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You're standing on it! Coal-tar-based pavement sealcoat and environmental and human health

Coal-tar-based sealcoat—a product marketed to protect and beautify asphalt pavement—is a potent source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to air, soils, streams and lakes, and homes. Does its use present a risk to human health? Results from a new study by researchers from Baylor University and the USGS indicate that living adjacent to a coal-tar-sealed pavement is associated with significant increases in estimated excess lifetime cancer risk, and that much of the increased risk occurs during early childhood.

APWA Reporter

Research in the United States relative to geochemistry and health

Increasing concern regarding the effects of the geochemical environment on health in the United States has fostered research studies in a number of universities and government agencies. The necessity to evaluate the effects of natural and man-made elemental excesses in the environment on health requires the establishment of requirements and tolerance limits for the various elements in water and crops. Maps of the geographic distribution of these elements in rocks, surficial materials and ground and surface waters are also essential for comparison with the occurrence of disease. Funding support for research projects that relate to various parameters of these problems emanates largely from a few federal agencies, and much of the work is conducted at government, university and private facilities. An example of the latter is the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council, which has several components that are addressing a variety of comparative studies of the geochemical environment related to health; studies involve specific trace elements (like selenium and magnesium), diseases (like cancer, urolithiasis and cardiovascular disease), other health factors (like aging and nutrition) and links with timely major problems (like the health effects of greatly increasing the use of coal).

Physics and Chemistry of the Earth

Impacts of periodic dredging on macroinvertebrate prey availability for benthic foraging fishes in central San Francisco Bay, California

Background Because of its importance for species covered under Federal Fishery Management Plans (FMPs), the San Francisco Bay (SFB) estuary has been designated as Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA; 16 United States Code §18559b). Within this estuary, benthic macroinvertebrate communities provide important prey resources for many economically significant fish species that rely on EFH. Periodic maintenance dredging can impact benthic communities; however, there is a lack of scientific information specific to SFB regarding dredging effects on macroinvertebrates in fish foraging areas. In addition, rates of benthic community recolonization and recovery following dredging and subsequent effects on foraging fish are unknown. For this reason, it is difficult for regulatory and resource agencies to determine the impacts of maintenance dredging. Thus, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the consortium of agencies (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], U.S. Army Corp of Engineers [USACE], San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board [SFRWQCB], and San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission [BCDC]) that make up the San Francisco Bay Long Term Management Strategy for Dredging (LTMS) identified a study of dredging impacts on SFB fish foraging habitat as one of their highest priorities in their 2011 Programmatic EFH Agreement (U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2011). The LTMS agencies identified the region of interest as shallow (<13 feet [<4 meters (m)] mean lower low water [MLLW]), soft-bottom (silt/clay soil texture) areas in the Central Bay of SFB that were periodically dredged (every 1–3 years). Fish species of interest were compiled by NMFS and included those managed by the Pacific Groundfish, Pacific Salmon, and Coastal Pelagic FMPs (pursuant to the MSA) as well as those listed under the California State or Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA; 16 U.S.C. §1531–1544) as threatened or endangered. Target species included leopard shark ( Triakis semifasciata ), big skate ( Raja binoculata ), English sole ( Parophrys vetulus ), starry flounder ( Platichthys stellatus) , brown rockfish ( Sebastes auriculatus ), green sturgeon ( Acipenser medirostris ; threatened species under Federal ESA), northern anchovy ( Engraulis mordax ), longfin smelt ( Spirinchus thaleichthys, threatened under California ESA), and Pacific sardine ( Sardinops sagax ). In addition, Dungeness crab ( Cancer magister ), California halibut ( Paralichthys californicus ), and white sturgeon ( Acipenser transmontanus ) also were included because they are substantial contributors to the California State fishery. To address LTMS priorities, U.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, San Francisco Bay Estuary Field Station (hereafter USGS) conducted a multi-phased project including an initial literature review, study design, pilot study, and implementation of a full study. The overarching goal was to assess the effects of periodic dredge operations (every 1–3 years) on benthic habitat for foraging fish in the Central Bay, with emphasis on the foraging requirements of target fish species and analyses of benthic macroinvertebrates in dredged areas compared to adjacent undredged reference areas. The USGS partnered with University of California, Davis, fisheries expert James Hobbs to synthesize existing knowledge of fish foraging ecology and review benthic infauna community composition in SFB with a focus on the Central Bay. The literature review (Phase I; De La Cruz and others, 2016) addressed key questions identified by the LTMS on benthic foraging fish in the study area, including the following: (1) What are target fish eating? (2) What are the seasonal differences in prey items and macroinvertebrate assemblages? (3) What are the annual differences in prey items and macroinvertebrate assemblages? (4) What are the predominant macroinvertebrate functional groups from the perspective of fish foraging? Phase II consisted of creating a framework for a functional assessment of maintenance dredging effects on foraging fish and drafting a full study design (De La Cruz and others, 2017), which was then tested in the Phase III pilot study. The Phase IV full study incorporated lessons learned from the pilot study. Here we focus on the results of the full study and implications for benthic foraging fishes.

