Post by Sunday at midnight
1. Mark Whitaker
2. The Rush to "Korean Organic" Could Still Make You Sick--Because Korea lacks Legal Definitions of Organic, Still
3. I was unaware of this. Interesting that there is not a word from President Lee so far on expanding organic health standards as part of his claimed Green New Deal slogan, even though health and untrustworthy food was polled as what was of most concern to Koreans (even above fear of nuclear weapons, etc.) a few months ago.
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05-19-2009 21:08
Safety of Organic Baby Products Questioned [Because Korea Doesn't Have Any Organic Standards, Legally Speaking]
Organic baby products
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Organic and natural beauty supplies are the fastest growing segment of the cosmetics market, but consumer rights advocates are now questioning whether these products are really green.
Consumers are more health-conscious than ever and the anger over the recent discovery of talc containing asbestos in baby powders, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals have organic products flying off local shelves.
Lotte Department Store said the sales of its brands, such as Aveda and Origins, have more than doubled from last year's numbers, and Hyundai Department Store is also reporting a significant increase in the sales of similar products.
``Consumers are increasing looking for products verified as organic items, and we really got a lot of inquiries around the talc fiasco,'' said a sales manager at Lotte Department Store's Sogong-dong outlet.
``Brands like Aveda, Kiehl's, L'occitane are becoming popular.''
The growing sales indicate that consumers in general are trusting these organic products to be healthier for their bodies and also for the environment. Obviously, many of them would be appalled to know that the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) has no answer when asked ``just what is an organic beauty product?''
The country has yet to establish certification standards for companies using the word ``organic'' in brand names, thus failing to control how much of a product is made from organic elements. There also aren't any requirements for companies to display the ``organic percentages'' of their products on packaging.
So, in many cases, a consumer would have no idea whether the lotion they just bought uses 90 percent organic ingredients or less than 1 percent.
And, despite all the claims about cleanness, a wide range of organic beauty supplies, such as shampoos and lotions, were found to contain undesirable substances known to linked with health problems.
A report by Consumers Korea, a Seoul-based civic group, found that seven out of nine organic baby products sold here contain substances that are identified as potential health hazards by American's Environmental Working Group and the European Consumers' Organization (BEUC).
The Nuk Natural Diaper Cream, a popular baby product imported by Boryung Medience, contains polyethylene glycol (PEG) compounds and paraben preservatives, chemicals that are believed to increase the risk of a variety of cancers.
PEG compounds were also found in Boryung's Pureganic Baby Body & Hair Wash and the company's Nuk Classic Face Cream contained levels of benzyl alcohol, which was also found in L'occitane Korea's Mom & Baby Cream and Skinvery Nature Baby Shampoo & Bath and Baby Cream.
And many products branded as ``organic,'' ``natural'' and ``green'' aren't revealing their usage of organic ingredients on their packages, which includes Boryung's Nuk Classic Face Cream and Dr. Atomild Essential Moisture Wash, Yuhan-Kimberly's Green Finger products, and Johnson & Johnson's Soothing Natural baby products.
``Consumers trust organic baby products to be safer than others, but you can argue that such beliefs aren't backed by much logic,'' said Jin Jeong-ran, an official from Consumers Korea.
``The products are taking advantage of consumer fears erupting from the talc fiasco and exploiting the country's lack of regulations in handling organic products.''
thkim@koreatimes.co.kr
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http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2009/05/123_45211.html
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I think Google/blogger has changed their framework to force people to short lengths of '4096' characters per comment!
ReplyDeleteFrom now just post a link to the actual news article. Like this:
1. Mark Whitaker
2. American Academy of Environmental Medicine Calls for Immediate Moratorium on All Genetically Modified Foods
3. Unsurprising to me. In other GMO news, GM-engineering/agricultural companies of US, Australia and I think UK [?] joined hands to press for expanding GM worldwide against a world that doesn't want it. Watch the film The World According to Monsanto: they unfortunately might just have the governmental 'power' (just authority, instead of power (to use Arendt's term for reserving power to legitimate force) to enforce consumption against widespread consumer dislike as well as against thousands of years of biodiversity in major staple crops.
More for the contentious discourses around material flows:
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Promoted to Headline (H2) on 5/19/09:
American Academy of Environmental Medicine Calls for Immediate Moratorium on All Genetically Modified Foods
by Jeffrey M. Smith
www.opednews.com
Today, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called on "Physicians to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM (genetically modified) foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks."[i] They called for a moratorium on GM foods, long-term independent studies, and labeling.
