TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Combined Exposures to Hydrogen Cyanide and Carbon Monoxide in Army Operations: Initial Report SN - DO - 10.17226/12040 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12040/combined-exposures-to-hydrogen-cyanide-and-carbon-monoxide-in-army-operations PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Conflict and Security Issues KW - Health and Medicine ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Hydrologic Effects of a Changing Forest Landscape SN - DO - 10.17226/12223 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12223/hydrologic-effects-of-a-changing-forest-landscape PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Environment and Environmental Studies KW - Earth Sciences AB - Of all the outputs of forests, water may be the most important. Streamflow from forests provides two-thirds of the nation's clean water supply. Removing forest cover accelerates the rate that precipitation becomes streamflow; therefore, in some areas, cutting trees causes a temporary increase in the volume of water flowing downstream. This effect has spurred political pressure to cut trees to increase water supply, especially in western states where population is rising. However, cutting trees for water gains is not sustainable: increases in flow rate and volume are typically short-lived, and the practice can ultimately degrade water quality and increase vulnerability to flooding. Forest hydrology, the study of how water flows through forests, can help illuminate the connections between forests and water, but it must advance if it is to deal with today's complexities, including climate change, wildfires, and changing patterns of development and ownership. This book identifies actions that scientists, forest and water managers, and citizens can take to help sustain water resources from forests. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Fifteenth Interim Report of the Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels DO - 10.17226/12442 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12442/fifteenth-interim-report-of-the-committee-on-acute-exposure-guideline-levels PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Math, Chemistry, and Physics KW - Policy for Science and Technology AB - Extremely hazardous substances (EHSs) can be released accidentally as a result of chemical spills, industrial explosions, fires, or accidents involving railroad cars or trucks transporting EHSs or intentionally through terrorist activities. These substances can also be released by improper storage or handling. Workers and residents in communities surrounding industrial facilities where EHSs are manufactured, used, or stored and in communities along the nation's railways and highways are potentially at risk of being exposed to airborne EHSs during accidental or intentional releases. In 1993, the National Advisory Committee was tasked with developing acute exposure guideline levels (AEGLs) for approximately 200 EHSs. This book is the fifteenth interim report from that committee. It summarizes the committee's conclusions and recommendations for improving documents for 16 chemicals and one chemical mixture identified as EHSs. The report also summarizes the committee's conclusions and recommendations for improving a draft white paper that proposes standard operating procedures for using physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling as a tool in the AEGLs development program. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Combined Exposures to Hydrogen Cyanide and Carbon Monoxide in Army Operations: Final Report SN - DO - 10.17226/12467 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12467/combined-exposures-to-hydrogen-cyanide-and-carbon-monoxide-in-army-operations PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine KW - Conflict and Security Issues AB - To determine whether the air quality inside armored-vehicle cabins can meet exposure guidelines under deployment conditions, the Army assessed possible synergistic toxic effects from potentially harmful substances. This book, the final of two reports on the subject from the National Research Council, addresses whether the approach discussed in the technical context section of the Army's proposed guidance is appropriate, or whether an alternative assessment method should be developed. Combined Exposures to Hydrogen Cyanide and Carbon Monoxide in Army Operations provides several conclusions and recommendations, including the use of alternative instrumentation for monitoring gas, conducting experiments on human subjects, and seeking advice from additional groups involved with personnel training and field deployment. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Paula Tarnapol Whitacre TI - Genetically Engineered Organisms, Wildlife, and Habitat: A Workshop Summary SN - DO - 10.17226/12218 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12218/genetically-engineered-organisms-wildlife-and-habitat-a-workshop-summary PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Agriculture KW - Environment and Environmental Studies KW - Biology and Life Sciences AB - Since the first commercial introduction of transgenic corn plants in 1995, biotechnology has provided enormous benefits to agricultural crop production. Research is underway to develop a much broader range of genetically engineered organisms (GEOs), including fish, trees, microbes, and insects, that could have the potential to transform fields such as aquaculture, biofuels production, bioremediation, biocontrol, and even the production of pharmaceuticals . However, biotechnology is not without risk and continues to be an extremely controversial topic. Chief among the concerns is the potential ecological effects of GEOs that interact with wildlife and habitats. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is charged with providing scientific advice to inform federal agencies that manage wildlife and their habitats. USGS has identified biotechnology as one of its major challenges for future research. Seeing an opportunity to initiate a dialogue between ecologists and developers of GEOs about this challenge, the USGS and the National Research Council (NRC) held a two-day workshop in November of 2007, to identify research activities with the greatest potential to provide the information needed to assess the ecological effects of GEOs on wildlife and habitats. The workshop, designed to approach the research questions from a habitat, rather than transgenic organism, perspective, is summarized in this book. