Study Finds "Natural Plastics" Not Very Green

University of Pittsburgh students performed a study on 12 kinds of plastics to determine how green their life-cycle is. Biopolymers, plastics derived from natural elements, were the most biodegradable, with low toxicity, and used the most renewable resources. But, because of the natural components that make up Biopolymers, fertilizers and pesticides used in creating the material for the plastics those components pollute more then other plastics during their production.

Eric Beckman, Professor of Chemical Engineering, says that when designing Biopolymers engineers worked to make them as green as possible, but when it came to production they missed the mark. He also says that the most surprising aspect of the research was that Polypropylene, a fossil fuel based plastic, tested well, polluting less during manufacturing.

Beckman says the main improvement the chemical industry can make after the study is using less material during plastic production. "If you look at the guidelines we give to people to be more environmentally benign we always say 'reduce, reuse, and recycle'...And I think the key lesson for this study is that if your going to try to be greener in the future no matter what you make, is to just less stuff when you make it."

The bulk of the research was done by a group of undergraduate students at Pitt in the School of Engineering. More research is planned on the polymers by examining the plastics environmental impact during disposal.

Foreclosure Rates High in Some Areas of Pgh

While Pittsburgh’s rate of foreclosure remains below the national average, several neighborhoods in the city weren’t so lucky.

University of Pittsburgh researchers compiled foreclosure data for city neighborhoods and found several communities, especially in the south and west of the city, had high rates. For example, Sheraden’s 2008-2009 foreclosure rate of 22% was the city’s highest, at about 30 times the Pennsylvania rate of 0.7%.

Pitt assistant professor Sabina Deitrick says the data she compiled should be useful for those trying to fight foreclosures.

“There’s lots of groups across the country who are working in similar kinds of neighborhoods and finding homeowners before foreclosures finish,” says Deitrick. “There’s groups here in Pittsburgh, like the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group, that are doing those kinds of things. This is information to help them in identifying some areas when working with others, particularly with funders or foundations or financial institutions.”

Deitrick says often these foreclosed houses become property of financial institutions. She says since these companies want to get rid of these properties as quickly as possible, they’re often undersold or they stand vacant. Deitrick says this has happened most often in Beechview, where financial groups owned 29 properties.

Students Ask for Amnesty when Seeking Help for Intoxication

Around 1,000 students have signed a petition asking the University of Pittsburgh to change a policy that allows campus police to cite students for underage drinking if they seek help at the school-affiliated hospital UPMC-Presbyterian. Ron Bennett, a spokesman for the campus police, says underage students who go to the hospital if they're dangerously drunk "will probably get a citation" which carries fines up to $500. The students say the policy is dangerous because the fear of citation could discourage students from seeking help. The petition asks the school to adopt an amnesty policy that prevents students from being ticketed if they require medical assistance for alcohol intoxication.

To Congress: End Racial Profiling

A University of Pittsburgh law professor told a congressional sub committee today that the federal government should do everything it can to end the use of racial profiling in law enforcement. “The use of racial or ethnic appearance as a way to target law enforcement efforts does not help police catch more criminals; rather, racial targeting nets fewer criminals and in the bargain turns the public against police efforts,” says professor David Harris. Harris says the research supports his opinion at all levels, from watching for drugs on the highway to fighting street crime in Pittsburgh. Harris spoke before the U.S. House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties. Harris says officers need to rely more on a person’s behavior rather than their race or ethnicity. He says all officers are trained to watch for behavioral clues and looking for race distracts their attention. “Police should move away from the short cut,” says Harris. Harris says police also need to rely on good intelligence. He says, “You have to get [intelligence] from the community, and if you are using profiling that targets a whole group, a whole community, just because we think we know who the enemy is, what happens is the community becomes fearful and suspicious instead of trusting you.” Harris says community policing and intelligence gathering is all about trust.
Harris takes his message to police chiefs as often as he can because that is where policy is set. He says even though congress does not set local policy it can have a big impact on what appears in local training manuals and what happens in local training classes. Harris says congress can pass legislation similar to the End Racial Profiling Act proposed in the last Congress. “[A law] that would provide incentives to police department receiving federal funding to have policies in place against this, to have training, even providing some funds for some of that. To provide incentives to move towards best practices in law enforcement,” says Harris. He notes that this type of incentive has worked when it comes to encouraging states to take action such as lowering DUI limits and requiring seatbelt use. Those efforts use federal highway funds as the motivating factor.

Race in America Conference

The University of Pittsburgh is hosting presentations by 46 of the nation’s top experts on racial disparities in the criminal justice system, economics, education, health and family matters. Evening events at seven are open to the public tonight at the Twentieth Century Club and tomorrow at Soldiers and Sailors Military Museum.

