Underground coal mine collapse injures 3 in Montana


A mine employee stands in the entry of the Signal Peak Energy's Bull Mountain mine in Roundup, Mont.,, on Nov. 9, 2010. Authorities said Wednesday, March 1, 2023, that three workers were injured in a collapse at the underground coal mine that has a history of safety violations.

 (AP Photo/Janie Osborne, File)

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Three workers were injured when part of an underground coal mine with a history of safety violations collapsed in southern Montana, authorities said Wednesday.

The miners were about a mile inside Signal Peak Energy’s Bull Mountain Mine when the area where they were extracting coal caved in for unknown reasons, said Justin Russell, director of Musselshell County Disaster and Emergency Services.

One of the miners suffered serious injures in the collapse and was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Billings. The others suffered moderate injuries.

It took the mine’s rescue team about an hour to extract the miner most seriously hurt, Russell said. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration will investigate.

A former executive at the mine south of Roundup in 2021 pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges after admitting that he conspired with others to conceal injuries to employees on at least two occasions.

Also in 2021, Signal Peak Energy pleaded guilty to four counts of willful violation of health and safety standards and agreed to pay $1 million as part of a plea agreement with federal authorities.

The mine employs about 210 people, including 130 who work underground, according federal records.

EMS workers punished for media interviews in NYC settle suit


FDNY paramedic Elizabeth Bonilla wears her multicolored braids as she sits in her ambulance between calls after delivering a patient to Jacobi Medical Center, April 15, 2020, in the Bronx borough of New York. Four New York City ambulance workers, including Bonilla, who said they were disciplined for speaking to the media during the first harrowing months of the COVID-19 pandemic, have reached a settlement in their free speech lawsuit against the fire department and the city, their union announced Wednesday, March 1, 2023. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

NEW YORK (AP) — Four New York City ambulance workers who said they were disciplined for speaking to the media during the harrowing, early months of the COVID-19 pandemic have reached a settlement in their free speech lawsuit against the fire department and the city, their union announced Wednesday.

The four emergency medical workers — including paramedic Elizabeth Bonilla, who allowed the Associated Press follow her through the first half of a 16-hour double shift in April 2020 — will each receive $29,999, a spokesperson for FDNY EMS Local 2507 said. Additionally, the city will expunge from their records any claim that they violated department rules by communicating with the news media.

The city law department said in a statement that the parties reached a fair resolution. A message left with the fire department was not immediately returned.

Bonilla, along with fellow paramedics Alexander Nunez and Megan Pfeiffer, and emergency medical technician John Rugen, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan in June 2020 alleging that they had been unfairly punished for giving media interviews about their work on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to their union, Bonilla, Nunez and Pfeiffer were restricted from treating any patients, and Rugen was put on restricted status and suspended without pay for 30 days.

“Our union always believed that the City and FDNY’s case was built upon nothing more than prosecutorial overzealousness,” Oren Barzilay, the president of the local, said in a statement.

Barzilay said that “With this settlement, justice is finally served, albeit a bit cold after nearly three years.”

‘Enough pollution’ in low-income NJ area with 1 power plant

By WAYNE PARRY

yesterday

(AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

WOODBRIDGE, N.J. (AP) — Residents of low-income communities in New Jersey that would get a second gas-fired power plant nearby are urging the governor to halt the project, which they said flies in the face of an environmental justice law he signed with great fanfare over two years ago — but which has yet to take full effect.

Competitive Power Ventures wants to build the second plant beside one it already operates in the Keasbey section of Woodbridge, about 22 miles (35 kilometers) south of Newark. The company says the expansion is needed because of growing demand for energy, pitching it as a reliable backup source for solar and wind energy when those types of power are not available.

But residents of the mostly minority neighborhood of Keasbey, as well as surrounding low-income and minority towns, say the second plant will pump even more pollution into an area that already suffers disproportionately from it.

They say their communities are precisely the types of places that are supposed to be protected by the law Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed in 2020, calling it the toughest environmental justice law in the nation. The measure is designed to ensure low-income and minority communities that are already overburdened with pollution are not forced to accept additional sources of it.

“We have enough pollution here,” said Jean Roy, an asthma sufferer from Woodbridge. He noted that the state’s two largest highways — the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway — run through Woodbridge, which is already highly industrialized.

