May 2009 – Page 2 – David Bradley

Charity refurbished computers and e-waste

e-waste-sorting Charitable schemes to send unwanted electronic equipment, including mobile phones and computers to the developing world could be creating more environmental problems than they solve if the equipment becomes entirely obsolete in a short time. Researchers in India have carried out an evaluation of the trade-offs between cost and environmental risks to prove the point.

There are many benefits to schemes intended to provide computer equipment to the poorer and less connected parts of the world. Primarily, these offer the donor the feelgood factor and on the face of it provide developing nations with much-needed devices.

However, according to Poonam Khanijo Ahluwalia and Arvind Nema of the Department of Civil Engineering, at IIT Delhi, in New Delhi, India, there is growing public concern over the hazards associated with computer and other e-waste. They suggest that a risk assessment that encompasses the whole lifecycle of computers and other equipment is needed before developing nations should accept charitable contributions of electronic equipment considered obsolete by the donors.

Using a case study of Chennai in India, the team has developed an assessment model that can help decision makers choose an optimal approach to e-waste management that looks at reuse time span of each waste category. The approach could help them avoid accepting contributions of electronic equipment that become obsolete and requires disposal or recycling within a short time.

Electronic waste includes the entire stream of electronic goods, including televisions, refrigerators, refurbished computers, large items such as car donations, and mobile phones, explain the researchers. Computer waste, however, represents one of the most significant of all these categories because of the rapid turnover of equipment, similar to the rapid turnover of car models that are adopting computer databases into its features, “With rapid growth and advancement in the IT sector, the average lifespan of computer has shrunk,” the team says, “And, with each new development, consumers often find it cheaper and more convenient to buy a new computer than to upgrade an old one.”

The rate of computer obsolescence in India is about 2% each week, which amounts to millions of computers requiring disposal each year. Added to this is the import of e-waste from other nations often provided through well-intentioned charities hoping to help bring the digital revolution to the developing world.

The absence of proper mechanisms and standards of disposal, mean these high-tech devices laden with toxic components, such as cadmium, mercury, lead, and brominated flame-retardants, often end up in landfills. Here, they can become a serious environmental hazard, particularly to ground water, the researchers say.

The team’s assessment model will allow managers to determine the optimum life cycle and lifespan of electronic devices designated elsewhere as e-waste. “This could guide the authorities to protect infiltration of computers coming in the name of donations and charity, by restricting their import after their optimum lifespan,” the team concludes.

Ahluwalia, P., & Nema, A. (2009). Evaluation of trade-offs between cost, perceived and environmental risk associated with the management of computer waste International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 3 (1/2) DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2009.024705

There are many worthy charities and organisations offering computers to the needy in many parts of the world. This blog post in no way intends to besmirch their efforts but merely to alert the community to a potential environmental problem associated with growing numbers of obsolete computers and other electronic devices finding their way into the developing world.

Swine Flu Update

swine-flu-leaflet Swine flu (H1N1) information leaflets are being delivered to households across the UK today. I suspect they do nothing but increase fear and confuse people, especially as the WHO/UN are about to lower the swine flu alert level.

In the UK, 27 people now have the virus, with 23 in England and four in Scotland and the first P2P transmission in the UK has been reported. But, what happened to the thousands, if not millions, affected we were warned of by the media and government and WHO and UN over the last few weeks? It just hasn’t happened, thankfully.

The leaflets will, of course, explain exactly what is swine flu (I wonder whether they will explain why we now have to call it H1N1 though), who is most at risk, what are the symptoms, and what people can do to reduce their risk of catching the disease.

There was a panic on Monday when the WHO was set to raise the alert level, but it didn’t happen they are maintaining it at Phase V, one below the red alert Phase VI, and may lower the panic level in coming days.

I suspect that the average person reading the government leaflet will disregard it as contradictory with what they are now hearing in the news. They may also see it as simply yet another kneejerk reaction from politicians who always to pander to the media biases rather than making their own scientifically informed decisions.

In my original swine flu article, I rather flippantly advised readers to forget avian influenza and to switch their worries to pigs. But, there was a serious thought behind my silliness because a single disease should not be the focus of fear. Emergent diseases could appear in almost any host animal at any time and cross the species barrier through random mutation.

