Present:
Richard Bode, California Air Resources Board
Steve Book, Department of Health Services
John Crapo, Associate Director of CPRC
Arthur Fong, IBM
Jackie Hale, TSR&TP Administrative Assistant
John Knezovich, TSR&TP Director
Bruce LaBelle, Department of Toxic Substances Control
Steve Macaulay, California Urban Water Agencies
Marion Miller, UC TSR&TP Associate Director
Cathie Magowan, UCOP Office of Research
Lisa Stevenson, TSR&TP Program Manager
Leslie Stewart, League of Women Voters
Shankar Prasad, Cal/EPA
Mika Pringle Tolson, TSR&TP Technical Support Coordinator
Winona Victery, US EPA Region 9
Michael P. Wilson, UC Berkeley Research Scientist
Zach Wong, Chevron Texaco Energy Technology Company
Not Present:
Syed Ali, State Water Resources Control Board
Martin Bloes, Geomatrix Consultants
Dan Chang, UC Davis
Tom Gelzleichter, Genentech
Tobi Jones, California Department of Pesticide Regulation
Howard Levenson, California Integrated Waste Management Board
Suzanne Paulson, TSR&TP Associate Director
Rebecca Verity, UCOP Office of Research
Kip Wiley, CA Senate Office of Research
The committee chair Steve Macaulay called to order the Fall TSR&TP
Advisory Committee meeting at 9:40 am.
Green Chemistry Presentation. Mike Wilson (UCB), author of Green Chemistry
in California: Framework for Leadership in Chemicals Policy and Innovation
was introduced and began his presentation. A packet of materials was
handed out. A discussion followed the presentation.
Office of President Report. Cathie Magowan said that
UCOP continues to be a little unsettled. There was a MRU review and
funding workgroup convened by the Academic Senate to propose recommendations
for change. A review committee will look at the entire portfolio of
MRUs with the idea of trying to get some new groups started. The first
round of competitive renewals will probably be focused on earth and
space sciences (funds redirected from the disestablished CalSpace program).
There will probably be more conferences on dealing with hazards. There
was also a budget recommendation from the Senate Work Group for a 2.5%
cut for all MRUs in 2007-08.
Rory Hume is the new Provost for the Office of Research. He’s
doing a review of all the research in the Office of the President. Besides
the MRUs, there are special research projects and presidential fellowships,
and DANR research within UCOP. He’s looking to consolidate. He’s
a campus advocate. It’s clear they want to have the VCRs much
more involved on the different campuses. It’s not clear how this
will affect the MRUs.
Director’s Office Report. John Knezovich reported
that a number of AC folks helped review our two lead campus proposals:
One with aquatic toxicology and the other was the toxicology of nanomaterials.
We funded that nanotoxicology project at UCLA. There’s already
a center at UCLA dealing with engineering nanomaterials (CNSI), but
they didn’t have a health impacts component. The director, Andre
Nel has already made a name for himself in this area. He’s looking
to integrate the public health program at UCLA with this nanomaterials
research center. He’ll be giving a talk at our Santa Cruz Symposium.
Knezovich thanked Art Fong for recommending a representative from industry
for this new lead campus. It is indicative of how this program can be
responsive. At the last AC meeting Cort Anastasio talked about the new
aerosols and health program. They are having a retreat in Arnold later
this week and Knezovich will be attending.
Internships: We posted a Chevron internship on our
website. Zach Wong did get a UCD undergraduate intern this year. Knezovich
will be devoting more time to this in the near future and will have
an article written on the Chevron intern for our Fall newsletter. Toxic
Directory: now up and running which will make TSR&TP more of a resource
to the State of California. It is searchable by keyword. He encouraged
the committee to take a look.
Best Publication Award: We chose 6 winners that covered
a broad spectrum, human health, toxicology, etc which are available
on our website. The Executive Committee decided this will be an annual
award and up to two publications will be selected each year.
DTSC contract on pollution prevention: Julie Schoenung
at UCD is now working on this. They’re going to have a follow-up
meeting with the president of the Chemical Industry Council. Schoenung
will go into 2 or 3 industry facilities in California and evaluate their
chemical process flow and make recommendations. The Council has already
lined up some companies. This will be an important role for TSR&TP
to get more collaborations with industry and UC.
New Advisory Committee representatives: Knezovich
tried to contact Holly King from the Central Valley Project. John Crapo
from CPRC will give recommendations from the policy perspective. Fong
would like to see a greater participation for inclusion of the NGOs.
