A method of assessing air toxics concentrations in urban areas using mobile platform measurements.

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate an approach to characterize the spatial variability in ambient air concentrations using mobile platform measurements. This approach may be useful for air toxics assessments in Environmental Justice applications, epidemiological studies, and environmental health risk assessments. In this study, we developed and applied a method to characterize air toxics concentrations in urban areas using results of the recently conducted field study in Wilmington, DE. Mobile measurements were collected over a 4- x 4-km area of downtown Wilmington for three components: formaldehyde (representative of volatile organic compounds and also photochemically reactive pollutants), aerosol size distribution (representing fine particulate matter), and water-soluble hexavalent chromium (representative of toxic metals). These measurements were,used to construct spatial and temporal distributions of air toxics in the area that show a very strong temporal variability, both diurnally and seasonally. An analysis of spatial variability indicates that all pollutants varied significantly by location, which suggests potential impact of local sources. From the comparison with measurements at the central monitoring site, we conclude that formaldehyde and fine particulates show a positive correlation with temperature, which could also be the reason that photochemically generated formaldehyde and fine particulates over the study area correlate well with the fine particulate matter measured at the central site.

Toxics Release Inventory facilities and childhood cancer: Geographic information systems based approach

Purpose. To examine the association between living in proximity to Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) facilities and the incidence of childhood cancer in the State of Texas. ^ Design. This is a secondary data analysis utilizing the publicly available Toxics release inventory (TRI), maintained by the U.S. Environmental protection agency that lists the facilities that release any of the 650 TRI chemicals. Total childhood cancer cases and childhood cancer rate (age 0-14 years) by county, for the years 1995-2003 were used from the Texas cancer registry, available at the Texas department of State Health Services website. Setting: This study was limited to the children population of the State of Texas. ^ Method. Analysis was done using Stata version 9 and SPSS version 15.0. Satscan was used for geographical spatial clustering of childhood cancer cases based on county centroids using the Poisson clustering algorithm which adjusts for population density. Pictorial maps were created using MapInfo professional version 8.0. ^ Results. One hundred and twenty five counties had no TRI facilities in their region, while 129 facilities had at least one TRI facility. An increasing trend for number of facilities and total disposal was observed except for the highest category based on cancer rate quartiles. Linear regression analysis using log transformation for number of facilities and total disposal in predicting cancer rates was computed, however both these variables were not found to be significant predictors. Seven significant geographical spatial clusters of counties for high childhood cancer rates (p<0.05) were indicated. Binomial logistic regression by categorizing the cancer rate in to two groups (<=150 and >150) indicated an odds ratio of 1.58 (CI 1.127, 2.222) for the natural log of number of facilities. ^ Conclusion. We have used a unique methodology by combining GIS and spatial clustering techniques with existing statistical approaches in examining the association between living in proximity to TRI facilities and the incidence of childhood cancer in the State of Texas. Although a concrete association was not indicated, further studies are required examining specific TRI chemicals. Use of this information can enable the researchers and public to identify potential concerns, gain a better understanding of potential risks, and work with industry and government to reduce toxic chemical use, disposal or other releases and the risks associated with them. TRI data, in conjunction with other information, can be used as a starting point in evaluating exposures and risks. ^

The role of municipalities in air toxics regulation: The Houston experience

The federal regulatory regime for addressing airborne toxic pollutants functions fairly well in most of the country. However, it has proved deficient in addressing local risk issues, especially in urban areas with densely concentrated sources. The problem is especially pronounced in Houston, which is home to one of the world's biggest petrochemical complexes and a major port, both located near a large metropolitan center. Despite the fact that local government's role in regulating air toxics is typically quite limited, from 2004-2009, the City of Houston implemented a novel municipality-based air toxics reduction strategy. The initiatives ranged from voluntary agreements to litigation and legislation. This case study considers why the city chose the policy tools it did, how the tools performed relative to the designers' intentions, and how the debate among actors with conflicting values and goals shaped the policy landscape. The city's unconventional approach to controlling hazardous air pollution has not yet been examined rigorously. The case study was developed through reviews of publicly available documents and quasi-public documents obtained through public record requests, as well as interviews with key informants. The informants represented a range of experience and perspectives. They included current and former public officials at the city (including Mayor White), former Texas Commission on Environmental Quality staff, faculty at local universities, industry representatives, and environmental public health advocates. Some of the city's tools were successful in meeting their designers' intent, some were less successful. Ultimately, even those tools that did not achieve their stated purpose were nonetheless successful in bringing attention and resources to the air quality issue. Through a series of pleas and prods, the city managed to draw attention to the problem locally and get reluctant policymakers at higher levels of government to respond. This work demonstrates the potential for local government to overcome limitations in the federal regulatory regime for air toxics control, shifting the balance of local, state, and federal initiative. It also highlights the importance of flexible, cooperative strategies in local environmental protection.^

Controlling air toxics : version 2.0 : CAT.

Mode of access: Internet.

Removal of wood-derived toxics from pulping and bleaching wastes /

Grant no. R-803525-04.

