It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, January 19, 2023
Reforming the Chinese Academy of Sciences to manage large-scale research
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE (AAAS)
As China seeks to reform its science and technology system over the coming decades, the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) has been under increasing pressure to reinvent itself to maintain its position as the nation’s most prominent research institution. In a Policy Forum, Xiyi Yang and colleagues discuss the major challenges faced by the CAS and what has led to its current restructuring efforts under the Pioneer Initiative. According to the authors, by focusing resources on managing large-scale research infrastructure, the CAS may be able to elevate its uniqueness and strategic importance among China’s many research institutions. The CAS – which encompasses more than 100 institutes and tens of thousands of researchers nationwide – has played a large role in advancing China’s science and technology. However, amidst national efforts to reform China’s science and technology program, the CAS has been under pressure to produce original and more visible science breakthroughs to justify its reputation and substantial state-funded budget. Currently, under a new Pioneer Initiative, the CAS is in the process of reorganizing its myriad institutes into four categories – centers focused on basic research, applied science, big-science centers managing large-scale infrastructure, and specialized institutes that address region-specific problems in China. According to Yang et al., emphasis on basic research, applied science, and regional development will not differentiate the CAS much from China’s many other science and technology organizations and universities. However, concentrating resources on creating centers of big-science research infrastructure – installations that address “grand challenges of human society,” like particle colliders or large astronomical observatories, for example – may bring more distinct competitiveness to the CAS. “The process of turning the CAS into national laboratories oriented toward administering and supervising China’s big-science research infrastructure is complicated and even radical and painful, especially given its storied history,” write the authors. “It will be less a scientific and more a political, economic, and administrative decision.”
Testing of plane wastewater showed ‘failure’ of COVID-era air travel measures
Almost all planes arriving at three UK airports during a period of COVID restrictions had the SARS CoV-2 virus in their wastewater, according to newly published research.
Almost all planes arriving at three UK airports during a period of Covid restrictions had the SARS CoV-2 virus in their wastewater, according to newly published research. The virus was also found in wastewater at arrival terminals.
Bangor University scientists, who pioneered the use of wastewater testing to track SARS-CoV2 in the UK, wanted to find out whether wastewater testing could be used as a way of monitoring the general health of passengers on flights coming into the country in future. The study was funded by the UK’s Health Security Agency and is published in PLOS Global Public Health.
The team tested the toilet tank water taken from long haul and short haul flights entering the UK at Heathrow, Edinburgh and Bristol airports over a three-week period between 8-31 March 2022. Samples were also collected from sewers connected to the arrival halls in the airport terminals and at a wastewater treatment plant in the vicinity of each airport.
The COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in England on the 18th March 2022, removing the requirement for unvaccinated passengers to take a pre-departure test and a day 2 post arrival test to prove their Covid status. But the researchers found little difference in the concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater before and after that date.
Professor Davey Jones from Bangor University’s School of Natural Sciences, said,
“Despite all the intervention measures that the UK had in place to try to stop people with the illness getting on flights to the UK, almost every single plane we tested contained the virus, and most of the terminal sewers too. That might have been because people developed symptoms after testing negative; or were evading the system, or for some other reason. But it showed that there was essentially a failure of border control in terms of Covid surveillance.”
Earlier research by the team may explain why. In a poll of 2000 adults, 23% of respondents admitted that they had previously boarded a flight back to the UK while feeling ill. That survey also asked respondents about their toilet habits on flights, and found that 13% of individuals catching a short haul flight would be likely to defecate on the plane; with a higher proportion seen in long haul passengers, at around 36% of the total. Based on this information, together with Covid shedding rates, the team estimated that if wastewater sampling was set up at airports in future, it could capture 8-14% of SARS-CoV-2 cases entering the UK via air travel.
The researchers believe wastewater sampling could form part of a future infectious disease surveillance system for the UK. Future sampling could also pick up other infections, such as Norovirus or Enterovirus, potentially giving a clearer picture of what pathogens are entering the country.