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Evaluating Research Efficiency in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency SN - DO - 10.17226/12150 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12150/evaluating-research-efficiency-in-the-us-environmental-protection-agency PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - A new book from the National Research Council recommends changes in how the federal government evaluates the efficiency of research at EPA and other agencies. Assessing efficiency should be considered only one part of gauging a program's quality, relevance, and effectiveness. The efficiency of research processes and that of investments should be evaluated using different approaches. Investment efficiency should examine whether an agency's R&D portfolio, including the budget, is relevant, of high quality, matches the agency's strategic plan. These evaluations require panels of experts. In contrast, process efficiency should focus on "inputs" (the people, funds, and facilities dedicated to research) and "outputs" (the services, grants, publications, monitoring, and new techniques produced by research), as well as their timelines and should be evaluated using quantitative measures. The committee recommends that the efficiency of EPA's research programs be evaluated according to the same standards used at other agencies. To ensure this, OMB should train and oversee its budget examiners so that the PART questionnaire is implemented consistently and equitably across agencies. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Prospects for Managed Underground Storage of Recoverable Water SN - DO - 10.17226/12057 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12057/prospects-for-managed-underground-storage-of-recoverable-water PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Earth Sciences KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - Growing demands for water in many parts of the nation are fueling the search for new approaches to sustainable water management, including how best to store water. Society has historically relied on dams and reservoirs, but problems such as high evaporation rates and a lack of suitable land for dam construction are driving interest in the prospect of storing water underground. Managed underground storage should be considered a valuable tool in a water manager's portfolio, although it poses its own unique challenges that need to be addressed through research and regulatory measures. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Review of the Toxicologic and Radiologic Risks to Military Personnel from Exposures to Depleted Uranium During and After Combat SN - DO - 10.17226/11979 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11979/review-of-the-toxicologic-and-radiologic-risks-to-military-personnel-from-exposures-to-depleted-uranium-during-and-after-combat PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Conflict and Security Issues KW - Environment and Environmental Studies KW - Health and Medicine AB - Since the 1980s, the U.S. military has used depleted uranium in munitions and in protective armor on tanks. Depleted uranium is a toxic heavy metal and is weakly radioactive. Concerns have been raised about the adverse health effects from exposure to depleted uranium that is aerosolized during combat. Some think it may be responsible for illnesses in exposed veterans and civilians. These concerns led the Army to commission a book, Depleted Uranium Aerosol Doses and Risks: Summary of U.S. Assessments, referred to as the Capstone Report that evaluates the health risks associated with depleted uranium exposure. This National Research Council book reviews the toxicologic, radiologic, epidemiologic, and toxicokinetic data on depleted uranium, and assesses the Army's estimates of health risks to personnel exposed during and after combat. The book recommends that the Army re-evaluate the basis for some of its predictions about health outcomes at low levels of exposure, but, overall, the Capstone Report was judged to provide a reasonable characterization of the exposure and risks from depleted uranium. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Desalination: A National Perspective SN - DO - 10.17226/12184 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12184/desalination-a-national-perspective PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Earth Sciences KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - There has been an exponential increase in desalination capacity both globally and nationally since 1960, fueled in part by growing concern for local water scarcity and made possible to a great extent by a major federal investment for desalination research and development. Traditional sources of supply are increasingly expensive, unavailable, or controversial, but desalination technology offers the potential to substantially reduce water scarcity by converting the almost inexhaustible supply of seawater and the apparently vast quantities of brackish groundwater into new sources of freshwater. Desalination assesses the state of the art in relevant desalination technologies, and factors such as cost and implementation challenges. It also describes reasonable long-term goals for advancing desalination technology, posits recommendations for action and research, estimates the funding necessary to support the proposed research agenda, and identifies appropriate roles for governmental and nongovernmental entities. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Estimating Mortality Risk Reduction and Economic Benefits from Controlling Ozone Air Pollution SN - DO - 10.17226/12198 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12198/estimating-mortality-risk-reduction-and-economic-benefits-from-controlling-ozone-air-pollution PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - In light of recent evidence on the relationship of ozone to mortality and questions about its implications for benefit analysis, the Environmental Protection Agency asked the National Research Council to establish a committee of experts to evaluate independently the contributions of recent epidemiologic studies to understanding the size of the ozone-mortality effect in the context of benefit analysis. The committee was also asked to assess methods for estimating how much a reduction in short-term exposure to ozone would reduce premature deaths, to assess methods for estimating associated increases in life expectancy, and to assess methods for estimating the monetary value of the reduced risk of premature death and increased life expectancy in the context of health-benefits analysis. Estimating Mortality Risk Reduction and Economic Benefits from Controlling Ozone Air Pollution details the committee's findings and posits several recommendations to address these issues. