Environmental fate and bioavailability of agent orange and its associated dioxin during the vietnam war

BACKGROUND: In 1996, the Committee on the Assessment of Wartime Exposure to Herbicides in Vietnam of the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued a report on an exposure model for use in epidemiological studies of Vietnam veterans. This exposure model would consider troop locations based on military records; aerial spray mission data; estimated ground spraying activity; estimated exposure opportunity factors; military indications for herbicide use; and considerations of the composition and environmental fate of herbicides, including changes in the TCDD content of the herbicides over time, the persistence of TCDD and herbicides in the environment, and the degree of likely penetration of the herbicides into the ground. When the final report of the IOM Committee was released in October 2003, several components of the exposure model envisioned by the Committee were not addressed. These components included the environmental fate of the herbicides, including changes in the TCDD content over time, the persistence of TCDD and herbicides in the environment, and the degree of likely penetration of herbicides into the ground. This paper is intended to help investigators understand better the fate and transport of herbicides and TCDD from spray missions, particularly in performing epidemiological studies. METHODS: This paper reviews the published scientific literature related to the environmental fate of Agent Orange and the contaminant, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), and discusses how this affected the potential exposure to TCDD of ground troops in Vietnam. Specifically, the mechanisms of dissipation and degradation as they relate to environmental distribution and bioavailability are addressed. RESULTS: The evaluation of the spray systems used to disseminate herbicides in Vietnam showed that they were capable of highly precise applications both in terms of concentrations sprayed and area treated. Research on tropical forest canopies with leaf area indices (a measure of foliage density) from 2 to 5 indicated that the amount of herbicide and associated TCDD reaching the forest floor would have been between 1 and 6% of the total aerial spray. Studies of the properties of plant surface waxes of the cuticle layer suggested that Agent Orange, including the TCDD, would have dried (i.e., be absorbed into the wax layer of the plant cuticle) upon spraying within minutes and could not be physically dislodged. Studies of Agent Orange and the associated TCDD on both leaf and soil surface have demonstrated that photolysis by sunlight would have rapidly decreased the concentration of TCDD, and this process continued in shade. Studies of 'dislodgeable foliar residues' (DFR, the fraction of a substance that is available for cutaneous uptake from the plant leaves) showed that only 8% of the DFR was present 1 hr after application. This dropped to 1% of the total 24 hrs after application. Studies with human volunteers confirmed that after 2 hrs of saturated contact with bare skin, only 0.15-0.46% of 2,4,5-T, one of the phenoxy acetic acid compounds that was an active ingredient of Agent Orange, entered the body and was eliminated in the urine. CONCLUSIONS: The prospect of exposure to TCDD from Agent Orange in ground troops in Vietnam seems unlikely in light of the environmental dissipation of TCDD, little bioavailability, and the properties of the herbicides and circumstances of application that occurred. Photochemical degradation of TCDD and limited bioavailability of any residual TCDD present in soil or on vegetation suggest that dioxin concentrations in ground troops who served in Vietnam would have been small and indistinguishable from background levels even if they had been in recently treated areas. Laboratory and field data reported in the literature provide compelling evidence on the fate and dislodgeability of herbicide and TCDD in the environment. This evidence of the environmental fate and poor bioavailability of TCDD from Agent Orange is consistent with the observation of little or no exposure in the veterans who served in Vietnam. Appreciable accumulation of TCDD in veterans would have required repeated long-term direct skin contact of the type experienced by United States (US) Air Force RANCH HAND and US Army Chemical Corps personnel who handled or otherwise had direct contact with liquid herbicide, not from incidental exposure under field conditions where Agent Orange had been sprayed.     

A comparative study on the recovery of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from fly ash and lignite coal

The recovery of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from lignite coal burnt in Greek power stations and the fly ash produced is examined comparatively using Soxhlet, ultrasonic and accelerated solvent extraction procedures with various organic solvents. Soxhlet using toluene/methanol mixture and accelerated solvent extraction/toluene were found to be the most efficient methods for fly ash PAHs, yielding average recoveries of about 80%. The accelerated solvent extraction/toluene procedure was superior for lignite PAHs, yielding 96% average recovery, whereas ultrasonic and Soxhlet extraction yielded relatively lower recoveries (75% and 67%, respectively).     

水中有机污染物超声强化氧化技术研究进展

超声波技术在化学、环境、制药以及生物等领域有着广阔的应用前景。在降解水中难降解有机污染物方面 ,超声强化氧化技术有一定优势 ,降解效果显著 ,符合绿色环保技术的要求。超声强化氧化技术主要可分为超声空化技术、超声强化化学 (催化 )氧化技术、超声强化电化学 (催化 )氧化技术、超声强化光化学 (催化 )氧化技术、超声 生物降解等几大类 ,本文对各类技术的优缺点进行了评述。     

超声波有机改性凹凸棒土的苯酚吸附性能研究

采用超声波技术,对凹凸棒土进行有机改性,提高凹凸棒土的苯酚吸附能力,比较了不同的阳离子表面活性剂的改性效果,并且通过正交实验得出了超声波改性的最优化工艺条件为:十八烷基三甲基氯化铵的添加比例为35mmol/100g,超声波处理时间10min,屏极电流0·5A。在此条件下,苯酚去除率可达酸处理凹凸棒土的80倍以上,是搅拌有机改性的1.5倍。     