Researcher Dr Kata Farkas said: “This is about getting an overall picture to help UK health systems to be prepared, or, if possible, have an advance warning, of emerging diseases. It wouldn’t be feasible to test every flight arriving, but taking wastewater from arrivals at a single airport terminal used for long-haul arrivals may provide an estimate of diseases entering the country.”
She added: “At the moment we have no idea how many people come into the country carrying different diseases, partly because no one wants to be tested on the spot. Wastewater monitoring gives us a snapshot of the infectious diseases passengers may carry upon arrival.”
‘Wastewater-based monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 at UK airports and its potential role in international public health surveillance’ is published today in PLOS Global Public Health.
Scientists have shed new light on the ‘self-cleaning’ capacity of the atmosphere.
This process of self-cleaning is essential to remove gaseous pollutants and regulate greenhouse gases such as methane from the atmosphere.
Researchers were already aware that the atmosphere had this ‘self-cleaning’ ability, but in a new study from the University York, experts have now shown a new process that increases the ability of the marine atmosphere to self-cleanse.
Using a combination of aircraft and ground-based observations, scientists were able to confirm the widespread presence of nitrous oxide (HONO) in the remote Atlantic troposphere formed by so-called “renoxification”, whereby photolysis of aerosol nitrate returns nitrogen oxides (NOx) and HONO to the marine atmosphere.
Historically, aerosol nitrate had been considered a permanent sink for NOx. This new process could increase the ability of the atmosphere to self-cleanse on a global scale.
Scientists say the findings, published in Sciences Advances, could be highly significant for atmospheric chemistry and largely reconcile widespread uncertainty on the importance of renoxification.
With funding from the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC), scientists from the Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories (WACL) led extensive aircraft and ground-based observations in and around Cape Verde in August 2019 and February 2020.
Lead author, Professor Lucy Carpenter said: “Importantly, the observations showed that the efficiency of renoxification increased with relative humidity and decreased with the concentration of nitrate.
“This observation reconciled the very large discrepancies in the rates of renoxification found across multiple laboratory and field studies.
“It was also consistent with renoxification occurring on the surface of aerosols, rather than within their bulk, a new and exciting finding with implications for how this fundamental process is controlled and parameterised in models.”
Recycling of nitrogen oxides on nitrate aerosol could have important, increasing, and as yet unexplored implications for the trends and distributions of atmospheric oxidants such as tropospheric ozone, an important greenhouse gas.
JOURNAL
Science Advances
Protecting lithium metal anode to enable long cycling practical Li–S batteries
“Energy storage technologies represented by rechargeable batteries are regarded as an indispensable part of the modern energy system based on renewable yet intermittent energy sources,” said the paper author Jia-Qi Huang, professor of Advanced Research Institute of Multidisciplinary Science, Beijing Institute of Technology. “Advanced battery systems with high energy density are of great importance to fill the blank for future applications.”
Huang and his research team have focused on Li–S battery, which has a high theoretical energy density of 2600 Wh kg−1 and is widely considered as one of the most promising next-generation battery technologies.
“Li–S batteries employ elemental sulfur as the cathode active material, Li metal as the anode, and ether-based electrolyte for ion transportation and conversion of the sulfur species,” Huang said. “Nowadays, the electrochemical performances of the sulfur cathode have achieved great promotion. High discharge specific capacity and stable cycling of the sulfur cathode can be achieved under high-loading conditions.”
However, the practical application of Li–S batteries are hindered by the poor cycling stability. According to Huang, Li metal is the bottleneck that limits the cycling lifespan of practical Li–S batteries. Under practical working conditions, high-areal-capacity sulfur cathode and limited anode excess aggravate uneven Li stripping and plating to produce massive Li dendrites and inactive Li that render rapid failure of Li metal anode. Moreover, the soluble high-order lithium polysulfides generated from the cathode side diffuse to the Li anode side and chemically react with Li metal, leading to the reduction of Coulombic efficiency, severe Li metal corrosion, and the depletion of active Li as well as exacerbation of the Li anode unevenness.
