Impact of European legislation on marketed pesticides — A view from the standpoint of health impact assessment studies

The very significant impact of European legislation (Directive 91/414/EEC) on the authorization of plant protection products is reviewed herein, which has resulted in withdrawal of 704 active substances (AS) out of 889 assessed so far. The list of currently approved 276 AS includes 194 AS “existing” in the market before 1993 and 82 “new” AS introduced during the last 15 years. Results of toxicity characterization of the approved AS are also summarized, utilizing several well-known databases. Although significant data gaps exist for a rather large part of the approved AS, it is found that 84 AS are positive for at least one health effect (after chronic and/or acute exposure) including carcinogenicity, reproductive and neuro-developmental disorders, as well as endocrine disruption. The toxicity characterization results of this study are compared to those of recent assessments by other organizations (KemI, the Swedish Chemicals Agency, and the Pesticide Safety Directorate of the UK), where interpretation and use is made of AS “cut-off” criteria foreseen in new EU legislation. These studies report a comparatively smaller AS number with positive toxicity characterization. The possibility of some additional AS withdrawal in the near future, combined with the rather small rate of new AS introduction (approx. 5 per year) suggest that the list of approved AS over the next 10–15 years may not change very drastically. Consideration of the above trends is necessary and instructive in evaluating results of existing health impact assessment (HIA) studies, as well as in planning new ones. Due to the very drastic change in the number and type of marketed AS, that took place within the past 8–9 years, it is suggested that new HIA studies (based on epidemiological data after year 2000) should focus on a rather short time frame and, therefore, on appropriate cohort groups, e.g. young children. For the same reason, results of epidemiological studies of the past (involving banned AS) should be carefully interpreted and used with caution.     

The food-print of Paris: long-term reconstruction of the nitrogen flows imported into the city from its rural hinterland

Between the tenth and twentieth century the population of Paris city increased from a few thousand to near 10 million inhabitants. In response to the growing urban demand during this period, the agrarian systems of the surrounding rural areas tremendously increased their potential for commercial export of agricultural products, made possible by a surplus of agricultural production over local consumption by humans and livestock in these areas. Expressed in terms of nitrogen, the potential for export increased from about 60 kg N/km2/year of rural territory in the Middle Ages, to more than 5,000 kg N/km2/year from modern agriculture. As a result of the balance between urban population growth and rural productivity, the rural area required to supply Paris (i.e. its food-print) did not change substantially for several centuries, remaining at the size of the Seine watershed surrounding the city (around 60,000 km2). The theoretical estimate of the size of the supplying hinterland at the end of the eighteenth century is confirmed by the figures deduced from the analysis of the historical city toll data (octroi). During the second half of the twentieth century, the ‘food-print’ of Paris reduced in size, owing to an unprecedented increase in the potential for commercial export associated with modern agricultural systems based on chemical N fertilization. We argue that analysing the capacity of territories to satisfy the demand for nitrogen-containing food products of local or distant urban population and markets might provide new and useful insights when assessing world food resource allocation in the context of increasing population and urbanization.     

GC/MS法测定润滑油基础油中多环芳烃

对润滑油基础油中多环芳烃的气相色谱/质谱(GC/MS)测定方法进行了研究,探讨了样品的提取,固相萃取柱净化等前处理方法,同时也对仪器测定条件进行了优化.结果表明,在检测润滑油基础油中多环芳烃时,经优化的GC/MS法的加标回收率和精密度均达到较满意的水平.     

玄武湖挺水植物区与敞水区浮游甲壳动物昼夜水平迁移初探

浮游甲壳动物昼夜垂直迁移(DVM)是深水湖泊中的一种常见的现象,在浅水湖泊中,没有明显的下层滞水层为浮游甲壳动物提供避护所,浮游甲壳动物的垂直迁移活动不明显。但浅水湖泊挺水植物的存在为浮游甲壳动物提供了区别于敞水带的生境,结合理化、浮游植物和鱼的因素,对浅水湖泊玄武湖挺水植物区与敞水区浮游甲壳动物的昼夜水平迁移进行了研究。结果得出：浅水湖泊玄武湖中理化环境（如温度、溶解氧和pH)在荷花区、敞水区、荷花区与敞水区的交界区差异不大,对浮游甲壳动物的昼夜水平迁移不起主导作用。荷花区的浮游植物在质量和数量上低于敞水区,浮游甲壳动物在夜间捕食压力小的情况下会向敞水区移动。敞水区、交界区浮游甲壳动物在白天被捕食的风险要大于荷花区,因而白天时间浮游甲壳动物会迁移到荷花区聚集.     

Spatial distribution of uranium and thorium in the surface soil around proposed uranium mining site at Lambapur and its vertical profile in the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam

The understanding and evaluation of the possible interactions of various naturally occurring radionuclides in the world's third largest man-made dam, Nagarjuna Sagar located in Andhra Pradesh, India and built on river Krishna assumed significance with the finding of uranium deposits in locations near the dam. For the present work, surface soil samples from the mineralized area of Lambapur, Mallapuram, Peddagattu and sediment core samples from the Nagarjuna Sagar dam were analyzed for naturally occurring radionuclides namely uranium and thorium using gamma spectrometric technique. Also toxic elements lead and chromium were analysed by the Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (EDXRF) technique. Surface soil samples show a variation from 25 to 291 Bq/kg (2.02–23.5 mg/kg) for ²³⁸U and 32–311 Bq/kg (7.9–76.9 mg/kg) for ²³²Th. U/Th concentration ratio in surface soil samples ranged from 0.19 to 0.31 and was found comparable with the nation wise average of 0.26. The study of sediment core samples reflected higher U/Th concentration ratio of 0.30–0.33 in the bottom section of the core as compared to 0.22–0.25 in the upper section. The concentration ratio in the upper section of the core was similar to the ratio 0.23 found in the western Deccan Basalt region through which the river originates. A higher concentration of lead and chromium was observed in the upper section of the core compared to bottom section indicating the impact of river input on the geochemical character of dam sediment.     