California

Epizootics of cancer in fish associated with genotoxins sediment and water

Neoplasm epizootics in fish from a wide variety of freshwater, marine, and estuarine locations have been associated with genotoxins in sediment or water. The majority of cases have involved benthic or bottom feeding fish living in habitats with sediment contaminated by PAHs. The most common lesions involved in such epizootics include liver neoplasms, both biliary and hepatic, and skin neoplasms. Laboratory research has demonstrated the ability of fish to metabolize carcinogenic PAHs such as B( a )P into the ultimate carcinogen with the resulting formation of DNA adducts. Fish dosed with B( a )P or sediment extracts containing carcinogenic PAHs have developed skin and liver neoplasms. In the Black River, OH, neoplasm prevalence in wild brown bullhead has reflected PAH exposure as the latter has changed due to coke plant closures and remedial dredging activity. The weight of evidence supports a cause-and-effect relationship between exposure to genotoxins in sediment and water and neoplasm epizootics in wild fish populations.

Mutation Research

Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) and striped mullet (Mugil cephalus) as vectors of contaminants to human consumers in northwest Florida

The health benefits of regular consumption of fish and seafood have been espoused for many years. However, fish are also a potential source of environmental contaminants that have well known adverse effects on human health. We investigated the consumption risks for largemouth bass ( Micropterus salmoides ; n = 104) and striped mullet ( Mugil cephalus ; n = 170), two commonly harvested and consumed fish species inhabiting fresh and estuarine waters in northwest Florida. Skinless fillets were analyzed for total mercury, inorganic arsenic, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/F), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and organochlorine pesticides. Contaminant levels were compared to screening values (SV) calculated using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommendations for establishing consumption advisories. Largemouth bass were found to contain high levels of total mercury at all sampling locations (0.37–0.89 ug/g) and one location exhibited elevated total PCBs (39.4 ng/g). All of the samples exceeded Florida fish consumption advisory trigger levels for total mercury and one location exceeded the U.S. EPA SV for total PCBs. As a result of the high mercury levels, the non-cancer health risks (hazard index–HI) for bass were above 1 for all locations. Striped mullet from several locations with known point sources contained elevated levels of PCBs (overall range 3.4–59.3 ng/g). However, total mercury levels in mullet were low. Eight of the 16 mullet sampling locations exceeded the U.S. EPA SV for total PCBs and two locations exceeded an HI of 1 due to elevated PCBs. Despite the elevated levels of total PCBs in some samples, only two locations exceeded the acceptable cancer risk range and therefore cancer health risks from consumption of bass and mullet were determined to be low at most sampling locations.

Florida

Ecosystem features determine seagrass community response to sea otter foraging

Comparing sea otter recovery in California (CA) and British Columbia (BC) reveals key ecosystem properties that shape top-down effects in seagrass communities. We review potential ecosystem drivers of sea otter foraging in CA and BC seagrass beds, including the role of coastline complexity and environmental stress on sea otter effects. In BC, we find greater species richness across seagrass trophic assemblages. Furthermore, Cancer spp. crabs, an important link in the seagrass trophic cascade observed in CA, are less common. Additionally, the more recent reintroduction of sea otters, more complex coastline, and reduced environmental stress in BC seagrass habitats supports the hypotheses that sea otter foraging pressure is currently reduced there. In order to manage the ecosystem features that lead to regional differences in top predator effects in seagrass communities, we review our findings, their spatial and temporal constraints, and present a social-ecological framework for future research.

British Columbia, California

The role of fish in a globally changing food system

Applied research and adaptive management techniques can assist with the necessary evolution of sustainable food systems to include a stronger emphasis on fish and other aquatic organisms. Fish provide key macro‐ and micronutrients and protein, are low in saturated fat, and have been linked to a wide array of health benefits for the developing fetus, infants, and adults. Diet quality is not only important for reducing nutrient deficiency, but is now regarded as essential for preventing chronic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, and cancers. Small‐scale aquaculture also contributes to poverty alleviation and promotes food and nutrition security in less developed parts of the world. Climate change and climate variability influence aquatic ecosystems and fish populations. Ocean acidification is most commonly cited as being detrimental to marine invertebrates and algae that build carbonate structures.