To construct long cycling practical Li–S batteries, the protection of Li metal anode is the main focus. Rapidly growing attention has been paid to the protection of Li metal anode in working Li–S batteries with essential improvement in battery performances in the recent years. Considering the importance and the great progress of this field, a timely review to summarize the current understandings. Recent advances of Li metal anode protection in Li–S batteries was presented by Huang and his research team.
“From the perspective of the challenges faced by Li metal anode in Li–S batteries, we proposed three protection strategies in general.” Huang said. “The first strategy is guiding uniform Li plating/stripping, the second strategy is reducing polysulfide concentration in anolyte, and the third strategy is reducing polysulfide reaction activity with Li metal anodes.”
To guide uniform Li metal anode plating/stripping, three strategies were introduced regarding constructing composite Li metal anode, introducing robust artificial solid electrolyte interphase, and introducing electrolyte additives. To reduce polysulfide concentration in anolyte, two main strategies were introduced regrading suppressing the diffusion of lithium polysulfides out of the catholyte and reducing the solubility of lithium polysulfides in electrolyte. To reduce polysulfide reaction activity with Li metal anodes, two strategies were introduced through lithium polysulfide encapsulating and reducing the self-activity of Li metal by Li-based alloy or constructing a shielding interphase.
“Although the stability of Li metal anode in Li–S batteries has been significantly improved, there is still a long way to go before practical battery application,” Huang said. “Focusing on the main challenges and the current protecting strategies, it is believed that essential progress will be made in this research frontier and practical application of advanced Li–S batteries will be realized in the near future.”
To inspire future research and development of constructing advanced Li metal anode for Li–S batteries, Huang and his research team also pointed out that the currently proposed protection strategies should be tested in practical Li–S batteries under working conditions, the Li metal anode/electrolyte interfacial behaviors are needed to be further understood, and the balance of both the sulfur cathode and the Li metal anode performances is necessarily to be considered.
Huang is also affiliated with the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology. Other contributors include Dr. Bo-Quan Li, Chen-Xi Bi, Meng Zhao, and Dr. Xue-Qiang Zhang, Advanced Research Institute of Multidisciplinary Science, Beijing Institute of Technology; Li-Peng Hou, Zheng Li, and Prof. Qiang Zhang, Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Reaction Engineering and Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University.
The following authors have additional affiliations: Dr. Bo-Quan Li, Chen-Xi Bi, Meng Zhao, and Dr. Xue-Qiang Zhang, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology.
Beijing Natural Science Foundation (JQ20004), the National Key Research and Development Program (2021YFB2400300), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22109007 and 22209010), Beijing Institute of Technology Research Fund Program for Young Scholars, and the Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program supported this work.
###
Reference
Authors: CHEN-XI BI, LI-PENG HOU, ZHENG LI, MENG ZHAO, XUE-QIANG ZHANG, BO-QUAN LI , QIANG ZHANG, AND JIA-QI HUANG
Title of original paper: Protecting lithium metal anodes in lithium–sulfur batteries: A review
Journal: Energy Material Advances
DOI: 10.34133/energymatadv.0010
Affiliations:
1School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China.
2Advanced Research Institute of Multidisciplinary Science, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China.
3Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Reaction Engineering and Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
About the Authors:
Dr. Jia-Qi Huang received his Bachelor's and Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering from Tsinghua University in 2007 and 2012, respectively. He is currently a full professor in Advanced Research Institute for Multidisciplinary Science at Beijing Institute of Technology. His research focuses on interface electrochemistry and advanced energy materials design in high-energy-density rechargeable batteries, especially for lithium–sulfur batteries and lithium metal anode.
Dr. Bo-Quan Li obtained his bachelor degree from Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University and PhD degree from Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University. He is currently an associate research fellow in Advanced Research Institute of Multidisciplinary Science, Beijing Institute of Technology. His research interests are advanced energy materials for lithium–sulfur batteries, lithium metal anodes, and bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysis in zinc–air batteries.
JOURNAL
Energy Material Advances
Solved: The secret to long lived leaves
How long will a leaf live? It’s an economic decision made by every tree.
