Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) at the JRC Ispra Site: Air Concentrations, Congener Patterns and Seasonal Variation-Results from the 1st Year of Atmospheric Monitoring of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) at the Ispra EMEP Station

With the aim of gathering information on atmospheric POPs concentrations in one of the ¿monitoring holes¿ in Europe, a monitoring and research atmospheric site was set up at the JRC Ispra Site. Regular monitoring activities started on April 2005 and finished on March 2007 in this first stage. Air and precipitation samples were collected regularly throughout this period. First results obtained on PCBs ambient air concentrations (7 indicator PCBs: 28, 52, 101, 118, 153, 138 and 180) from the first year of monitoring (April 2005-2006) are presented in this report. In addition, congener patterns, air gas/particulate phase partition and seasonal variation are discussed. The range of ¿7 PCB total (gas + particulate phases) monthly averaged concentration during the sampling period varied from 76 ± 17 to 31 ± 5 pg m-3. Concentrations are within the range of those reported for rural, semi-rural or remote areas around the world. A seasonal variation of air concentrations was observed, with higher levels in summer months (higher average temperatures) and lower values in winter (lower average temperatures). In addition, indications of seasonal variation affecting congener patterns and the gas - particulate phase partition for the studied PCB were found. PCBs were in general predominant in the air gas phase, dominating therefore the contribution to the total airborne concentration, although the percentage in the gas phase decreases when increasing level of chlorination and during the low temperature season (winter months). A one year data set of PCB ambient air concentrations has been generated, constituting a useful dataset that now remains available for further use, such as inclusion in the EMEP network or for POPs fate modelling validation and future risk assessment of POPs in sub-alpine locations. More results for other target POPs are under processing and are expected to be reported soon.JRC.H.5-Rural, water and ecosystem resource

Analysis of the impact of deploying thermal protective immersion suits on evacuation time for passenger ships operating in polar waters

For passenger vessels operating in polar waters, the Polar Code requires that in case of possibility of immersion in polar waters, thermal protective immersion suits (TPIS) should be available for all passengers. Thus, international standards require that TPIS can be donned within 2 min and that walking speeds are reduced by no more than 25%. Clearlythese requirements are arbitrary and do not reflect their potential impact on evacuation performance. Other IMO requirements specify the maximum time permitted for assembly and abandonment times for passenger ships, which can be assessed using agent-based evacuation modelling (ABEM). However, these requirements currently ignore the impact of TPIS and employ a safety factor of 25% to represent all factors ignored when modelling evacuation. Here we explore the impact of TPIS on both the assembly and abandonment times of a hypothetical vessel using ABEM. The results demonstrate that requiring the donning of a TPIS can increase assembly times by as much as 65% and negatively impacts the abandonment process. It is thus essential that additional requirements associated with evacuation of vessels in polar waters are reflected within the IMO passenger ship evacuation certification guidelines. The paper suggests several ways in which this can be achieved

Comparison of Short-Term Estrogenicity Tests for Identification of Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals

The aim of this study was to compare results obtained by eight different short-term assays of estrogenlike actions of chemicals conducted in 10 different laboratories in five countries. Twenty chemicals were selected to represent direct-acting estrogens, compounds with estrogenic metabolites, estrogenic antagonists, and a known cytotoxic agent. Also included in the test panel were 17β-estradiol as a positive control and ethanol as solvent control. The test compounds were coded before distribution. Test methods included direct binding to the estrogen receptor (ER), proliferation of MCF-7 cells, transient reporter gene expression in MCF-7 cells, reporter gene expression in yeast strains stably transfected with the human ER and an estrogen-responsive reporter gene, and vitellogenin production in juvenile rainbow trout. 17β-Estradiol, 17α-ethynyl estradiol, and diethylstilbestrol induced a strong estrogenic response in all test systems. Colchicine caused cytotoxicity only. Bisphenol A induced an estrogenic response in all assays. The results obtained for the remaining test compounds—tamoxifen, ICI 182.780, testosterone, bisphenol A dimethacrylate, 4-n-octylphenol, 4-n-nonylphenol, nonylphenol dodecylethoxylate, butylbenzylphthalate, dibutylphthalate, methoxychlor, o,p′-DDT, p,p′-DDE, endosulfan, chlomequat chloride, and ethanol—varied among the assays. The results demonstrate that careful standardization is necessary to obtain a reasonable degree of reproducibility. Also, similar methods vary in their sensitivity to estrogenic compounds. Thus, short-term tests are useful for screening purposes, but the methods must be further validated by additional interlaboratory and interassay comparisons to document the reliability of the methods