Difference between revisions of "Team:Paris Bettencourt/Human Practices"

The predominant routes of exposure to PERC for the general population are the inhalation of the compound from both ambient and indoor environments, and ingestion, by drinking water contaminated with it. People working on the dry cleaning industry are, of course, exposed to higher levels of PERC than the general population, and, in addition, people residing near dry cleaning locations are also exposed to high levels, due to the volatile nature of the compounds and to vapour intrusion.

Because of all these reasons, the French government has set up as one of their goals for the Horizon 2020 the complete banning of PERC from dry cleaning establishments situated close to residential areas. Similar laws had been already passed in Denmark and the USA.

What are the effects of PERC on human health?

PERC’s mechanism of toxicity differs from tissue to tissue. The main two targets of PERC, in the human body, are neurological tissues and hepatic tissues.

In the case of the neurological effects, experimental studies in rodents have shown that PERC alters the fatty acid pattern of the brain’s phospholipids and amino acids. This explains its neurotoxic effects. Other studies propose that PERC might be incorporated into the brain membranes, hence altering the neural conduction velocity. PERC can also interfere with the voltage-gated channels and neuronal receptors of the nervous cells. Shafer et al. (2005) showed that PERC disturbs whole-cell calcium currents as well.

In contrast with these neurological effects, which are a result of PERC itself, the hepatic effects are a result of oxidative metabolites including trichloroacetic acid and dichloroacetic acid, which accumulate on the liver.

What are the effects of PERC on the environment?

PERC is a compound that tends to volatise quickly when released into water or soil. Furthermore, it is also mobile in soil and therefore has the potential of leaching bellow the soil surface and reaching groundwater, hence contaminating it. The United States’ Health and Human Services identified PERC in approximately 4% of aquifers in the latest US Geological Survey, showing that aquifer contamination is indeed a problem.
It can biodegrade to tricholoethylene, dichloroethylene, vynil chloride or ethane through dechlorination, but these compounds are not safer than PERC itself.

What alternatives exist already to PERC?

There are already some existing alternatives to the use of PERC in dry cleaning, but the scientific community is divided regarding their safety.

The first alternative is the use of liquid silicon instead of PERC. Silicon is a commonly used solvent, which we find in products such as cosmetics, deodorants and shampoos. It is both odourless and colourless making it in theory a perfect alternative to PERC. However, some scientists have expressed their concern over the use of this chemical since no complete analysis of its impact on humans has been performed to date. Furthermore, only some countries, such as Canada and the UK, have declared liquid silicon as not harmful for the environment, which shows that there is no global consensus on its safety. Furthermore, the European Chemical Agency has reported that liquid silicone is bioaccumulative. It is very difficult to break down and it is likely to accumulate in our bodies, which is why the EU’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) has called for further research.

Another existing alternative is wet cleaning. This method involves the use of gentle washing machines, water, biodegradable soaps and conditioners, and various types of pressing and re-shaping equipment specialised for different types of fabric and fibre types. This method is quite expensive because it requires the investment of acquiring different machines for different fabrics, and requires a lot of training for the operators.
Although a safe alternative for the environment, the specialised detergents and conditioners are mild and not as effective on getting rid of all stains, and many tailors do not recommend it as the process can harm sensible garments.

European Experience

We participated in the European Experience, a big gathering for European iGEM teams organized by iGEM Evry and iGEM IONIS. Every team started in the morning by presenting its project, we all had posters and were exchanging with other iGEMers. It was a good opportunity to explain our project Frank&Stain for the first time : we presented our main idea, our workflow, our goals, etc. By exchanging with other iGEMers on our project they gave us feedback and ideas. European Experience was also a great way to meet European teams and learn what kind of projects and ideas they have in mind. Potential collaborations arose, we asked for red wine from teams near vineyards. Last but not least we had to very interesting conferences on Synthetic Biology in the afternoon.

NightScience

Biodesign Nightscience is an event organized by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research-Paris. This event gathers each year researchers, hackers and education innovators to share their approaches and experience on building new ways to achieve better knowledge construction and transmission. Our team was invited to present our project in front of diverse audience. We had 15 minutes to present our idea and work, followed by 10 minutes of questions. We were very glad to hear the views of audience coming from different backgrounds on our synthetic biology approach to tackle wine stains and supplant PERC in dry cleaning. We met iGEM-University of Cambridge and exchanged our views on each other's project and presentation. We met some of the fantastic people and learnt more on DIY, open, frugal, hands-on, collaborative and citizen science! We thank the organizers of the Biodesign Nightscience for giving us the opportunity to present the project and convey synthetic biology approach to more diverse audience .

Meet-up Ile-de-France

On this day teams from Paris had a meeting, organized by Paris Pasteur team, at the Institut Pasteur, and everyone had to do a twenty minutes presentation of its project. It was a very good way to practice for the Jamboree and present a more defined project and first results.

Festival du Vivant

The Festival vivant is a event organised to learn about synthetic biology and have an informed debate on the future we wish to build with this technology. This event gathered start ups, iGEM teams, designers and artists who presented their projects and their vision of the future synbio can inspire. During this event we had a stand in the Village des Initiatives, Initiatives village, in which we presented our project and answered questions on iGEM and synthetic biology. We also pitch our project during a conference held for this event in an amphitheater.
Eventually on the last day, we co-animated a workshop on the future we can imagine with synthetic biology with Frédéric Tournier, Professor at the Université Paris Diderot, and Philippe Deterre, biologist at CNRS. This workshop was attended by 20 people with different backgrounds and of different ages