Supporting the full participation of people who use drugs in policy fora: Provision of a temporary, conference-based overdose prevention site.

The overdose epidemic in North America remains acute and interventions are needed to mitigate harm and prevent death. People who use/d drugs (PWUD) hold essential knowledge to guide the development of these interventions and conferences are vital fora for hearing their perspectives and building support for new policies and programs. However, little guidance exists on how to best ensure the safety of PWUD during conferences.

Assessment of alcohol ethoxylate surfactants and fatty alcohols mixtures in river sediments and prospective risk assessment.

A feasible and relatively readily available analytical method was adapted for the assessment of alcohol ethoxylates (AE) and fatty alcohols (FA) in sediments. This study illustrates the simultaneous measurement of 38 of 114 possible alcohol ethoxylate ethoxymers (AE) and fatty alcohols (FA) found in commercially important AE products. We predicted toxicity for all identified fractions, as well as the total mixture toxicity, relative to three exposure scenarios via sewage treatment plants (STP) for these widely used chemicals in consumer products and hence generate a preliminary environmental risk screening for AE and FA in sediments.

Predicting the sorption of fatty alcohols and alcohol ethoxylates to effluent and receiving water solids.

Alcohol ethoxylates (AEs) are an important group of nonionic surfactants. Commercial AEs consist of a mixture of several homologues of varying carbon chain length (Cx) and degree of ethoxylation (EOy). The major disposal route of AE is down the drain to municipal wastewater treatment plants that discharge into receiving surface waters.

Monitoring of environmental fingerprints of alcohol ethoxylates in Europe and Canada.

Recent improvements in methodology for the determination of alcohol ethoxylates (AE) in effluents now enable measurement of the full range of AE components, at ng/L levels, in the same analysis. This approach was deployed in effluent monitoring of biofilm and activated sludge wastewater treatment plants from Europe (n = 12) and Canada (n = 8) receiving predominantly municipal effluent. Individual component or "environmental fingerprint" analyses for alkyl carbon numbers C12-C18 and ethoxylate numbers 0-18 were conducted using a derivatization procedure with liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry determination.

Determination of the fate of alcohol ethoxylate homologues in a laboratory continuous activated-sludge unit study.

Environmental monitoring indicates that the distribution of alcohol ethoxylate (AE) homologues in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents differs from the distribution in commercial AE products, with a relative higher proportion of fatty alcohol (AOH, which is AE with zero ethoxylation). To determine the contribution of AE-derived AOH to the total concentration of AE and AOH in WWTP effluents, we conducted a laboratory continuous activated-sludge study (CAS). This consisted of a test unit fed with AE-amended synthetic sewage and a control unit fed with only synthetic sewage to avoid AE contamination from the feed.