The European Parliament has decided to ban three chemicals, namely penta-, octa-, and deca-bromodiphenyl ether (penta-, octa- & deca-BDE).

The chemicals are used to retard fires in furniture and electronic equipment. Penta-BDE is used in the production of flexible polyurethane foam for furniture. Octa- and deca-BDE are used mainly in plastics for televisions, computers, and other electronic equipment.

According to a report from the EU Environment Committee, the chemicals pose health and environmental threats because they bioaccumulate in the environment, can be contaminated with dioxins, and can cause endocrine disruption.

The Ontario Environment Minister has announced the implementation of a new modernized air standard on 20 Sep 2001. The air standards are used to assess and manage direct local impacts from industrial and commercial sources on surrounding neighbourhoods and communities.

In the new Ontario's air standards, the emission standards for trichloroethylene, acrylonitrile, chloroform, ethyl ether, n-heptane and propylene oxide are set at 3,500 m g/m³, 180 m g/m³, 300 m g/m³ 7,000 m g/m³, 33,000 m g/m³ and 450 m g/m³ respectively.

Environmental Developers Inc., a California-based company has announced recently the receipt of an US patent for their revolutionary new methane gas stripping process for treatment of sewage, manure, garbage, whey, brewery, and other organic waste products. The new process provides the most technically advanced waste to energy process the industry has ever thought or dreamed about.

The new process, which is ecologically and environmentally pure with zero emissions, produces drinking quality water while generating and collecting pure methane and bottled carbon dioxide for sale and distribution, along with the production of a pasteurized fertilizer product and a detergent by-product.

A diesel leak from a barge into a canal dock at a Shell refinery in northwest England was stopped by a barrier made of air. Shell estimates the spill, made during loading at the Ellesmere Port refinery in Cheshire, at 150 tonnes. Its cause is still under investigation.

Instead of using highly corrosive and reactive hydrogen fluoride, a chemist at the University of Glasgow in UK has developed a less hazardous way of converting chlorofluorocarbon CFC-113 into hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) by the use of an aluminium-based catalyst.

Chlorofluorocarbon CFC-113 is a solvent formerly used to clean circuit boards and other electronic components. The new discovery could turn millions of tonnes of unwanted ozone-depleting chemical CFC-113, which is in storage around the world pending ultimately disposal, into useful products for reuse.

The United Nations has announced a new international convention to improve public participation in environmental policymaking and access to environmental information. The convention called Arhus Convention, will come into force on 30 Oct 2001.

The convention sets out framework covering access to environmental information, public participation, and access to justice. Key provisions include a general obligation for public authorities to make information on the environment available to the public upon request; the inclusion of public participation procedures for the authorization of certain industrial, agricultural, and construction activities; and the establishment of judicial or administrative proceedings allowing the public to challenge environmental decisions by governments.

The convention is a legally binding instrument drawn up by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) and has been opened for signature to 55 EC countries as well as others outside the UN/ECE region.

Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. are racing to develop fuel cell and gasoline engine-electric motor hybrid automobiles that will help to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to beat other world automakers in the scramble to produce ultra-low-emissions vehicles (ULEVs).

Japan defines ULEVs as vehicles whose emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide are even lower than those of fuel-efficient low emission vehicles (LEVs). Specifically, LEVs are vehicles whose noxious gas emissions are 25% lower than current tolerances set by vehicle type. To be considered a ULEV, a vehicle's emissions must be at lease 50% lower than current tolerance levels. In addition, a ULEV must be powered by fuel cells, electricity, a hybrid engine, natural gas, or methanol.