Constituents of Emerging Concern: Another Environmental Threat or a Policy Opportunity?

Transcription

1 Constituents of Emerging Concern: Another Environmental Threat or a Policy Opportunity? R. Rhodes Trussell Gloyna Distinguished Lecture John Hopkins University, 06

2 Outline of talk Outline of talk Historical perspective on emerging compounds of concern and the role of technology The current US model for risk management and its problems The need for change The precautionary principle A case study on emerging compounds in domestic wastewater

3 Emerging constituents is not a 45 year history: 45 year history: new issue

4 Emerging constituents is not a 45 year history: 45 year history: new issue

5 Emerging constituents is not a 45 year history: 45 year history: new issue

6 Emerging constituents is not a 45 year history: 45 year history: new issue wrote about the dangers of pesticides like dieldrin, toxaphene, heptachlor and DDT

7 Emerging constituents is not a 45 year history: 45 year history: new issue wrote about the dangers of pesticides like dieldrin, toxaphene, heptachlor and DDT Saw implications beyond these to other man-made chemicals

8 Emerging constituents is not a 45 year history: 45 year history: new issue The book was very controversial President Kennedy had a Science Advisory Committee review the issue Carson came out of the review with her reputation in tact

9 Emerging constituents is not a 45 year history: 45 year history: new issue Sometimes, technological progress is so fundamentally at odds with natural processes that it must be curtailed.

10 Emerging constituents is not a 45 year history: 45 year history: new issue Sometimes, technological progress is so fundamentally at odds with natural processes that it must be curtailed. And so began the struggle between those in the environmental movement and those in industry pursuing a higher standard of living through investment in technical innovation

11 Rachel may have been influenced by Jacque Ellul, a French Philosopher who warned of La Technique Technological Society, 1964 Ellul saw the technological society as a corruption or degradation of man s moral character Ellul sees mankind s fascination (obsession) with technology as resulting in a redirection of our collective intellectual resources to the further development of more technology We focus on doing what we do more efficiently and more productively without concerning ourselves with whether we are doing the righ thing We do so because we are fascinated with the technology itself Instead of doing deep thinking and authoring a modern edition of Plato s Republic We spend our time authoring the software for Grand theft auto

12 Rachel was probably influenced by Jacque Ellul, a French Philosopher who warned of technology Carson sees man s obsession with technology as resulting in a redirection of the earth s resources to make more technology A process that moves forward in spite of long-term consequences to the the ecosystem Ellul spoke of the impact that our focus on la technique is having on our moral character Carson spoke of the impact that our focus on la technique was having on our compatibility with the ecosystem

13 Ellul: We are spending more and more time trying to understand how to do things Rather than spending time trying to understand which things we should do Carson: Rachel was probably influenced by Jacque Ellul, a French Philosopher who warned of technology We are spending more and more time trying understand how to do things more efficiently Rather than spending time trying to understand how we can do things in a way that is compatible with Mother Nature

14 So let s return to our timeline of emerging concerns

15 Emerging constituents is not a 45 year history: 45 year history: new issue National Organics Reconnaissance Survey (NORS) - looking for organics in drinking water

16 Emerging constituents is not a 45 year history: 45 year history: new issue NORS SDWA - protect our drinking water from manmade chemicals

17 Emerging constituents is not a 45 year history: 45 year history: new issue NORS SDWA Discovery of THMs - SOC s created during chlorination of drinking water

18 Emerging constituents is not a new issue 45 year history: The Disinfection By-Products Story Discover THMs 1982 THM Rule 1998 DBP Rule Stage I 2001 NDMA Discovered 2006 DBP Rule Stage II

19 1974 NORS 1976 NRDC Consent Decree 65 classes of chemicals 1977 DBCP Emerging constituents is not a 45 year history: Manufactured chemicals: where they aren t supposed to be { 1978 NOMS CWA Amendments 129 Priority Pollutants NPDES 1980 CERCLA Late 70 s VOC s Everywhere 1986 new issue VOCs Regulated SARA CA Prop SDWA Amendments MTBE Superfund Stockholm Convention Dirty dozen Perchlorate

20 Emerging constituents is not a new issue 45 year history: Manufactured chemicals: new implications? Colburn et al., Endocrine Distrupters

21 Emerging constituents is not a new issue 45 year history: Manufactured chemicals: new implications? Colburn et al., Endocrine Distrupters The idea was that some man-made chemicals may mimic natural hormones

