Division of Environmental and Life Sciences

News From the Deane
The weekly update from the Dean of Division, Prof Liz Deane

Your Electrical Applicances Could be Poisoning You!
When you buy a new appliance ever wondered what happens to the old one you throw out?

Opportunities
- 14th World Clean Air Congress and Exhibition
- Conference on Sustainable Economic Growth for Regional Australia

Events
- Powerhouse Museum's Free Radical's Series "The Future of Cars"
- Astrobiology Seminar "Aboriginal Astronomy"
- Genes to Geosciences Seminar "Vibrational Spectroscopy of Plants"
- Human Geography Seminar "Looking from the Inside: the Heuristic Research Approach"
- Physical Geography Seminars - two this week!!
- ELS Seminar Series

News from the Dean

Dear Colleagues,

I hope you all enjoyed your short week.

Congratulations to Dr Ian Paulsen on being awarded one of three inaugural NSW Life Sciences Research Awards. Ian is a new appointee to CBMS in the Biomedical Frontiers CoRE.

Two items of interest have come across the desk this week.

1. Call for abstracts for the Environmental Research Event 2007, 11 th Annual Environmental Conference. James Cook University, 2-5 December. Further details:- www.ere.org.au

1. The UniServe Science Annual Conference will be held in the AVCC Week, 26-28 September. The Keynote Speaker for the Symposium will be Prof Erik Meyer from Durham University, UK, where he is a Professor of Education and the Director of the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Research in Higher Education. One thing to note is that any abstract that is accepted as a full paper will be requested to submit the paper for peer review to meet the DEST Category E1 guidelines. Details:- http://science.uniserve.edu.au/workshop/conference.html . I would encourage any staff involved in research in Teaching and Learning to consider presenting at this conference.

Please remember to send us all your good news and achievements (e-mail sciencenews@els.mq.edu.au). Good luck to all those who put in a promotion application.

Till next week!

Liz

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Your Electrical Appliances Could be Poisoning You!

Over many years A/Prof Damian Gore, of the Department of Physical Geography, has applied his knowledge of soil, water and geochemistry to study how toxins from rubbish dumps, industrial waste sites and fuel spills move into the wider environment. He has also applied this knowledge to help contain or clean up contaminated sites in Australia and the Antarctic.

Damian's most recent concern is the multitudes of old landfills around Australia that have been covered over and turned into parks and playgrounds due to their unsuitability for housing because of subsidence or emission of gases. Within these landfills a toxic cocktail of poisonous metals and chemicals is seeping from crushed electrical and electronic products into the soil and then into the water table and urban streams.

This has become of particular relevance in the context of the capture and use of groundwater to supplement our dwindling water resources. "Most people aren't aware of the toxic substances in our electrical products or of the health risks of common products that we use," Damian says. "Part of the problem is that municipal landfills were never designed to last forever. Hazardous materials are now leaching from these landfills. If we want to capture and use groundwater then we need to understand where contaminant plumes might be located."

This environmental and public health problem is of course not restricted to Australia. So it was with keen interest that Damian watched as the European Union, in 2003, proposed and later adopted the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and the closely related Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directives. RoHS limits the amount of six hazardous materials in electronic and electrical equipment, except for products like batteries or cathode ray tube screens that could not be made without them. WEEE makes manufacturers responsible for collecting old electrical goods free of charge and disposing of, or recycling them in an ecologically-friendly manner.

Two of the materials covered under the RoHS directive - Polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) - are fire retardants often mixed with plastics to reduce the chance of components, such as the casing of a computer's extraction fan for example, catching fire when they get hot. High exposure to PBB has been linked to cancer and nervous and immune systems effects in animals. The next substance, Hexavalent chromium, is well known as the carcinogenic villain of the Erin Brockovich movie starring Julia Roberts, while the adverse effects of mercury and cadmium are also well known.

"Cadmium is often used as a paint pigment or as a plastic stabiliser," says Gore. "But it's a particularly nasty element in lots of ways, and you just don't want it in the general environment. Both cadmium and mercury are poisonous, cause cancer and affect various organs including the kidney and liver."

The longer we delay in reducing the input of poisonous materials into landfills the worse the problem is for our children.

But it has been the inclusion of lead in the restricted list that has garnered most attention, and which has led to RoHS being commonly referred to as the 'lead-free directive'. Lead is suspected of causing cancer and is known to cause developmental problems in unborn babies and children of all ages. The use of lead solder, in particular, is widespread within the electrical and electronic manufacturing industry.

Under RoHS, the maximum concentrations of these substances is 0.1 per cent of the total mass of the product, except for cadmium, which is limited to 0.01 per cent. Importantly, these limits apply not just to the finished product (such as a computer), or even to one of its components (such as the computer's hard drive case), but to any single item that could theoretically be separated from it (such as the switch on a case or the screws that hold it together). If just one of these items fails the RoHS test, then the entire product is rejected and the manufacturer or importer will face the cost of fines, lost sales and the cost of reworking their products.

Damian says a good practical example of how RoHS will reduce the levels of toxins in everyday electrical equipment is the printed wiring board within a standard mobile phone.

"A printed wiring board traditionally made with lead solder might have 10,000 milligrams of lead per kilogram and even more brominated fire retardants, so they're exceeding RoHS lead levels by over 10 times and the brominated compounds by up to 20 times," he says.

Despite manufacturers' concerns about the added costs of production and some problems with the tin, silver and copper replacement solder known as 'SAC', the RoHS directive took effect on July 1 last year. From that time on, manufacturers within the European Union, and those looking to export to the EU must ensure their products are RoHS compliant.