The Role of Roadsides in Plant Invasions: a Demographic Approach

Abstract:  Non-native plant species are common along roadsides, but presence does not necessarily indicate spread along the road axis. Roadsides may serve merely as habitat for a species spreading independently of roads. The potential conduit function of roads depends on the habitat specificity of the spreading species, its dispersal range relative to the spacing of roads in the landscape, and the relative importance of long- and short-range dispersal. We describe a demographic model of the road × species interaction and suggest methods of assessing conduit function in the field based on the model results. A species limited to roadside habitat will be constrained to spread along the road axis unless its long-range dispersal is sufficient to carry it across the intervening unfavorable area to another road. It will propagate along a road corridor at a rate determined by the scale of short-range dispersal. Effective management of an invasion requires distinguishing between the habitat and conduit functions, a distinction difficult to make with only snapshot data. Invasions can be reconstructed by several methods, but none is totally satisfactory. We suggest comparing stem distributions on transects parallel and perpendicular to the road axis, and beside the road, and away from it, with an idealized Gaussian curve. Such comparisons would allow discrimination between pattern determined by habitat suitability and pattern reflecting random and facilitated dispersal.     

Designing a Conservation Landscape for Tigers in Human-Dominated Environments

Abstract:  Wildlife populations in small, isolated reserves face genetic and demographic threats to their survival. To increase the probability of long-term persistence, biologists promote metapopulation management, in which breeding subpopulations are protected as source pools. Animals that disperse from the source pools increase the probability of persistence of the metapopulation across the greater landscape. We used a geographic information system (GIS)–based, cost-distance model to design a conservation landscape along the Himalayan foothills for managing a metapopulation of Asia's largest predator, the tiger ( Panthera tigris ). The model is based on data from 30 years of field research on tigers, recent satellite imagery, and a decade of buffer-zone restoration in this region. We used the model to (1) identify potential dispersal corridors for tigers; (2) identify strategic transit refuges; and (3) make recommendations for off-reserve land management and restoration to enhance the potential of corridors for tigers. This tool can aid the design of conservation landscapes for other endangered, wide-ranging species in human-dominated environments.     

Effect of Vegetation Matrix on Animal Dispersal: Genetic Evidence from a Study of Endangered Skinks

Abstract:  Maintaining connectivity in fragmented landscapes is a key principle of biological conservation. Although corridors are a widely accepted approach to connecting populations, their merits are still debated, and they may be impractical in many situations. A focus on management of the vegetation matrix between populations has been advocated as an alternative way to deal with habitat fragmentation and has theoretical support. We combined microsatellite DNA and demographic data to provide an empirical account of how two forms of agricultural land use affect the connectivity of insular populations of an endangered skink in southern New Zealand. The grand skink ( Oligosoma grande ) lives in small populations (approximately 20 individuals) on rock outcrops separated from one another by 50–150 m of inhospitable matrix vegetation (either native tussock grassland or exotic pasture). Skinks typically dispersed short distances, and the nature of the matrix both quantitatively and qualitatively affected dispersal dynamics. Skink populations in pasture were significantly more genetically structured and had less genetic variation than similar populations in tussock, implying less dispersal between populations in pasture than tussock. Furthermore, although female-biased dispersal was a feature of populations in tussock, no sex bias was evident in pasture. In addition, Bayesian individual-based genetic assignment tests that incorporated prior mark-recapture information revealed that some populations produced many emigrants but received few immigrants, whereas other populations were relatively insular. Patterns of dispersal and response to matrix vegetation were complex, and the causes of these patterns deserve attention in future studies of habitat fragmentation. Managing the vegetation matrix may be a practical way to connect animal populations in some situations.     

A new policy‐related measure of population dispersal and sparsity using GIS

Policy indicators applied at a national scale can have considerable financial impact for resource allocations to individual counties, especially if there are extreme local factors. This article develops arid explores a new measure of population dispersal and sparsity and discusses the impact of this indicator in a variety of locations, by using GIS techniques.     

表面活性剂修饰氧化铋形貌及其超声降解性能研究

本实验分别用阴离子表面活性剂十二烷基硫酸钠(SDS)和十二烷基苯磺酸钠(SDBS)、阳离子表面活性剂十六烷基三甲基溴化铵(CTAB)以及两种表面活性剂耦合进行修饰氧化铋形貌,并对修饰后的样品进行XRD、EDS、XPS、SEM等表征分析;同时探讨了表面活性剂修饰后的氧化铋在超声作用下对直接大红的最佳投加量和降解性能.结果表明:催化剂的最佳投加量为75 mg,最佳降解性能的样品为阴阳离子表面活性剂耦合修饰的氧化铋;当催化剂投加量为75 mg、初始浓度为10 mg·L-1、超声频率为45 k Hz、功率为100 W时,表面活性剂SDBS与CTAB在比例为1∶1耦合时修饰的氧化铋在20 min内对直接大红的总去除率达到99.4%,比空白实验提高16倍多.