Short-term behavior environmental effects

Environmental exposures to PCBs are significantly lower than those reported in the workplace and are therefore unlikely to cause adverse human health effects in adults. However, it is apparent from the results of several recent studies on children that there was a correlation between in utero exposure to PCBs, eg, cord blood levels, and developmental deficits (65—68) including reduced bkth weight, neonatal behavior anomaUes, and poorer recognition memories. At four years of age, there was stiU a correlation between prenatal PCB exposure levels and short-term memory function (verbal and quantitative). In these studies the children were all exposed to relatively low environmental levels of PCBs. Although these effects may be related to other contaminants, it is clear that this is an area of concern regarding the potential adverse human health impacts of PCBs. 

When spills and releases of hazardous gases or liquids occur, the concentration of the hazardous material in the vicinity of the release is often the greatest concern, since potential health effects on those nearby will be determined by the concentration of the substance at the time of the acute exposure. There are many models of routine continuous discharges (e.g., discharges arising from leaky valves in chemical plants), but these carmot be applied to single episodic events. Research on the ambient behavior of short-term environmental releases and the development of models for concentration profiles in episodic releases are cmcial if we are to plan appropriate safety and abatement measures. 

Even when considered on a long term basis, there is considerable doubt that the presence of land filled battery metals such as lead, zinc, and cadmium would have the catastrophic environmental effects which some have predicted. Studies on 2000-year old Roman artifacts in the United Kingdom (Thornton 1995) have shown that zinc, lead and cadmium diffuse only very short distances in soils, depending on soil type, soil pH and other site-specific factors, even after burial for periods up to 1900 years. Another study in Japan (Oda 1990) examined nickel-cadmium batteries buried in Japanese soils to detect any diffusion of nickel or cadmium from the battery. None has been detected after almost 20 years exposure. Further, it is unclear given the chemical complexation behavior of the metallie ions of many battery metals exactly how they would behave even if metallic ions were released. Some studies have suggested, for example, that both lead and cadmium exhibit a marked tendency to complex in sediments and be unavailable for plant or animal uptake. In addition, plant and animal uptake of metals such as zinc, lead and cadmium has been found to depend very much on the presence of other elements such as iron and on dissolved organic matter (Cook and Morrow 1995). Until these behavior are better understood, it is unjustified to equate the mere presence of a hazardous material in a battery with the true risk associated with that battery. Unfortunately, this is exactly the method which has been too often adopted in comparison of battery systems, so that the true risks remain largely obscured. 

Assessment endpoints have often included those listed in Table 2.4 the endpoints considered in a risk assessment may depend on the nature of the substance and the applicable regulatory regime, among other factors, and can include effects other than those tabulated (e.g., see [82]). Table 2.4 also includes environmental behaviors relevant to short- and long-term exposure that may be considered during the risk assessment. 

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