Environmental Impact Of Antifouling Paints And Tributyltin Regulations

DALLAS, April 1 -- The use of tributyltin (TBT) compounds in antifouling paints applied to ships has been regulated in many countries for some time. This symposium of 25 papers discusses many aspects of tributyltin compounds in the environment, including environmental fate and analysis, biomonitors and bioavailability, and trends and risks. The research will be presented here April 1 and 2 at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society, world's largest scientific society.

Are There Viable Alternatives To TBT?

Seventy percent of the world fleet of ships uses a TBT paint system, and there is a constant but very low release of TBT from the ship hulls. The International Maritime Organization has ongoing discussions about the harmful effects of the TBT paints, but the search to develop alternative systems to TBT-based paints for ships hulls which are equivalent in performance and are environmentally safe has proved to be a complex problem, says Uwe Schneider, Ph.D., of Witco GmbH in Bergkamen, Germany. Schneider will review new antifouling technologies and their potential environmental fate.

Paper ENVR 36 will be presented by Uwe Schneider from 1:40 to 2:05 p.m., Wed., April 1, in the Convention Center Room D261, Level 2.

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