Physical and environmental safety controls are developed and implemented to protect the physical facility housing employees, data, and equipment. An organization's physical and environmental policies should address at least the following topic areas:

..."Herve Philippe, a professor of Biochemistry at the Universite de Montreal, says that he has found that his own research produces 44 tonnes of CO2 per year, while an average American citizen produces 20 tonnes"..."He has reckoned that his own computers produce 19 tonnes of CO2 per year, the air conditioning in his laboratory produces 10 tonnes of CO2 per year, and transport from one meeting to another produces 15 tonnes of CO2 per year. Philippe suggests that universities reduce their frequency of organising international conferences, increase the use of videoconferences, avoid research on well-explored topics, reduce publications, and evaluate the amount of CO2 produced by research projects."....

"As the nation gets ready to celebrate Earth Day 2008, attitudes towards global warming are little changed from last year. Two-thirds (67%) of Americans believe the activities of human beings are contributing to an increase in global temperatures. This is little changed from last year when 65 percent of Americans believed this"..."Where there has been a change is in feelings towards the amount of the increase in temperatures. Last year half (50%) of those who believe humans are contributing to an increase in temperatures characterized that increase as substantial; this year 40 percent say it is substantial. Just under this (38%) believe the change is moderate, while one-third (33%) said it was moderate last year. One in five (18%) say the increase is slight, while 14 percent said slight last year. The impact of global warming is not one that people believe will be a threat to them or their families soon. Three in ten (30%) Americans believe global warming will present a threat to them and their families within their lifetime while 39 percent believe it will not and almost one-third (31%) are not sure. Last year, over one-third (36%) believed it would be a threat within their lifetime while 41 percent said it would not and one-quarter (24%) were not sure. "..."While people may not be looking up their carbon footprint, Americans claim that they are doing things that will reduce it and their carbon emissions. Almost two-thirds (63%) of Americans say they may have reduced the amount of energy they use in their home, while two in five (43%) have purchased more energy efficient appliances. Additionally, over one-quarter (27%) of Americans have started purchasing more locally grown food while one in five (21%) have stopped drinking bottled water. Much smaller numbers (2% each) have purchased a hybrid car or purchased carbon offsets from an organization. While most people are doing something, one-quarter of adults (27%) are doing nothing to reduce their emissions. And, while younger Americans may be more likely to look up their carbon footprint, they are also more likely to do nothing about it. Three in ten Echo Boomers (29%) and Gen Xers (31%) say they are doing nothing to reduce their emissions compared to one-quarter (26%) of Baby Boomers and one in five (20%) Matures. "...

"Ninety two samples of child-consumed candies and candy packages were analyzed for seven heavy metals. Lead (Pb) was detected at concentrations of 110.3–6394.1 mg kg−1 in ten of 92 candy packages. The directive factor of Pb contamination had originated in the lead-based ink of the outer cover. Particularly, Pb was detected at high concentrations in case of green- or yellow-colored packages. Chromium (Cr) was detected at high concentrations in cases where Pb was also detected at high concentrations, and the Cr levels ranged from 136.9 mg kg−1 to 1429.3 mg kg−1 in seven of the 92 candy packages. Hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] was detected at 87–105.0% of the total Cr in polypropylene-coated wrappers with printed outer covers. The migration of Cr(VI) increased with elution time up to 0.20 μg (cm2)−1 for 30 days in basic (pH 10.0) solution; however, there were no migrations in acidic (pH 4.0) and neutral (pH 7.0) solutions. The migration of Pb increased with elution time up to 0.65 μg (cm2)−1 and 0.28 μg (cm2)−1 in basic (pH 10.0) and acidic (pH 4.0) solutions, respectively. However, any migration was hardly observed in neutral (pH 7.0) solution. "

"Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) has been used to reveal an appreciable difference in the pattern of metal ions distributed throughout the blood plasma of cancer patients compared with control volunteers. "..."One such disease state in which trace metal levels could play a role is cancer. Until recently, cancer has been considered a purely genetic disease, or rather group of diseases. ".."Shah points out that, diet has become an increasingly well-recognized factor in cancer incidence, and he suggests that it may be possible to glean significant insights into cancer from an analysis of food consumption patterns. Many studies suggest that rather than being a simple problem of gene damage, cancer is a disease with multiple interwoven causes. As such, the researchers say, "the role of trace metals in the development and inhibition of cancer has a complex character and raises many questions." Previous researchers have tried to uncover a relationship between the presence of trace metals in the body and the development of human cancers. Given that so many trace metals underpin the functions of a huge range of enzymes and proteins involved in cell signalling, lifecycles, replication, and cell death, it would be odd if trace metals did not have a key role to play in cancer. Of course, metals such as cadmium, are known to be mammalian mutagens, damaging DNA, and high levels have been linked to prostate, renal and lung cancers. Similarly, the researchers add, raised concentrations of lead have been associated with stomach, small intestine, large intestine, ovary, renal, lung, myeloma, and leukaemia. Other metals, including chromium and zinc have been observed to speed up tumour growth in animal models. In humans, these metals have been associated with the more rapid progression of breast, colon, rectum, ovary, lung, pancreas, bladder cancers, and leukaemia. Shah and colleagues also point out that nickel too is a mutagen and has been linked to lung and nasal cancer as are antimony and cobalt. "..."The team has used flame AAS and a multivariate principal component analysis to estimate the comparative distribution of trace metals in the plasma of cancer patients and healthy volunteers. They analysed aluminium, antimony, cadmium, calcium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, lead, lithium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, potassium, sodium, strontium, and zinc. They found that in the plasma of cancer patients the mean concentrations of the essential metals (Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Na, and Zn) were significantly lower in the healthy volunteers. Similarly, the average concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, and Sr were much higher in the cancer patients. The analysis revealed several close correlations between specific pairs of metals in the cancer patients: Fe-Mn, Ca-Mn, Ca-Ni, Ca-Co, Cd-Pb, Co-Ni, Mn-Ni, Mn-Zn, Cr-Li, Ca-Zn and Fe-Ni, whereas this coupling pattern was very different in the controls. "The study indicates appreciably different patterns of metal distribution and mutual relationships in the plasma of cancer patients in comparison with controls," the researchers conclude. Further studies are now needed to determine how and why such marked changes in trace metal concentrations are observed in cancer patients. Metabolism in cancer patients is obviously changed significantly by specific trace metals but whether that is a cause or an effect remains to be seen. "...