Monkey puzzle tree leaves can live for over two decades. And Picea growing in the Gongga Mountains in China can thrive for thousands of years, growing slowly in severe environments with leaves that last twenty years on average.
On the other hand, maple leaves last a season, while blueberry leaves may last just three months.
So, what determines the lifespan of a tree leaf?
The answer to that superficially simple question is reported today in a paper in Science Advancesby an international team of researchers from China, the UK, Japan, Norway, USA, and Australia.
“It’s all about the economic choices faced by plants,” says first author, Dr Han Wang from Tsinghua University in Beijing.
“We already knew that conifers and other evergreen trees make longer-living leaves the closer they are to the poles,” she says. “Deciduous trees do the opposite. Their longest lasting leaves are found at the tropics.”
“And we knew that long-lived leaves tend to be tougher and thicker, and more expensive to build.”
“Now, we have identified the major environmental factors at play, and summarised them in two equations,” she says. “These leaf economic traits are fundamental to the carbon cycle and nutrient economy.”
The team tested their equations using data from thousands of species from hundreds of ecosystems, drawn from the China Plant Trait Database and the Global Plant Trait Network.
“Each species is essentially taking a punt on the best way to maximise carbon absorption,” says co-author Professor Ian Wright from Macquarie University and Western Sydney University.
“Evergreen conifers growing in poor soil in areas with a long cold winter can only thrive if they make long term investments in their leaves. Whereas deciduous trees, like the maple, race to create new leaves and capture carbon in the summer sun before leaf-drop in autumn,” he says. “The economically rational decision for a maple tree is to invest in fast growing, cheap but flimsy leaves.”
Plants have been subject to profound changes in climate during their evolution. Glaciation and other large, and sometimes rapid, changes in recent geological times have resulted in major changes in vegetation. The human impact on climate and direct impact on vegetation are adding to the forces shaping plant communities, in ways that remain only partly understood.
The researchers propose that this research will not only explain what grows where today, but it will also move ecology into a predictive science that will:
enable better, more accurate global and regional climate models
allow land managers to better model forests and other vegetation, and predict how climate change will affect ecosystems
allow better estimation on crop yield and the impact of climate change on agriculture.
The global team also includes researchers from Imperial College London, UNSW Sydney, Cornell University, Ishikawa Prefectural University, and the University of Oslo. Full list below.
The paper builds on twenty years of research led by Professor Mark Westoby and Professor Ian Wright at Macquarie University.
Their 2004 paper in Nature, ‘The World-wide leaf economics spectrum’ has been cited over 7,500 times and has been followed by papers on leaf photosynthetic capacity, leaf respiration costs, leaf nitrogen concentration, leaf size, and now, leaf lifespan.
“This body of work has transformed ecology,” says Professor Nathan Hart, Head of Macquarie University’s School of Natural Sciences. “It’s also key to ongoing work by Macquarie researchers on the impact of plant invasions, resilience of horticultural species to climate change, and the form and function of plant species on the thousands of islands that surround the Australian mainland”.
States that permit recreational use of cannabis see a reduction in demand for prescription codeine, an opioid with a high potential for misuse, according to a new multi-institutional study led by University of Pittsburgh and Cornell University scientists.
Published this week in Health Economics, the study finds a significant reduction in pharmacy-based codeine distribution in states that have legalized recreational cannabis use. The finding is promising from a public health policy perspective because misuse of prescription opioids annually contributes to more than 10,000 overdose deaths.
Twenty-one U.S. states have passed recreational cannabis laws and legislatures in other states are considering similar measures.
“A reduction in the misuse of opioids can save lives,” said lead author Shyam Raman, a doctoral candidate in Cornell’s Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. “Our research indicates that recreational cannabis laws substantially reduce distribution of codeine to pharmacies, an overlooked potential benefit to legalizing recreational cannabis use.”
The study is among the first to separately examine the impact of recreational cannabis laws on shipments of opioids to hospitals, pharmacies and other endpoint distributors. Previous studies have focused on medical cannabis laws or use of opioids by subsets of consumers, such as Medicaid beneficiaries.
