4th International Congress on Arsenic in the Environment Understanding the Geological-Medical Interface of Arsenic

On behalf of the organising committee we wish to invite you to attend the 4th International Congress on Arsenic in the Environment (As-2012) which is to be held at The Sebel Cairns hotel, North Queensland, Australia, between the 22-27 July 2012. The theme of As-2012 is “Understanding the Geological-Medical Interface of Arsenic”.
 

This biennial arsenic congress is a premium scientific event where scientists, regulators, health professionals and industries will meet and discuss challenges, present innovative ideas and solutions to what is regarded as the number 1 prioritised environmental contaminant – arsenic.
Previous arsenic congresses were successfully held in Mexico City (As-2006, Mexico), Valencia (As-2008, Spain) and Tainan (As-2010, Taiwan) attracting hundreds of participants each event. It is our pleasure to bring As-2012 to Cairns, a great city in the tropical region of North Queensland of Australia.
 

Cairns prides herself as a hot-spot for national and international conferences, trade exhibitions and tourism. Part of the congress will include a field trip to one of the seven natural wonders of the world– the Great Barrier Reef. An experience to be submerged in one of the most pristine environments is a chance of a life time. At As-2012, we will incorporate 4 days of platform and poster presentations along with a full-day field trip to the Great Barrier Reef. Participants will have ample opportunity for networking and interacting with congress sponsors and trade exhibitors. We appreciate your continued support of this congress series and look forward to seeing you in Cairns. Best wishes from the congress Chairs, Prof Jack Ng, Assoc Prof Barry Noller, and Prof Ravi Naidu 4th International Congress on Arsenic in the Environment Understanding the Geological-Medical Interface of Arsenic
 

www.As2012.com.au
Tel: +61 7 3346 5919
Fax: +61 7 3365 5900
As2012@jktech.com.au
As Australia
2012

ICMGP - International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant

From July 28th – August 2nd 2013 the 11th ICMGP International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant will take place in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant (ICMGP), held periodically for over 18 years, has become the pre-eminent international forum for formal presentation and discussion of scientific advances concerning environmental mercury. The meeting gathers around 700-1200 experts for a five day conference and exhibition.

The ICMGP in 2013 will be of particular public importance as this will be the year of the launch of the United Nations Environment Programme Global Legally Binding Treaty on Mercury. The ICMGP 2013 meeting is therefore perfectly timed to celebrate the official launch of the treaty and to discuss how to put the treaty into practice. This will be the perfect opportunity to match those looking to solve mercury-associated challenges with those who are qualified to give the most appropriate advice.

History of the conference

The ICMGP conference has been running every 2-3 years since the first meeting in 1992. Previous meetings have been held in Monterey, USA (1992), Whistler, Canada (1994), Hamburg, Germany (1996), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1999), Minamata, Japan (2001), Ljubjiana, Slovenia (2004), Madison, Wisconsin, USA (2006), Guiyang, China (2009), and Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (2011).

The 2013 meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland, is expected to gather 800-1200 delegates due to the high political and public profile that mercury will have by 2013.

The mercury issue

Mercury is recognized as a chemical of global concern (UNEP, 2006) due to its long-range transport in the atmosphere, its persistence in the environment, its ability to bio-accumulate in ecosystems and its significant negative effect on human health.

Mercury can produce a range of adverse health effects, including permanent damage to the nervous system, in particular the developing nervous system. Due to these effects, and also because mercury can be transferred from a mother to her unborn child, infants, children and women of child bearing age are considered vulnerable populations.

Mercury is released naturally from rocks, soil and volcanoes. However, human activities have boosted levels in the atmosphere. Mercury is a global contaminant because it is toxic, does not break down in the environment and can build up in living things. In its vapour form, mercury can be carried long distances on wind currents, staying in the atmosphere for long periods of time. Some types of bacteria and fungi can change mercury into its most toxic form, methyl mercury. Methyl mercury tends to accumulate to some degree in all fish, but especially in predatory fish such as shark, swordfish, and certain species of tuna.

