Environmental risk assessment of persistent organic pollutants in river-basin through fuzzy logic

Presented at 11th Mediterranean Congress of Chemical Engineering, 2008, Barcelona (Spain).This Study is funded by the European Union through the projectsRISKBASE (GOCE 036938), AQUATERRA (project number 505428) and by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science through the project CEMAGUA (CGL2007-64551/HID).Peer reviewe

How to measure uncertainties in environmental risk assassment

Environmental risk assessment is an essential element in any decision-making process in order to minimize the effects of human activities on the environment. Unfortunately, often environmental data tends to be vague and imprecise, so uncertainty is associated with any study related with these kind of data. Essentially, uncertainty in risk assessment may have two origins – randomness and incompleteness. There are two main ways to deal with these uncertainties – probability theory and fuzzy logic. Probability theory is based on a stochastic approach, using probability functions to describe random variability in environmental parameters. Fuzzy logic uses membership functions and linguistic parameters to express vagueness in environmental issues. We discuss the best way to deal with uncertainties in the environmental field and give examples of probabilistic and fuzzy-logic approaches applied to environmental risk assessment.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Environmental risk assassment of presistent organic pollutants in river-basins though fuzzy logic

Postprint (published version

Pyrethroid bioaccumulation in Mediterranen dolphins

Pyrethroids are organic pollutants with high hydrophobicity used as insecticides. Concern exists about aquatic organisms¿ exposure to their toxicity. They were believed to be converted to non-toxic metabolites in mammals, but our group has detected them in human breast milk and has proved their bioaccumulation in marine mammals and river fish. The present study investigates the occurrence of pyrethroid compounds in liver samples from striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba)and common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) from southern Spain, as the first attempt to determine the occurrence and bioaccumulation and distribution of pyrethroids in marine mammal tissues from the Mediterranean Sea. Samples of dolphin tissue were collected from the Abloran Sea (south of Spain) between 2003 and 2010, including 37 liver samples from striped dolphin and different tissues¿blubber, muscle, liver, brain and kidneys¿from 11 common dolphins. The analytical method monitored 10 pyrethroids, including cypermethrin and detamethrin. For the sample preparation?lyophilized sample was spiked with internal standards, extracted by sonication and underwent a clean-up with alumina and C18 SPE cartridges. Extracts were analysed by GC-NCI-MS/MS. Method recoveries for the pyrethroids ranged 53-116?% and method LODs and LOQs were 0.02-0.46?ng/g and 0.08-1.54?ng/g, respectively. Pyrethroids were detected in 87?% of the striped dolphins and 100?% of the common dolphins, with total concentrations of nd-5,210?ng/g?lw and 69-2,036?ng/g?lw, respectively. These levels were higher than those reported found in dolphins from Brazil (7.0-68?ng/g?lw). Permethrin and tetramethrin were the main contributors to the pyrethroid profiles for all tissues. The samples of striped dolphins where used to observe that bioaccumulation of pyrethroids was unlike that of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), as pyrethroid levels were not correlated to the age of the specimens. Levels slightly increase from calves to juveniles, whereas juveniles present similar levels to adults. Metabolization of pyrethroids after achieving sexual maturity might account for this pattern. Because of the pyrethroids lipophilic behaviour, blubber was the most contaminated tissue and brain showed the lowest levels. Normalizing the data to the lipid content, the highest value was for muscle by far, suggesting a preference for that tissue. SETA

Fuzzy approach for risk assessment of brominated flame retardants in aquatic ecosystems

Brominated flame retardants (BFR) are pollutants that represent a threat to both human health and environment due to their industrial use, their persistence and their ability to bioaccumulate and biomagnify in food chains, especially in the aquatic one. For the last ten years contamination levels for this type of compounds have been reported for European, North American and Asian human tissue, sediments and biota samples [1-3]. However, monitoring efforts into the assessment of BFRs contamination levels in Latin America are scarce. In this study, a model for the evaluation of the environmental risk of BFRs in the aquatic ecosystems has been developed. It has been based on a technical application of the Fuzzy Theory [4]. In particular, three interconnected Fuzzy Inference Systems (FIS) have been created through the use of the Fuzzy Toolbox in Matlab. In order to improve and make the model scientifically robust, several international experts have been questioned about different information required to build the fuzzy system. Information from 38 questionnaires have been collected and statistically treated.Preprin

Occurrence of halogenated flame retardants in commercial seafood species available in European markets