Indeed, it’s certainly not only pigs, birds, and humans, that catch flu. Horses, and even whales and seals, get a form of the disease. But influenza is not the only virus.

If a second wave of swine flu does not evolve in the Northern autumn this year, there’s no reason to assume that some other respiratory virus, perhaps akin to SARS, perhaps avian, or something entirely different will appear. Will we be prepared for the onset of a previously unknown respiratory, or other, infection spreading from some obscure mammal in central Asia or elsewhere? Or, will the media incite mass hysteria through scaremongering once again?

How will a swine flu pamphlet look in six months time? Confusing and useless, that’s how. The scaremongering that has gone way beyond any seen at the time of SARS and certainly way beyond the avian influenza concerns, will ultimately look like a story of “cry wolf” when the next virus emerges.

The WHO told us a week or two ago that we could no longer contain swine flu, but as it turns out there really was no need to contain it in the first place. It appears (in this wave) not to be as virulent as first feared, mortality rates even in Mexico City are far lower than one would have expected of a serious illness with the number of dead from H1N1 being revised downwards several times already.

Flu experts from Cambridge, the National Institutes of Health, and The Cleveland Clinic will be talking about the science behind the news of the swine flu outbreak at a free webinar on Friday.

All that said, the UK’s chief medic Liam Donaldson, has warned against complacency because flu viruses can change character “very rapidly”. It is too early to assume the swine flu outbreak is a mild infection just because no-one in the UK has died, he says.

For years we have been warned that a lethal flu pandemic to match the Spanish Flu of 1918 was long overdue. Birds, and now pigs, have so far failed to deliver, but what’s that unidentified, flea-bitten rodent running around the market square? Is the tiny creature the harbinger of doom? Will we ever conquer infectious disease?

O’Dowd, A. (2009). Confirmation of first person to person transmission of swine flu in UK expected soon BMJ, 338 (may01 1) DOI: 10.1136/bmj.b1838

Spectral Alchemist

spectral-alchemist This week, it’s my The Alchemist chemistry news column that coincides with SpectroscopyNOW updates:

The Alchemist this week catches site through his spyglass of complex interstellar molecules with a hint of raspberry and rum, and a possible way to capture carbon usefully that doesn’t require huge energy input. Geordie scientists have discovered why a breakfast fry-up could be the optimal hangover cure, a NIST team has found a way to suppress quantum errors, and flexible concrete that heals itself has been made by US materials scientists. Finally, the publicity department at the Royal Society of Chemistry could strike gold in a major PR awards thanks to its Italian Job.

Recycling carbon dioxide – A research team in Singapore has developed an alternative to simply burying carbon dioxide captured from sources such as coal-fired power stations. Their experiments used NMR spectroscopy to track the catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide into methanol under very mild reaction conditions. (Personally, I think these kinds of efforts will never likely balance the energy/resources books and will always come out costing more than they save in terms of emissions and fuel, but an interesting reaction, nevertheless).

ELISA, meet SERRS – Surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering could be used to quickly spot the telltale signs of prostate cancer at the molecular level, according to a British team. This is the first use of a well-known ELISA colorimetric substrate as a SERRS marker.

Polymerising phosphates – X-ray crystallography has been used to identify a novel enzyme that polymerises the essential biochemical building block phosphate in eukaryotes, which include all animals, plants, fungi, and protists. The proof of principle was obtained with yeast and could pave the way to the discovery of related enzymes in other species.

Raspberries and ultraviolet skin damage – There’s no connection between the interstellar molecules mentioned earlier that just happen to taste of raspberries and this news item about how ellagic acid found in lots of different types of fruit and vegetables can protect skin cells from the aging effects of UV-B. Other, of course, than the fruity headlines the research makes possible.

Researchers in Korea have demonstrated that the topical application of antioxidant ellagic acid, which is found in certain fruits and berries, can protect against damage to the skin caused by incident ultraviolet-B radiation. Their work suggests that the compound could help protect people to some extent from the skin-aging effects of the sun.

Avoiding scanners – Efforts should be made to avoid unnecessary patient exposure to imaging devices that use ionising radiation, according to a warning from the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Agency suggests that MRI and ultrasound should therefore be more widely used instead of X-ray based imaging.