Developing Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR) for shampoos: The basis for comparable life cycle assessment.

In 2013, the European Commission launched the Environmental Footprint Rules pilot phase. This initiative aims at setting specific rules for life cycle assessment (LCA: raw material sourcing, production, logistics, use, and disposal phase) studies within 1 product category, called product environmental footprint category rules (PEFCR), and for organizations, called organizational environmental footprint sector rules (OEFSR). Such specific rules for measuring environmental performance throughout the life cycle should facilitate the comparability between LCA studies and provide principles for communicating environmental performance, such as transparency, reliability, completeness, and clarity. Cosmetics Europe, the association representing the cosmetics industry in the European Union, completed a voluntary study into the development of PEFCR for shampoo, generally following the guidelines and methodology developed by the European Commission for its own pilot projects. The study assessed the feasibility and relevance of establishing PEFCR for shampoo. Specifically, the study defines a large number of modeling assumptions and default values relevant for shampoo (e.g., for the functional unit, the system boundaries, default transport distances, rinsing water volumes, temperature differences, life cycle inventory data sources) that can be modified as appropriate, according to the specificities of individual products, manufacturing companies, and countries. The results of the study may be used to support internal decision making (e.g., to identify "hotspots" with high environmental impact and opportunities for improvement) or to meet information requests from commercial partners, consumers, media, or authorities on product environmental characteristics. In addition, the shampoo study also highlighted many of the challenges and limitations of the current product environmental footprint (PEF) methodology, namely its complexity and resource intensiveness. It highlighted 2 areas where improvements are much needed: (1) data quality and availability, and (2) impact assessment methodologies and robustness. Many of the findings are applicable to other rinse-off cosmetic products, such as shower gels, liquid soaps, bath products, and hair conditioners. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2018;14:649-659. © 2018 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

Influence of food deprivation on intravenous glucose tolerance test traits in Holstein Friesian heifers.

Glucose is essential for numerous cellular functions due to its involvement in energy supply from early development to adulthood. In the lactating cow, glucose demands by the mammary gland significantly increase to support milk production when compared with other tissues. Thus, insufficient blood glucose levels might predispose dairy cows to metabolic disturbances. The intravenous glucose tolerance test (ivGTT) is a suitable tool to characterize glucose metabolism and insulin responses, but results must be reliable and repeatable. One factor influencing ivGTT is food deprivation period, which has been considered as an obligatory requirement before conduction of glucose tolerance studies in monogastric species, whereas it has been permissive in ruminants. The objective of this study was to determine the influence of 5 fasting periods (0, 12, 24, 36, and 48 h) on ivGTT traits and insulin responses in German Holstein heifers. A total of 140 tests were conducted in 28 females aged 12 to 19 mo. Blood samples were collected every 7 min within 1 h. Assessed glucose and insulin parameters included basal serum glucose and insulin concentration, maximum glucose and insulin concentration obtained between min 7 to 21, and concentrations at min 63 (last sampling) relative to glucose administration, glucose area equivalent (GA), glucose area under the curve (GAUC), insulin area equivalent (InsA), insulin area under the curve (InsAUC), and blood glucose half-life time (GHLT). Serum glucose and insulin concentration were measured according to the hexokinase colorimetric method and solid phase radio immunoassay, respectively. The generalized linear mixed model was used to test for significant differences in all glucose traits and insulin responses at different fasting periods. The model used season and weight as confounding variables. Glucose and insulin concentrations at 0, 7 to 21 (maximum concentration), and 63 min were affected by the duration of food deprivation. The GA, InsA, GAUC, InsAUC, and especially GHLT were also affected by fasting period. A positive linear relationship between GHLT and length of food deprivation was found. Significantly higher GA, GAUC, GHLT values, and glucose and insulin concentration at min 63 were obtained at increasing fasting periods. High intraclass correlation coefficient (0.48) was found for GHLT. The results demonstrate that GHLT might be used to reliably characterize an individual's glucose metabolism and the importance of standardizing food deprivation schedules when performing an ivGTT in nongestating Holstein heifers.