PBDEs (congeners 28, 47, 99, 100, 153, 154, 183, 209), HBCD (α, β, γ), emerging brominated flame retardants (PBEB, HBB and DBDPE), dechloranes (Dec 602, 603, 604, syn- and anti-DP), TBBPA, 2,4,6-TBP and MeO-PBDEs (8 congeners) were analysed in commercial seafood samples from European countries. Levels were similar to literature and above the environmental quality standards (EQS) limit of the Directive 2013/39/EU for PBDEs. Contaminants were found in 90.5% of the seafood samples at n. d.-356 ng/g lw (n. d.-41.1 ng/g ww). DBDPE was not detected and 2,4,6-TBP was detected only in mussels, but at levels comparable to those of PBDEs. Mussel and seabream were the most contaminated species and the Mediterranean Sea (FAO Fishing Area 37) was the most contaminated location. The risk assessment revealed that there was no health risk related to the exposure to brominated flame retardants via seafood consumption. However, a refined risk assessment for BDE-99 is of interest in the future. Moreover, the cooking process concentrated PBDEs and HB

Degradation of selected agrochemicals by the white rot fungus Trametes versicolor

Use of agrochemicals is a worldwide practice that exerts an important effect on the environment; therefore the search of approaches for the elimination of such pollutants should be encouraged. The degradation of the insecticides imiprothrin (IP) and cypermethrin (CP), the insecticide/nematicide carbofuran (CBF) and the antibiotic of agricultural use oxytetracycline (OTC) were assayed with the white rot fungus Trametes versicolor. Experiments with fungal pellets demonstrated extensive degradation of the four tested agrochemicals, at rates that followed the pattern IP > OTC > CP > CBF. In vitro assays with laccase-mediator systems showed that this extracellular enzyme participates in the transformation of IP but not in the cases of CBF and OTC. On the other hand, in vivo studies with inhibitors of cytochrome P450 revealed that this intracellular system plays an important role in the degradation of IP, OTC and CBF, but not for CP. The compounds 3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-2,2-dimethylcyclopropane carboxylic acid (DCCA) and 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (PBA) were detected as transformation products of CP, as a result of the breakdown of the molecule. Meanwhile, 3-hydroxycarbofuran was detected as a transformation product of CBF; this metabolite tended to accumulate during the process, nonetheless, the toxicity of the system was effectively reduced. Simultaneous degradation of CBF and OTC showed a reduction in toxicity; similarly, when successive additions of OTC were done during the slower degradation of CBF, the fungal pellets were able to degrade both compounds. The simultaneous degradation of the four compounds successfully took place with minimal inhibition of fungal activity and resulted in the reduction of the global toxicity, thus supporting the potential use of T. versicolor for the treatment of diverse agrochemicals

Contaminants of emerging concern in freshwater fish from four Spanish Rivers

This study investigated the occurrence of 135 contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) – pharmaceuticals, pesticides, a set of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) (parabens, bisphenols, hormones, triazoles, organophosphorus flame retardants and triclosan), UV-filters, perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and halogenated flame retardants (HFRs) – in 59 fish samples, collected in 2010 in 4 Spanish Rivers (Guadalquivir, Júcar, Ebro and Llobregat). Of the 135 CECs, 76 including 8 pharmaceuticals, 25 pesticides, 10 EDCs, 5 UV-filters, 15 PFASs and 13 HFRs were detected. Pharmaceuticals were the less frequently found and at lower concentrations. Pesticides, EDCs, UV-filters, PFASs and HFRs were detected more frequently (>50% of the samples). The maximum concentrations were 15 ng/g dry weight (dw) for pharmaceuticals (diclofenac), 840 ng/g dw for pesticides (chlorpyrifos), 224 ng/g dw for EDCs (bisphenol A), 242 ng/g dw for UV-filters (EHMC), 1738 ng/g dw for PFASs (PFHxA) and 64 ng/g dw for HFRs (Dec 602). The contaminants detected in fish are commonly detected also in sediments. In light of current knowledge, the risk assessment revealed that there was no risk for humans related to the exposure to CECs via freshwater fish consumption. However, results provide detailed information on the mixtures of CECs accumulated that would be very useful to identify their effects on aquatic biota.This research has been supported by the European Union 7th Framework Programme funding under Grant Agreement No. 603629-ENV-2013-6.2.1-Globaqua, by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Consolidated Research Groups 2017 SGR 1404 - Water and Soil Quality Unit) and by the Generalitat Valenciana (ANTROPOCEN@, PROMETEO/2018/155).Peer reviewe