US Toy Manufacturers Agree To Rid Products Of Lead

The Toy Manufacturers of America (TMA) has pledged that its members will help reduce children's exposure to hazardous lead levels. They will go beyond what the law requires by eliminating lead from their products. This follows a request by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) that asked all manufacturers to eliminate the use of lead in products used in or around households, schools or in recreation. It is estimated that approximately 930,000 US children between the ages of 1 and 5 have blood lead levels that are of concern. ¨

Pasminco Ends Ocean Dumping

Reference: Mining Monitor, April 1998

Protests led to a ban on ocean dumping

Environmentalists have succeeded in forcing an end to the ocean dumping of zinc wastes created at Pasminco’s Tasmanian Risdon smelter. After 24 years of ocean dumping Pasminco has implemented a process of co-treatment which involves modifying the waste product and sending it to Pasminco’s Port Pirie lead smelter for treatment.

Throughout the late 1980s Pasminco resisted ending its ocean dumping program, claiming that it would make the zinc smelter uneconomic and that it was environmentally preferable to dump the waste in the ocean rather than in landfill.

Water-based protests by Greenpeace forced the issue into the public arena while the Tasmanian Conservation Trust maintained constant lobbying pressure.

Following the international adoption of the London Dumping Convention in 1990, which prohibited the sea dumping of wastes after the end of 1995, Pasminco successfully lobbied the Australian Government to obtain exemption from the convention until end 1997.

Australia Sets National Air Quality Standards

Media Release From National Environment Protection Council (NEPC) for Ambient Air Quality, June 1998

For the first time Australia has an agreed set of national air quality standards to apply in all States and Territories.

The National Environment Protection Council (NEPC) of Environment Ministers meeting in Adelaide has set uniform standards for ambient air quality (ambient air does not include indoor air). These standards are contained in the National Environment Protection Measure (NEPM) for ambient air quality.

NEPC Chairman and Federal Environment Minister Robert Hill says that NEPC has recognised that Australians rank air pollution as a major environmental concern.

The national air quality standards cover six major pollutants: nitrogen dioxide, particles, carbon monoxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide and lead. State and Territory governments have committed to adopting these standards as goals for air quality management.

NEPC examined the latest health-related air pollution research which showed that these six pollutants can have adverse effects on the respiratory system ranging from minor symptoms such as coughing, through to more serious chest congestion and asthma, to chronic illness and possibly death.

Although these pollutants can have other effects, including damage to vegetation, buildings and materials, and reduction in visibility, the standards have been based on the need to protect human health.

The standard for lead, as measured at each performance monitoring station is 0.5 µg/m³ (micrograms per cubic metre) averaged over a one year period, reported as a fraction of TSP (total suspended particulates) with no exceedences allowed [The Goal being to meet the standard within 10 years]. ¨

Easter Show Proves Willingness to Forego Cars

Reproduced from Green Games Watch: Newsletter for an environmentally responsible Olympic Games: Issue 7 Autumn 1998

The results of the Green Games Watch 2000 trial of Easter show transport indicated that the Olympic transport strategy is on track and travellers are more then willing to travel to Homebush without their cars.

Around 30 people travelled to the Easter Show on April 12 as part of the GGW2000 trial which found:

• 90% of participants found it easy to get information on travel to the Show (although information on connecting buses proved difficult);

• all participants found Easter Show transport staff polite and helpful;

• 81% of participants felt safe travelling to the Easter Show. (Some felt unsafe cycling on dangerous parts of cycle routes and some were concerned about the safety of children in crowded trains) and

• 89% of participants felt that they arrived at the Easter Show "in a timely manner".¨

Lead Shot Banned in NT Duck Hunt

Only steel shot is allowed as lead shot has been banned for duck shooting since 1996 in all reserves managed by the Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory, though lead can be used on Crown or private land. As more waterfowl die from swallowing lead shot than from being shot, why don’t all states ban lead?