Environmental risk assessment of pesticides and other chemicals often uses the Risk Quotient (RQ) method to characterize risk quantitatively. An RQ is calculated by dividing an environmental exposure value by a toxicity end-point value. Tier 1 RQs, which are characterized by highly conservative toxicity and exposure assumptions, are used primarily for screening out negligible risks in regulator...

The potential ecological and human health risk related with urban street dust from urban areas of Tianjin, China was quantitatively analyzed using the method of toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) and simple bioaccessibility extraction test (SBET). In the study, Hakason index, Nemerow index (P), the hazard index (HI) and the cancer risk index (RI) were calculated to assess the pot...

In order to protect public health and crops from soil heavy metal (HM) contamination at a coal mining area in Henan, central China, HM pollution investigation and screening of autochthonous HM phytoextractors were conducted. The concentrations of cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) in surface soils exceeded the corresponding local background values and the China National Standard...

Stresses present in different forms and call for subtly different responses. Conventional modes of planning seek to render such stressors manageable by administering them discretely. This has generally resulted in a segregated approach to spatial planning wherein functional delineations have become institutionally ‘sedimented’ within planning authorities (flood risk management, open space deman...