A reduction of 26% in pharmacy-based distribution of codeine and as much as a 37% reduction after recreational cannabis laws have been in effect for four years.
Minimal impact on distribution of other opioids such as oxycodone, hydrocodone and morphine in any setting.
Minimal impact on codeine distribution by hospitals which are often have less permissive policies than pharmacies.
“This finding is particularly meaningful,” said senior author Coleman Drake, Ph.D., assistant professor of health policy and management at Pitt’s School of Public Health. “Among prescription opioids, codeine misuse is especially high. Our findings suggest recreational cannabis use may be a substitute for codeine misuse.”
While cannabis and opioids can be used to minimize chronic pain symptoms, they aren’t equivalent in their impact on health.
“Increasing legal access to cannabis may shift some consumers away from opioids and towards cannabis,” said Johanna Catherine Maclean, Ph.D., of George Mason University. “While all substances have some risks, cannabis use is arguably less harmful to health than the non-medical use of prescription opioids.”
W. David Bradford, Ph.D., of the University of Georgia, is an additional co-author of this research, which was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under award K01D1051761. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
IMAGE: [11C]CURB BINDING, REFLECTING BRAIN LEVELS OF FAAH, RELATES TO SELF-REPORTED ALCOHOL OUTCOMES. THE AUDIT MEASURES RISKY OR HAZARDOUS ALCOHOL USE, WHILE THE ASQ (ALCOHOL SENSITIVITY QUESTIONNAIRE) MEASURES THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL, WITH HIGHER SCORES INDICATING LOWER SENSITIVITY TO ALCOHOL’S EFFECTS.view more
CREDIT: BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
Philadelphia, January 18, 2023 – Although heavy drinking in young adulthood increases the risk for alcohol use disorder (AUD), not all young heavy drinkers go on to develop AUD, globally the most common substance use disorder. Research has shown that individual differences in alcohol sensitivity and cardiovascular responses may predict drinking patterns and progression to AUD. Little is known, however, about the brain-based mechanisms of AUD vulnerability – a better understanding of which could guide preventive interventions against AUD. A new study explores the role of endocannabinoid levels in hazardous alcohol use.
Led by Isabelle Boileau, PhD, at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and University of Toronto, the new study explores the relationship between fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) levels in heavy drinking youth and alcohol intake, drinking patterns, differential responses to alcohol, and family history of AUD. The researchers hypothesized that lower brain FAAH levels would correlate to heavier and more hazardous drinking.
FAAH is an enzyme that degrades the endogenous cannabis-like substance anandamide, a neurotransmitter that activates the cannabinoid 1 receptor (CB1) and is involved in the regulation of pain, appetite, and mood. Endocannabinoid activity specifically in the brain’s striatum and prefrontal cortex regions is thought to modulate the rewarding effects of alcohol. Studies in animals and people have suggested that reduced FAAH activity leads to increased alcohol seeking and consumption and decreased negative effects of intoxication.
The researchers used positron emission tomography imaging of [11C]CURB, a highly specific radiotracer for FAAH, to assess FAAH levels in the striatum, prefrontal cortex, and whole brains of 31 participants aged 19 to 25 who reported at least one occurrence of heavy drinking in the previous 30 days. The researchers also measured behavioral and cardiovascular responses while administering controlled intravenous alcohol infusions to participants.
Lower [11C]CURB binding, reflecting lower FAAH activity and presumably higher anandamide levels, was not related to frequency of alcohol use, but it was associated with more severe use, a greater reported craving for alcohol prior to the infusion, a greater reported “liking” of intoxication during the infusion, and reduced sensitivity to the negative effects of alcohol. “In our study, young adults with lower brain levels of FAAH reported greater stimulation and fewer intoxicating and sedating effects from drinking alcohol,” said Dr. Boileau.
Lower FAAH levels were also associated with lower heart-rate variability, a cardiac measure of parasympathetic nervous system activity. A family history of AUD, present in about half the participants, had no relationship to [11C]CURB binding.