“Don’t add more,” he said. “It would be nice to see the plant built in some of the more affluent and pretty areas.”

The governor’s office referred inquiries to the state Department of Environmental Protection, which considers Keasbey “an overburdened community” under the environmental justice law.

But because CPV’s application for an air quality permit was deemed complete in 2017 — before the new law was signed — the pending measure does not apply to it, said Larry Hajna, a DEP spokesperson. An administrative order issued by the governor requires CPV to take certain steps, including holding the public comment session it hosted Tuesday night.

The company is obligated to respond to concerns raised at the hearing, and the DEP can impose special conditions on permit approvals for the project “as may be necessary to avoid or minimize environmental or public health stressors upon the overburdened community to the maximum extent allowable by law,” Hajna said.

During Tuesday’s hearing, residents lambasted the state, saying they’re angry that the environmental justice law still has not taken full effect. They voiced suspicion that this and other proposed power plants will be approved before the new rules take hold in April.

Chris Nowell of the environmental group Food & Water Watch said Murphy should not “allow this plant to beat the buzzer by one month.” If that happens, he asked, “Do you think we would have any faith in the DEP left at all?”

The American Lung Association gives Middlesex County, which includes Woodbridge, a grade of “F” for ground-level ozone pollution.

Numerous speakers from Woodbridge and neighboring communities told of their children’s struggles with asthma and other ailments, which they attribute to growing up in a polluted industrial area.

James Dabrowski, secretary of the NAACP chapter in the neighboring city of Perth Amboy, recalled a terrifying incident with his 1-year-old son.

“We had to rush him to the hospital in an ambulance because he couldn’t breathe,” he said. “CPV already has one massive fossil fuel plant in Keasbey spewing out toxins. The last thing we need is another power plant right next to it.”

Daniel Heyden of nearby Metuchen said he lives just over two miles from the existing CPV plant, and his 2-year-old son also had to be hospitalized in intensive care with an extreme form of asthma. He now must take three different medicines a day.

CPV, which is based in Silver Spring, Maryland, says its proposed second plant “will be one of the most efficient and lowest emitting generation facilities of its kind” as it provides enough electricity to power 600,000 homes and businesses. The company says its new plant will allow the closure of older, less efficient and more polluting facilities.

CPV said Tuesday the greenhouse gas emissions from the new plant would be “at the lowest level achievable in the U.S. from a natural gas-fired electric generating station.”

It still needs over a half-dozen environmental permits from state and federal authorities.

Only a tiny handful of speakers supported the project, including a retired union worker and a current union official praising the jobs it would create.

But most speakers said the health consequences of another power plant in the area would far outweigh any economic benefits.

“Your jobs mean nothing to me,” said Brian Russo, an environmentalist from northern New Jersey who used to work in the Woodbridge area. “There will be no jobs on a dead planet.”

___

Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at twitter.com/WayneParryAC

The CPV power plant operates in Woodbridge N.J. on Feb. 27, 2023. The company's plan to a second gas-fired power plant next to the existing one is being opposed by residents of the mainly minority and low-income communities around the plant who say an environmental justice law signed over two years ago by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy but which has yet to take full effect should prevent the plant from being built. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

Canada Soccer president resigns amid equal pay dispute

Mathias Brück
02/28/2023February 28, 2023

Nick Bontis has resigned as president of Canada Soccer amid a bitter labor dispute that has plagued the women's and men's national teams. Both teams had called for a change in leadership.

Canada Soccer president Nick Bontis stepped down from his position on Monday amid frustration among women players in the football association over pay equity with their male colleagues.

Bontis, 53, acknowledged in a statement that "change is required" in order to achieve an agreement with the Canadian men's and women's teams. He had been president of Canada Soccer since November 2020 and a member of the organization's board since 2012.

"Canada Soccer and both of our national team programs have the real potential to sign a historic collective bargaining agreement," Bontis said in a statement Monday.

"Once signed, it will be a landmark deal that will set our nation apart from virtually every other FIFA member association. While I have been one of the biggest proponents of equalizing the competitive performance environment for our women's national team, I will unfortunately not be leading this organization when it happens. I acknowledge that this moment requires change."