22 Emerging constituents is not a new issue 45 year history: Manufactured chemicals: new implications? Science not equal to that of Rachel Carson Nevertheless, an element of truth

23 Emerging constituents is not a new issue 45 year history: Manufactured chemicals: new implications? Strongest evidence is for feminization of fish downstream of sewage outfalls (Sumpter & Jobling 95) Perhaps the message is that we aren t through learning new things

24 Some Classes of Today s Emerging Constituents of Concern Herbicides (Atrazine, Metolachlor) Person care products (DEET, Triclosan) Household chemicals (Caffiene, detergents) Industrial chemicals (EDTA, Bisphenol a)

25 Some Classes of Today s Emerging Constituents of Concern Pharmacueticals Metabolic regulators (Diclofenac, Gemfibrozil) Hormone substitutes (EE2) Antibiotics (Sulfamethoxychlor, Erythromycin) Others (Carbazmazepine, Iopromide) Microbes (parasites, adenovirus, norovirus) Nanoparticles

26 What should we do about it? What does it mean?

27 First, not sorting all out soon. On the way to a new age Impacts on a whole new scale

28 In this new age, with impacts at this scale, any chemical which is persistent in the environment should give us pause

29 What is our decision-making process today?

30 The Current U.S. Model for Environmental Management is Risk-based From the NRC in the Mid 1980s From the NRC in the Mid 1980s

31 The Current U.S. Model for Environmental Management is Risk-based Hazard Identification Dose- Response Assessment From the NRC in the Mid 1980s From the NRC in the Mid 1980s Risk Management (action) Risk Characterization Exposure Assessment

32 The Current U.S. Model for Environmental Management is Risk-based Hazard Identification Dose- Response Assessment From the NRC in the Mid 1980s From the NRC in the Mid 1980s Risk Management (action) Risk Characterization Exposure Assessment This process was originally designed to assess likely health effects in humans

33 The Current U.S. Model for Environmental Management is Risk-based Hazard Identification Dose- Response Assessment From the NRC in the Mid 1980s From the NRC in the Mid 1980s Risk Management (action) Risk Characterization Exposure Assessment This is a carefully reasoned process based on the execution of what Kuhn called normal science - science that operates within our currently-accepted paradigms about how the world works

34 The Current U.S. Model for Environmental Management is Risk-based Hazard Identification Dose- Response Assessment From the NRC in the Mid 1980s From the NRC in the Mid 1980s Risk Management (action) Risk Characterization Exposure Assessment To use this process we have to get data: Dose-response Occurrence

35 But problems have developed in applying risk-based management But hard, scientific data are not available (and won t be) We cannot directly measure health-effects in humans So we test outcomes in other animals We cannot make effects measurements with acceptable sensitivity So we give the animals high doses And we use cross-species safety factors and multistage models to understand what the results mean both are logical, neither is science We suspect that impacts resulting from exposure to one chemical may be affected by exposure to another but we don t understand these complexities well enough to include them in our risk assessments

36 But problems have developed in applying risk-based management But hard, scientific data are not available (and won t be) Most of the analytical methods we use to assess occurrence are target-specific i.e. we only find what we look for Hence, we don t know what we don t know The analytical methods we do have are becoming increasingly sensitive Increasingly we know something is present without knowing if its presence, at that level, is significant

37 But problems have developed in applying risk-based management It is not surprising that disagreements exist among members of the scientific community about how the data we do have should be interpreted Nor is it surprising that not everyone is in agreement about the significance of the risks identified The problem is even more complex when we expand our horizon to consider impacts on the entire eco-sysytem

38 Meanwhile Change is coming at an increasingly rapid pace Driven by population growth Driven by economic growth Potential new problems are out-stripping the resources we have to address them

39 Only during the last 100 years have there been enough of us to impact the global environment in a profound way Year

40 But the increase during my lifetime has been particularly profound RRT B.D Year

41 But the increase during my lifetime has been particularly profound Today RRT B.D Year

42 But the increase during my lifetime has been particularly profound Today RRT B.D Year Driven by technological innovation the world economy has grown faster yet

43 But the increase during my lifetime has been particularly profound Today RRT B.D Year The potential for unanticipated, but profound impact is rapidly increasing every day

44 Great environmental events as man s population increases Hole in O 3 layer Acid rain LA Smog Oxygen depletion in major rivers Waterborne disease The Plague Mesopotamia Year Gulf hypoxia Global warming

