Environment and Foods

Cesium is widely distributed within the environment, though in very small amounts compared to other elements. 

Seawater has a potassium cesium ratio of 1 770000, and an absolute concentration of about 0.5 parts per billion (Smales and Salmon, 1955). 

The cesium contents of soils vary analogously with their potassium contents (Oughton and Day, 1993). Forest and moor soils have lower potassium contents than farmed soils, where the fertilizers used substitute for potassium losses following uptake by the vegetation. The typical cesium content of pastures is 1-2 mgkg (Oughton and Day, 1993), while the Cs contents of soil may range from 0.5 to 20 mg kg (Shaw and Bell, 1991). 

The cesium concentration of herbage ranges from 2 to 40 pg kg (or even wider), although very few data are available in this respect (Heine etal., 1977, Diehl and Schelenz, 1975). If the pH-value of the soil is low and there is a lack of potassium, cesium is better absorbed by the roots of the plants than in cases of high potassium content and high pH-values of the soils (Wiechen, 1972). 

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The future of chemurgy is intercoimected with the economic future of energy, environment, and food. Several scenarios exist for future sources of energy and materials. Some involve the use of nuclear or solar energy (qv) leaving coal and oil available for chemicals and transportation fuels. Some involve... 

Blood was studied in a group of virtually healthy adolescents aged 14-17 from two localities in the Ukraine, where pesticide exposure differed by a factor of three, though the pesticide content in food products, drinking water, air and soil in the experimental zone was not higher than public health standards permitted. In Azerbaijan there was a difference of 100 times in the amounts of pesticides used in the experimental and control localities, while the pesticide contamination of elements of the environment and food products in the experimental zone was 2-50 times higher than acceptable levels [A97]. Table 3.6 shows the results. 

Dauwe, T., Janssens, E., Bervoets, L., Blust, R., and Eens, M. 2004. Relationships between metal concentrations in great tit nestlings and their environment and food. Environ. Pollut. 131 373-380. 

El-Hage Scialabba, N and Hattam, C (2002) Organic Agriculture, Environment and Food Security, Environment and Natural Resources Series 4. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome, 252 pp. 

Effects of copper-based fungicides on crop growth, the environment and food safety... 

IPCS INCHEM is a means of rapid access to internationally peer reviewed information on chemicals commonly used throughout the world, which may also occur as contaminants in the environment and food. It consolidates information from a number of intergovernmental organizations whose goal it is to assist in the sound management of chemicals. 

This methodology traditionally used by biologists is now applied in the areas of environment and food analysis (with pesticides, aflatoxins, anabolic steroids, PAHs). However, it is only possible to measure a compound if the adapted antibodies and enzyme conjugates are available. 

Several very useful books on the subject of chemical process development have been published.1 These have been written largely from the point of view of the bench chemist or chemical engineer. Emphasis in this collection of books is on the work needed to ensure that practical chemical reactions are created for scale-up, that the chemistry is understood, that the theory and mechanics needed to engineer scale-up are addressed, and that Safety, Environment and Food and Drug Administration requirements are met. 

El-Hage Scialabba, N. and C. Hattam (eds.) (2002) Organic agriculture, environment and food security.- FAO, Rome. http //www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y4137E/Y4137E00.htm... 

Figure 11.1. Possible pathway of PGEs from car catalytic converters to the environment and food.

As discussed in Chapter 2, BFRs have been used as additive and reactive flame retardants in myriad materials and products for over 30 years because of their effectiveness and low cost (Alcock and Busby, 2006). Similarly to PCBs, some BFRs, notably PBDEs, are widely dispersed in our environment and food supplies (e.g. Lorber, 2008 Pozo et ah, 2006 Ross et al, 2009). Again, we use our concepmal model presented in Figure 8.1 to interpret temporal trends in concentrations and exposure. We also use it to discuss the role and effectiveness of pohcies and legislative controls. We focus our discussion on PBDEs for which most is known, with some information on HBCD and TBBPA and newer BFRs such as bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)ethane, or BTBPE, and (2-ethylhexyl)tetrabromophtha-late, or TBPH (Stapleton et al, 2008 Kolic et al, 2009). We use the quotation marks for newer because at least some of these BFRs have been in the marketplace for decades but have seen revived use as countries have banned penta- and octa-BDE and, most recently, deca-BDE (e.g. Alcock and Busby, 2006 Hoh et al, 2006 Stapleton et al, 2008). 

The motivations for organic production include concerns about the economy, the environment, and food safety. Although all organic farmers avoid synthetic chemicals in their operations, they differ in how they achieve the ideal system. Organic farmers span the spectrum some completely eschew external inputs and create on-farm sources of compost for fertilization and encourage the activity of beneficial insects... 

Based on the above merits, the liquid scintillation measurement is extremely sensitive to the low-level radioactivity existing in the environment and food. 

In the case of a nuclear accident, most of the radioisotopes in the environment and food can be reliably and quickly assayed by gamma spectroscopy. There is a problem with some important isotopes which are pure beta or alpha emitters and which cannot be identified directly by gamma spectroscopy. The activity of the isotopes of the strontium group Sr, Sr and Y after a three-year reactor fuel cycle can reach about 8% of the total in-core activity and one of them, Sr(Y), is important for the long-term health consequences. 

The levels of radionuclides in the environment and food have been extensively compiled by UNSCEAR. In general, the radionuclides of major importance in the contamination of food and environmental samples (materials which are part of the pathways leading to the food) are ... 

Pesticides have been shown to impact every one of the six processes just listed. Since pesticide residues are ubiquitous in the human environment and food supply worldwide (see Chapter 10), fertility declines should not be surprising. An excellent review of the subject is contained in a recent article by Bretveld et alJ3l... 

The needs expressed for CRMs/RMs by the laboratories contacted are very wide and were summarised in the form of a list per analytical sector, as given in Table 5.7. Only clearly identified matrices/chemical parameters are listed. From this table, it can be concluded that the environment and food/agriculture fields generated the largest variety of requests. Other comments were related to the high prices of CRMs and the need for Laboratory Reference Materials fit for purpose to respond to urgent needs (small stock of defined shelf life). More instructions are deemed necessary on how to use the CRMs and better information on suppliers, types of materials etc. is also needed. It seems that many laboratories do not know how to find their way in the broad supply of RMs of very different — and often unknown — quality. 

In the present study, bioconcentration, biomagnification and bioaccumulation models are presented using models which describe the concentrations of chemicals in the organisms and environment and food. Other models use fugacities to describe the bioaccumulation processes [e.g. 19,20]. For the sake of simplicity, however, we continue with describing the models based on concentrations. 

Because health depends on the environment and food quality,... 

The EPA should develop improved tools and methods to more systematically estimate the overall impact of prospective regulatory actions on health, the environment, and food production. Rapid advances in computer technology, as well as the EPA s successful efforts to computerize major data sets like the Tolerance Assessment System (TAS) make such progress readily attainable."... 

Characterize the toxicological and ecotoxicological behavior of DDT and its principal metabohtes in the environment and food chains. 

The major factors that influence the success of a protein as a food ingredient include protein source, processing history of the protein, food formulation, environment, and food processing methods and equipment. In many cases the functionality of the protein may be modified during its preparation for better or for worse. 

Anke M, Muller M, Anke S, Gurtler H, Muller R, Schafer U and Angelow L (2001a) The biological and toxicological importance of aluminium in the environment and food chain of animals and humans. In Ermidou-Pollet S and Pollet S, eds. 3rd International Symposium on Trace Elements in Human New Perspectives. G. Morogianis, Acharnai, Greece, pp. 230-247. 

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