Pollutants, Human Health and the Environment A Risk Based Approach

by Plant, Jane A.; Voulvoulis, Nick; Ragnarsdottir, K. Vala

• ISBN13: 9780470742617
• ISBN10: 0470742615
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-03-05
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Pollutants, the Environment and Human Health is a comprehensive, up-to-date overview of environmental pollutants that are of current concern to human health. Clearly structured throughout, the main body of the book is divided by pollutant type with a chapter devoted to each group of pollutants. Each chapter will follow a similar format to facilitate comparison and discussion. For each pollutant, the authors describe the sources, pathways, environmental fate and sinks as well as known toxicological effects. Importantly the second chapter on heavy metals and other inorganic substances will deal with trace element deficiencies which can have serious problems for human health. Some rocks and soils are naturally low in some trace elements and intensive agriculture over the past half century has effectively mined many trace elements reducing their levels in soils and crops. The final chapter will be a discussion about the various risk assessment frameworks and regulations covering the main pollutants. Comprehensive, up-to-date coverage of environmental pollutants of concern to human health Clearly divided into pollutant type with each chapter devoted to a different pollutant group Clearly structured throughout with the same format for each chapter to help facilitate comparison and discussion and enable readers to prioritise chemicals of concern Description of the sources, pathways, environmental fate and known toxicological effect Includes contributions from leading researchers and edited by a team of experts in the field

Author Biography

Professor Jane Plant is a leading geochemist based at Imperial who has made major contributions to Earth and Environmental Science, concentrating on issues of particular relevance to society.
Professor Plant is an international expert on chemicals in the environment, especially the naturally occurring radionuclides such as uranium and the trace elements arsenic and selenium. She developed the BGS Geochemical Baseline of the Environment (G-BASE) programme which maps the distribution of many different chemicals over the land surface of the UK and allows their interactions to be studied using geographical information systems or other digital methods. She developed the methods of systematically and reproducibly sampling and analysing sediment, soil and water samples, as well as the first quality-control systems for such data. The standard of the data is widely acknowledged as the best in the world, and the methods have been adopted by the IUGS/IAGC Global Geochemical Baseline Programme, which she leads jointly with the United States Geological Survey. She has used the data for many environmental studies, including issues related to human health and agriculture. She and her team have worked on problems related to human health in Asia and Africa helping, for example, to identify the relationship between a lack of available selenium in parts of China with the incidence of a type of heart disease.

Table of Contents

Forewords	p. xi
Tribute	p. xiii
The Editors	p. xv
Contributors	p. xvii
Acknowledgements	p. xix
Introduction	p. 1
The scientific appraisal of hazardous substances in the environment	p. 5
Introduction	p. 5
Fundamental concepts of toxicology	p. 5
Some notions of environmental epidemiology	p. 13
Scientific evidence and the precautionary principle	p. 19
Uncertainty and controversy: the endocrine disruption example	p. 20
Concluding remarks	p. 23
References	p. 23
Regulatory systems and guidelines for the management of risk	p. 27
Introduction	p. 27
Current regulation on chemicals	p. 28
Guideline values	p. 34
Conclusions and recommendations	p. 47
References	p. 47
Essential and beneficial trace elements	p. 53
Introduction	p. 53
Hazardous properties	p. 56
Sources	p. 59
Environmental pathways	p. 63
Effects on human receptors	p. 68
Risk reduction	p. 77
References	p. 79
Toxic trace elements	p. 87
Introduction	p. 87
Hazardous properties	p. 89
Sources	p. 90
Environmental pathways	p. 94
Effects on human receptors	p. 101
Risk reduction	p. 107
References	p. 108
Radioactivity and radioelements	p. 115
Introduction	p. 115
Hazardous properties	p. 122
Sources	p. 125
Environmental pathways	p. 132
Bioaccessibility and bioavailability	p. 136
Risk reduction	p. 139
References	p. 141
Industrial chemicals	p. 147
Introduction	p. 147
Hazardous properties	p. 148
Sources	p. 156
Environmental pathways	p. 161
Human health	p. 164
Risk reduction and future trends	p. 170
References	p. 172
Agricultural pesticides and chemical fertilisers	p. 181
Introduction	p. 181
Pesticides	p. 183
Fertilisers	p. 195
Risk reduction for pesticides and chemical fertilisers	p. 197
References	p. 199
Pharmaceuticals and personal-care products	p. 207
Introduction	p. 207
Hazardous properties	p. 208
Anthropogenic sources	p. 210
Pathways and environmental fate	p. 215
Physiological effects	p. 218
Risk assessment, communication and reduction	p. 219
Future trends	p. 220
References	p. 221
Naturally occurring oestrogens	p. 229
Introduction	p. 229
Hazardous properties	p. 231
Sources	p. 240
Environmental pathways	p. 241
Effects on humans	p. 243
Risk reduction	p. 248
References	p. 249
Airborne particles	p. 255
Introduction	p. 255
Hazardous properties	p. 257
Sources	p. 261
Global pathways	p. 266
Health effects of inhaled particulate material	p. 270
Risk reduction and future trends	p. 277
References	p. 281
Engineered nanomaterials	p. 287
Introduction	p. 287
Useful and hazardous properties	p. 289
Sources of NPs	p. 299
Environmental pathways	p. 300
Regulation and effects on human receptors	p. 301
Future trends and risk reduction	p. 312
References	p. 313
Conclusions: pollutants, risk and society	p. 319
Index	p. 327
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