International

"A DEET-Like Mosquito Spray That Smells Like Jasmine Or Grapes?"

"California scientists are reporting a pair of victories in the epic struggle between man and mosquito. A team at the University of California, Riverside, appears to have finally figured out how bugs detect the insect repellent known as DEET. And the team used its discovery to identify several chemical compounds that promise to be safer and cheaper than DEET, according to the report in the journal Nature."

Source: NPR, 10/03/2013

"Japan’s Nuclear Refugees, Still Stuck in Limbo"

"While the continuing environmental disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant has grabbed world headlines — with hundreds of tons of contaminated water flowing into the Pacific Ocean daily — a human crisis has been quietly unfolding. Two and a half years after the plant belched plumes of radioactive materials over northeast Japan, the almost 83,000 nuclear refugees evacuated from the worst-hit areas are still unable to go home."

Source: NY Times, 10/02/2013

Minamata Convention on Mercury Opens for Signing in October

"In October 2013 a new international convention to control mercury emissions will be open for signing in Japan. Named the Minamata Convention on Mercury, the agreement is a response to the realization that mercury pollution is a global problem that no one country can solve alone. The convention was four years in the making, with more than 130 nations agreeing by consensus to a final text in January 2013. It includes both compulsory and voluntary measures to control mercury emissions from various sources, to phase the element out of certain products and industrial processes, to restrict its trade, and to eliminate mining of it."

Source: EHP, 10/01/2013

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