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Mississippi River Water Quality and the Clean Water Act: Progress, Challenges, and Opportunities SN - DO - 10.17226/12051 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12051/mississippi-river-water-quality-and-the-clean-water-act-progress PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - The Mississippi River is, in many ways, the nation's best known and most important river system. Mississippi River water quality is of paramount importance for sustaining the many uses of the river including drinking water, recreational and commercial activities, and support for the river's ecosystems and the environmental goods and services they provide. The Clean Water Act, passed by Congress in 1972, is the cornerstone of surface water quality protection in the United States, employing regulatory and nonregulatory measures designed to reduce direct pollutant discharges into waterways. The Clean Water Act has reduced much pollution in the Mississippi River from "point sources" such as industries and water treatment plants, but problems stemming from urban runoff, agriculture, and other "non-point sources" have proven more difficult to address. This book concludes that too little coordination among the 10 states along the river has left the Mississippi River an "orphan" from a water quality monitoring and assessment perspective. Stronger leadership from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is needed to address these problems. Specifically, the EPA should establish a water quality data-sharing system for the length of the river, and work with the states to establish and achieve water quality standards. The Mississippi River corridor states also should be more proactive and cooperative in their water quality programs. For this effort, the EPA and the Mississippi River states should draw upon the lengthy experience of federal-interstate cooperation in managing water quality in the Chesapeake Bay. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Phthalates and Cumulative Risk Assessment: The Tasks Ahead SN - DO - 10.17226/12528 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12528/phthalates-and-cumulative-risk-assessment-the-tasks-ahead PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - People are exposed to a variety of chemicals throughout their daily lives. To protect public health, regulators use risk assessments to examine the effects of chemical exposures. This book provides guidance for assessing the risk of phthalates, chemicals found in many consumer products that have been shown to affect the development of the male reproductive system of laboratory animals. Because people are exposed to multiple phthalates and other chemicals that affect male reproductive development, a cumulative risk assessment should be conducted that evaluates the combined effects of exposure to all these chemicals. The book suggests an approach for cumulative risk assessment that can serve as a model for evaluating the health risks of other types of chemicals. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Managing Health Effects of Beryllium Exposure SN - DO - 10.17226/12464 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12464/managing-health-effects-of-beryllium-exposure PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine AB - Beryllium is a lightweight metal that is used for its exceptional strength and high heat-absorbing capability. Beryllium and its alloys can be found in many important technologies in the defense and aeronautics industries, such as nuclear devices, satellite systems, radar systems, and aircraft bushings and bearings. Pulmonary disease associated with exposure to beryllium has been recognized and studied since the early 1940s, and an occupational guideline for limiting exposure to beryllium has been in place since 1949. Over the last few decades, much has been learned about chronic beryllium disease and factors that contribute to its occurrence in exposed people. Despite reduced workplace exposure, chronic beryllium disease continues to occur. Those developments have led to debates about the adequacy of the long-standing occupational exposure limit for protecting worker health. This book, requested by the U.S. Air Force to help to determine the steps necessary to protect its workforce from the effects of beryllium used in military aerospace applications, reviews the scientific literature on beryllium and outlines an exposure and disease management program for its protecting workers. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Spacecraft Water Exposure Guidelines for Selected Contaminants: Volume 3 SN - DO - 10.17226/12527 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12527/spacecraft-water-exposure-guidelines-for-selected-contaminants-volume-3 PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Space and Aeronautics AB - NASA maintains an active interest in the environmental conditions associated with living and working in spacecraft and identifying hazards that might adversely affect the health and well-being of crew members. Despite major engineering advances in controlling the spacecraft environment, some water and air contamination is inevitable. Several hundred chemical species are likely to be found in the closed environment of the spacecraft, and as the frequency, complexity, and duration of human space flight increase, identifying and understanding significant health hazards will become more complicated and more critical for the success of the missions. To protect space crews from contaminants in potable and hygiene water, NASA requested that the National Research Council NRC provide guidance on how to develop water exposure guidelines and subsequently review NASA's development of the exposure guidelines for specific chemicals. This book presents spacecraft water exposure guidelines (SWEGs) for antimony, benzene, ethylene glycol, methanol, methyl ethyl ketone, and propylene glycol. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Acute Exposure Guideline Levels for Selected Airborne Chemicals: Volume 6 SN - DO - 10.17226/12018 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12018/acute-exposure-guideline-levels-for-selected-airborne-chemicals-volume-6 PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Environment and Environmental Studies KW - Health and Medicine AB - This book is the sixth volume in the series Acute Exposure Guideline Levels for Selected Airborne Chemicals, and includes AEGLs for chemicals such as ammonia, nickel carbonyl and phosphine, among others. At the request of the Department of Defense, the National Research Council has reviewed the relevant scientific literature compiled by an expert panel and established Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGLs) for 12 new chemicals. AEGLs represent exposure levels below which adverse health effects are not likely to occur and are useful in responding to emergencies such as accidental or intentional chemical releases in the community, the workplace, transportation, the military, and for the remediation of contaminated sites. Three AEGLs are approved for each chemical, representing exposure levels that result in: 1) notable but reversible discomfort; 2) long-lasting health effects; and 3) life-threatening health impacts. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Emergency and Continuous Exposure Guidance Levels for Selected Submarine Contaminants: Volume 2 SN - DO - 10.17226/12032 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12032/emergency-and-continuous-exposure-guidance-levels-for-selected-submarine-contaminants PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - U.S. Navy personnel who work on submarines are in an enclosed and isolated environment for days or weeks at a time when at sea. To protect workers from potential adverse health effects due to those conditions, the U.S. Navy has established exposure guidance levels for a number of contaminants. In this latest report in a series, the Navy asked the National Research Council (NRC) to review, and develop when necessary, exposure guidance levels for 11 contaminants. The report recommends exposure levels for hydrogen that are lower than current Navy guidelines. For all other contaminants (except for two for which there are insufficient data), recommended levels are similar to or slightly higher than those proposed by the Navy. The report finds that, overall, there is very little exposure data available on the submarine environment and echoes recommendations from earlier NRC reports to expand exposure monitoring in submarines. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Spacecraft Maximum Allowable Concentrations for Selected Airborne Contaminants: Volume 5 SN - DO - 10.17226/12529 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12529/spacecraft-maximum-allowable-concentrations-for-selected-airborne-contaminants-volume-5 PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Space and Aeronautics KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - NASA is aware of the potential toxicologic hazards to crew that might be associated with prolonged spacecraft missions. Despite major engineering advances in controlling the atmosphere within spacecraft, some contamination of the air appears inevitable. NASA has measured numerous airborne contaminants during space missions. As the missions increase in duration and complexity, ensuring the health and well-being of astronauts traveling and working in this unique environment becomes increasingly difficult. As part of its efforts to promote safe conditions aboard spacecraft, NASA requested the National Research Council to develop guidelines for establishing spacecraft maximum allowable concentrations (SMACs) for contaminants and to review SMACs for various spacecraft contaminants to determine whether NASA's recommended exposure limits are consistent with the guidelines recommended by the committee. This book is the fifth volume in the series Spacecraft Maximum Allowable Concentrations for Selected Airborne Contaminants, and presents SMACs for acrolein, C3 to C8 aliphatic saturated aldehydes, C2 to C9 alkanes, ammonia, benzene, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, 1,2-dichloroethane, dimethylhydrazine, ethanol, formaldehyde, limonene, methanol, methylene dichloride, n-butanol, propylene glycol, toluene, trimethylsilanol, and xylenes. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine A2 - Stanley M. Lemon A2 - P. Frederick Sparling A2 - Margaret A. Hamburg A2 - David A. Relman A2 - Eileen R. Choffnes A2 - Alison Mack TI - Vector-Borne Diseases: Understanding the Environmental, Human Health, and Ecological Connections: Workshop Summary SN - DO - 10.17226/11950 PY - 2008 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11950/vector-borne-diseases-understanding-the-environmental-human-health-and-ecological PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine KW - Conflict and Security Issues AB - Vector-borne infectious diseases, such as malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, and plague, cause a significant fraction of the global infectious disease burden; indeed, nearly half of the world's population is infected with at least one type of vector-borne pathogen (CIESIN, 2007; WHO, 2004a). Vector-borne plant and animal diseases, including several newly recognized pathogens, reduce agricultural productivity and disrupt ecosystems throughout the world. These diseases profoundly restrict socioeconomic status and development in countries with the highest rates of infection, many of which are located in the tropics and subtropics. Although this workshop summary provides an account of the individual presentations, it also reflects an important aspect of the Forum philosophy. The workshop functions as a dialogue among representatives from different sectors and allows them to present their beliefs about which areas may merit further attention. These proceedings summarize only the statements of participants in the workshop and are not intended to be an exhaustive exploration of the subject matter or a representation of consensus evaluation. Vector-Borne Diseases : Understanding the Environmental, Human Health, and Ecological Connections, Workshop Summary (Forum on Microbial Threats) summarizes this workshop. ER -