Book chapter

An overview of arsenic mass-poisoning in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India

The largest mass poisoning in the world, perhaps in history, is happening in West Bengal, India, and Bangladesh. Many thousands of people suffer from arsenic skin disorders and are dying from cancer. About 19 million are estimated to be at risk. The discovery of the arsenic poisoning from tubewell drinking water was made in 1983, but it took about 10 years to be formally recognized as a large-scale problem. The source of the arsenic is natural and three hypotheses have been proposed for its mobilization: oxidation of arsenian pyrite, reductive iron dissolution with release of adsorbed arsenic, and competitive adsorption from phosphate. The processes causing arsenic mobilization in the Bengal Delta are still poorly understood and further research is needed to design long-term remediation strategies.

Book chapter

Mixed contaminant exposure in tapwater and the potential implications for human-health in disadvantaged communities in California

Water is an increasingly precious resource in California as years of drought, climate change, pollution, as well as an expanding population have all stressed the state's drinking water supplies. Currently, there are increasing concerns about whether regulated and unregulated contaminants in drinking water are linked to a variety of human-health outcomes particularly in socially disadvantaged communities with a history of health risks. To begin to address this data gap by broadly assessing contaminant mixture exposures, the current study was designed to collect tapwater samples from communities in Gold Country, the San Francisco Bay Area, two regions of the Central Valley (Merced/Fresno and Kern counties), and southeast Los Angeles for 251 organic chemicals and 32 inorganic constituents. Sampling prioritized low-income areas with suspected water quality challenges and elevated breast cancer rates. Results indicated that mixtures of regulated and unregulated contaminants were observed frequently in tapwater throughout the areas studied and the types and concentrations of detected contaminants varied by region, drinking-water source, and size of the public water system. Multiple exceedances of enforceable maximum contaminant level(s) (MCL), non-enforceable MCL goal(s) (MCLG), and other health advisories combined with frequent exceedances of benchmark-based hazard indices were also observed in samples collected in all five of the study regions. Given the current focus on improving water quality in socially disadvantaged communities, our study highlights the importance of assessing mixed-contaminant exposures in drinking water at the point of consumption to adequately address human-health concerns (e.g., breast cancer risk). Data from this pilot study provide a foundation for future studies across a greater number of communities in California to assess potential linkages between breast cancer rates and tapwater contaminants.

Callifornia

A comparison of water quality criteria for the Great Lakes based on human and wildlife health

Water quality criteria (WQC) can be derived in several ways. The usual techniques involve hazard and risk assessment procedures. For non-persistent, non-biomagnified compounds and elements, WQC are experimentally derived from their acute and chronic toxicity to aquatic organisms. For those persistent chlorinated hydrocarbons (PCHs) that are bioaccumulated and biomagnified, these traditional techniques have not been effective, partly because effects higher in the food web were not considered. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are the bioaccumulative synthetic chemicals of primary toxicological significance to the Great Lakes biota which have caused widespread injury to wildlife. In the Laurentian Great Lakes, the primary emphasis of hazard assessments has been on the potential for adverse effects in humans who eat fish. The primary regulatory endpoint of traditional hazard and risk assessments underlying current WQC are the probabilities of additional cancers occurring in the human population. The analysis presented here indicates that this is not adequate to restore sensitive wildlife species that are highly exposed to PCBs, especially those that have suffered serious population declines. Because WQC are legal instruments, the methods of deriving WQC have large implications for remediation, litigation, and damage assessments. Here WQC are derived for six species based on the responses of wildlife in the field or produced by feeding fish to surrogate species, rather than projecting a potential of increased cancer rates in humans. If the most sensitive wildlife species are restored and protected for very sensitive reproductive endpoints, then all components of the ecosystem, including human health, should be more adequately protected. The management of Great Lakes wildlife requires an understanding of the injury and causal relationships to persistent toxic substances.

