Wigs, disguises and child's play : solidarity in teacher education

It is generally acknowledged that much contemporary education takes place within a dominant audit culture, in which accountability becomes a powerful driver of educational practices. In this culture both pupils and teachers risk being configured as a means to an assessment and target-driven end: pupils are schooled within a particular paradigm of education. The article discusses some ethical issues raised by such schooling, particularly the tensions arising for teachers, and by implication, teacher educators who prepare and support teachers for work in situations where vocational aims and beliefs may be in in conflict with instrumentalist aims. The article offers De Certeau’s concept of ‘la perruque’ to suggest an opening to playful engagement for human ends in education, as a way of contending with and managing the tensions generated. I use the concept to recover a concept of solidarity for teacher educators and teachers to enable ethical teaching in difficult times

Environmental occurrence, analysis, and toxicology of toxaphene compounds.

Toxaphene production, in quantities similar to those of polychlorinated biphenyls, has resulted in high toxaphene levels in fish from the Great Lakes and in Arctic marine mammals (up to 10 and 16 microg g-1 lipid). Because of the large variabiliity in total toxaphene data, few reliable conclusions can be drawn about trends or geographic differences in toxaphene concentrations. New developments in mass spectrometric detection using either negative chemical ionization or electron impact modes as well as in multidimensional gas chromatography recently have led researchers to suggest congener-specific approaches. Recently, several nomenclature systems have been developed for toxaphene compounds. Although all systems have specific advantages and limitations, it is suggested that an international body such as the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry make an attempt to obtain uniformity in the literature. Toxicologic information on individual chlorobornanes is scarce, but some reports have recently appeared. Neurotoxic effects of toxaphene exposure such as those on behavior and learning have been reported. Technical toxaphene and some individual congeners were found to be weakly estrogenic in in vitro test systems; no evidence for endocrine effects in vivo has been reported. In vitro studies show technical toxaphene and toxaphene congeners to be mutagenic. However, in vivo studies have not shown genotoxicity; therefore, a nongenotoxic mechanism is proposed. Nevertheless, toxaphene is believed to present a potential carcinogenic risk to humans. Until now, only Germany has established a legal tolerance level for toxaphene--0.1 mg kg-1 wet weight for fish

Analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in vegetable oils combining gel permeation chromatography with solid-phase extraction clean-up

International audienceA semi-automatic method for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in edible oils using a combined Gel Permeation Chromatography-Solid Phase Extraction (GPC-SPE) clean-up is presented. The method takes advantage of automatic injections using a Gilson ASPEC XL sample handling system equipped with a GPC column (S-X3) and pre-packed silica SPE columns for the subsequent clean-up and finally gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) determination. The method is validated for the determination of PAH in vegetable oils and is able to meet the criteria for the official control of benzo[<i>a</i>]pyrene levels in foods laid down by the Commission of the European Communities. A survey of 69 vegetable oils sampled on the Danish market included olive oil as well as other vegetable oils like rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, grape seed oil and sesame oil. Levels of benzo[<i>a</i>]pyrene in all the oils were low (〈0.2-0.8 μg kg^-1), except for one sample of sunflower oil containing 11 μg kg^-1 benzo[<i>a</i>]pyrene