“Our findings are important as they suggest that FAAH levels in the brain may contribute to the maintenance of excessive drinking and to susceptibility for developing an AUD and provide a brain-based target for prevention efforts and treatment approaches,” Dr. Boileau added.
John Krystal, MD, editor of Biological Psychiatry, said of the work, “This fascinating study provides evidence linking increased endocannabinoid levels to reduced sensitivity to the negative effects of alcohol, an important risk factor for heavy drinking and AUD.”
This work suggests that FAAH levels may influence a youth’s susceptibility to alcohol misuse. These findings may guide researchers toward preventive measures to avoid AUD during this critical developmental stage, or potentially to interventions for treatment of AUD.
Association Between Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase and Alcohol Response Phenotypes: A PET Imaging Study with [11C]CURB in Heavy-drinking Youth
COI STATEMENT
The authors’ affiliations and disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available in the article. John H. Krystal, MD, is Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine, Chief of Psychiatry at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and a research psychiatrist at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. His disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available at http://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/content/bps-editorial-disclosures.
BUFFALO, N.Y. – There is a stark contrast between the U.S. and Canada in how cannabis is regulated. Most notably, the government of Canada legalized the drug at the federal level several years ago. In the U.S., however, cannabis remains illegal at the federal level, even as 37 states now have legalized it for medical and/or recreational use.
And when it comes to policies regulating cannabis advertising and marketing, the two countries are even further apart, according to the findings of a new University at Buffalo study that compared cannabis marketing policies in Canada and among U.S. states.
In fact, most states do not address many of the cannabis advertising activities that are prohibited in Canada, the study, published in the journal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, found. There are 11 illegal advertising tactics — such as glamorization and testimonials — in Canada’s policy that are not specifically addressed in any of the state policies in the U.S.
“The United States has inconsistencies compared to Canada when it comes to cannabis marketing and advertising regulations. While Canada has a federal Cannabis Act that provides structured guidance for those in the cannabis industry to communicate about the product in a way that protects vulnerable populations, many states in the U.S. tend to be vaguer in their policies,” says Natasha C. Allard, the paper’s lead author and a PhD student in the Department of Community Health and Health Behavior in UB’s School of Public Health and Health Professions.
“This lack of guidance makes things confusing for advertisers and also opens up the potential for public health harms, such as youth being targeted with messaging or the spread of misinformation and false claims,” adds Allard, whose research focuses on health communication and young adult cancer prevention.
Allard’s co-authors are Jessica Kruger, PhD, clinical assistant professor, and Daniel Kruger, PhD, research associate professor, both in the Department of Community Health and Health Behavior at UB. Daniel Kruger is also affiliated with the Population Studies Center in the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.
Canada’s cannabis marketing laws certainly aren’t perfect, the researchers point out, but they are significantly better than the policies that exist in various states, where inconsistencies and a lack of guidance on prohibited advertising tactics leave young people and other vulnerable populations open to being exposed to cannabis advertising.
That’s a problem because previous research on alcohol, cigarettes and e-cigarettes has shown that kids who are exposed to marketing messaging about these substances are more likely to take them up or increase their use.
“Responsible cannabis advertising policies should ensure that marketing messages do not reach a younger demographic,” says Jessica Kruger.
To see how the two countries’ policies differ, researchers reviewed Health Canada’s 2018 Cannabis Act and 2019 Cannabis Regulations. Then, they compared those guidelines with the U.S. states where cannabis is legal for medical and/or adult use, which, at the time of the research, was 36.
Because there’s no federal policy, cannabis advertising regulations vary greatly across the U.S., with some states prohibiting advertising altogether and others putting forth minimal documented regulations. Among the 31 states that did allow some form of cannabis advertising, 74% explicitly prohibit targeting or appealing to minors and 68% prohibit making false or misleading claims. Just over half the states have restrictions on where advertisements can be placed, and 42% have restrictions on building signage.