Journal of Great Lakes Research

Identification of the thiamin pyrophosphokinase gene in rainbow trout: Characteristic structure and expression of seven splice variants in tissues and cell lines and during embryo development

Thiamin pyrophosphokinase (TPK) converts thiamin to its active form, thiamin diphosphate. In humans, TPK expression is down-regulated in some thiamin deficiency related syndrome, and enhanced during pregnancy. Rainbow trout are also vulnerable to thiamin deficiency in wild life and are useful models for thiamin metabolism research. We identified the tpk gene transcript including seven splice variants in the rainbow trout. Almost all cell lines and tissues examined showed co-expression of several tpk splice variants including a potentially major one at both mRNA and protein levels. However, relative to other tissues, the longest variant mRNA expression was predominant in the ovary and abundant in embryos. During embryogenesis, total tpk transcripts increased abruptly in early development, and decreased to about half of the peak shortly after hatching. In rainbow trout, the tpk transcript complex is ubiquitously expressed for all tissues and cells examined, and its increase in expression could be important in the early-middle embryonic stages. Moreover, decimated tpk expression in a hepatoma cell line relative to hepatic and gonadal cell lines appears to be consistent with previously reported down-regulation of thiamin metabolism in cancer.

Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part B: B

Workgroup report: Drinking-water nitrate and health - Recent findings and research needs

Human alteration of the nitrogen cycle has resulted in steadily accumulating nitrate in our water resources. The U.S. maximum contaminant level and World Health Organization guidelines for nitrate in drinking water were promulgated to protect infants from developing methemoglobinemia, an acute condition. Some scientists have recently suggested that the regulatory limit for nitrate is overly conservative; however, they have not thoroughly considered chronic health outcomes. In August 2004, a symposium on drinking-water nitrate and health was held at the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology meeting to evaluate nitrate exposures and associated health effects in relation to the current regulatory limit. The contribution of drinking-water nitrate toward endogenous formation of N-nitroso compounds was evaluated with a focus toward identifying subpopulations with increased rates of nitrosation. Adverse health effects may be the result of a complex interaction of the amount of nitrate ingested, the concomitant ingestion of nitrosation cofactors and precursors, and specific medical conditions that increase nitrosation. Workshop participants concluded that more experimental studies are needed and that a particularly fruitful approach may be to conduct epidemiologic studies among susceptible subgroups with increased endogenous nitrosation. The few epidemiologic studies that have evaluated intake of nitrosation precursors and/or nitrosation inhibitors have observed elevated risks for colon cancer and neural tube defects associated with drinking-water nitrate concentrations below the regulatory limit. The role of drinking-water nitrate exposure as a risk factor for specific cancers, reproductive outcomes, and other chronic health effects must be studied more thoroughly before changes to the regulatory level for nitrate in drinking water can be considered.

Environmental Health Perspectives

Handbook of groundwater remediation using permeable reactive barriers: Applications to radionuclides, trace metals, and nutrients

Over the last century and a half, groundwaters have become contaminated by a growing number of organic and inorganic substances ranging from petroleum-derived hydrocarbons to radioactive compounds, to cancer-causing hexavalent chromium. The importance of uncontaminated groundwater for agriculture, human consumption, and the environmental health of ecosystems is paramount to the health and productivity of industrial society. Water scientists and managers are focused on developing cost-effective methods to reverse this trend. Several methodologies have been developed, however few are as cost-effective as the use of readily available materials, such as iron and organic compost, for absorbing and isolating contaminants within the matrix of a permeable barrier. The Handbook of Groundwater Remediation using Permeable Reactive Barriers presents readers with this latest technology and developments within four main sections: 1. Innovations in Design, Construction, and Evaluation of PRBs 2. Development of Reactive Materials 3. Evaluations of Chemical and Biological Processes 4. Case Studies of Permeable Reactive Barrier Installations The Handbook is one of the first references specifically on this topic. It is an excellent fit for graduate students entering this emerging field as well as professionals conducting research or implementing this technology.

Book

De facto reuse and disinfection by-products in drinking water systems in the Shenandoah River watershed

