Environmental pollutants represent a global problem and pose a threat to animals as well as humans (1). The potential for harm is especially great in periods of life when there is rapid growth and development, such as during pregnancy and childhood (2). Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is a collective designation for a group of organic environmental toxins that include dioxins, polychlorina...

Microbial growth on and utilization of environmental contaminants as substrates have been studied by many researchers. Most times, substrate utilization results in removal of chemical contaminant, increase in microbial biomass and subsequent biodegradation of the contaminant. These are all aimed at detoxification of the environmental pollutants. Several microbial growth and biodegradation kinet...

Maize pollen is used as a monitor for environmental pollutants. Mutant pollen grains (induced by environmental pollutants) are detectable above a background frequency of 5 or less in 10(5). To enumerate a satisfactory number of mutant grains, it is necessary to count 10(6) grains in a sample, a laborious, time-consuming process which should be amenable to automated analysis techniques. High res...

The Precautionary Principle (PP) has recently been formally introduced into national and international law. The key element is the justification for acting in the face of uncertainty. The PP is thereby a tool for avoiding possible future harm associated with suspected, but not conclusive, environmental risks. Under the PP, the burden of proof is shifted from demonstrating the presence of risk t...

BACKGROUND Many factors act simultaneously in childhood to influence health status, life chances and well being, including pre-birth influences, the environmental pollutants of early life, health status but also the social influences of family and school. A cohort study is needed to disentangle these influences and explore attribution. METHODS Elfe will be a nationally representative cohort o...

Beijing has suffered from major air pollution in recent years from PM10. In this study, we investigated the transport pathways and potential sources of PM10 concentration based on backward trajectories and PM10 concentration records from 2003 to 2009. Four transport pathways of high PM10 existed. One was the northwest pathway, which had the most frequency of occurrence in spring and winter, and...

Risk assessment, an approach for organizing information about hazards to health, safety, and the environment, provides a framework for gauging the threat to child health from environmental pollutants. A qualitative risk assessment has 4 components: hazard identification, dose-response assessment, exposure assessment, and risk characterization. In a risk assessment, consideration can be given to...

The study highlights a deeper insight of the genes involved in the degradation of diverse number of refractory environmental pollutants, the pool of available genomic data needs to be enhanced. There seems to be a high urgency for such ecologically important microbes to be sequenced and their genomes to be critically analyzed. Sphingobium indicum B90A is the most efficient degrader of Hexachlor...

Relative to research on effects of environmental exposures on exacerbation of existing asthma, little research on incident asthma and environmental exposures has been conducted. However, this research is needed to better devise strategies for the prevention of asthma. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences held a conference in Octo...