Inequality in funding

Bontis' announcement came just hours after the 13 presidents of Canada's provincial and territorial soccer federations, a group known collectively as "the President's Forum", sent a letter requesting his resignation.

According to Canadian broadcaster TSN, the document signed by the group's chair Kevin Topolinski, said: "With the unanimous support of all members of the Presidents' Forum, I am requesting your resignation as president of Canada Soccer effective immediately. The Presidents' Forum, representing the member associations of Canada Soccer, is requesting your resignation due to non-confidence in your leadership of Canada Soccer."

Canada Soccer has been embroiled in a dispute over its budget and player salaries for months. Players from the Canadian women's national soccer team said they will boycott a team camp in April, should there demands over pay inequality not be met.

In a statement issued earlier in February the team demanded "immediate change” and called on Canada Soccer to treat the women's program "equally and fairly” with its funding. In 2021, the CSA spent $11 million (€7.62 million) on the men's side and $5.1 million (€3.53 million) on the women's side.

The Canadian women's soccer team protesting at the 2023 SheBelieves Cup

Image: Mark Zaleski/AP/picture alliance

'Enough is enough'

The women's team planned to go on strike ahead of the recent SheBelieves Cup, but Canada Soccer threatened with legal action should the players not take the field. The side then competed in the tournament under protest, wearing purple shirts with the phrase "enough is enough" before their matches.

The men's players went on strike in the lead up to the World Cup and refused to play in a friendly against Panama, accusing CSA of "disrespect" over World Cup prize money and have said they "wholeheartedly support" the women's side in calling for a change in CSA leadership. The team cited a lack of transparency around how Canada Soccer would distribute the $10 million bonus that Canada had earned for the men's team qualifying for the World Cup.

The women's team is currently ranked sixth in FIFA's global list, won the 2020 Olympics gold medal and is a two-time CONCACAF champion. The players demand the same backing ahead of this summer's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand as the men did before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

New hurdles for rescuers at sea in the Mediterranean



David Ehl
DW

A maritime accident off the coast of Calabria has put sea rescue operations in Italy back in the spotlight. The far-right government is impeding the work of civil organizations — but they're not giving up.

The Mediterranean is a perilous place. That is particularly true for migrants who expect a better future for themselves in Europe — and travel towards it on boats which often don't qualify as deep-sea vessels.

Last weekend, a boat allegedly carrying at least 150 people crashed off the Italian coast. At least 62 people were killed in the incident. During the first weeks of 2023, dangerous sea crossings have increased, along with problems experienced by civil sea rescuers.

Being located in the central Mediterranean Sea, Italy has a particular responsibility: Migrants who first enter EU territory in Italy can apply for asylum in the country.

According to the interior ministry in Rome, 14,104 migrants already arrived in Italy between 1st January and 24th February, 2023 — a sharp increase compared to previous years, which saw the arrival of 5,345 (2022) and 4,304 (2021) during the same time period. The majority of them reach Italy by their own efforts, without help from sea rescuers.

What measures were undertaken by Giorgia Meloni?

After the accident off the Calabrian coast, Italy's Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, said she felt encouraged "to stop irregular migration in order to avoid futher tragedies." At the turn of the year, the government coalition led by the far-right Fratelli d'Italia passed a decree that impedes the work of civil sea rescue organizations.

The arguably most consequential regulation applies immediately after a maritime rescue has taken place. Rescue boats now have to report a rescue mission without delay, in order to be referred to a specific Italian port. That means they cannot, as they did before, undertake several rescue missions in a row within the same area, and head for a port only afterwards. In addition, the rescue boats are often referred to remote ports located in the north of Italy.

When, for instance, the Ocean Viking ship carried out a rescue mission off the Libyan coast in mid-February, it was subsequently dispatched to Ravenna. On the map, the Adriatic port is nearer to London than to Libya.

A system of fines punishes any infractions, and is in practice difficult to avoid for rescuers. Meloni's government has also taken the view that the rescue ships' flag states — usually the rescue services' countries of origin, with several coming from Germany — must offer asylum procedures to persons rescued at sea, as opposed to the countries in which people first enter EU soil. Her demand is legally controversial because rescue missions are carried out in international waters and the respective ships' crews do not act on behalf of their governments.
How do civil sea rescuers respond to the pressure?

Shortly after the decree was released, 18 civil sea rescue organizations and other supporters published a joint statementin which they expressed their "gravest concerns regarding the latest attempt by a European government to obstruct assistance to people in distress at sea".

The decree violated "international maritime, human rights and European law, and should therefore trigger a strong reaction by the European Commission, the European Parliament and European Member States and institutions".

In August 2022, rescued migrants had to sit tight for days on the Open Arms Uno because the boat was not allowed to enter a port

 Juan Medina/REUTERS

"It is clear that if humanitarian ships continue to be stopped, fined, forced to travel unnecessary kilometers, they will not be able to continue to operate for long," Veronica Alfonsi, the president of the Italian branch of the Spanish organization Proactiva Open Arms, told DW. "It is also true, however, that for seven years we have been fighting, alone, unconstitutional laws and European inaction, we have become very resilient. We will therefore continue to be at sea."

The Geo Barents ship operated by Doctors without Borders (MSF), however, has been incapacitated for the time being: Last week, it was detained in Sicily for a period of 20 days because the Italian government accused the ship's crew of violating the new regulations. In addition, a fine of up to €10,000 ($10,600) is being considered. According to an MSF spokeswoman, a decision on legal countermeasures is in the final stages of preparation.



Occasionally, however, new organizations arrive on the scene. The German NGO SARAH Seenotrettung (Search and Rescue for All Humans) is currently readying a ship. The Life Support, launched by Italian NGO Emergency, is operational only since December 2022. The organization had previously offered medical aid and cultural mediation.

In addition, NGOs Mission Lifeline, Open Arms, ResqShip, Sea-Eye and Sea-Watch currently have larger ships operating in the central Mediterranean (the SOS Humanity vessel is temporarily moored in a winter dockyard). Apart from the larger ships, the NGOs are also deploying several smaller vessels. Sea-Watch uses two airplanes for aerial reconnaissance purposes.

Would it have been possible to prevent the recent tragedy in a different political climate?

Asked by DW about the maritime accident near the Calabrian village of Steccato di Cutro, Veronica Alfonsi, of Open Arms, replied: "This is not a tragedy, it is the result of precise political choices." Alfonsi demands an investigation of the coast guard operation: "We understand that a Frontex vehicle had raised the alarm, two Coast Guard patrol boats had gone out to look for the boat and had returned due to bad weather. Circumstances to be verified because you do not leave a boat at the mercy of the waves. Under no circumstances."

The ill-fated boat had begun its journey in Izmir, Turkey. Authorities, however, are not yet particularly prepared to deal with the new route, Alfonsi told DW: "Lately (..), hundreds of people, many Afghans and Iranians, are trying that route because it is somehow considered safer. Wrongly, of course. Calabria has been experiencing this phenomenon recently and tries to help, but is not equipped to do so. Obviously, there is no structured government mission there, as there is none in the central Mediterranean." Her organization, she added, was now evaluating whether it will become active on this new route.

Sea rescuers accuse German government of obstruction

Dmytro Hubenko
March 1, 2023

Germany's government wants higher safety standards for smaller ships. Sea rescue organizations see this demand as a violation of the coalition agreement and as a hindrance to their mission.

German sea rescue organizations accused Germany's government of violating the coalition agreement by amending the Ship Safety Ordinance, public broadcaster ARD reported on Tuesday.

According to a draft bill from the Ministry of Transport, the coalition wants higher safety standards also for smaller ships from 24 meters (79 feet) in length. German rescue organizations slammed the new requirements as being too expensive for them, thereby hindering their operations.

"For the majority of civilian sea rescue vessels flying the German flag, this regulation will mean that they will have to limit or stop their life-saving work," said the statement, signed by Mission Lifeline, Resqship, Sea-Watch and Sea-Eye, among others.

"The implementation of these changes is a clear breach of the coalition agreement, according to which civilian sea rescue must not be hindered," the non-governmental organizations wrote further.

However, a spokesman for the Ministry of Transport replied: "The plan is not aimed at hindering private sea rescue in the Mediterranean. On the contrary, it is about safeguarding their work. The government is in constant contact with the organizations and there will be transitional periods for the retrofitting."

The German government wants to guarantee that ships meet modern safety standards. For this reason, boats of 24 meters or more in length should meet the requirements for cargo ships. Until now, ships up to 35 meters were considered small vessels and had corresponding privileges.

