Conflicts of Interest in the Assessment of Chemicals, Waste, and Pollution

Pollution by chemicals and waste impacts human and ecosystem health on regional, national, and global scales, resulting, together with climate change and biodiversity loss, in a triple planetary crisis. Consequently, in 2022, countries agreed to establish an intergovernmental science–policy panel (SPP) on chemicals, waste, and pollution prevention, complementary to the existing intergovernmental science–policy bodies on climate change and biodiversity. To ensure the SPP’s success, it is imperative to protect it from conflicts of interest (COI). Here, we (i) define and review the implications of COI, and its relevance for the management of chemicals, waste, and pollution; (ii) summarize established tactics to manufacture doubt in favor of vested interests, i.e., to counter scientific evidence and/or to promote misleading narratives favorable to financial interests; and (iii) illustrate these with selected examples. This analysis leads to a review of arguments for and against chemical industry representation in the SPP’s work. We further (iv) rebut an assertion voiced by some that the chemical industry should be directly involved in the panel’s work because it possesses data on chemicals essential for the panel’s activities. Finally, (v) we present steps that should be taken to prevent the detrimental impacts of COI in the work of the SPP. In particular, we propose to include an independent auditor’s role in the SPP to ensure that participation and processes follow clear COI rules. Among others, the auditor should evaluate the content of the assessments produced to ensure unbiased representation of information that underpins the SPP’s activities

Enhanced hypocenter determination of the 2017 Pohang earthquake sequence, South Korea, using a 3-D velocity model

© 2022, The Association of Korean Geoscience Societies and Springer.As a fundamental task in observational seismology, accurate hypocenter determination is crucial for seismic hazard analysis, delineating faults, and elucidating seismic source characteristics. However, hypocenters determined using an inaccurate velocity model can exhibit significant deviations from the actual hypocenter. In this study, we investigated how a 3-D velocity model results in a better constraint than a 1-D model for the hypocenter determination problem associated with the 2017 MW 5.5 Pohang earthquake. This study determined the hypocenter of the Pohang earthquake sequence using a 3-D velocity model of 32 events including the mainshock that occurred on November {vn15}, 2017, in South Korea. The S wave velocity model, based on an ambient noise tomography, was combined with the average Vp/Vs ratio of the crust of the Korean Peninsula to construct a 3-D velocity model; additional 1-D velocity model was used to compare the results. The hypocenters were determined via a nonlinear method, which allowed the calculation of the posterior probability density of the source via a direct search method, confirming that the accuracy improved when using the 3-D model compared with the 1-D model. We observed that our 3-D velocity model enables hypocenters to be consistently determined, less affected by station configuration, or a lack of adjacent seismic stations. Further numerical investigation showed that complex basin geometry and the heterogeneity of the crustal thickness, which cannot be considered in 1-D model, are critical for hypocenter determination.N

The changes of prevalence and etiology of pediatric pneumonia from National Emergency Department Information System in Korea, between 2007 and 2014

Purpose Understanding changes in pathogen and pneumonia prevalence among pediatric pneumonia patients is important for the prevention of infectious diseases. Methods We retrospectively analyzed data of children younger than 18 years diagnosed with pneumonia at 117 Emergency Departments in Korea between 2007 and 2014. Results Over the study period, 329,380 pediatric cases of pneumonia were identified. The most frequent age group was 1–3 years old (48.6%) and the next was less than 12 months of age (17.4%). Based on International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision diagnostic codes, confirmed cases of viral pneumonia comprised 8.4% of all cases, pneumonia due to Mycoplasma pneumoniae comprised 3.8% and confirmed cases of bacterial pneumonia 1.3%. The prevalence of confirmed bacterial pneumonia decreased from 3.07% in 2007 and 4.01% in 2008 to 0.65% in 2014. The yearly rate of pneumococcal pneumonia also decreased from 0.47% in 2007 to 0.08% in 2014. A periodic prevalence of M. pneumoniae pneumonia (MP) was identified. Conclusion The increased number of patients with pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia, pleural effusion, and empyema in 2011 and 2013–2014 resulted from an MP epidemic. We provide evidence that the frequency of confirmed cases of bacterial pneumonia and pneumococcal pneumonia has declined from 2007 to 2014, which can simultaneously reflect the effectiveness of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine