Friday, February 2, 2007

THE GROUNDHOG DAY AND
PRE SUPER BOWL EDITION

Last time, we told you about the US EPA's draft "Evaluation of the Carcinogenicity of Ethylene Oxide." If you read the article, you might remember that our opinion of the science done by the Agency was not good. In fact, we called their approach to science "burlesque."

We also hoped that cooler heads would prevail, once the Agency's report was subjected to the public hearings of its Science Advisory Board (SAB). This took place on January 18th and 19th in downtown Washington, and I was there to observe, and also spoke for a very short time, along with several other public commenters. Members of EOSA (Ethylene Oxide Sterilization Association) and ACC (American Chemistry Council) were in attendance.

While one would have expected "industry" reaction to be harsh, we were encouraged to see that the reaction of the SAB was no less negative. This is especially noteworthy considering that the members of the SAB are hand-picked by the Agency, and at first blush might be assumed to be mostly "squishy academics."

As Gomer Pyle used to say, "Surprise, surprise!"

EOSA's report on the hearings noted that nearly every Agency judgment, calculation, choice of alternative, and conclusion was questioned, most rather extensively.

Here are some direct comments from SAB members:

There were many more remarks made, and they were generally as negative as the above. As the EOSA report has it: In response to all this, Agency staff repeatedly stated that due to resource limitations and process requirements, EPA might not be able to follow through on the full set of recommendations made by the SAB. In other words, except for glaring errors and math mistakes EPA seemed to be saying what you see is what you get.

EOSA concludes: Nonetheless, if the SAB report is anything like its apparent positions taken during the hearing, we should be encouraged because the Agency cannot totally ignore its own advisors without that fact becoming embarrassingly public.

Chalk one up for common sense! Stay tuned for further details.

Another cool application

Longtime rep Al Ekstrom of Raeco came to us with a requirement for measuring widely varying levels of chlorine dioxide (used as a sterilant) around a medical products facility.

It was determined that sample dilution would be the best way to deal with the concentration ranges involved here.

Of course, doing dilution properly can be cumbersome and expensive—especially when you're dealing with a reactive compound such as chlorine dioxide.

So, our design team came up with a cost-effective volumetric approach, using Teflon and glass components that was the ideal trade-off between size limitations, impervious wetted surfaces, and outrageous cost.

We look forward to providing a custom gas detection solution for you, too. Contact sales guru Rose Stransky for more information.

Groundhog Day

Long before it was a movie, it was a special day observed on February 2nd. On this particular day, it is said, the groundhog comes out of his hole, interrupting his hibernation, and looks for his shadow.

If he sees it, he returns to his hole, because this means that six more weeks of winter lie ahead. If the day is cloudy and he sees no shadow, it is a sign of an early spring, and the big rodent remains above ground.

On the other hand, a simple look at the calendar will indicate that there are always around six weeks between February 2nd and the Vernal Equinox.

Dew point and how to get it

We have a number of customers who need to analyze gas samples extracted from some process. Typically, these samples will contain water and particulate matter.

It is of interest to determine the dew point of the sample, that is, the temperature at which water will condense out. A new Knowledge Base article shows you an easy way to figure it all out.

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Until next time, I remain...

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