Since the beginning of rescue operations for civilian ships in the Mediterranean in 2015, there has not been an accident in which crew members or those rescued have been endangered due to safety deficiencies, rescue organizations say.

Civilian sea rescue in the central Mediterranean has been the subject of dispute for years. As there are no state or European missions, ships with volunteer crews go on missions.

The dpa news agency contributed to this report.

Edited by: John Silk

Belgium PM tells Iranian leader to free aid worker

Iran arrested Olivier Vandecasteele in February 2022 - Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD
Agence France-Presse


March 1, 2023 — Brussels (AFP)

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on Wednesday urged Iran's president to "immediately" set free an aid worker held by Tehran in a case denounced as hostage diplomacy.

Iran arrested Olivier Vandecasteele, 42, in February 2022 and sentenced him at the start of this year to more than 12 years behind bars for "espionage" as well as ordering him to be subjected to 74 lashes.

"My message was very clear: Olivier Vandecasteele is an innocent man and must be released immediately," De Croo tweeted after a phone call with Iran's Ebrahim Raisi.

"In the meantime, his inhumane prison conditions must change."

UN rights experts have slammed Vandecasteele's detention as a "flagrant violation" of international law.

His backers and rights groups say he is being held as part of Iran's "hostage diplomacy" to try to get Belgium to release an Iranian diplomat incarcerated for terrorism.

The diplomat, Assadollah Assadi, was found guilty in 2021 of masterminding a plot to blow up an event organised by an Iranian exiled opposition group outside Paris in 2018.

The plot was foiled by European intelligence services, and Assadi, a diplomat stationed in Austria who was identified as having provided the explosives for the bomb, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

In July last year, Belgium and Iran signed a prisoner-swap treaty that Brussels viewed as a path to free Vandecasteele.

But Belgium's Constitutional Court suspended the treaty after exiled Iranian opposition members challenged it on the grounds it would lead to the release of Assadi.

The court is set to rule on the legality of the treaty by March 8.

Joni Mitchell to receive prestigious songwriting prize

Issued on: 01/03/2023 

Washington (AFP) – Joni Mitchell, the pioneering singer-songwriter behind poignant hits including "A Case Of You," was set Wednesday to receive a national lifetime achievement award at a star-studded gala celebrating her vast contributions to popular song.

The Canadian-born artist joins an elite coterie of composers including Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett and Carole King in receiving the US Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize, which is named for the brothers behind American standards such as "I Got Rhythm" and "Rhapsody In Blue."

A-listers including James Taylor, Annie Lennox, Herbie Hancock and Graham Nash were primed to pay homage to Mitchell's life and work at the concert ceremony, which will be broadcast on March 31.

The trailblazing Mitchell, 79, has experienced something of a renaissance over the past year, making a return to public life after she suffered a brain aneurysm in 2015 that left her temporarily unable to speak.

She has since undergone extensive physical therapy that's allowed her even to return to performance, which at one point seemed a long shot.

Last summer she delivered her first full set in more than 20 years, surprising attendees at the Newport Folk Festival alongside folk-rocker Brandi Carlile, who was also on deck to perform Wednesday.

That show followed Mitchell's stage cameo earlier in 2022, when she joined other artists as they performed a moving tribute to her life's work at the MusiCares pre-Grammy gala.

Mitchell had last appeared at Newport, an annual festival in Rhode Island, in 1969.

She's slated to headline a "Joni Jam" show this June at Washington state's Gorge Amphitheatre, again alongside Carlile.

'Deeper'

Born in a small town in western Canada, Mitchell had her start playing small clubs and eventually moved to Los Angeles, where she became a pivotal figure in the 1960s Laurel Canyon music scene and beyond.

US jazz pianist Herbie Hancock performs "Hejira" on stage during the 2022 MusiCares Person of the Year gala honoring Joni Mitchell at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, April 1, 2022 © ANGELA WEISS / AFP/File

She punctuated her deceptively simple songs with a distinctive, wide-ranging voice and open-tuned guitar, which lent an idiosyncratic sound to the standard rock and folk of the era.

Mitchell's defining album was 1971's "Blue," which saw her explore romantic grief and musically go deeper into folk.