Mercury comes from a range of natural sources such as volcanoes, soils, undersea vents, mercury-rich geological zones and forest fires, as well as from fresh water lakes, rivers and the oceans. However, human activity has increased the amount of mercury in the environment in several ways, including through a variety of combustion and industrial processes like coal-fired power generation, metal mining (including artesenal gold mining) and smelting and waste incineration. Products such as button batteries, fluorescent tube lights, fever thermometers, thermostats, switches and relays, barometers and dental fillings may contain mercury.

Mercury has been a part of our lives for many years, in household objects and technical and medical equipment. However, the problems associated with mercury in the environment now far outweigh any benefit and it is time for us to stop, think and control mercury in our lives.

Theme/goals of the 2013 meeting

In recognition of the importance of mercury in the public and political agenda with the 2013 launch of the United Nations Environment Program's Global Legally Binding Instrument on Mercury, the theme of the ICMGP 2013 conference is
"Science informing global policy".

To this end, the conference will promote discussion on some of the questions that are likely to arise in 2013 and beyond:

• what form does the new UNEP Legally Binding Treaty take and what does it mean in practice?
• how do we curb current mercury supply and demand?
• how do we reduce emissions from human activities?
• what evaluation tools do we need and is our current “tool-kit” of monitoring and modeling techniques up to the job?
• what health and social effects has mercury had and how will this change in the future?
• how to we deal with remediation of contaminated sites and ecosystems?
• what is needed in terms of technologies and psychologies of social change?
• what synergies are there with existing, impending and potential global treaties, issues and scenarios?
• how do we raise our concern and action on mercury “from local to global”?

Source :  http://www.mercury2013.com/

Pollution

Just tell me what to take

Even if you live in the country, you are probably breathing polluted air. From campfires to jet engine exhaust, the obvious polluter - automobile exhaust fumes - there are cigarette smoke and chemicals emitted by industry - as well as ozone.. (Ozone is a form of oxygen that is a bluish irritating gas of pungent odor and it is a major agent in the formation of smog.) Many pollutants can be airborne over long distances, and all can enter your system.

Smog contains a long lineup of chemical nasties, including ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and tiny particles of everything from asbestos to soot, that can settle deep in the lungs and cause general havoc.

You should be especially aware of this fact if you work outdoors in a large city. You may be exposing yourself to more than one ton of pollutants - including heavy metals, carbon monoxide, and ozone - every year.

A high concentration of or long exposure to any one of these chemicals can cause shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing, bronchitis, pneumonia, headaches, inability to concentrate, chest pain and, in some cases, lung cancer. Breathing polluted air changes the way that the lung cells do business.

Smog can make the lung cells vulnerable to attack by bacteria and viruses. Smog can kill cells, making the lungs less efficient at doing their job of gas exchange (absorbing oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide).

Many of the harmful interactions between the noxious substances in smog and lung cells happened during the chemical process known as oxidation. During oxidation, free radicals, which are unstable molecules of harmful chemicals, snatch electrons from the healthy molecules that compose the cells in order to balance themselves. This starts a chain reaction of electron stealing. The end result is serious damage to cells.
(See article Free Radicals and Antioxidants)

The hormone system is very sensitive to environmental chemicals. These contaminates can mimic hormones. The body gets confused and the artificial "hormone" connects to the cell receptors. When the cell receptors are full up with these false hormones, the real hormone cannot find a place to connect to the cell (sort of like trying to find a parking space in NYC). As time goes by, these receptor get full. The glands don't have a place to send their hormones to and the body can weaken. One of the main symptoms of this is accumulation of fat as the cells cannot burn it anymore. This is not only when you get older as younger people exposed to these environment toxicity develop the same problems Weight gain is a symptom of a physical problem. It is not the problem. Finding the correct problem can be found in these pollutants.

There are such things as Endocrine disruptors. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is doing research on this. And endocrine disruptor is and environmental poison that mimics, blocks or otherwise disrupts the normal function of hormones. These disruptors are pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, plastics, solvents, heavy metals, The EPA found that 90-95% of all pesticide residues are found in meat and dairy products.

Source : http://www.mcvitamins.com

Management of air pollution in Jakarta and Surabaya

A report by the Stockholm Environment Institute [1], in cooperation with the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) together with the Korea Environment Institute (KEI) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), says pollution levels in most Asian cities, including Indonesia's two largest metropolises Jakarta and Surabaya, are getting better but still cause 537,000 premature deaths each year across Asia.

