Monitoring environmental contaminants

Pesticides, including insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides, are widely used in agriculture, and the potential for these residues to accumulate in food has led to concern for human safety. Pesticide residues may enter food animals from environmental sources or from treated or contaminated feeds. Immunoassay development for pesticides has had major impacts for pesticide registrations, analysis of residues in foods, monitoring environmental contamination, determination of occupational exposure, and integration of pest management. 

Halbrook, R.S., J.H. Jenkins, P.B. Bush, and N.D. Seabolt. 1994. Sublethal concentrations of mercury in river otters monitoring environmental contamination. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 27 306-310. 

Terrestrial BMOs have also been widely used for monitoring environmental contaminants. In particular, the lipid-like waxy cuticle layer of various types of plant leaves has been used to monitor residues of HOCs in the atmosphere. However, some of the problems associated with aquatic BMOs apply to terrestrial BMOs as well. For example, Bohme et al. (1999) found that the concentrations of HOCs with log KoaS < 9 (i.e., those compounds that should have attained equilibrium) varied by as much as 37-fold in plant species, after normalization of residue concentrations to levels in ryegrass (Lolium spp.). These authors suggested that differences in cuticular wax composition (quality) were responsible for this deviation from equilibrium partition theory. Other characteristics of plant leaves may affect the amount of kinetically-limited and particle-bound HOCs sampled by plant leaves but to a lesser extent (i.e., <4-fold), these include age, surface area, topography of the surface, and leaf orientation. 

Hair serves to eliminate toxic materials (e.g., lead) and metabolites from the body, and may be used to monitor environmental contamination. For example, copper deficiency is a cause of Menke s kinky hair syndrome protein deficiency leads to hair loss and discoloration. Hair keratin carries a strong negative charge and binds inorganic materials it becomes prone to... 

Improvements that have been made in current methods and the improvements proposed for newer methods (Griest et al. 1989 Krogsrud and Lang 1990) will be useful in monitoring environmental contamination from manufacture and disposal of tetryl and in forensics. 

Ribick MA, Smith LM, Dub ay GR, Stalling DL (1981) Applications and results of analytical methods used in monitoring environmental contaminants. American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, PA, USA, Special Technical Publication. 737, pp 249-269... 

Human exposure to environmental contaminants has been investigated through the analysis of adipose tissue, breast milk, blood and the monitoring of faecal and urinary excretion levels. However, while levels of persistent contaminants in human milk, for example, are extensively monitored, very little is known about foetal exposure to xenobiotics because the concentrations of persistent compounds in blood and trans-placental transmission are less well studied. Also, more information is needed in general about the behaviour of endocrine disruptive compounds (and their metabolites) in vivo, for example the way they bind to blood plasma proteins. 

Hirschfeld, T. Deaton, T. Milanovich, F. Klainer, S. Fitzsimmons, C. Project Summary—Feasibility of Using Fiber Optics for Monitoring Groundwater Contaminants U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Monitoring Systems Lab. Las Vegas, NV, January 1984. 

Campbell KR, Campbell IS. 2001. The accumulation and effects of environmental contaminants on snakes a review. Environ Monitor Assess 70 253-301. 

Meyers-Schoene L, Walton BT. 1990. Comparison of two freshwater turtle species as monitors of environmental contamination. Govt Reports Announcements Index 24. 

The nuclear power plant accident at Chernobyl in April 1986 (IAEA Technical Report 1991) proved to be a much more potent source of environmental contamination in many surrounding countries, over distances up to several thousands of kilometers, and was a cause of worldwide problems in international trade in food products contaminated (or possibly contaminated) with radionuclides. The resulting requirement by many countries to establish systems for monitoring radionuclides in foodstuffs and in the environment led to a large worldwide increase in the demand for suitable reference materials. 

T.R. Glass, H. Saiki, T. Joh, Y. Taemi, N. Ohmura, and S.J. Lackie, Evaluation of a compact bench top immunoassay analyzer for automatic and near continuous monitoring of a sample for environmental contaminants. Biosens. Bioelectron. 20, 397 403 (2004). 

Talmage, S.S. and B.T. Walton. 1991. Small mammals as monitors of environmental contaminants. Rev. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 119 47-145. 

Sawicka-Kapusta, K., R. Swiergosz, and M. Zakrzewska. 1990. Bank voles as monitors of environmental contamination by heavy metals. A remote wilderness area in Poland imperilled. Environ. Pollut. 67 315-324. 

Dieter, M.P. 1979. Blood delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) to monitor lead contamination in canvasback ducks (Aythya valisineria). Pages 177-191 in National Academy of Sciences. Animals as Monitors of Environmental Pollutants. Washington, D.C. 

Wiemeyer, S.N., R.M. Jurek, and J.F. Moore. 1986. Environmental contaminants in surrogates, foods, and feathers of California condors (Gymnogyps californianus). Environ. Monitor. Assess. 6 91-111. 

Mosses and lichens accumulate nickel readily and at least nine species are used to monitor environmental gradients of nickel (Jenkins 1980a). Maximum concentrations of nickel found in whole lichens and mosses from nickel-contaminated areas range between 420 and 900 mg/kg DW vs. 12 mg/kg DW from reference sites (Jenkins 1980a). Nickel concentrations in herbarium mosses worldwide have increased dramatically during this century. In one case, nickel concentrations in Brachythecium salebrosum from Montreal, Canada, rose from 6 mg/kg DW in 1905 to 105 mg/kg DW in 1971 (Richardson etal. 1980). 

Grasman, K.A., Scanlon, P.F., and Fox, G.A., Reproductive and physiological effects of environmental contaminants on fish-eating birds of the Great Lakes A review of historical trends, Environ. Monitoring Assess., 53, 117, 1998. 

Hydrogen cyanide and cyanide salts are important environmental contaminants, and there are numerous reports dealing with the identification and quantitation of cyanide in air, water, and other environmental media. Representative examples of monitoring methods for cyanide are included in Table 6-2. 

Por a new facility, some baekground environmental monitoring data are desirable. It is important that environmental monitoring data are obtained during the eourse of broth fill batches to demonstrate a normal level of environmental contamination. The validity of broth fills earried out in an environment of consistently lower contamination levels than those obtained during routine bateh manufacture eould be questioned. 

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