trade. Public opinion against bioengineering, as demonstrated
in
Seattle in November and in many European countries over the last year,
may have
ultimately swayed the negotiators representing the United States and
its five allies
to reach a compromise.
The most important issue was the establishment of the right of countries
to reject a
shipment on the basis that it might have a negative impact on the environment
or
public health. Under the rules of the World Trade Organization, which
is widely
perceived to favor trade over environmental issues, a country had to
show a
preponderance of scientific evidence.
Which set of trade rules would take precedence ? those of the World
Trade
Organization or the rules negotiated under the Biosafety Protocol ?
was a sticky
issue. The negotiators essentially finessed the issue with language
saying that the
two agreements will be "mutually supportive" and that nothing in the
treaty is
"intended to subordinate this protocol to other international agreements."
How this
issue is resolved will largely determine the effectiveness of the Biosafety
Protocols.
"That's all preambulatory language," says Bereano, "not operative language,
and it
doesn't have any legal weight. The importance of the document is in
its flexibility.
How the language is interpreted will be determined by the political
and social
realities of the future. But it's a huge step forward to be squabbling
over language
rather than the principal itself."
Labeling products that contained genetically engineered organisms was
another big
issue. The United States and its allies agreed to the label "may contain
living
modified organisms" without specifics. Negotiators will have two years
from the time
the treaty goes into effect to come up with more specific labels.
Negotiators also reached a compromise on the Advanced Informed Agreement
procedure, which would have required countries exporting GMOs to notify
each
country when a shipment containing GMOs was scheduled. This was a major
sticking point at the talks that took place in February 1999. Under
the compromise,
technical information will be posted to a central registry rather than
to individual
countries.
The issue over who pays if environmental damage from GMOs occurs was
tabled
and will be addressed at future negotiations.
The negotiations, which took place Jan. 24-28, were held under the auspices
of the
United Nations. The agreement is an adjunct to the 1992 Convention
on
Biodiversity. Juan Mayr Maldonado, Colombia's environment minister,
headed the
discussions.
Copyright 2000, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved
BBC 2/4/00
Friday, 4 February, 2000, 13:03 GMT
Iceland sells its genetic
history
Gene pool: Iceland's latest natural resource is
its people
By the BBC's Catherine Goldwater in
Iceland
Land of volcanoes and glaciers, Iceland now
has another claim to fame - the people who
live there are about to take part in an
extraordinary genetic experiment.
It has never been done
before and no-one
really knows how
successful it will be, but
it has already divided
the country and now
the whole world is
watching and waiting.
The Icelandic Government has given a licence
to a US-funded corporation to study the
medical records, family trees and genetic
information of each and everyone of the
country's 270,000 citizens.
This information will be put into a single
computerised database. It is valuable because
Iceland is probably the most homogeneous
society in the world. There has been little
immigration there since the first Vikings arrived
almost 1000 years ago.
It is this consistency in
the Icelandic gene pool
that scientists hope
will allow them to trace
the causes of genetic
diseases back through
the generations.
But the project,
although given the
go-ahead, is steeped in
controversy. No other
country has ever tried
to collect, store and
then sell a nation's genetic heritage.
Treasure trove
Native Icelander Dr Kari Stefansson is the
mastermind behind the project and it is his
company, deCODE, that negotiated the deal.
For £8m and a share in future profits, the
Icelandic Government handed over the
treasure trove of data, a move that has
angered many.
Aside from ethical
issues surrounding the
commercial monopoly
of such information,
the move raises
questions about
privacy, informed
consent and the rights
of the individual versus
the state.
Concerned doctors and
academics have set up
an organisation called
Mannvernd (The Human
Protection Association) with the sole aim of
stopping the database going ahead. One of
their founding members, Einar Arnason, is
Professor of Genetics at the University in
Reykjavik and is alarmed at what has
happened: "The interests of the individual
which should be first are being put second and
the interests of the company are being put
first in order to make money."
They believe that without the informed
consent of each individual patient the
information should not be given out and they
want to raise money to mount a legal
challenge to the government.
For its part, DeCode has allowed individual
Icelanders to opt out by filing a form but not
everyone is satisfied. Also there are still
concerns about whether the security of the
database is sufficient to prevent any
information leaking out.
Economic benefit
Dr Stefansson remains steadfast in the face of
his critics. He believes his company is not only
good for the economy, which pleases the
government, but has also place Iceland as a
world leader in genetic research.
He says: "We're studying the information which
contains the blueprint for man and I am
absolutely convinced that this will revolutionise
healthcare not only here in Iceland but
worldwide."
Down at the local hot tub where Icelanders
traditionally go to unwind after a hard day's
work, opinion is divided. Everyone appears to
think that selling the information is a good idea
in principle but concern remains over whether
ethical principles are being pushed to one side
for the sake of commercial interests.