Incinerator a tourist attraction!

Irish Times 6/6/00

The Municipal Incinerator at Spittelau in Vienna has become a major tourist attraction, with its unusual mixture of art and technology. The other surprising thing about the incinerator, which was re-built in 1989, is that it is located within a built up area which includes the Vienna Business University as well as offices and residential accommodation.

An electronic, variable display noticeboard at the nearest traffic junction shows at a glance the plant's emissions of six major pollutants:

• Carbon monoxide
• Sulphur dioxide
• Hydrogen chloride
• Nitrogen oxides
• Hydrocarbons
• Dust.

Every parameter is invariably far below the maximum limits, and dioxin counts are not given because they are so small that they cannot be measured continuously.

The plant incinerates c.270,000 tonnes (at temperatures of 850(C) of municipal waste annually, generating enough heat to provide for 15,000 homes.

The whole complex process, which attempts to deal with the waste with minimum potential for environmental pollution, could be seen as a model for those countries like ours which have to address the issues of waste management.

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Fluoridation forum a token gesture

Irish Times 30/5/00

The Minister for Health has announced the establishment of a 20 member forum to review the fluoridation of piped water supplies. However, Mr John Gormley, T.D.,who is the rapporteur for water fluoridation for the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Health, and who has campaigned against fluoridation, said that he believed the establishment of the forum was a "token gesture".

Mr Martin, who has acknowledged that he is a supporter of fluoridation, said that the forum would examine alleged links between fluoridation and cancer and osteoporosis. It would also look at the quantity of fluoride being added and make assessments on each health board area.

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Action promised on waterway pollution

Irish Times 30/5/00

The Ministers for the Marine, Agriculture and Environment are to draw up anti-pollution strategy to tackle degradation of waterways by agricultural effluent. This was pledged following the release of findings of a three-year environmental study of Mayo's River Robe, which showed that 68% of the river is polluted and that its future as a salmonid fishery is gravely threatened.

The study noted that only 40% of the land in the river catchment is suitable for slurry application but no restrictions of same are in place, and some 180 million gallons of slurry are generated in the catchment annually. In addition, the phosphorus load from sheep, an estimated 834 tonnes, is equivalent to the impact on the area of a human population of just over one million!

The study recommends full implementation of nutrient management planning, underpinned by local bye-laws to ensure consistency of approach. The 1999 Local Government Act gives local authorities the power to adopt bye-laws which could restrict slurry spreading in certain areas.

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Cork City to get £56 million sewage treatment plant

Irish Times 10/01/01

Permission has been given for a £56 million sewage treatment plant at Carrigrennan in Cork Harbour. The plant will incorporate the most advanced technology available, and holds out the prospect of a clean River Lee after years of pollution.

All the city's domestic waste will be piped to the lower harbour area and treated at Carrigrennan. Solid matter will be turned into fertiliser pellets, and, after further treatment, the harmless water residue will be disposed of at sea.

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Future for pesticides

The October 2000 issue of Grapevine (the newsletter of the british Agrochemicals Association) reports that Professor Fred Klingauf (of the German Pesticides Safety Directorate) claims that chemical presticides will still be nrecessary in 40 years time. He also said:

"The risk to wildlife from the use of pesticides is now only 10% of what it was ten years ago and yet the public is unware of the efforts being made to move away from potentially harmful ppesticides."

The same issue of Grapevine reports that independent tests for the BBC Countryfile programme have found that conventionally grown carrots and organic carrots have precisely the same amount of pesticide residues - NONE.

Not what one would expect from the higher price of organic produce.

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More educational news

The Salter's Chemistry Club has sent out information on their 2001 Chemistry Camps (in the UK but open to year 3 Irish students) and Festivals of Chemistry (for 6th. year primary/1st. year secondary students) which are being held in Ireland at University College, Cork, Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Limerick. Information is being circulated with this issue. But if you don't get it contact club@salters.co.uk or camps@salters.co.uk for more details.

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Modern Chemical Techniques

This video from the Royal Society of Chemistry and Glaxo Wellcome supports the teaching of instrumental techniques in A-level and LC chemistry (as in the new syllabus). It consists of a number of 5 minute video clips on a number of instrumental methods, giving an overview of the technique, showing sample preparation and how a sample is run on a modern instrument.