She mined her own heartache, including breakups with fellow artists Taylor and Nash, to produce the record that's a regular on critics' all-time-best lists.

As it hit its 50th anniversary in 2021, "Blue" charted number one on iTunes -- outperforming even pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo's "Sour."

Even Mitchell voiced astonishment at the resurgence. Asked to explain her return to the top at the MusiCares red carpet last year, Mitchell pointed to her lyricism: "Maybe people want to get a little bit deeper."

© 2023 AFP

The Library of Congress will honor Joni Mitchell with the Gershwin Prize

March 1, 2023
Heard on Morning Edition

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Transcript

Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell will be presented Wednesday night with the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The award is for influence, impact and achievement in popular song.
Sponsor Message

(SOUNDBITE OF JONI MITCHELL SONG, "CHELSEA MORNING")

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Tonight, the Library of Congress honors one of the most influential singer-songwriters of the late 20th century.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CHELSEA MORNING")

JONI MITCHELL: (Singing) Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning, and the first thing that I heard was a song outside my window, and the traffic wrote the words.

FADEL: Joni Mitchell receives the Gershwin Prize for popular song, the nation's highest award for influence, impact and achievement in popular song. She's 79 and only the third woman to win the award. A few years back, she told NPR's Renee Montagne that she considers herself a painter who writes songs.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

MITCHELL: I started singing folk songs in 1964 and '5 for smoking money, really.

RENEE MONTAGNE: And you call that a helium voice in your famous voice.

MITCHELL: 'Cause it's not - right. It was like I sucked on a balloon or something. It was very high, and so was my speaking voice.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOTH SIDES NOW")

MITCHELL: (Singing) I've looked at love from both sides now, from give and take...

MONTAGNE: How did you write that at 21? It seemed almost, like, prescient.

MITCHELL: Oh, I'd gone through some bad stuff already - you know, the loss of my daughter, you know? Saw a solution (ph)...

MONTAGNE: Your daughter who you gave up.

MITCHELL: I had to give her up for adoption. But...

MONTAGNE: You were an unwed mother in a time when that really...

MITCHELL: Right - was really rough going. And there was so much prejudice. So, yeah, I'd seen some bad human nature.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CHINESE CAFE/UNCHAINED MELODY")

MITCHELL: Now your kids are coming up straight, and my child's a stranger. I bore her.

MONTAGNE: You told a newspaper in Toronto, I sing my sorrow and paint my joy.

MITCHELL: Because I'm going to hang, in my house, the paintings of my grandson, landscapes that I love, people that I love or loved. But I don't really want to paint sorrowful stuff. I've been through so much, and I've come through it kind of, oddly enough, kind of in a good mood. I can't explain it. (Laughter) I don't know. I'm a tough, old cookie.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOTH SIDES NOW")

MITCHELL: (Singing) I've looked at life from both sides now.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Joni Mitchell will be honored with a tribute concert tonight as she receives the Gershwin Prize for popular song. And if you're a longtime listener, you knew that other great voice. She was speaking with our own Renee Montagne in 2014.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOTH SIDES NOW")

MITCHELL: (Singing) I really don't know life at all.


Copyright © 2023 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Toilet paper is an unexpected source of PFAS in wastewater, study says

by American Chemical Society

Toilet paper from around the world contains low levels of PFAS, likely contributing these 

"forever chemicals" to wastewater. 

Credit: Davydenko Yuliia/ Shutterstock.com

Wastewater can provide clues about a community's infectious disease status, and even its prescription and illicit drug use. But looking at sewage also provides information on persistent and potentially harmful compounds, such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), that get released into the environment.

Now, researchers publishing in Environmental Science & Technology Letters report an unexpected source of these substances in wastewater systems—toilet paper.

PFAS have been detected in many personal care products, such as cosmetics and cleansers, that people use every day and then wash down the drain. But not many researchers have considered whether toilet paper, which also ends up in wastewater, could be a source of the chemicals.

Some paper manufacturers add PFAS when converting wood into pulp, which can get left behind and contaminate the final paper product. In addition, recycled toilet paper could be made with fibers that come from materials containing PFAS. So, Timothy Townsend and colleagues wanted to assess this potential input to wastewater systems, and test toilet paper and sewage for these compounds.