"Short-term exposure to current levels of ozone in many areas is likely to contribute to premature deaths, says a new National Research Council report, which adds that the evidence is strong enough that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should include ozone-related mortality in health-benefit analyses related to future ozone standards. The committee that wrote the report was not asked to consider how evidence has been used by EPA to set ozone standards, including the new public health standard set by the agency last month. Ozone, a key component of smog, can cause respiratory problems and other health effects. In addition, evidence of a relationship between short-term -- less than 24 hours -- exposure to ozone and mortality has been mounting, but interpretations of the evidence have differed, prompting EPA to request the Research Council report. In particular, the agency asked the committee to analyze the ozone-mortality link and assess methods for assigning a monetary value to lives saved for the health-benefits assessments. Based on a review of recent research, the committee found that deaths related to ozone exposure are more likely among individuals with pre-existing diseases and other factors that could increase their susceptibility. However, premature deaths are not limited to people who are already within a few days of dying. "..."EPA, like other federal agencies, is required to carry out a cost-benefit analysis on mitigation actions that cost more than $100 million per year. EPA recently used the results of population studies to estimate the number of premature deaths that would be avoided by expected ozone reductions for different policy choices, and then assigned a monetary value to the avoided deaths by using the value of a statistical life (VSL). The VSL is derived from studies of adults who indicate the "price" that they would be willing to pay -- i.e. what benefits or conveniences someone would be willing to forgo -- to change their risk of death in a given period by a small amount. The monetary value of the improved health outcome is based on the value the group places on receiving the health benefit; it is not the value selected by policymakers or experts. EPA applies the VSL to all lives saved regardless of the age or health status. "...

"We present an agent-based model inspired by the Evolutionary Minority Game (EMG), albeit strongly adapted to the case of competition for limited resources in ecology."..."We use the ideas and results reported here to discuss an issue of current interest in ecology: the mistimings in egg laying observed for some species of bird as a consequence of their slower rate of adaptation to climate change in comparison with that shown by their prey. Our model supports the hypothesis that habitat-specific constraints could explain why different populations are adapting differently to this situation, in agreement with recent experiments."

"The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled [PDF text] Tuesday that Christine Todd Whitman [official profile], former head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [official website], cannot be sued for making allegedly misleading reassurances about the air quality in New York after the September 11, 2001 attacks. In 2004, residents and workers in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn filed a class-action lawsuit [JURIST report; NYELJP materials] against Whitman and the EPA, arguing that people should not have been allowed to go back to the area so soon after the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, which spread soot, dust and other debris for miles, and that residents and workers had their health seriously harmed as a result. Tuesday's ruling reverses a February 2006 district court ruling [PDF text; JURIST report] denying the EPA's motion to dismiss and allowing the case to proceed against Whitman personally. The New York Environmental Law and Justice Project [advocacy website] filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs, alleging that the EPA issued misleading statements that the air quality was safe enough to permit return to homes, schools, and offices. Those statements attesting to the safety of the air quality were later refuted [NYELJP health studies]. AP has more."...

"Do large mammals evolve faster than small mammals or vice versa? Because the answer to this question contributes to our understanding of how life-history affects long-term and large-scale evolutionary patterns, and how microevolutionary rates scale-up to macroevolutionary rates, it has received much attention. A satisfactory or consistent answer to this question is lacking, however. Here, we take a fresh look at this problem using a large fossil dataset of mammals from the Neogene of the Old World (NOW)."..."To explain the observed pattern, we propose that the ability to evolve and maintain behavior such as hibernation, torpor and burrowing, collectively termed "sleep-or-hide" (SLOH) behavior, serves as a means of environmental buffering during expected and unexpected environmental change. SLOH behavior is more common in some small mammals, and, as a result, SLOH small mammals contribute to higher average survivorship and lower origination probabilities among small mammals. "