Cadmium pigments in consumer products and their health risks

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. Cadmium is a toxic heavy metal that has been increasingly regulated over the past few decades. The main exposure routes for the general public are the consumption of certain foods and the inhalation of cigarette smoke. However, additional exposure may occur through the current and historical use of the metal in consumer products. In this paper, the uses of Cd in consumer goods are reviewed, with the focus on brightly-coloured Cd sulphide and sulphoselenide pigments, and measurements of Cd in historical and contemporary products ascertained by XRF are reported. Cadmium is encountered across a wide range of contemporary plastic products, mainly because of the unregulated recycling of electronic waste and polyvinyl chloride. However, concentrations are generally low (<100 μg g−1), conforming with current limits and posing minimal risk to consumers. Of greater concern is high concentrations of pigmented Cd (up to 2% by weight) in old products, and in particular children's toys that remain in circulation. Here, tests conducted suggest that Cd migration in some products exceeds the Toy Safety Directive limit of 17 μg g−1 by an order of magnitude. The principal current use of Cd pigments is in ceramic products where the metal is encapsulated and overglazed. Leaching tests on new and secondhand items of hollowware indicate compliance with respect to the current Cd limit of 300 μg L−1, but that non-compliance could occur for items of earthenware or damaged articles should a proposed limit of 5 μg L−1 be introduced. The greatest consumer risk identified is the use of Cd pigments in the enamels of decorated drinking glasses. Thus, while décor is restricted to the exterior, any enamel within the lip area is subject to ready attack from acidic beverages because the pigments are neither encapsulated nor overglazed. Glass bottles decorated with Cd-based enamel do not appear to represent a direct health hazard but have the propensity to contaminate recycled glass products. It is recommended that decorated glassware is better regulated and that old, brightly-coloured toys are treated cautiously

Broadening Exposure to Socio-Political Opinions via a Pushy Smart Home Device

Motivated by the effects of the filter bubble and echo chamber phenomena on social media, we developed a smart home device, Spkr, that unpredictably “pushes” socio-political discussion topics into the home. The device utilised trending Twitter discussions, categorised by their socio-political alignment, to present people with a purposefully assorted range of viewpoints. We deployed Spkr in 10 homes for 28 days with a diverse range of participants and interviewed them about their experiences. Our results show that Spkr presents a novel means of combating selective exposure to socio-political issues, providing participants with identifiably diverse viewpoints. Moreover, Spkr acted as a conversational prompt for discussion within the home, initiating collective processes and engaging those who would not often be involved in political discussions. We demonstrate how smart home assistants can be used as a catalyst for provocation by altering and pluralising political discussions within households

'Securitizing' Migration Crises: the European Union, North Africa and Transatlantic Regional Cooperation

In line with the overall theme of the book, this chapter analyzes how the migration \u2018crisis\u2019 is impacting interregional cooperation by looking at two specific case studies of transcontinental migration. The first study analyzes the consequences that the 9/11 terrorist attacks had on migration-related policies between the European Union (EU) and its main transatlantic ally, the United States (US). In this case the \u2018emergency\u2019 permeating the security discourse has contributed to deepening and accelerating the cooperation between the two partners, although with some limits. The second case study investigates the inflow of irregular migrants and asylum seekers fleeing from North Africa into Europe, following governmental repressions against the uprisings of the 2011 Arab Spring. In this second case, these events are endangering existing arrangements on migration, which were agreed upon by now ousted or contested regimes, and are also questioning the ability of the EU (and its Member States) to tackle the situation in a consistent way

NOTIONS OF (IN)SECURITY WITHIN THE EU. HOW EUROPEAN POLICY-MAKERS VIEW THE SOURCES AND COSTS OF TERRORISM AND ORGANISED CRIME

This article maps notions of (in)security and security policy within the European Union (EU) since the 1990s using the cases of terrorism and organised crime. It traces interpretations of European policy-makers about the sources and costs that these two human-induced insecurities incur on Europe's societies and identifies the rationalities underlying the respective perceptions and policy actions. The analysis reveals that there are different logics at work that guide the economics of security: path dependency, reactive logics, emotions, integration dynamics and institutional interests, external pressures and more recently also considerations about the potential effects on the European economy. However, the EU's attempts to model cost scenarios still remain underdeveloped.Costs of (in)security, European Union, Notions of insecurity, Organised crime, Security policy, Terrorism,