Episodes of thoron exposure due to consumer products claiming health benefits of negative ions

In May 2018,the primetime news casted a shocking report saying that radon concentration on a certain model of bed mattress found to be as high as 2200 Bq/m3.After a humble,the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission(NSSC)of Korea confirmed that significant amount of thoron gas is emanated from several mattress models marketed by a company claiming beneficial health effects of negative ions.Laboratory analysis showed that some internal fabric sheets of those mattresses contain high concentration of Th-232.It was revealed that the manufacture treated the material with so-called‘negative ion powder’procured from the market and NSSC found that its radioactive content is the monazite powder.Although measurements with reliable instruments resulted in somewhat lower values,the tentative but conservative estimates of doses to the users are still remarkable,ranging from a few to 14 mSv a year.Most of the affected models have been marketed from 2010 but earlier models,with lower thorium content,were supplied from 2006.As many as 88,000 mattresses have been produced.The manufacturer with help of the government,recalled all the affected models and separated the radioactive internals.A large amount of waste is waiting for the government decision on disposal method.Similar problems were identified in other consumer products including latex mattresses and pillows imported,hot pads,and several models of sanitary or health-aid goods.These episodes called for revisiting NORM control strategy in Korea.

Should the "3-15" Certification of Consumer Products Be Cancelled?

The China Consumers' Association (CCA) confirmed in late July that it has ended its "3-15" certification program for consumer-friendly prod- ucts, and companies that had been certified will have to stop using the designation after their agreement with the CCA expires.

Educated consumers don't believe artificial meat is the solution to the problems with the meat industry

The production of in vitro meat by cell culture has been suggested by some scientists as one solution to address the major challenges facing our society. Firstly, consumers would like the meat industry to reduce potential discomfort of animals on modern farms, or even to avoid killing animals to eat them. Secondly, citizens would like meat producers to reduce potential environmental deterioration by livestock and finally, there is a need to reduce world hunger by increasing protein resources while the global population is predicted to grow rapidly. According to its promoters, artificial meat has a potential to make eating animals unnecessary, to reduce carbon footprint of meat production and to satisfy all the nutritional needs and desires of consumers and citizens. To check these assumptions, a total of 817 educated people（mainly scientists and students） were interviewed worldwide by internet in addition to 865 French educated people. We also interviewed 208 persons（mainly scientists） after an oral presentation regarding artificial meat. Results of the three surveys were similar, but differed between males and females. More than half of the respondents believed that ＂artificial meat＂ was feasible and realistic. However, there was no majority to think that artificial meat will be healthy and tasty, except respondents who were in favour of artificial meat. A large majority of the respondents believed that the meat industry is facing important problems related to the protection of the environment, animal welfare or inefficient meat production to feed humanity. However, respondents did not believe that artificial meat will be the solution to solve the mentioned problems with the meat industry, especially respondents who were against artificial meat. The vast majority of consumers wished to continue to eat meat even they would accept to consume less meat in a context of increasing food needs. Only a minority of respondents（from 5 to 11%） would recommend or accept to eat in vitro meat instead of meat produced from farm animals. Despite these limitations, 38 to 47% of the respondents would continue to support research on artificial meat, but a majority of them believed that artificial meat will not be accepted by consumers in the future, except for respondents who were in favour of artificial meat. We speculated that the apparent contradictory answers to this survey expressed the fact that people trust scientists whoare supposed to continuously discover new technologies potentially useful in a long term future for the human beings, but people also expressed concern for their health and were not convinced that artificial meat will be tasty, safe and healthy enough to be accepted by consumers.

Toxicological studies of Caesalpinia sappan wood derived dye in Wister albino rats

Natural dyes taken from the barks of the tree Caesalpinia sappan has been used in many consumer products.Hence it is imperative to test the toxicity of this dye.In the present study an investigation was conducted to find out the toxic effect of aqueous extract of the dye C.sappan in test animal Wister albino rats.Acute oral toxicity showed no clinical signs of toxicity and no mortality even at a dose level of 100–2000 mg/kg in 14 days observation period.When a dose level above 2500 mg/kg was given for 28 days,no death was noticed up to the dose level 5000 mg/kg body weight.The weight of the tested rats was not significantly reduced,when compared with the control group.The organ-body weight ratio of kidney,liver and abdomen did not change when compared to the control group in the observation period.The less toxicity of the dyes of C.sappan.

What is artificial meat and what does it mean for the future of the meat industry?

The meat industry cannot respond to increases in demand by ever increasing resource use. The industry must find solutions to issues regarding animal welfare, health and sustainability and will have to do so in the face of competition from emerging non-traditional meat and protein products in an increasingly complex regulatory environment. These novel meat and protein products, otherwise known as ‘artificial meat＇ are utilising ground breaking technologies designed to meet the issues facing the conventional meat industry. These artificial meats, in vitro or cultured meat and meat from genetically modified organisms have no real capacity to compete with conventional meat production in the present environment. However, meat replacements manufactured from plant proteins and mycoproteins are currently the biggest competitors and are gaining a small percentage of the market. Manufactured meats may push conventional meat into the premium end of the market, and supply the bulk, cheap end of the market if conventional meat products become more expensive and the palatability and versatility of manufactured meats improve. In time the technology for other artificial meats such as meat from genetic modified organisms or cultured meat may become sufficiently developed for these products to enter the market with no complexity of the competition between meat products. Conventional meat producers can assimilate agroecology ecology concepts in order to develop sustainable animal production systems. The conventional meat industry can also benefit from assimilating biotechnologies such as cloning and genetic modification technologies, using the technology to adapt to the changing environment and respond to the increasing competition from artificial meats. Although it will depend at least partly on the evolution of conventional meat production, the future of artificial meat produced from stem cells appears uncertain at this time.

Sampling strategy for estimating human exposure pathways to consumer chemicals

Human exposure to consumer chemicals has become a worldwide concern.In this work,a comprehensive sampling strategy is presented,to our knowledge being the first to study all relevant exposure pathways in a single cohort using multiple methods for assessment of exposure from each exposure pathway.The selected groups of chemicals to be studied are consumer chemicals whose production and use are currently in a state of transition and are;per-and polyfluorinated alkyl substances(PFASs),traditional and“emerging”brominated flame retardants(BFRs and EBFRs),organophosphate esters(OPEs)and phthalate esters(PEs).Information about human exposure to these contaminants is needed due to existing data gaps on human exposure intakes from multiple exposure pathways and relationships between internal and external exposure.Indoor environment,food and biological samples were collected from 61 participants and their households in the Oslo area(Norway)on two consecutive days,during winter 2013-14.Air,dust,hand wipes,and duplicate diet(food and drink)samples were collected as indicators of external exposure,and blood,urine,blood spots,hair,nails and saliva as indicators of internal exposure.A food diary,food frequency questionnaire(FFQ)and indoor environment questionnaire were also implemented.Approximately 2000 samples were collected in total and participant views on their experiences of this campaign were collected via questionnaire.While 91%of our participants were positive about future participation in a similar project,some tasks were viewed as problematic.Completing the food diary and collection of duplicate food/drink portions were the tasksmost frequent reported as“hard”/“very hard”.Nevertheless,a strong positive correlation between the reported total mass of food/drinks in the food record and the total weight of the food/drinks in the collection bottles was observed,being an indication of accurate performance of the participants despite the challenges of the sampling campaign.

Development and application of a novel method to assess exposure levels of sensitizing and irritating substances leaching from menstrual hygiene products

Menstrual hygiene products(MHPs)like tampons,sanitary towels and panty liners are widely used by women and come in close contact with the intimate parts of the human body,which consist of mucosae that lack the important barrier function of normal skin.Hence,substances leaching from MHP can easily penetrate and become systemically available.This study aims to develop a new in chemico methodology that allows to identify and measure realistic consumer exposure levels of several skin sensitizers and irritants leaching from MHPs under simulated use conditions.To assess the leaching of chemicals from MHPs,a menstrual fluid simulant(MFS)simulating pH,osmolarity and protein binding was first established.Subsequently,an analytical methodology was developed for nine well-known skin sensitizers and skin irritants.In short,the MFS samples underwent salting-out assisted liquid-liquid extraction before ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry analysis.Validation was performed according to the total error approach with acceptability limits of±15%regarding the total analytical error(including systematic and random bias).Fifteen commercially available MHPs were assessed.Six products were found to leach at least one of the following five sensitizing and irritating compounds:a-isomethyl ionone,benzyl salicylate,hexyl cinnamaldehyde,linalool and piperonal.Piperonal was the most abundant compound leaching from the MHPs,with leaching concentration levels measured to 28.22 mg/g.In addition,the leaching level of benzyl salicylate was found to be 11.03 mg/g.The latter fragrance concentration is above 10 mg/g and would trigger mandatory labelling if the Cosmetic Regulation would apply for MHPs.However,none of the identified and quantified skin sensitizers were mentioned on the packaging.In conclusion,this novel methodology makes it possible to estimate realistic human exposure levels to skin sensitizers and irritants through the use of MHPs.Availability of these exposure estimates is vital to carry out a quantitative health risk assessment of these substances.

Evaluation of reusing alum sludge for the coagulation of industrial wastewater containing mixed anionic surfactants

A coagulation-flocculation process is typically employed to treat the industrial wastewater generated by the consumer products industry manufacturing detergents, soaps, and others. The expenditure of chemicals including coagulants and chemicals for pH adjustment is costly for treating this wastewater. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of reusing the aluminum sulfate （alum） sludge as a coagulant or as a coagulation aid so that the fresh alum dosage can be minimized or the removal efficiency can be enhanced. The experiments were conducted in a jar-test apparatus simulating the coagulation-flocculation process for simultaneous removals of organic matters, anionic surfactants, suspended solids, and turbidity. At the optimum initial pH value of 10 and the fresh alum concentration of 400 mg/L, the total suspended solids （TSS）, total chemical oxygen demand （TCOD）, total anionic surfactants, and turbidity removal efficiencies were 71.5%, 76.4%, 95.4%, and 98.2%, respectively. The addition of alum sludge as a coagulant alone without any fresh alum addition could significantly remove the turbidity, TCOD, and anionic surfactants. The TSS was left in the supernatants after the settling period, but would subsequently be removed by adding the fresh alum. The TSS, TCOD, and turbidity removal efficiencies were also enhanced when both the alum sludge and the fresh alum were employed. The TCOD removal efficiency over 80% has been accomplished, which has never fulfilled by using the fresh alum alone. It is concluded that the alum sludge could be reused for the treatment of industrial wastewater generated by the consumer products industry.