Leslie Stewart recommended Ann Hancock from the Sonoma Climate Protection
group. Other suggested groups or individuals include the Oil Spill Depot,
IEP consortium, Chuck Armor or Brian Finlayson from Fish & Game
and Gina Solomon from National Research Defense Council.
Lunch was served at 12:05pm, reconvened at 12:35pm
Shankar Prasad Presentation. Prasad is the Deputy
Secretary for Science and Environmental Justice at CalEPA and talked
about the comprehensive review of all the state agencies at the request
of Gov. Schwarzenegger.
Areas of Research Interests. Macaulay is interested
in SIPs (structural insulated panels). He couldn’t find any new
information on the toxicology. These are touted as green building materials.
Stewart said that some of it is green from sustainability standpoint
and not necessarily green from a toxics standpoint.
Richard Bode said climate change is a big issue – Schwarzenegger
signed a new bill that now gives the ARB a tremendous amount of responsibility
(more than authority) to plan for how to reduce current greenhouse gas
emissions down to 1999 levels. The ARB has also been looking at ultrafine
particles from auto exhaust, especially diesel traps. There are also
concerns with compressed wood products, especially the use of formaldehyde.
The ARB has been working for 5 years to set some emissions standards
for pressed wood products. CA has become a dumping ground for a lot
of these products. A standard should be determined by early 2007.
Winona Victery said EPA is working on better ways to measure outcomes
from improvements in media (air, water, etc) for health and ecological
indicators. There’s an RFA out that ORD has listed – how
do we work with health and environmental data to get some outcomes that
can be used in the regulatory world. There’s a lot of effort in
the research arm of EPA to develop some mechanistic answers. EPA initiated
a study where the LA airport will evaluate the air quality around the
airport. Community groups had a settlement agreement with city of LA
to fund this air quality study.
Steve Book said there’s still anxiety amongst recipients of recycled
water that contained pharmaceuticals and personal care products. It
is difficult to analyze the effects of low levels of these chemicals
and make assurances that filtering “toilet to tap” will
keep hazards out of the drinking water. DHS is also looking at blue-green
algae. There have been new populations of microcystis found in the Delta.
Why isn’t anyone getting sick from the Klamath River when they
water ski through it when our RA data says they should? It’s also
tied into the ecological health of the Klamath and political issues,
tribal issues, farmers, fishermen, etc.
Zach Wong said the next budget cycle for Chevron will include 4 RFP
committees targeting 2 areas – risk assessment for effective decision-making
and biomonitoring of human health. RFPs will be crafted and become public
in early 2007. The other area of interest is biofuels – they are
partnering with UCD with $25 million in research. It’s been a
challenge to get people with the necessary credentials and training
in product stewardship (green chemistry). Chevron is having a hard time
hiring new graduates. It’s a combination of the skill sets and
behaviors. They find they do better in hiring the experienced people.
He senses there’s a growing demand in this area. Wong will be
teaching a course in industrial toxicology at UCD.
Art Fong agreed that there is a critical shortage of people with experience
and expertise in toxicology. The biomonitoring legislation recently
signed into law is of interest to the high-tech industry and something
that UC can play an active role in – what to do with the data.
Millions of data points will be generated and we will need to learn
how to make sense out of it. From the high-tech perspective, the state
of CA doesn’t seem to be playing a leadership role in nanotoxicology
issues. UC can encourage or organize or act as advisors in a work group
being assembled by different state agencies.
Leslie Stewart said emissions tie in with concern about consumer products.
New car smells – are they toxic? Small window air conditioners
- the chemical odor being put out, where does this come from and is
it toxic? There’s going to be an increasing awareness and concern
about these types of things. Invasive species: there’s a new Coast
Guard regulation that says you can’t take a vessel from one body
of water to another without eliminating the species that may be in/on
it first. Ships were put into the Richmond Harbor and they chipped the
hull paint to remove the species. The toxic lead paint along with the
organisms are now at the bottom of Richmond Harbor. The water board
didn’t know about this until a newspaper article brought it up
because the Coast Guard isn’t talking.
Bruce LaBelle said DTSC is interested in working more with TSR&TP
on Green Chemistry issues. Other areas of interest are how to develop
a policy in California for Nanotechnology, SB1379, the biomonitoring
bill signed into law does not provide funding, PPCP - why wait until
it becomes a waste before we do something about it? We need more understanding
of these products and what’s in them. Is the plastic a toxic substance?.
These issues can be addressed in education and training at UC.
Meeting was adjourned at 2:19 p.m.