AAEM's position paper stated, "Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food," including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. They conclude, "There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation," as defined by recognized scientific criteria. "The strength of association and consistency between GM foods and disease is confirmed in several animal studies."
http://www.opednews.com/articles/American-Academy-of-Enviro-by-Jeffrey-M-Smith-090519-809.html
1. Anne Severe
ReplyDelete2. Airplane Fuel
3. In recent years, fuel has become the most expensive cost for the airline industry. In order to reduce fuel costs, pilots are flying the most direct routes and alterations are being made to planes. Although the goal is purely economically constructed, there are positive side effects for the environment. Not only are costs lowered for the airlines, but greenhouse gas emissions are reduced. This is a step in a positive direction, whether intentionally mindful of the environment or not.
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Altering Planes, and the Way They Fly, to Save Fuel
By CHRISTINE NEGRONI
Published: April 29, 2009
FOR the aviation industry, its fate inextricably linked to the price of oil, fuel conservation is more than environmentally sound — it’s a matter of survival. That is why, in research labs and in airline conference rooms, any measure is open for discussion if it reduces the use of fuel.
The most significant improvements come from broad changes in the way planes fly. Using global positioning information, airliners fly shorter, more direct routes to destinations rather than following rigid paths that can take them miles out of the way as they move from one ground-based radar beacon to another. Special landing procedures called continuous descent approaches let pilots reduce fuel to the engines to the idle setting as they begin their descent.
“The ultimate goal is to be able to push back, roll to the runway, take off and land and go to the gate, all without ever having to hit the brakes,” said Bob Smith, vice president of advanced technologies for Honeywell Aerospace in Phoenix. “If you can get that level of sophistication in the system, that’s a big deal.”
It’s a big deal because these kinds of operational changes affect an airline’s costs. In the past four years, fuel has surpassed labor as the airlines’ largest operating expense, so conservation efforts are bound to have an impact.
Environmental benefits are secondary but significant. In the United States, commercial aviation accounts for 2 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Air Transport Association, an industry group.
On a recent trial flight, Southwest Airlines used satellite navigation and continuous descent approaches on a round trip between Dallas and Houston and determined it could reduce fuel consumption by 6 percent.
“If we were able to reduce and get 6 percent savings across all our flights, that would equal 90 million gallons a year in fuel reduction and a reduction in carbon emissions of 1.9 billion pounds,” said Jeff Martin, Southwest’s senior director of flight operations.
Nancy Young, vice president of environmental affairs for the Air Transport Association, said that changing from a radar-based system to a satellite-based one was “a big, big thing.”
But incorporating the new flights into an older traffic infrastructure takes time. Air traffic control centers and airlines are in transition, with some updating equipment faster than others. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, about 80 percent of American airliners have the necessary devices.
Brian Will, program manager for American Airlines and a pilot, said the agency needed to do more to reward companies that make an investment in new technology. Air traffic control “is compelled to maintain a system that will accommodate everybody,” he said. “In my opinion, this is a mistake.”
The aviation authority is considering ways to expedite satellite-guided planes through the system. “Clearly there is a policy that we’re looking at right now to try and improve our delivery of services to those who are better equipped,” said Carl E. Burleson, the F.A.A.’s deputy acting administrator for policy planning and the environment.
(see link below for full text)
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/business/energy-environment/30aviation.html
1. Young Hui Na
ReplyDelete2. Water recycling from human waste_our ultimate sustainable water source?
3. When I was watching the Discovery channel soemtime last month, I saw 4 technological innovations that were tested as to how effective they would save the future metropolis from using energy, and replace it with recyclable, nature friendly sources. The four contested items were: urban farming on the rooftops, refrigeration utilizing 'sound' (instead of the freon gases), utilizing cow wastes and turning them into gas fuel, and finally, utilizing human waste for water supply. The last one abolutely shocked me and disgusted me at the time, but the program showed that it is enacted in the Orange County, California. The image I had of the rich neighborhood having to depend on their own wastes to deduct water was absolutely shocking, and it numbed me of the fantasy I had for the American drama, the O.C. Nonetheless, it seems that utilization of human waste is not just a wild science experiment in space, but it is closer to our lives than we think. If I remeber the severe drought in the mountain regions of Gwang-won province this spring, I am wondering (and secretly hoping that it will never be) that Korea may have to face such an option sometime in the future. I can only hope that we can change our lives to secure the environment and the drinking water without having to discuss on the unpleasant (but obviously possible) alternative.
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Astronauts’ Urine-to-Water Test Successful
By KENNETH CHANG
Published: May 20, 2009
The three crew members of the International Space Station raised plastic pouches in a toast of their first taste of urine that had been recycled into drinkable water. “The taste is great,” said Michael R. Barratt, a flight engineer. A recycling system, installed last fall, purifies the urine. Recycling is crucial, especially with the station crew expanding to six people this month, because of the cost of transporting water from Earth. At the station’s mission control room in Houston, people cheered and drank similarly recycled water. A distillation unit in the system initially proved balky, and a replacement was brought up and installed in March. After the system passed tests, the station’s two astronauts and one cosmonaut finally took a sip.
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URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/science/space/21brfs-ITTASTESLIKE_BRF.html?_r=1&ref=science
- I could'nt find the name of the program, or the air date, but it was about a scientist weighing the four alternative ways to lessen the CO2 levels in the air...
ReplyDelete- there are some photos of the facility at the web address below.(which explains that about 25% of the water supply to the Orange County is recycled water: the technology involves reverse osmetic pressure.)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.roplant.org/photo/bbs_read.php?no=243&search_type=s&search_key=d
Young-One Suh
ReplyDeleteMOGE(Ministry of Gender Equality)’s We Green, Another lame “women-power” slogan?First I have here posted an article from MOGE homepage, reporting on the event arranged by the Ministry of Gender Equality and G-Korea Women Conference, to announce the ‘We Green’ policy kick off. The ‘We Green’ policy aims to run year round campaigns throughout the nation to promote “green” culture and “green” life style movement, mainly led by women. The project declared its 7 goals which are rather quite plain: they address water and energy consumption reduction at homes; lessen usage of disposable products (plastic cups and plates); discourage working after night fall; increase usage of public transportation. President Lee and the first lady were also present in the event.
The following article (in Korean) is from the opinion column of Womennews.co.kr written by Prof. Lee Sang-Hwa (Ewha Womens University – Philosophy, I took her class last year). She argues that this project is very doubtful in some aspects:
1) Why are such plain and obvious practices packaged in rather overstated titles like “Green Life & Culture Revolution”? We learn in class to reduce wasting energy and plastic disposables since age seven. Why is MOGE spotlighted in the context of a nation-wide policy?
2) While playing core roles in promoting national campaigns, where is MOGE going? How does MOGE view “green development” from its own perspective? It is quite unclear whether this national policy aims to spread the environmental friendly values of women, or burdening housewives with environmental responsibility, or trying to win women’s votes to the nation’s “green development” plans.
Prof. Lee adds a personal statement that the term “green development” is equivalent to “a round quadrangle”, as its adjective word (green) contradicts to the word it qualifies (development).
Then, she strongly suggests that MOGE redefine their position in the discourse of “green development” in terms of re-evaluating the “green development” policy under gender difference influential and re-distributing budget according to gender-awareness perspectives, all in all in close collaboration with a pan-governmental network, continuing to comprehensively reflect the voices of female environment specialist.
continued below … !
The opinion column reminded me of the Flynn; Slovic; Mertz article dealing with “Gender, Race, and Perception of Environmental Health Risks”, and the risk analysis showing real statistics with some implication in gender difference in perception. As long as it is possible that difference in perception can cause different output, I think that MOGE should be dealing with “green development” in a structural context rather than tied-up in anther lame convention. In another words, if MOGE is only playing its part in policy plans as a cat’s-paw - instead of contributing to nationwide awareness of environmental problems as mothers AND workers, teachers, specialists, environmentalist, public service workers etc - We Green may end up to be an illusion or merely an event that may pull the public and women away from better, more thorough approach to realizing the so called “revolution” or “green growth paradigm”.
ReplyDelete----------------------------------
Green World Realized by Women's Force, ‘G Korea’ May 12-2009 Source:
http://english.moge.go.kr/index.html
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녹색성장 정책과 여성부의 역할 2009-05-01
Green Development Plan and Ministry of Gender Equality(MOGE) 식상한 슬로건에 그쳐 아쉬운 여성부 ‘WE Green’ 발표
MOGE launches ‘WE GREEN’ project under a another lame slogan.
녹색성장에 대한 성별영향평가•성인지적 예산 편성 필요
Research on environmental influence according to gender difference and gender-awareness in budget compilation necessary.
…
(Unfortunately, only available in Korean. I tried my best to summarize the key points above.)
Source:
http://www.womennews.co.kr/news/view.asp?num=39850&page=1&ns_id=B0&wno=
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1. Martin Weiser
ReplyDelete2. Black Women and Breast Cancer
3. This article is stating that Black women have a twice as high rate of advanced breast cancer than white women. Mostly because they refuse to make regular check-ups and after discovery refuse to get treated. The researchers do not really have an idea why it is that way, but are pointing at poverty as one cause.
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http://www.forbes.com/feeds/hscout/2009/05/22/hscout627351.html