Technical support document for water quality-based toxics control.

Mode of access: Internet.

National Air Toxics Information Clearinghouse : bibliography of selected reports and Federal register notices related to air toxics : index, 1990 : final report /

"EPA-450/3-90-014a."

Air pollution : EPA's strategy and resources may be inadequate to control air toxics : report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives /

"B-236358.3"--P. [1]

Characterization of toxic impacts on living marine resources in tidal rivers of the Chesapeake Bay

In 1999, the Chesapeake Bay Program completed a survey of existing data on chemical contaminants and the potential for bioeffects in 38 tidal river systems of Chesapeake Bay. This review led to the identification of 20 areas for which there were insufficient data to adequately characterize the potential for contaminant bioeffects on the Bay’s living resources. The goal of the present study was to estimate the current status of ecological condition in five of these areas and thus help to complete the overall toxics inventory for the Bay. These five systems included the Chester River, Nanticoke River, Pocomoke River, Lower Mobjack Bay (Poquosin and Back Rivers) and the South and Rhode Rivers. This study utilized a Sediment Quality Triad (SQT) approach in combination with additional water-column contaminant analysis to allow for a “weight of evidence” assessment of environmental condition. A total of 60 stations distributed among the five systems, using a probabilistic stratified random design, were sampled during the summer of 2004 to allow for synoptic measures of sediment contamination, sediment toxicity, and benthic condition. Upon completion of all analyses, stations were assigned to one of four categories based on the three legs of the triad. Stations with high sediment quality had no hits on any of the three legs of the triad; those with moderate quality had one hit; those with marginal quality had two hits; and those with poor quality had hits for all three legs of the triad. The Pocomoke River had by far the largest proportion of the total area (97.5%) classified as having high sediment quality, while the Rhode/South system had the highest proportion (11.4%) classified as poor. None of the stations in the Chester River, Nanticoke River, and Lower Mobjack Bay systems were classified as poor. More than 65% of the area of each of the five systems was classified with high to moderate sediment quality. The Rhode/South system had 30.4% of total area classified with marginally to severely poor quality. The results of this study highlight the importance of using multiple indicators and a “weight of evidence” approach to characterize environmental quality and the potential bioeffects of toxic contaminants.

Survey of the potential environmental and health impacts in the immediate aftermath of the coal ash spill in Kingston, Tennessee.

An investigation of the potential environmental and health impacts in the immediate aftermath of one of the largest coal ash spills in U.S. history at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston coal-burning power plant has revealed three major findings. First the surface release of coal ash with high levels of toxic elements (As = 75 mg/kg; Hg = 150 microg/kg) and radioactivity (226Ra + 228Ra = 8 pCi/g) to the environment has the potential to generate resuspended ambient fine particles (< 10 microm) containing these toxics into the atmosphere that may pose a health risk to local communities. Second, leaching of contaminants from the coal ash caused contamination of surface waters in areas of restricted water exchange, but only trace levels were found in the downstream Emory and Clinch Rivers due to river dilution. Third, the accumulation of Hg- and As-rich coal ash in river sediments has the potential to have an impact on the ecological system in the downstream rivers by fish poisoning and methylmercury formation in anaerobic river sediments.

Pertinencia y oportunidad de las pruebas de laboratorio en pacientes con intoxicación aguda

la capital colombiana es una de las ciudades que presenta los más altos índices de morbi-mortalidad por intoxicaciones, causa que constituye cerca del 20% de los casos catalogados como hechos violentos.

Efeito de extratos aquosos de Azadirachta indica, Melia azedarach e Aspidosperma pyrifolium no desenvolvimento e oviposição de Plutella xylostella

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Avaliação do potencial tóxico de águas oriundas de irrigação agrícola no Baixo-Açu/RN: um problema socioambiental

For many decades the problematic raised about the indiscriminate use of pesticides in modern agriculture has incited the interest of many researchers to discover the effects caused by such products in the environment and consequently in the life of the ones which use that products (farmers) and those people who live in places next to the agricultural areas. Facing these facts, this research had the intention of comprehend the environmental perception of habitants of the Distrito Irrigado do Baixo-Açu (DIBA), located in the semiarid of Rio Grande do Norte, by using agro toxics and its possible environmental effects, as well as evaluate the levels of toxicity of waters from agricultural runoff in this region by using eco-toxicological exams with Ceriodaphnia silvestii. Were done 86 interviews with dwellers and farmers from DIBA. With the results reached in the evaluation of the interviews it was possible to identify that one of major problems is the inappropriate discard of empty packs of the pesticides used at that place. The samples collected for eco-toxicological evaluation showed a variation in its toxicity, once that the point of collect which receives waters from different cultures presented in four out of five samples toxicity for the tested species. Therefore, it concludes that the indiscriminate use of pesticides agricultural practice presented a potential to pollute to the irrigation waters, and the absence of elucidation by the farmers about the manipulation of these products contribute to the risk of environmental contamination and the possible decrease of the quality of life of the dwellers of the region