China's economy has grown significantly and concomitantly so has the demand for home and personal care (HPC) products. The detection of chemicals used in HPC products is increasing in profile as China strives to improve its environmental management. China is developing robust exposure models for use in regulatory risk-based assessments of chemicals, including those chemicals used in HPC products. Accurate estimates of chemical emissions play an important role within this. A methodology is presented to derive spatially refined emissions from demographic and economic indicators with large variations in emissions calculated, showing product usage being higher in East and South China. The less affordable a product, the greater the influence per capita Gross Domestic Product has on the product distribution. Lastly, more spatially resolved input data highlights greater variation of product use. Linking product sales data with population density increased the observed variability in absolute usage distribution of HPC products at the county > province > regional > country scale.

Lead in paint is a major public health concern and has drawn much attention from international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). However, there is limited research on lead-based paint, especially its use in toys, which poses an explicit health risk to vulnerable children. The present study sampled 100 different toys purchased from the three largest online shopping platforms in China: JD, Taobao (TB) and Tmall (TM). These selected toys have been sold nearly 3 million times in total, suggesting that they may have reached the dwellings of millions of children. It was found that the toys sold by JD and TM, which are considered organized sellers, had average lead concentrations of 25 mg/kg and 32 mg/kg, respectively, much lower than that of toys sold by unorganized sellers on the TB platform, at 219 mg/kg. Approximately 12% of the toys purchased from TB contained paint with total lead concentrations exceeding China's regulatory standard for paints in toy manufacturing, and nearly 36% of the toys purchased from TB exceeded the equivalent US regulatory standard and EU standard. These results suggest that further action is needed to verify the health and safety standards of toys sold by such unorganized sellers. Moreover, this study found that China's regulatory standard (90 mg/kg) based on soluble lead may underestimate the risk posed by lead in paints, and it is suggested that future regulatory thresholds for lead levels in paints for toy manufacture be based on total rather than soluble lead concentrations. The present study also explored various influencing factors on lead concentration, and found that lead concentrations were related to toy price, age group, color, and sales volume.

High levels of phthalates in name-brand cosmetics products have raised concerns about phthalate exposure and the associated risk for cosmetics sales clerks. We assessed the exposure and risk of phthalates in 23 cosmetics, 4 perfume, and 9 clothing department store sales clerks. We collected 108 urine samples pre- and post-shift and analyzed for phthalate monoesters through liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization–tandem mass spectrometry. Phthalates in 32 air samples were collected and analyzed through gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Demographic characteristics and information on the exposure scenarios were obtained through questionnaires. Principal component analysis, cluster and risk analysis were applied to identify the exposure profile and risk of phthalate.Median post-shift levels of urinary mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (MEHP) and monomethyl phthalate (MMP) were significantly higher than the corresponding pre-shift levels in cosmetics group (53.3 vs. 30.9 μg/g-c for MEHP; 34.4 vs. 22.5 μg/g-c for MMP; both P < 0.05) and the post-shift levels of urinary MMP was significantly higher than the corresponding pre-shift levels in perfume group (26.6 vs. 14.9 μg/g-c, P < 0.05). Median levels of air diethyl phthalate (DEP) in cosmetics (1.77 μg/m³) and perfume (1.75 μg/m³) groups and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in perfume group (6.98 μg/m³) were higher than those in clothing group (DEP: 0.89; DEHP: 2.16 μg/m³). Over half of cosmetic (70%) and perfume sale clerks had exceeded cumulative risk of phthalate exposure for anti-androgenic effect. We concluded that cosmetic and perfume workers had increased risks of reproductive or hepatic effects for DBP and DEHP exposure. We suggest that not only inhalation but dermal exposure is important route of phthalate exposure for cosmetics and perfume workers.

In August 2019, a major oil spill hit nine Brazilian coastal states, affecting marine ecosystems and fishing communities. In this study, we assess the immediate social and economic impacts of this oil spill on fishing communities of the northeast coast. We conducted semi-structured interviews and focal meetings with 381 fishers and shellfish gatherers to understand the perceived socioeconomic impacts on different types of fishing. We also obtained information on fish consumption after the oil spill, which we compared with data prior to the oil spill from the same communities. Sales decreased by more than 50% for all types of fishing, strongly impacting local income generation. These communities, which are already social-ecologically vulnerable, have had their subsistence, food security and cultural maintenance strongly compromised. We argue that there is a clear need for coordinated state interventions to mitigation the impacts, considering it's environmental, social, economic, human health and political dimensions.

In recent years, various countries have put forward Banning Gasoline Vehicle Sales Policy (BGVSP), and the degree of public support for BGVSP is crucial to its design and implementation. Taking China as an example, this study built a policy support index using network crawler technology and natural language processing technology. Then, multi-spatial convergence cross-mapping technology was used to study the interaction between public support and air pollution, electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure, EV technology, and use cost. The results showed that air pollution has a significant impact on public support; public support has a significant impact on the construction of the EV infrastructure and the level of EV technological research, and the use cost of traditional gasoline vehicles has a significant impact on public support. This study investigated the correlations between public support and the factors influencing public support, and the results can be used as a reference for the design and implementation of BGVSP in newly industrialized countries.

This study investigates the effect of accumulated human capital on the performance of agribusinesses in China. Four hundred fifty agribusiness owners were interviewed for the study. Growth in sales over the last 5 years was used as a measure of performance. The following variables were reviewed and captured as those constituting human capital: education, raised in the area, parents being entrepreneurs, attending business seminars/trade fairs, managerial experience, similar work experience, cooperative membership, and training. Logit regression model and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The logit regression model was used to analyze the effect of accumulated human capital on growth in sales. The inferential statistics on the other hand was used to measure the association between age, education, sex, provinces, and the categories of growth. Our study found that parents who are entrepreneurs and attend business seminars/trade fairs, as well as have managerial experience, similar work experience, education, and training, display a statistically significant positive effect on the growth in sales.