Green Chemistry at the EPA — website updated

“…check out US EPA’s redesigned green chemistry website: www.epa.gov/greenchemistry
Notable highlight: For the first time, you can view a table (or download a spreadsheet) of all nominated technologies.

We hope you find it helpful!

Green Chemistry Program

From an email this day from greenchemistry@epa.gov

EPA Toxics Release 2010 now available

27 Jan 2012

*NLM Technical Bulletin, Jan-Feb 2012, The National Library of Medicine TOXMAP and TOXNET Now Include 2010 EPA Toxics Release

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/jf12/brief/jf12_sis_toxmap.html

From: NLM New files for the week of Jan 23, 2012

More information is here at Toxmap News: http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/news/2012/01/toxmap-now-includes-tri-2010-data.html

ToxCastDB – bioassays for potential human toxicity

ToxCastDB, from the US Environmental Protection Agency. Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2011dec CHOICE. p. 652
http://actor.epa.gov/actor/faces/ToxCastDB/Home.jsp

[Visited Sep’11] ToxCastDB provides public access to data gathered by the ToxCast project that screens chemicals for potential human toxicity using more than 500 high-throughput screening bioassays from nine bioassay vendors. ToxCast is part of the EPA’s National Center for Computational Toxicology. As the Basic Info link states, ToxCast links “biological, metabolic and cellular pathway data to gene and in vitro assay data for the chemicals screened.” At the time of this review, 300 chemicals had been screened, with another 700 projected by the end of 2012.”

To read the whole review: http://www.cro2.org/default.aspx?page=search_results

EPA to incorporate sustainability guidelines in decision-making

“Report Offers Framework To Guide EPA On Incorporating Sustainability In Its Decision Making

WASHINGTON – A new report from the National Research Council presents a framework for incorporating sustainability into the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s principles and decision making. The framework, which was requested by EPA, is intended to help the agency better assess the social, environmental, and economic impacts of various options as it makes decisions.

The committee that developed the framework used the definition of sustainability based on a declaration of federal policy in the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act and included in a 2009 Executive Order: “to create and maintain conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations.”

Source: What’s New @ the National Academies, Aug. 8, 2011

Environmental clean-ups around the country

“EPA: Cleaning Up Our Land, Water and Air [pdf]

http://www.epa.gov/cleanup/

The Environmental Protection Agency has been cleaning up the nation’s land, water and air for four decades, and there’s still much work to be done. This homepage provides information about cleanups around the country, what citizens can do to help, and the EPA’s long-term stewardship programs. On the homepage, visitors can use a clickable map to learn about cleanup information by EPA region or program. Moving on, visitors can also read about available cleanup grants and funding opportunities in different communities. The site also contains a glossary of EPA terms, and helpful cleanup publications, such as newsletters, “FedFacs” newsletters, and waste management documents that cover Native American reservations. The site is rounded out by an “Other Publications” area that covers brownfields and the latest work on Superfund sites.”

Source: Scout Report, Univ. of Wisconsin, 3/4/11

ToxRefDB — new database on toxicity testing from EPA

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a new database called ToxRefDB, which allows scientists and the public to search and download thousands of toxicity testing results on hundreds of chemicals. ToxRefDB captures 30 years and $2 billion of testing results. It provides detailed chemical toxicity data in an accessible format. It is a part of ACToR (Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource), an online data warehouse that collects data from about 500 public sources on tens of thousands of environmentally relevant chemicals http://actor.epa.gov/toxrefdb/faces/Home.jsp.”

Source: Anonymous. Online. Medford: Jul/Aug 2010. Vol. 34, Iss. 4; pg. 10, 1 pgs

Document URL: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdlink?did=2079182141&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=17210&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Green Chemistry & Techology funding from EPA & NSF

EPA’s Office of Research and Development is currently requesting proposals for Phase I SBIR funding. Green chemistry technologies may be submitted under "Innovation in Manufacturing" or other topics, as appropriate. EPA will accept proposals from March 25 to May 11, 2010. Information is available at www.epa.gov/ncer/sbir/

In addition, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will be accepting proposals for SBIR funding for Environ-mental Technologies. NSF will accept proposals from May 9 to June 9, 2010. Information is available at www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/sbir/

A notice from the EPA’s Green Chemistry Program

EPA’s HERO — public risk assessments database

"US environment agency releases public database on risk assessments – 25 Mar 2010

The US’ Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the release of the Health and Environmental Research Online (HERO) database. HERO seeks to provide access to the scientific studies used in making key regulatory decisions, including EPA’s periodic review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for six major pollutants. It is part of the open government directive to conduct business with transparency, participation and collaboration.

The publicly accessible HERO database is projected to provide an easy way to review the scientific literature behind EPA science assessments, which are used to support agency decision-making. It includes more than 300,000 scientific articles including the authors, titles, dates and abstracts. In addition, through a keyword search, anyone can see information from the articles that were used to develop specific risk assessments.

HERO includes peer-reviewed literature used by EPA to develop its Integrated Science Assessments (ISA) that feed into the NAAQS review. It also includes references and data from the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), a database that supports critical agency policymaking for chemical regulation. More information on the database is available at http://www.epa.gov/hero "

Source: Knowledgespeak Newletter 3/25/10 & CHMINF Listserv.

Energystar

The United States Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency have produced a useful website, ENERGYSTAR, which gives practical information on how we all can save energy. There is advice or tips for products, buildings and plants, new homes and home improvements. There are links to news and podcasts.

Source: an email from Robert Sheneman at the Princeton Plasma Physics Labs.

Green Chemistry Program & electronic newsletter

To read about the Green Chemistry Program at the EPA, click here. The ACS (American Chemical Society) is an active partner. Check out their Green Chemistry links. The RSC (Royal Society of Chemistry) also has green chemistry links and publishes the key journal, Green Chemistry. Princeton University Library subscribes to this journal.

To subscribe to the Green Chemistry Program electronic newsletter, send a blank email to lyris@lists.epa.gov with the subject line: subscribe green_chemistry FirstName LastName