State cannabis regulations should more strongly ban false claims, especially given the increasing frequency with which cannabis is touted as a “wonder drug,” Allard says. The researchers also recommend that states should consider requiring the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve any health benefit claims made in cannabis advertising, and advertisements should be monitored and regulated to avert false and misleading claims.
Canada, however, is much stricter in its approach. For example, its policy extensively and comprehensively outlines and prohibits 18 marketing strategies at a national level, including targeting/appealing to minors, offering coupons and giveaways, promoting health or cosmetic benefits, endorsements and testimonials, false claims, and association with alcohol or tobacco products.
When it comes to television and radio commercials, the United States’ 30% rule — whereby an ad can’t be aired on a show if minors account for 30% or more of the audience — doesn’t adequately protect young people because 30% could still mean that millions of children will see the ad if it is on a popular channel or show.
In contrast, in Canada, all forms of communication must be information only and on a channel that is geared only to adults of legal age.
Moreover, the researchers say, the U.S. could benefit from having nationwide consistency for digital ad requirements, such as age-gating websites (which require visitors to check a box indicating they are 21 or older).
Most states also often overlook laws and policies around cannabis advertising, instead implementing such regulations after legalization has occurred.
“Many states could benefit from thinking through cannabis marketing and advertising activities and structuring these in a clear way for those in the cannabis industry as legalization spreads,” Allard says.
IMAGE: THIS FIGURE SHOWS A PROCESS FOR IMPLEMENTING THE ESSENTIAL-USE APPROACH BY TRIAGING DECISIONS ABOUT THE NECESSITY OF CHEMICALS OF CONCERN IN SPECIFIC CONSUMER PRODUCTS AND INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES. ONCE ANY QUESTION IS ANSWERED NO, THE PROCESS CONCLUDES.view more
CREDIT: BALAN ET AL. (2023) OPTIMIZING CHEMICALS MANAGEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA THROUGH THE ESSENTIAL-USE APPROACH. ENVIRON. SCI. TECHNOL. HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.1021/ACS.EST.2C05932
A new approach can help governments and businesses eliminate harmful chemicals from daily use and exposure, according to a paper published today in Environmental Science & Technology.
It’s a simple concept, but a drastic departure from the status quo of chemicals management in the U.S. and Canada. The authors lay out recommendations for implementing this approach to benefit public health, the environment, and the economy. The authors advocate for using “essential use approach” to speed up and more efficiently take harmful chemicals out of the marketplace.
“In the U.S. and Canada, most chemicals have not been evaluated prior to use,” said Carol Kwiatkowski, co-author and scientist at the Green Science Policy Institute. “Once a chemical is suspected of causing harm, it can take decades before any restrictions are enacted. By that time, the chemical is often replaced with a similar one that will also take years to regulate. The essential-use approach is a more efficient strategy to minimize risk before harm occurs.”
The essential-use approach states that chemicals of concern should only be used where the use of such chemicals in a product is “necessary for health, safety or is critical for the functioning of society” and where feasible alternatives are not available. The idea originated in the Montreal Protocol but was more recently adapted by an international group of scientists in its proposed approach for managing the whole class of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). In 2020, the EU endorsed this approach in its Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, calling for phasing out all PFAS and other most harmful chemicals, except for uses that are determined to be essential for society.
The approach has gained traction in some U.S. states for PFAS. In 2021 the U.S. state of Maine banned the use of PFAS in all products by 2030, except where the state determines a use is “currently unavoidable.” Other U.S. states are similarly banning the use of PFAS in specific products.
The authors recommend that that governments and businesses in the U.S. and Canada fully transition to the “essential use approach” by:
Defining chemicals of concern using a broad range of hazard traits.
Expediting decisions regarding the use of chemicals of concern by asking the easiest of three questions:
Is the function of the chemical necessary for the product?
Is use of the chemical the safest feasible option?
Is use of the chemical justified because such use in the product is necessary for health, safety, or the functioning of society?
Applying the essential-use approach early in the process of developing, using, and managing chemicals of concern.
Supporting decisions by engaging diverse experts and sharing information necessary for identifying essential uses.