45 Great environmental events as man s population increases Hole in O 3 layer Acid rain LA Smog Oxygen depletion in major rivers Waterborne disease The Plague Mesopotamia Year Gulf hypoxia Global warming Notice - the problems are becoming grander in scale

46 We need a new scheme We need a new scheme Some European governments and international organizations are exploring what it would mean to apply a Precautionary Principle (PP) There are many definitions of the PP All include the idea of using guidelines to make decisions before the data required for scientific certainty are in

47 We need a new scheme We need a new scheme In it s most extreme form the PP: Does not allow an action until there is proof that it will do no harm to human health or the environment Possible guidelines for the application of precaution Substance is known to be toxic Evidence of adverse effects is accumulating Substance is persistent in the environment Substance accumulates in the food chain The devil is in the details

48 We need a new scheme We need a new scheme The strength of the PP is that it results in earlier action The weakness of the PP is that investments are made before the proof is in Major resources could be diverted to some minor problems Minor resources could be diverted to some major problems

49 We need a new scheme We need a new scheme It is time we (the U.S.) reexamined our approach A dialogue about the proper design of a Precautionary Principle may be the right place to start

50 Contaminants in treated wastewater as an example

51 A quick thumbnail of what we know at this point

52 Data from several sources Studies in Europe and in the US

53 List of 64 Compounds Often Found in Municipal Effluents Androstenedione, 17 α ethinyl estradiol, 17 β estradiol, estrone, bezafibrate, bisphenol A, nonylphenol, nonylphenol polyethoxylate, octylphenol, octylphenol polyethoxylate, polybrominatd diphenyl ethers Aetominophen, amoxicillin, azithromycin, caffiene, carbamazepine, ciprofloxacin, clofobric acid, ethylenediamine tetra acetic aid, gemfibrozil, lipitor, metaprolol, salicylic acid Atrazine, coptosoanol, coyinine DEET, diazepasm, dichlotoptop, diclofenac, dilantin, erythromycin, estriol, fenofibrate, fluoranthene, galaxolide, hydrocodone, iopromide, ketoprofen lincomycin, mecoprop, meprobamate, metolachlor, naproxen, NDMA, oxybenzene, pentoxifyline, phenacetine, primadone, progesterone, propranolol, roxithromycin, sulfathometaoxazole, TCEP, TDCPP, Testosterone, Tonalide, Triclozan, trimethoprim

54 Can we remove these in biological treatment? Some examples from Clara et al., Institute for Water Quality, Vienna University of Technology Removal in ASP vs SRT SRTs of 2, 10, 34, & 68

55 Ibuprofen (Advil) [Data from Clara et al., 2005] SRT, d

56 17 β Estradiol female Hormone [Data from Clara et al., 2005] SRT, d

57 Bisphenol a Antioxidant [Data from Clara et al., 2005] SRT, d

58 17 α Ethinylestradiol Synthetic hormone [Data from Clara et al., 2005] SRT, d

59 Diclofenac Lipid Regulator [Data from Clara et al., 2005] SRT, d

60 Carbamazepine Antiepileptic [Data from Clara et al., 2005] SRT, d

61 The 64 Compounds:A Preliminary Overview 64 regularly found Treatment data on 38/64 (26 we know nothing) 8/38 SRT = 1d Triclosan, aspirin, some musks 23/38 SRT = 10d Estrogens, ibuprofen, acetominophen, caffeine, bisphenol A, some detergent metabolites, others 15/38 not SRT = 10d DEET, EDTA, Clofobric acid, diclofenac, meprobamate, carbamazepine, primidone, sulfamethoxazole, several detergent metabolites, others

62 One possible approach to managing the risk of emerging constituents like these

63 Recommendations for Municipal WW Industry Goal should be to understand and eliminate these compounds from W effluents Invest in surveys to find them Invest in SM for the ones often found Learn which are biodegradable Improve biological treatment to remove those

64 Recommendations for Municipal WW Industry Learn those that are not biodegradable Study their removal by other means If the treatment is affordable, put it in If the treatment is too costly, study their effects on the environment and public health If the effect is de minimis, monitor them If their effect is not de minimis Look for substitutes (like detergents) Find another place to put them

65 finis

66 Dirty Dozen - Stockholm Convention Aldrin Chlordane DDT Dieldrin Dioxins Endrin Furans Heptachlor Hexachlorobenzene Mirex PCBs Toxaphene