CaO/SiO2对流化床焚烧飞灰熔融过程中重金属挥发的影响

对掺煤混烧的流化床焚烧飞灰熔融过程中重金属在气相(吸收率)中和固相(固定率)中的分布进行了研究,并采用HNO3-NaOH2级吸收方式对气相重金属进行了吸收.结果表明,CaO/SiO2(摩尔比)对重金属的迁移行为有重要影响,CaO/SiO2降低,Cd、Pb固定率总体呈上升趋势;2级吸收对气相重金属的吸收有限,大部分重金属主要溶解在HNO3吸收液中,但NaOH吸收液对Cr的吸收效果好于HNO3吸收液;氯对重金属的挥发有重要影响,当重金属以氯化物形式存在时,其挥发受到SiO2的限制.随着SiO2含量增加,挥发率降低.     

生活垃圾加载介质层填埋法对初期渗滤液污染抑制效果研究

以传统卫生填埋柱R2为对照,通过往生物反应器填埋柱R1内加载可渗透反应介质层1和2进行模拟试验,主要探讨了填埋柱R1垃圾渗滤液COD、总氮、氨氮及总磷的变化趋势,探索一种新型的加载介质层垃圾填埋处理方法。试验结果表明,填埋20周后, R1柱COD浓度基本维持在40 000～45 000 mg/L间,约为R2柱的20%～30%;第24周,R1柱总氮和氨氮分别为206.5 mg/L和167.3 mg/L,在16～24周内,R1总氮和氨氮分别约为R2的14.5%～17.5%和36.2%～43.6%;18周时,R1柱总磷达最大值1.704 mg/L,至第24周降为0.673 mg/L, 整个实验过程R1柱总磷约为R2的0.15%～0.56%。     

不同高级氧化法对水中低浓度药物甲硝唑降解过程的比较

采用UV、H₂O₂、UV/H₂O₂、Fenton、UV/Fenton和UV/TiO₂方法,对水中低浓度的药物甲硝唑进行降解。通过HPLC和UV-Vis光谱得到的甲硝唑去除率。详细讨论了Fe²⁺、TiO₂和H₂O₂的初始浓度以及溶液的初始pH值对降解效率的影响。结果表明,UV/Fenton和UV/TiO₂ 2种系统对水中低浓度甲硝唑均有很好的去除效果,但前者的光催化效率更高。在甲硝唑浓度=6 μmol/L,H₂O₂和Fe²⁺的初始浓度分别为0.5 mg/L和2.94 μmol/L,pH=4的条件下,UV/Fenton方法对甲硝唑水溶液光催化的最佳效率为95.8%。     

基于生态安全的DAT-IAT城市污水处理工艺改进研究

通过正交试验,得到了DAT-IAT工艺和A/DAT-IAT工艺处理城市污水的常规指标去除和生态毒理指标削减的最优运行条件。结果表明,在正交试验的同一工艺中,COD去除最优运行条件的出水COD值优于生态毒性削减最优运行条件的出水COD值,但前者出水的生态毒性较大。由于厌氧池的水解酸化作用,A/DAT-IAT工艺对COD和生态毒性的处理效果均优于DAT-IAT工艺,并且回流总能耗低于DAT-IAT工艺,但是出水COD仍不达标。为了降低进入工艺的COD的总量,以絮凝沉淀做为预处理工艺,并采用Al残留量最小的絮凝剂投药量以降低出水中残留Al带来的生态风险。结果表明,在COD去除最优运行条件下,具有絮凝预处理的工艺对COD的去除效果优于没有絮凝预处理的工艺。絮凝-A/DAT-IAT工艺在COD去除最优运行条件下出水COD为104.46 mg/L,满足排放标准。在毒性削减最优运行条件下,具有絮凝预处理的工艺的出水生态毒性有所上升,但是污染物的总量得到了大幅削减。絮凝-A/DAT-IAT工艺与DAT-IAT工艺相比,在污染物去除效率得到大幅增加的同时,生态毒性得到有效控制,生态安全得到了有效的保障。     

含中间层的DSA电极电催化氧化硝基苯废水的研究

为了提高难降解有机废水的可生化性,以及更高效地去除废水中的特征污染物,同时避免二次污染,利用自制的含锡锑中间层的钌钯氧化物涂层电极对有机废水中的硝基苯进行处理,并利用SEM、XRD等方法对电极中间层、表层进行微观表征。微观测试表明,基体、中间层、表层之间结合力较强,有利于增强电极寿命;水处理实验表明,电催化氧化反应体系适合高浓度有机废水的处理,由于该反应体系需要外加电解质加强传质,这在实际运用中为废水中盐度的处理提供了一种新的途径,当电流密度为20 mA/cm²、电解质浓度为10 g/L、pH=5、极板间距=2 cm时,电催化氧化体系对硝基苯具有较高的去除效率。