| 1. |
- Hites, Ronald, et al.
(författare)
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Atmospheric Concentrations of Hexachlorobenzene and Octachlorostyrene Are Uniform across the Great Lakes Region and Have Not Changed Much in 25 Years
- 2022
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology Letters. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2328-8930. ; 9:8, s. 660-665
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) was used in the United States from 1945 to 1966 as a fungicide on wheat, while octachlorostyrene (OCS) was never marketed. However, both HCB and OCS continue to be emitted into the atmosphere as byproducts of several industrial processes. We have measured the atmospheric concentrations of HCB and OCS in samples collected every 12 days at five sites on the shores of the North American Great Lakes since 1991. The geometric mean concentrations of HCB and OCS are ∼60 and 0.7 pg/m3, respectively, at all sites regardless of the local population, and these concentrations have not changed significantly over time. The concentrations of HCB measured here are similar to those reported by other studies of the northern troposphere and are ∼3 times those reported in the southern troposphere, suggesting that HCB sources are largely in the Northern Hemisphere. It is apparent that direct and recycled emissions of HCB and OCS into the northern troposphere are widespread in scope and, despite the elimination of HCB as a fungicide, have not changed in a meaningful way in the past 20–30 years. This is unlike the case for other legacy chemicals, for which global restrictions on their use have been more effective.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Liu, Liang-Ying, et al.
(författare)
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Differences in spatiotemporal variations of atmospheric PAH levels between North America and Europe : Data from two air monitoring projects
- 2014
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 64, s. 48-55
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Atmospheric concentrations of high molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured at five sites for almost two decades near the North American Great Lakes, as part of the Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network (IADN), and at three remote sites around Europe, as part of the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP). The primary objectives were to reveal the spatial distributions, long-term temporal trends, and seasonal variations of atmospheric PAH concentrations and to investigate potential differences between these two regions. Atmospheric PAH concentrations at the urban sites in Chicago and Cleveland near Great Lakes were about 20 times (depending on PAH congener and sampling site) greater than those at the rural sites except for Kosetice in the Czech Republic. Atmospheric PAH concentrations at Kosetice, also a rural site, were about one-third of those at Chicago and Cleveland, but 10 times higher than those at other rural sites (Sturgeon Point, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Eagle Harbor, Aspvreten, and Spitsbergen). Significant long-term decreasing trends of all these PAH atmospheric concentrations were observed at Chicago and Cleveland. For the other sites, either less significant or no long-term decreasing trends were observed. Clear seasonality was observed at Sturgeon Point, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Kosetice, and Spitsbergen, with the highest PAH concentrations observed in mid-January.
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| 4. |
- Schäffer, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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Conflicts of Interest in the Assessment of Chemicals, Waste, and Pollution
- 2023
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 57:48, s. 19066-19077
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Pollution by chemicals and waste impacts human and ecosystem health on regional, national, and global scales, resulting, together with climate change and biodiversity loss, in a triple planetary crisis. Consequently, in 2022, countries agreed to establish an intergovernmental science-policy panel (SPP) on chemicals, waste, and pollution prevention, complementary to the existing intergovernmental science-policy bodies on climate change and biodiversity. To ensure the SPP’s success, it is imperative to protect it from conflicts of interest (COI). Here, we (i) define and review the implications of COI, and its relevance for the management of chemicals, waste, and pollution; (ii) summarize established tactics to manufacture doubt in favor of vested interests, i.e., to counter scientific evidence and/or to promote misleading narratives favorable to financial interests; and (iii) illustrate these with selected examples. This analysis leads to a review of arguments for and against chemical industry representation in the SPP’s work. We further (iv) rebut an assertion voiced by some that the chemical industry should be directly involved in the panel’s work because it possesses data on chemicals essential for the panel’s activities. Finally, (v) we present steps that should be taken to prevent the detrimental impacts of COI in the work of the SPP. In particular, we propose to include an independent auditor’s role in the SPP to ensure that participation and processes follow clear COI rules. Among others, the auditor should evaluate the content of the assessments produced to ensure unbiased representation of information that underpins the SPP’s activities.
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| 5. |
- Wöhrnschimmel, Henry, et al.
(författare)
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Ten years after entry into force of the Stockholm Convention : What do air monitoring data tell about its effectiveness?
- 2016
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Ingår i: Environmental Pollution. - : Elsevier. - 0269-7491 .- 1873-6424. ; 217, s. 149-158
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- More than a decade ago, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), one of the multilateral environmental agreements administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), entered into force. The objective of this Convention is to protect human health and the environment by controlling the releases of POPs. According to its Article 16, the effectiveness of the Stockholm Convention shall be evaluated using comparable monitoring data on the presence of POPs as well as their regional and global environmental transport. Here, we present a time series analysis on atmospheric POP concentrations from 15 monitoring stations in North America and Europe that provide long-term data and have started operations between 1990 and 2003. We systematically searched for temporal trends and significant structural changes in temporal trends that might result from the provisions of the Stockholm Convention. We find that such structural changes do occur, but they are related mostly to effects of national regulations enforced prior to the implementation of the Stockholm Convention, rather than to the enforcement of the provisions laid out in the Convention. One example is that concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls, many of which started to decrease rapidly during the 1990s. Also effects of chemical transport and fate, for instance the re-volatilization of POPs from secondary sources, are thought to be a cause of some of the observed structural changes. We conclude that a decade of air monitoring data has not been sufficient for detecting general and statistically significant effects of the Stockholm Convention. Based on these lessons, we present recommendations for the future operation of existing monitoring programs and advocate for a stricter enforcement of the provisions of the Stockholm Convention, in the current absence of proof for its effectiveness.
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