Race scholars and activists are presenting the facts about persistent adverse conditions faced by racial minorities, but Charles Gallagher of LaSalle University in Philadelphia says many whites think all racial obstacles have been overcome and mistakenly equate the ethnic experiences of their immigrant ancestors with the experiences of racial minorities. While there's no question ethnic groups suffered discrimination in the past, Gallagher says it was temporary and completely disappeared within a generation or two, while race still figures in all sorts of negative outcomes. According to Gallagher, such disconnects make it almost impossible to have a national dialogue about policies to establish a truly level playing field.

Marc Mauer, Executive Director of the Sentencing Project in Washington, D.C., says instead of preventing crime and expanding positive opportunities, the U.S. leads the world in its use of incarceration so that a black male born today has a one in three chance of doing time in prison if current trends continue. Mauer says with black children having a better chance of ending up in jail than going to college, policies have to change.

Following the conference, a report and action plan for each of the seven areas of focus will be produced.

Effects of Discrimination on Health is Topic of Lecture

The effects of discrimination on one's health was the topic of a lecture at Pitt's Center on Race and Social Problems today by a professor from the University of Washington who conducted the first ever national study of discrimination as experienced by Asians and Latinos in this country, both native-born and immigrants.

Professor David Takeuchi says respondents answered questions about courtesy and respect, whether they received poor service, were treated as though they were dishonest, were insulted or called names, were threatened or harassed. 75% of Asians and 55% of Latinos born in the U.S. said they were treated with less courtesy. On all the questions, a lesser percentage of immigrants in both groups reported discrimination. Takeuchi says this may be because immigrants tend to live among large concentrations of their particular groups and have less contact with those in other groups.


The study shows perceptions of discrimination have profound effects on mental health outcomes, such as major depression. Takeuchi says discrimination is also linked to poor physical health in Asians and Latinos, whether they are born here or not.

Pitt Gets Grant For Bird Flu Vaccine

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh will use a $3.6 million National Institutes of Health grant to test a vaccine for the H5N1 avian flu virus. That strain has been spreading around the globe and has most recently been found in Europe. Lead investigator Dr. Ted Ross says unlike other avian flu vaccines, which are partially developed from live viruses, the vaccine being developed in Pittsburgh is based on a “virus-like particle” that lacks genetic information to reproduce. That potentially makes it safer. The vaccine has been tested in mice but will now be tested in non-human primates. The team will study the vaccine for three years and another five-year trail in humans would be needed before the vaccine could be used outside of testing. Ross says if the vaccine works it could be easily modified to fit whatever new strain may be bouncing around the globe at the time. He says it starts to provide protection in a week meaning it could be given to people living in an area already suffering from an outbreak.

Foster Child Care Conference

Foster children under the care of a relative can avoid feelings of loss. That is according to Ruth McRoy, a University of Texas professor who studies open adoptions, family preservation, and racial identity issues. She spoke at a University of Pittsburgh lecture series that focuses on social problems.

When a family relative becomes the primary parent of a foster child, it is called being under "Kinship Care." McRoy says children often have a better sense of security under this kind of care, because they are more likely to stay in the same household than children being cared for by a non family member. The majority of foster children still go to unrelated families, however Kinship Care is becoming more common. Almost 200,000 children in Pennsylvania are being cared for by a non-parent family member.

Vaccine Grant for Pitt to better control disease

Diseases that have been long eliminated in industrialized countries continue to spread in developing ones. Studies are being done at the University of Pittsburgh about how vaccinations can most effectively change that.

Pitt's Graduate School of Public Health received a $10 million grant from the Gates Foundation to begin a four-year study on vaccinations. Dr. Donald Burke, Dean of the Public Health School, says super computers will develop a ficticious community of people to similate realistic situations. From there they determine which properties of a vaccination are most important, such as how many people get vaccinated, how strong it is, or other criteria such as age or location that play factors.

Director of UPCI announces possible consequence of long-term cell phone use

The director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and UPMC Cancer center plans to warn approximately 3,000 faculty and staff about the possible health risks associated with cell phone use.

Dr. Ronald Herberman said long-term cell phone use can potentially cause brain cancer.

"The main thing that we're concerned about are the electromagnetic waves," said Dr. Herberman. "There's indication that if you hold a cell phone to your ear that waves penetrate the skull and go into your brain."

Dr. Herberman said he understood how vital cell phones are to many people today, however he advised to limit time on cell phones or keep cell phones away from the ear by using a speaker phone, a head set, or by using text messaging instead.

Although other domestic research organizations such as the American Cancer Society do not acknowledge the effects because there is no definitive link, Dr. Herberman said some research organizations abroad have recently issued similar advisories.