Air and groundwater pollution in an agricultural region of the Turkish Mediterranean coast

Air pollution and groundwater pollution in conjunction with agricultural activity were investigated in Antayla province on the Turkish Mediterranean coast. The air pollution was investigated in terms of gas-phase nitric acid (HNO3), sulfur dioxide (SO2), ammonia (NH3), and particulate matter for a 6-month period in the atmosphere using a "filter pack" system, which was developed and optimized in our laboratory. Ozone was measured by using an automated analyzer. Among all of the gas-phase pollutants, HNO3 had the lowest concentration (0.42 microg x m(-3)) followed by NH3. Agricultural activities seem to be the major source of observed NH3 in the air. The current state of water pollution was investigated in terms of organochlorine and organophosphorus pesticides around the greenhouses, in which mainly tomato, pepper, and eggplant are cultivated. Water samples were collected from 40 points, 28 of which were wells and 12 of which were surface water. The pesticide concentrations in water samples were determined by means of solid-phase extraction (SPE) followed by a gas chromatography (GC)-electron capture detector (ECD)/nitrogen phosphorus detector (NPD) system. In general, surface water samples were more polluted by the pesticides than groundwater samples. The most frequently observed pesticides were chlorpyriphos (57%) and aldrin (79%) in groundwater, and chlorpyriphos (75%), aldrin, and endosulfan sulfate (83%) in surface water samples. The highest concentrations were observed for fenamiphos (394.8 ng/L) and aldrin (68.51 ng/L) in groundwater, and dichlorvos (322.2 ng/L) and endosulfan sulfate (89.5 ng/L) in surface water samples. At least one pesticide had a concentration above the health limit in 38% of all the water samples analyzed.     

Impact of Socio-demographic Factors on Willingness to Pay for the Reduction of a Future Health Risk

Knowledge of socio-demographic factors affecting attitudes to and perception of risk is an important instrument in enhancing efficiencies of interventions. The authors evaluated whether socio-demographic variables affected attitudes to an environmental issue (securing future drinking water). An important aspect was the delay between time of environmental pollution and time of human exposure and thereby potential health risk. Gender, education, place of residence and age all influenced the extent to which individuals were willing to allocate present resources to alleviate a future problem. Specifically, people above the age of 50 appeared more reluctant to pay for an intervention against a future potential health threat. The authors found a significant correlation between attitude and willingness to pay (WTP). In the authors' scenarios, the WTP variable worked more as a dichotomous variable than as a continuous variable, stressing the importance and relevance of the WTP=0 answers.     

Potential neoplastic e ects of parathion-methyl on rat liver

The mutagenic and carcinogenic e ects of parathion-methyl were examined by bacterial reverse mutation assay and a long-term experiment with wistar rats. The potential mutagenic e ect of parathion-methyl in Salmonella typhimurium TA100 bacterial cells was observed without rat liver S9 metabolic activation. Parathion-methyl was further investigated for pathological changes in rat pancreas and liver. The long-term rat experiments showed that parathion-methyl exposure for 3 months can cause pathological changes in rat pancreases acinar cells and pancreatic hepatocytes. Atypical acinar cell focuses (AACF) were determined in the liver and pancreas of the rats. The results from short-term Ames test and long-term rat experiments suggested that parathion-methyl would be potential carcinogenic.