The researchers gathered toilet paper rolls sold in North, South and Central America; Africa; and Western Europe and collected sewage sludge samples from U.S. wastewater treatment plants. Then they extracted PFAS from the paper and sludge solids and analyzed them for 34 compounds.

The primary PFAS detected were disubstituted polyfluoroalkyl phosphates (diPAPs)—compounds that can convert to more stable PFAS such as perfluorooctanoic acid, which is potentially carcinogenic. Specifically, 6:2 diPAP was the most abundant in both types of samples but was present at low levels, in the parts-per-billion range.

Then, the team combined their results with data from other studies that included measurements of PFAS levels in sewage and per capita toilet paper use in various countries. They calculated that toilet paper contributed about 4% of the 6:2 diPAP in sewage in the U.S. and Canada, 35% in Sweden and up to 89% in France.

Despite the fact that North Americans use more toilet paper than people living in many other countries, the calculated percentages suggest that most PFAS enter the U.S. wastewater systems from cosmetics, textiles, food packaging or other sources, the researchers say. They add that this study identifies toilet paper as a source of PFAS to wastewater treatment systems, and in some places, it can be a major source.

More information: Jake T. Thompson et al, Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Toilet Paper and the Impact on Wastewater Systems, Environmental Science & Technology Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.3c00094

Journal information: Environmental Science & Technology Letters 

Provided by American Chemical Society Beauty products with fluorinated ingredients may also contain PFAS, study reports

WHO chief visits rebel-held Syria for first time after quake: AFP

By AFP
01 March 2023 |

 In this file photo taken on March 11, 2020 World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a daily press briefing on COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, at the WHO heardquaters in Geneva. Congressional Republicans on April 16, 2020 urged President Donald Trump to condition US funding for the World Health Organization on the resignation of its chief over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.<br />Seventeen Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said they had “lost faith” in Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’s WHO leadership, even as they stressed the organization is vital to tackling the world’s health problems. Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday visited areas of rebel-held northwestern Syria that were devastated by last month’s earthquake, an AFP correspondent reported.

Tedros, the highest-ranking United Nations official to visit Syria’s rebel-held zones since the February 6 quake, had travelled to government-controlled areas of Aleppo and Damascus the week of the disaster.

He entered Syria on Wednesday from neighbouring Turkey via the Bab al-Hawa crossing and visited several hospitals and a shelter for those displaced, the correspondent said.

In the aftermath of the quake, activists and emergency teams in the rebel-held northwest decried the UN’s slow response, contrasting it with the planeloads of humanitarian aid that have been delivered to government-controlled airports.

A total of 258 planes laden with aid have reached regime-controlled areas, 129 of them from the United Arab Emirates.

UN relief chief Martin Griffiths admitted on February 12 that the body had “so far failed the people in northwest Syria”.

Since then, the UN launched a $397 million appeal to help quake victims in Syria.

The United Nations says a total of 420 trucks loaded with UN aid have crossed into the rebel-held pocket since the tragedy.

More than four million people live in areas outside government control in Syria’s north and northwest, 90 percent of whom depend on aid to survive.

The first UN aid convoy crossed into the area on February 9 — three days after the quake struck — and carried tents and other relief for 5,000 that had been expected before the earthquake.

– Crossings –

The UN largely delivers relief to Syria’s northwest via neighbouring Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa crossing — the only way for aid to enter without Damascus’s permission.

The crossing is located in the Idlib region, which UN officials rarely visit and is controlled by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

The WHO chief said on February 12 that Assad had expressed openness to more border crossings for aid to be brought to quake victims in the rebel-held northwest.

On February 13, the United Nations said Damascus had allowed it to also use two other crossings in areas outside its control — Bab al-Salama and Al-Rai — for three months.

An AFP correspondent said a new aid convoy entered via Bab al-Salama on Wednesday.

The first UN delegation to visit rebel-held northwestern Syria after the earthquake crossed over from Turkey on February 14.

It comprised deputy regional humanitarian coordinator David Carden and Sanjana Quazi, who heads the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Turkey and was largely an assessment mission.

The 7.8-magnitude quake that struck war-torn Syria and Turkey killed more than 50,000 people across the two countries.

The Syrian government has said 1,414 people were killed in areas under its control, while Turkish-backed officials in Syria have put the death toll in rebel-held areas at 4,537.