The Chemistry in Action! bookstall ahs a few copies of this left at the special price of £16.20 inc. p&p for irish schools. Send in an order (on money) and we will invoice you with the tape, as long as they're available. We sold a lot of them at the ChemED-Ireland 2000 conference and they went like 'hot cakes'.

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Chemical & Mining News

Marie Walsh

GlaxoWellcome -SmithKlineBeecham merger goes ahead

On the 1st. January the Smith Kline Beecham and Glaxo Wellcome merger went ahead, after several months of uncertainty and delay, to form a new mega-pharmaceuitical company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). This means the loss of two traditional names in the pharmaceutical business - Beecham and Wellcome.

(See http://corp.gsk.com)

SmithKline Beckman and The Beecham Group merged in 1989 to form SmithKline Beecham and Glaxo and Glaxo and Wellcome merged in 1995 to form GlaxoWellcome.

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The world's bestselling drugs

(The Economist, 6/1/01)

In October 2000 the world's bestsellers in the pharmaceutical top ten were:

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Pfizer now largest drug company

Pfizer,following its merger in 2000 with Warner-Lambert, is now the world's largest pharmaceutical company. It is the only one to have 8 products earning more than $1 billion each a year. As the table above shows, Pfizer has 3 drugs in the top 10 (and that doesn't include Viagra!).

Pfizer is now a massive company employing 12,500 researchers, with an R&D budget of $5 billion a year. Its merger with Warner-Lambert, which is snatched from under the nose of American Home Products, is set to save the combined companies $1.6 billion by the end of 2002. There are 150 products in the pipeline

We reported Pfizer in issue #59 on Pfizer's 125 anniversary as a company in 1999, although it has only been making pharmaceuticals since 1950.

The Pfizer plant in Ringaskiddy now has an excellent website www.pfizer.ie/ and information on the parent company can be found at www.pfizer.com/main.html

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Rising zinc prices boost Arcon

Irish Independent 22/9/00

Arcon (and Galmoy) are set to reap the benefits of higher zinc prices at its mine near Galmoy, Co. Kilkenny. The group reported a first-half profit of œ495,000 in 2000 compared to a break-even situation in 1999. Zinc isworth about $1200 a tonne, form a low of less than half of that figure.

The mine is predicted to have a 15 year lifespan, with the possibility of an extension based on the results of on-going drilling tests. Arcon has just completed a tailings pond (with a ten year life) at the Galmoy site at a cost of £2.7 million.

Just down the road the Galmoy mine is also now in full operation, and working on a larger ore body in the same mineralised zone.

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(Cartoon courtesy of Calbiochem)

BOOK REVIEWS

Popular chemistry books are few and far between - cosmology and biology are the trendy areas for science writers. However, a number of chemistry titles have appeared recently - John Emsley has produiced several, the latest one being The Shocking History of Phosphorus (Chemistry in Action! #60, p.57). Two other recent books are mentioned below. Encourage your students to read them to get them excited about chemistry.

Mendeleyev's Dream: the quest for the chemical elements:

The quest for the elements

Paul Strathern

London, Hamish Hamilton 2000

ISBN0-241-14065-X, £12.99 hb, 308 pp

The author studied science at Trinity College, Dublin and then switched to philosphy. He has written novels as well as philosophy and science books, and lectures in philosophy and science at third level. This latest book traces the idea of the chemical element as it developed, culminating in Mendeleyev's ordering of the elements into the Periodic Table. The book is mostly a history of chemistry, rather than a biography, and only the last two chapters (out of 14) deal with Mendeleyev. It provides a readable introduction to the history of chemistry for the student and a refresher course for the teacher who wants to revise the development of chemistry. Well worth buying and reading - the price is reasonable for a hardback, and no doubt it will soon be out in paperback.

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Mauve: How one man invented a colour that changed the world

Simon Garfield

London: Faber & Faber, 2000

ISBN 0-571-20197-0, £9.99 hb, 222 pp

This book is a biography of William Perkin and the dye he accidentally discovered at the age of 18 - mauve. He made his fortune and his reputation, he started the synthetic dyestuffs industry and changed the colour of his world. Until mauve dyes were obtained from natural sources and the range of colours was limited. When Perkin showed that black coal tar could be turned into beautiful colours, this started the coal tar industry which in turn led to the petrochemical industry and the modern world. This is a colourful and human story and its focus on the people involved, as well as the chemistry, gives it more popular appeal. It's a book that might well whet the appetite of a teenager to go where Perkin went before.

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