Friday, February 22, 2008

ECOLOGY & NATURE


||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

BRITISH ENVIRONMENT MINISTER CALLS BOTTLED WATER 'MORALLY UNACCEPTABLE'

TELEGRAPH, UK - Drinking bottled water should be made as unfashionable
as smoking, according to a government adviser. "We have to make people
think that it's unfashionable just as we have with smoking. We need a
similar campaign to convince people that this is wrong," said Tim Lang,
the Government's naural resources commissioner. Bottled water generates
up to 600 times more C02 than tap water Bottled water generates upto 600
times more CO2 than tap water

Phil Woolas, the environment minister, added that the amount of money
spent on mineral water "borders on being morally unacceptable". Their
comments come as new research shows that drinking a bottle of water has
the same impact on the environment as driving a car for a kilometre.
Conservation groups and water providers have started a campaign against
the L2 billion industry.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/02/17/eawater117.xml


||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

SUNSCREENS MAY BE BLEACHING CORAL REEFS

COSMETIC DESIGN - Ingredients in sun care products may be bleaching
coral reefs by promoting viral infections, say scientists at the
University of the Marche, Italy. Organic UV filters and preservatives
used in sun care products could contribute to the bleaching of
hard-coral if released into natural systems, say the researchers led by
Roberto Danovaro. . . The team found that the addition of sunscreen to
the sampling sites, even in very low concentrations resulted in the
release of large amounts of zooxanthellae within 18-48 hours and
complete bleaching of hard coral within 96 hours. . . Large quantities
of sunscreen released every year. Furthermore, the team estimate that 25
per cent of the sunscreen applied to the skin is released in the water
over the course of 20 minutes. Using sunscreen application guidelines
released by the FDA, and estimated numbers of tourists visiting coral
reef areas, the study claims that a potential 4,000 - 6,000 tons of
sunscreen could be released into reef areas per year.

http://www.cosmeticsdesign.com/news/ng.asp?n=83206-sunscreens-parabens

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

No comments: