Backyard burning of household waste in barrels is a common waste disposal practice for which pollutant emissions have not been well characterized. This study measured the emissions of several pollutants, including polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDDs/PCDFs), from burning mixtures designed to simulate waste generated by a “recycling” and a “nonrecycling” fam...

Concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and other dioxin-like compounds in soils and sediments of the Tittabawassee River and associated floodplains downstream of Midland, Michigan, USA, are greater than upstream sites. As a result of these concentrations, which are some of the greatest ever reported, a site-specific exposure assessment of belted kingfisher breeding in the asses...

The lower Passaic River is an operable unit of the Diamond Alkali Superfund site at 80 and 120 Lister Avenue in Newark, New Jersey, USA. Between 1948 and 1969, the Diamond Shamrock Chemicals Company and its predecessors manufactured chemicals such as pesticides and phenoxy herbicides, including 2,4,5-trichlorophenol, which is a precursor to 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid, one of the primary ...

All chemicals that are not normal constituents of human milk should be considered undesirable contaminants. In the present review, the following substances detected in human milk are considered: persistent organochlorine pesticides; polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB); polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDD) and dibenzofurans (PCDF); polybrominated compounds; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH); t...

Magnesium production is considered to be one potential source of unintentional persistent organic pollutants (unintentional POPs). However, studies on the emissions of unintentional POPs from magnesium metallurgy are still lacking. Emissions of unintentional POPs, such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl-PCBs), polychlorinated ...

Decreasing environmental concentrations of some persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have been observed at local or regional scales in continental areas after the implementation of international measures to curb primary emissions. A decline in primary atmospheric emissions can result in re-emissions of pollutants from the environmental capacitors (or secondary sources) such as soils and oceans....

Eight sewage sludges from rural, urban and industrial wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Catalonia (Spain) were analysed for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and biphenyls (PCBs) to determine the present levels of contamination. A method based on an automated cleanup system followed by an isotope-dilution high-resolution mass spectrometric analysis was employ...

The aim of this study was to investigate the potential utility of ethanol washing for remediating soils contaminated with polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), as a cost-efficient alternative to conventional remediation methods of PCDD/F-contaminated soils. Initially, screening experiments were performed with a two-level full factorial design to ex...

Hazardous substances, such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) also have been detected in Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and industrial waste incinerators in Korea. In this study, we estimated the exposure status of these hazardous substances and their heath effects in workers and residents near the MSW incinerators and residents near the industri...

BACKGROUND Congenital cryptorchidism, i.e. failure of the testicular descent to the bottom of the scrotum, is a common birth defect. The evidence from epidemiological, wildlife, and animal studies suggests that exposure to mixtures of endocrine disrupting chemicals during fetal development may play a role in its pathogenesis. We aimed to assess the association between cryptorchidism and prenata...