Tag: california air resources board

Formaldehyde in Your Cabinets

Composite wood products are everywhere in the American home – in
cabinets and shelves and doors. And almost all of it is made with
formaldehyde, a carcinogen also known to aggravate the lungs of people
with asthma. But as Tamara Keith reports, the widespread use of the
chemical could be changing:

Transcript

Composite wood products are everywhere in the American home – in
cabinets and shelves and doors. And almost all of it is made with
formaldehyde, a carcinogen also known to aggravate the lungs of people
with asthma. But as Tamara Keith reports, the widespread use of the
chemical could be changing:


Particle board, plywood and fiberboard are all made with a glue that uses
formaldehyde to give it extra binding power. From the moment the wood
is manufactured until it comes to your home as a cabinet and well
beyond, it releases toxic fumes. Dmitri Stanich is a spokesman for the
California Air Resources Board:


“Even small amounts of formaldehyde are known to have adverse health
effects so whenever you get that smell and you go, hmmg. Most
people won’t even think twice about it, but it is a known carcinogen
and that’s what we’re trying to reduce.”


Over some industry objections, California recently adopted new
standards limiting the use of formaldehyde in manufactured wood. Come
2012, California will have the toughest formaldehyde restrictions in
the world. And it’s expected other states will follow its lead.


For the Environment Report, I’m Tamara Keith.

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Wider Impact From Pesticide Spray Drift

Spray drift from pesticides might travel farther and last longer than first thought. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

Spray drift from pesticides might travel farther and last longer than first thought. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


Pesticide drift – the spray, droplets, and dust that’s stirred up during application – has always been
a health concern, but a study by the California Air Resources Board combined with other studies,
found that pesticide drift lasts longer than just the moment of application.


Susan Kegley is a scientist with the Pesticide Action Network North America:


“It turns out that for many pesticides, the greater part of the drift happens in the hours and days
and even weeks after the pesticide is applied and these levels are high enough to be of concern.
And right now, EPA does not look at those types of exposures for most of the pesticides it
evaluates.


Groups wanted stricter rules on pesticide handling are calling for more studies saying that
pesticide drift might be responsible for higher rates of cancer and other health problems in rural
areas surrounded by farmland being sprayed with pesticides.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

Spill-Proof Gas Cans Could Reduce Pollution

State governments are beginning to look at a pollution source in your garage that usually goes unnoticed. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

State governments are beginning to look at a pollution source in your garage that usually goes unnoticed. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


That old red gasoline can you use to fill your lawn mower could be polluting more than your car. New York is the first Great Lakes state to consider requiring manufacturers of the cans to come up with spill-proof cans that don’t allow gasoline to evaporate. California already has such a law. Richard Varenchik is with the California Air Resources Board.


“Frequently when you fill it up at the gas station, you spill some gas. When you pour gas into your lawn mower or chain saw, you spill some gas. Frequently you lose the cap to the can and so it sits in your garage and sort of evaporates gasoline into the air.”


Some estimates indicate we as a nation spill a tanker ship’s worth of gasoline each year. Newly designed cans eliminate most of the spill risk and evaporation, but they cost as much as six dollars more.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

Commentary – New Pollution Device for Cars

The automobile is a primary source of ground level ozone. As
Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Suzanne Elston has
discovered, a U-S company has developed a new product that may one
day have us breathing easier: