Industry paying heed to Bisphenol concern – my earlier post saw the trend

The news article just showed up in MSNBC. Hard-plastic Nalgene water bottles made with bisphenol A will be pulled from stores over the next few months because of growing consumer concern over whether the chemical poses a health risk. Nalgene has responded to a growing concern among consumers about the negative health effects from using Bisphenol water bottles. I feel good about bringing this item to my blog earlier and feel somewhat good about the traction the subject is gathering among manufacturers. In fact, I myself took the decision of using Bisphenol free milk bottles for my daughter couple of months back. You may read my earlier article here https://innovech.wordpress.com/2008/03/01/strike-against-bisphenol-consumer-awareness-dictates-product-shift-despite-regulatory-indifference/

Now I would like to keep any eye on the Bisphenol production-to-market value chain and it’s pressure on the regulating agencies. Will they go that extra mile to make agencies diffuse the concern or will the market adjust by itself over time and respect the opinions of educated consumers? Besides, this is an unique case where industry has taken a step ahead of any FDA announcements!

The United States – a member of an imminent thirsty planet

For last few months, I have been concerned with the growing issue of freshwater availability in the rapidly expanding economies and communities of South Asia. What came to me as a shock is a similar catastrophe in the making right here in the homeland. Some of the numbers are staggering – US used more than 148 trillion gallons of water in 2000. With a surging growth in population, immigration, usage, and wastes. My jaws fell learning that we use nearly 500K gallons of water per capita. The global problem of depleting freshwater has started to reach our shores, and that’s too pretty fast. As I kept on reading about it in the article published in MSNBC [read article here], I felt that the awareness about this impending problem is quite insignificant. However, keeping our eyes closed wouldn’t promise a continuous flow from our taps. This is one of several things we have taken for granted!

Well, following my philosophy of problems-lead-to-opportunities, I see a great potential in innovation, invention, private sector-government collaboration, governance, and conscious management of services around development of freshwater facilities. Distribution will be another big concern. As again mentioned in the MSNBC article – it will cost us nearly 300 billion dollars to just upgrade our pipes to support increased capacity. Who is going to bear the cost? Will it be government alone (using our tax money) or should it be individual citizens bearing a subscription based cost structure as found in tollway road systems. Pay as you go! However, that model will not be able to support the infrastructure totally since the pipes won’t stop coming to the tap that stays unopened.

I like the idea of desalination plants. However, the cost-benefit structure may be preventing an expansion of its capacity. On the other hand, the desalination capacity is not significant either. If you look at the numbers in Florida, they are not impressive either. One component that would be really beneficial is the recycling of waste water. If we can convert a large amount of industrial and farming wastes (water) by different organic technologies (microbial treatments, etc.), we will be able to bring freshwater back to the ecosystem. That will be a very prospectful industry.

Finally, I came across a global perspective in the following article published in BBC. Wanted to share with you: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/755497.stm