Environmental and Biological Assessment of Exposure to Benzene in Petroleum Workers

Occupational exposure to benzene was measured in two gasoline marketing terminals and five major refineries in Singapore. A total of 280 workers were monitored over two years. This assessment was carried out with two primary objectives: (1) To find out the extent of occupational exposure to benzene in the petroleum industry in Singapore, (2) To identify suitable biomarkers for monitoring of low levels of benzene exposure. The exposure was measured in five different categories of petroleum and petrochemical workers, i.e., truck drivers, despatch assistant, process operators, oil movements operators and laboratory technicians. The results revealed wide variations in exposure, from 0.01 to 13.6 ppm for personal time weighted average (TWA) exposure over the whole workshift. The exposure of truck drivers appeared to be the highest, with geometric mean (GM) of 1.98 ppm (ranged from 0.25 to 13.6 ppm). The average benzene exposure for process operators was relative low with a GM of 0.04 ppm. Lowest benzene exposure was found in the laboratory technicians, with a GM of 0.02 ppm. As cigarette smoking is known to affect metabolism of benzene, data analyses on the relationships with environmental exposure were conducted only on the 190 nonsmokers. The results showed that urinary trans, trans-muconic acid (ttMA), unmetabolized benzene in urine (UBZ) and benzene in blood (BBZ) were better biomarkers for low level benzene exposure as compared to urinary phenolic metabolites in urine, such as hydroquinone, phenol and catechol.     

Water resource pricing: Policy options

This paper critically examines pricing policy options for water resources and attempts to derive an operationally feasible and socially desirable pricing structure for this important resource. Marginal cost pricing options are studied under different economic and resource conditions, such as inflation, constrained water resources and price distortions in an economy. Options such as pricing of water at its ‘real’ resource value, ‘social’ pricing, and pricing to reflect intangible benefits are also examined.     

Experimental investigations of five different mosses on accumulation capacities of Cu,Pb and Zn

Uptake of Pb, Cu and Zn by different epiphytic moss species Floribundaria floribunda (Doz. &; Molk.) Fleisch., Taxiphyllum giraldii (C. Muell.) Fleisch. and Thuidium sparsifolium (Mitt.) Jaeg., an epilithic moss Thuidium delicatulum (L.) Mitt. and a leafy liverwort Ptychanthus striatus (Lehm. &; Linderb.) Nees. was studied experimentally. The plant bodies were treated with single metal and mixed metal solutions of Pb(NO₃)₂, CuCl₂ and ZnCl₂ at different concentrations ranging from 10^?10 to 10^?2 mol L^?1. Higher uptake of Pb, Cu and Zn by T. giraldii, T. sparsifolium and P. striatus than by F. floribunda and T. delicatulum was shown in both treatments. Compared with the single metal treatment, the uptake of Zn was very low at higher concentrations in the mixed metal treatment. A slight depletion of Zn was noticed in the long-term exposure. Leaching of naturally accumulated Zn from the mosses and leafy liverwort was also observed when treated with higher concentrated (10^?4, 10^?2 mol L^?1) Pb(NO₃)₂ and CuCl₂ solutions. Similarly, the leaching of naturally accumulated Cu was observed in leafy liverwort P. striatus with 10^?2 mol L^?1 Pb(NO₃)₂ and ZnCl₂ treatments. However, insignificant changes were observed on naturally accumulated Pb and Cu in mosses. From these experiments, the epiphytic mosses T. giraldii and T. sparsifolium, which have high Cation exchange capacity and large leaf surface area, have been found to be suitable for assessing heavy metal concentration in a moderately or slightly contaminated environment.