Documents Friends of the Earth, Washington, DC 2 results

"This new report finds that existing financial regulations, as well as those in major cap-and-trade bills, are inadequate to govern carbon trading, creating a potentially huge regulatory gap.
It also outlines how lessons from the current financial crisis apply to carbon markets. In particular, it raises concerns about "subprime carbon," risky carbon credits based on uncompleted offset projects (projects designed to sequester or reduce greenhouse gases).
Subprime carbon credits may ultimately fail to reduce greenhouse gases and, like subprime mortgages, could collapse in value, yet they are already being securitized and resold in secondary markets. The report recommends that lawmakers include carbon trading in current debates about financial reform, and warns against hastily creating carbon markets without proper oversight."

Extract from the executive summary:
"In one of the most dramatic failures of regulation since the introduction of asbestos, corporations around the world are rapidly introducing thousands of tons of nanomaterials into the environment and onto the faces and hands of millions of people, despite the growing body of evidence indicating that nanomaterials can be toxic to humans and the environment. Friends of the Earth believes that there are at least several hundred cosmetics, sunscreens and personal care products which contain engineered nanomaterials that are commercially available right now. Our research demonstrates that nanoparticles have entered just about every personal care product on the market, including deodorant, soap, toothpaste, shampoo, hair conditioner, sunscreen, anti-wrinkle cream, moisturizer, foundation, face powder, lipstick, blush, eye shadow, nail polish, perfume and after-shave lotion. Nanoingredients in products reviewed for this report include nanoparticle metal oxides, nanoemulsions and nanoencapsulated delivery systems. Disturbingly, our report has identifi ed seven face creams that list carbon fullerenes as ingredients - a substance found to cause brain damage in fi sh[3] and toxic effects in human liver cells Nanotechnology involves the manipulation of materials and the creation of structures and systems that exist at the scale of atoms and molecules. The properties of nanoscale materials (measuring <100nm) differ signifi cantly from larger scales. …"