"The European community hasn't fallen apart by having to comply and nor has their manufacturing sector stopped, so the costs and realities of compliance aren't as severe as the Australian Government might fear," he says.

Even more encouraging, in the nine months since the EU implemented RoHS, Japan, China, South Korea and some US states, such as California, have brought out their own versions of RoHS, or WEEE, or both. While some of these versions are not as comprehensive as the original EU directive, Damian believes there is nevertheless a growing worldwide commitment to limiting these dangerous materials.

Damian has watched expectantly while the Australian Government's Department of Environment and Heritage set up a website, instituted a survey and then did ... nothing.

"It's very difficult for me to understand what has happened here," Damian says. "It's clear that there was an impetus to consider RoHS, hence the website and the survey, but there's been no change to the website in at least seven months and the report on the survey is now many months overdue."

Damian believes that without Australian Government support, some Australian businesses might be unaware of their need to comply with RoHS before exporting to Asia or Europe. But even more important than the business implications is the increasing health risk.

"Every town in Australia has a municipal landfill whether it's White Cliffs or Sydney, they just vary in size," Damian says. "All of those landfills are leaching hazardous materials. The longer we delay in reducing the input of poisonous materials into those landfills the worse the problem is for our children.

"We've already identified that water resources are important and the Australian Government says it's going to put $10 billion into managing those. Maybe the first step is to stop poisoning them and to stop compromising them for future Australian generations."

For more information please e-mail Damian at damian.gore@mq.edu.au

Original story by Greg Welsh, appearing at http://www.pr.mq.edu.au/macnews/

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ARE YOU HAVING TROUBLE SLEEPING?

Do you find:..

- You have difficulty initiating sleep?

- You have difficulty maintaining sleep?

- You have broken sleep with daytime effects such as Depression, Anxiety, Fatigue, Irritability, Reduced Memory & Concentration?

IF YOU HAVE SAID YES TO ANY OF THESE QUESTIONS, YOU MAYBE INTERESTED IN THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION.

Macquarie University Chiropractic is providing FREE CHIROPRACTIC TREATMENT for sufferers of Insomnia for research purposes. If you would like further information on the clinical trial and/or research, please contact the research team either by:

PHONE: 0410855385 (Megan) 0418822169 (Stephen)

EMAIL: newlandstreet@gmail.com

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Opportunities

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14th World Clean Air Congress and Exhibition

9 September 2007

Brisbane, Queensland

Call for abstracts has recently closed however registration is now open.

For further information see http://www.iuappa2007.com/

Organized by: IUAPPA and Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand

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Conference on Sustainable Economic Growth for Regional Australia

17 to 19 September 2007

Wollongong, NSW

Website: http://www.segra.com.au/segra

The 11th SEGRA Conference is now recognised as Australia's most 'credible and influential' voice in regional economic development. SEGRA 2007 will help set the national agenda for regional Australia for the next 10 years.

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Events

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Powerhouse Free Radicals Talk

"The future of cars; how will transport change this century?"

Thursday May 10

Courtyard Cafe, Powerhouse Museum (enter via Macarthur St)

6pm bar and cafe for 7pm start

Free entry

For more information tel: 02 9217 0222

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ASTROBIOLOGY SEMINAR

"Aboriginal Astromomy"

Thursday 10 May, 1-2pm

Professor Ray Norris (CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility).

There are about 400 different Indigenous cultures in Australia, each with its distinct mythology, ceremonies, and art forms, many of which have a strong astronomical component. Several link their stories and ceremonies intimately with the sky.

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GENES TO GEOSCIENCES SEMINAR

Vibrational Spectroscopy of Plants.

Wednesday 9 May

Dr Craig Marshall (University of Sydney).

1.00pm in the Biology Tearoom E8A 290.

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Human Geography Seminar

Speaker: Verity Greenwood

"Looking from the Inside: Using the Heuristic Research Approach"

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Physical Geography Seminar: Thursday, 3rd May, 2007, E5A 143, 1.00pm.

The El Nino-southern Oscillation and its changing impact on Australia

Scott Power
Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre

More about this presenter

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Physical Geography Seminar: Wednesday, 2nd May, 2007, E5A 143, 1.00pm.

Mesoscale Features associated with Tropical Cyclone Formations in the Western North Pacific

Kevin Cheung
National Center for Disaster Reduction, Taipei, Taiwan

More about this presenter

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ELS Seminar Series

Departments in ELS host seminars covering a wide range of topics associated with ongoing research projects and other areas of interest. The seminars are delivered by academics, research staff, and students from within the Division, as well as guest speakers from other institutions and industry. Details of times, dates, locations and topics of seminars to be held over the next few weeks are listed here.

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Snippets

Breakfast made good for bowels
New cereal grains with high levels of resistant starch could improve bowel health and prevent large bowel disease, according to research presented in America today by CSIRO scientist Dr David Topping.

Immune hope for chemotherapy patients
Monash University scientist, Professor Richard Boyd has identified a group of cells that help to rebuild the immune system following chemotherapy.

Bid protein function redefined
A scientific team has established that, contrary to a recent high-profile study, the protein Bid does not have any special role in a cell's response to DNA damage or replicative stress. 

Corals: More complex than you?
The humble coral may possess as many genes - and possibly even more - than humans do.

Gay bullying turns teens off education
Gay and lesbian people in New Zealand who come out openly in their teens are more likely to opt out of higher education because of school bullying, says a new study.

Crustacean cell line helps identify disease
A breakthrough by a James Cook University researcher has closed the gap on the development of a disease-fighting tool in crustaceans that has eluded scientists for decades.

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