Persistent Organic Chemicals in the Environment: Status and Trends in the Pacific Basin Countries I Contamination Status

Document Type

Edited Book

Publication Date

Winter 12-7-2016

Publication Title

Persistent Organic Chemicals in the Environment: Status and Trends in the Pacific Basin Countries I Contamination Status

Department

Chemistry

College/School

Jesse D. Jones College of Science, Engineering and Technology

Abstract

Environmental pollution by man-made Persistent Organic Chemicals (POCs) has been a serious global issue for over half a century. Exposure to POCs may result in health effects, including, endocrine disruption leading to birth defects, intellectual disability, low testosterone, childhood obesity, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Therefore, POCs have been the subject of an intensive regional, national, and international efforts to limit the production, use, and disposal of these chemicals. Since POCs are ubiquitous and recalcitrant, and cause long-term effects on wildlife and humans, trend monitoring studies are valuable in making clear the behavior and fate of these compounds and to protect our environment and living resources. The Pacific Basin is a unique geographical region representing tropical, temperate and polar zones. This region is home to 2/3 of the world’s population and consists of rapidly growing economies (countries) and highly developed countries. Due to this diversity of climatic and socio-economic conditions, environment and biota in different countries in this basin have varying degrees of environmental contamination and effects on wildlife and humans. The Pacific Rim countries play a pivotal role in governing global POC contamination and resulting harmful health effects. Because articles on POCs and their effect on environment and health are published in a large number of different journals, it is useful to have a book that includes original papers and reviews on the latest advances by well-known scientists in the field, especially focusing on the countries in the Pacific Rim.

Comments

The two volumes are based on the successful symposium on “Status and Trends of Persistent Organic Chemicals in the Environment”. The symposium took place at PACIFICHEM 2015, International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies, December 15-20, 2015 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The symposium brought together an impressive group of leading experts in the field, covering a broad spectrum of expertise in contamination status and temporal trends of POCs from countries in the Pacific Rim. Eighteen platform presentations and nine posters were presented. The presentations created an exciting and dynamic forum for highlighting current contamination profiles and as well as future trends, which formed the foundation of this two-volume book. All of the symposium speakers were invited to submit chapters to this book. We were pleased that the majority contributed chapters. Other internationally respected researchers contributed additional chapters in order to strengthen the coverage of classical and emerging contaminant statuses and trends in the Pacific Rim countries. A total of 20 chapters are included in the two volumes of the book. Volume 1 focuses on contamination status including human exposure to POCs and Volume 2 focuses on the temporal trends and future perspectives. Topics covered in Volume 1 include an overview of POCs contamination status and trends in the Pacific Basin Countries (Chapter 1); human exposure to brominated flame ix retardants (Chapter 2); persistent toxic substances in Vietnam (Chapter 3); dietary exposure to a variety of organohalogen pollutants and heavy metals in Tokyo, Japan (Chapter 4) and Georgia, USA (Chapter 5); e-waste and associated environmental contamination in the Asia/Pacific Region (Chapter 6), including a case study on dioxin and furan exposure to e-waste workersin India (Chapter 7); POCsin sediments(Chapter 8),soil and atmosphere of South Korea (Chapter 9); and new research on sequestration and redistribution of emerging and classical persistent organic pollutants by polystyrene (Chapter 10). Topics covered in Volume 2 include lessons learned from three decades monitoring contaminants in Pacific Basin wildlife samples from the USA’s Marine Environmental Specimen Bank (Chapter 1); spatial and temporal trends of brominated flame retardants (Chapter 2), PCBs, pesticides, and dioxins/furans, in the environment and biota in the USA, Colombia (Chapter 3), China (Chapter 4), Korea (Chapter 5), and Japan (Chapter 6 and Chapter 7); emission of emerging pharmaceutical contaminants in the USA (Chapter 8) and Vietnam (Chapter 10); and possible application of bio-analytical assays in the biological impact assessment of persistent organic pollutants in Mangrove sediments in Southeast Asia with particular reference to Malaysia (Chapter 9). The collection of chapters in these volumes may serve as a reasonable representation of current and future trends of POCs in the Pacific Basin countries. It is hoped that the book can inspire students and researchers, as well as professionals, to facilitate the understanding of the environmental and biological behavior of these persistent chemicals and to help in the development of strategies and practices for protecting the global environment for future generations. We would like to express our gratitude to all of the authors who took time to prepare their manuscripts and to the many reviewers for their valuable time and expertise in the peer review process. Special thanks to Dr. Kevin Miller for his timely help in reviews and language corrections. Thanks are also due to the editorial team at ACS Books, particularly Bob Hauserman, Elizabeth Hernandez, Arlene Furman, and Aimee Greene for their efficient handling of manuscripts.

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