Water is an essential material for all organisms on earth to sustain life, and a satisfactory water supply must be made available to consumers. It is required that drinking water not be contaminated by microbes or chemical substances harmful to human health. Pathogenic bacteria, viruses and protozoa in drinking water cause waterborne infectious diseases. The pollution source, pathogenicity, and...

F Pesticide Contamination Prevention Act authorrzed the California Department of Food and Agrculture to modify w.es of pesticides in areas where they have leached through soil to groundwater (Connelly, 1985). Leaching of agriculhuaI chemicals has been shown to occur during recharge of groundwater whereby water moves from the surface through the soil profile to a groundwater aquifer (Wehtje et a...

Dr. Pradeep Agrawal’s research is focused on the development of thermochemical pathways for converting lignocellulosic biomass into fuels and chemicals. One approach involves hydrolysis of hemi-cellulose, cellulose, and lignin into monomers which offer an alternate platform for transportation fuels and chemicals. The results offer promise for developing a green chemistry approach so that organi...

The tremendous increase in crop yields associated with the 'green' revolution has been possible in part by the discovery and utilization of chemicals for pest control. However, concerns over the potential impact of pesticides on human health and the environment has led to the introduction of new pesticide registration procedures, such as the Food Quality Protection Act in the United States. The...

Endocrine disrupting chemicals can potentially alter the reproductive physiology of fishes. To test this hypothesis, serum was collected from common carp (Cyprinus carpio) at five riverine locations in Minnesota. Male fish collected from an effluent channel below the St. Paul metropolitan sewage treatment plant had significantly elevated serum egg protein (vitellogenin) concentrations and signi...

It is a commonly known fact that agricultural chemicals have made a large contribution to the improvement of productivity in modern agriculture. At the same time, however, the ecological influence of such chemicals has been a matter of much concern. Furthermore, close attention is being paid to the problem of resistance in pathogenic insects, fungi and weeds because of the large amounts of limi...

Synthetic chemicals currently used in a variety of industrial and agricultural applications are leading to widespread contamination of the environment. Even though the intended uses of pesticides, plasticizers, antimicrobials, and flame retardants are beneficial, effects on human health are a global concern. These so-called endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can disrupt hormonal balance and ...

Rhizosphere chemistry is the sum of root exudation chemicals, their breakdown products and the microbial products of soil-derived chemicals. To date, most studies about root exudation chemistry are based on sterile cultivation systems, which limits the discovery of microbial breakdown products that act as semiochemicals and shape microbial rhizosphere communities. Here, we present a method for ...

The use of herbicides, pesticides, and other chemicals in agricultural fields increases the concentration of chemicals in streams which severely affects the health of human and environment. The transport of chemical pollutants into river or streams is not straight forward but complex function of applied chemicals and land use patterns in a given river or stream basin. The factors responsible fo...

During the past 50 years, a variety of synthetic chemicals have been released in the environment as a consequence of efforts expended to increase agricultural productivity or as a result of modern manufacturing processes and their by-products. We have recently become aware that several of these substances, known as “endocrine disrupters” (ED) [1], are able to modulate and/or disrupt hormone hom...