The study examined twenty cities in Asia - Bangkok, Beijing, Busan, Colombo, Dhaka, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kathmandu, Kolkata, Metro Manila, Mumbai, New Delhi, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Surabaya, Taipei and Tokyo, and ranked them on their air quality management (AQM) score.

Dirty Surabaya.

Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Shanghai, Taipei and Tokyo were classed as having excellent AQM capability. A total of six cities (Colombo, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Kolkata, Metro Manila and Mumbai) have moderate capability while Dhaka, Hanoi, Kathmandu and Surabaya have limited AQM capability.

Using a scale of Minimal - Limited - Moderate - Good - Excellent, the rankings for Jakarta:

• Measurement of Air Quality - Moderate
• Data Assessment & Availability - Moderate
• Emission Inventory - Good
• Air Quality Management - Moderate
• Overall Score - Moderate

Rankings for Surabaya:

• Measurement of Air Quality - Limited
• Data Assessment & Availability - Limited
• Emission Inventory - Limited
• Air Quality Management - Moderate
• Overall Score - Limited

Source : Indonesia Matters

The issues that most seriously threaten progress towards sustainable development in Indonesia are

Perverse incentives that hinder the sustainable use of natural resources
Natural resources are an important contributor to Indonesia’s GDP and Government budget. Agriculture, forestry, and mining contribute about 25% of Indonesia’s GDP and about 30% of overall Government budget revenue (in 2005, income tax on oil & gas represented 7% of revenue, and “non tax receipts” on natural resource revenues represented 22% of state revenues). Yet, Indonesia’s macroeconomic policies (tax and non-tax revenue policies and fiscal balancing formulas) appear to favor resource depletion over sustainable use as they reward district governments on resource revenue and not performance or stewardship, under-tax forestry and fisheries (relative to other natural resources), and do not allow charitable contributions by individuals or corporation.

Gaps between policy and practice following decentralization could slow significant improvement in environmental quality
Under decentralization, the extent to which sub-national governments feel bound by national guidelines is being put to the test; the civil service is no longer part of a unified chain of command, regulatory bodies in many provinces and districts now fall directly under the command of the governor or district head, who is often also the proponent of the projects or activities that must be regulated. Despite the substantial investment in environmental policy and staff development, actual implementation of rules and procedures has been poor. These problems are unlikely to get better under decentralization unless a more effective approach to regulation can be developed.

Many provinces and districts are making new interpretations of existing rules, or else inventing entirely new regulatory procedures. While some of these innovations strengthen environmental controls, many relax them or bypass national standards entirely.

Public perception of environmental issues and the Government’s development priorities
Public awareness is an essential part of the effort to address Indonesia’s environmental problems, from disaster risks to biodiversity conservation. Informed and aware citizens can take action to address environmental issues, and can form constituencies for improved efforts at the political and local government level. At a broader level, however, environmental values are not deeply embedded in society, leading to undervaluation of natural resources and environmental services. Participation and voice in decision making is an essential element of good governance. Recent environmental disasters (floods, mud, fires, erosion) have stimulated greater environmental concern, but further analysis of knowledge, attitudes and practices would be needed to determine how far or deep this understanding goes outside of urban centers, and what tools can best be used to build on this basic awareness.

Social, environmental and economic benefits , risks and costs of alternative development paths
Energy policy, forest sector practices and climate change issues are intricately linked in Indonesia. Fossil fuels dominate energy consumption in Indonesia both in rural and urban areas and Indonesia is gradually increasing the proportion of energy produced from coal (approximately 40% in 2002). Indonesia is also a large greenhouse gas emitter, generating 80 %of greenhouse gases from changed land use following logging and forest/swamp fires.

National energy policies propose to increase reliance on renewable energy sources, including biomass, geothermal, and hydropower. At the same time, the Government plans a large scale up in the use of coal to reduce Indonesia’s dependence on oil imports. Increased coal use would lead to significant negative environmental impacts associated with high sulfur content and potential impacts on forests from land clearing. Alternative energy solutions are necessary for more remote areas that are appropriately priced and supported by the public sector.

Source : worldbank.org