De facto reuse is increasingly being studied among the variety of stressors that are relevant to drinking water systems that obtain their source water from surface waters. De facto reuse may influence the levels and types of precursors relevant to formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs) in surface water systems. DBPs such as trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) have been associated with bladder cancer and other health concerns in people who use drinking water provided by public water systems (PWSs). In this study, we used compliance monitoring data from conventional surface water PWSs in the Shenandoah River watershed to evaluate the relationship between de facto reuse in the watershed with DBP formation in those systems. The Shenandoah River watershed was selected for this study because it has a relatively small group of PWSs that draw their source water from surface waters in the watershed, the majority of whom treat their water using chlorine, and are less likely to have confounding factors (such as complex distribution systems or lengthy residence times) than other watersheds. We found that concentrations of THM4 and HAA5 increase in drinking water systems as de facto reuse increases in their source waters and that the relation is observed at both annual average and low streamflow conditions (annual average and low streamflow increases were statistically significant for THM4 with p values of 0.027 and 0,021, respectively). In addition, using a t -test, we found that a 1% level of de facto reuse was associated with significantly higher levels of THM4 and HAA5 ( p < 0.05) under annual average streamflow conditions. While the concentrations of HAA5 were also higher under annual average and low streamflow conditions, we did not find that they achieved a level of a significant difference. Results from this research will be helpful to operators of PWSs and other researchers and stakeholders with an interest in water reuse and DBPs.

Virginia

South China Sea

The South China Sea is poorly understood in terms of its marine biota, ecology and the human impacts upon it. What is known is most often contained in reports and workshop and conference documents that are not available to the wider scientific community. The South China Sea has an area of some 3.3 million km 2 and depths range from the shallowest coastal fringe to 5377 m in the Manila Trench. It is also studded with numerous islets, atolls and reefs many of which are just awash at low tide. It is largely confined within the Tropic of Cancer and, therefore, experiences a monsoonal climate being influenced by the Southwest Monsoon in summer and the Northeast Monsoon in winter. The South China Sea is a marginal sea and, therefore, largely surrounded by land. Countries that have a major influence on and claims to the sea include China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, although Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan have some too. The coastal fringes of the South China Sea are home to about 270 million people that have had some of the fastest developing and most vibrant economies on the globe. Consequently, anthropogenic impacts, such as over-exploitation of resources and pollution, are anticipated to be huge although, in reality, relatively little is known about them. The Indo-West Pacific biogeographic province, at the centre of which the South China Sea lies, is probably the world's most diverse shallow-water marine area. Of the three major nearshore habitat types, i.e., coral reefs, mangroves and seagrasses, 45 mangrove species out of a global of 51, most of the currently recognised 70 coral genera and 20 of 50 known seagrass species have been recorded from the South China Sea. The island groups of the South China Sea are all disputed and sovereignty is claimed over them by a number of countries. Conflicts have in recent decades arisen over them because of perceived national rights. It is perhaps because of this that so little research has been undertaken on the South China Sea. What data are available, however, and if Hong Kong is used , as it is herein, as an indicator of what the perturbations of other regional cities upon the South China Sea are like, then it is impacted grossly and an ecological disaster has probably already, but unknowingly, happened.

Marine Pollution Bulletin

Nearshore distribution and abundance of Dungeness crabs in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

As part of an ongoing, multi-agency study to determine the effects of closure of the commercial fishery for Dungeness crabs, Cancer magister , on crab population structure we examined patterns of distribution and abundance of crabs in nearshore habitats at five locations in and near Glacier Bay National Park. Sampling was conducted in April and September 1992 and April 1993 prior to the anticipated closure of the fishery in the park. Divers censused crabs by sex and reproductive state (ovigerous/nonovigerous females) along belt transects (2m x 100m) laid perpendicular to shore in the depth range 0 m (mean lower low water) to 18 m. Preliminary results from the first three sampling periods revealed that the average densities of Dungeness crabs at the five locations ranged from 78 to 2012 crabs/ha. Crab densities differed between populations depending on sex, reproductive state of females and sampling period. Male crabs showed reduced densities at Gustavus Flats in April 1992 (P<0.01) and 1993 (P<0.001). Ovigerous females had greater density at Bartlett Cove in April 1993 (P<0.001). Sex ratios were frequently skewed toward females. At Bartlett Cove and Gustavus Flats females outnumbered males in April 1992 and 1993 (P<0.001). Most of the females at Bartlett Cove and Gustavus Flats in April 1992 and 1993 were ovigerous (P-0.001). Males tended to occupy greater depths than females in April 1992 (P<0.05) but not April 1993 (P-005). The mean depth of males shifted from deeper to shallower water between April and September 1992 (P<0.001). The depth distribution of ovigerous crabs did not differ from that of nonovigerous female crabs. Future research prior to the anticipated closure of the commercial Dungeness crab fishery in Glacier Bay will include a tagging study to determine the extent of crab movement and further study of the temporal as well as the spatial variability observed in the structure of these populations.

Alaska

The toxicological geochemistry of Earth materials: An overview of processes and the interdisciplinary methods used to understand them

A broad spectrum of earth materials have been linked to, blamed for, and/or debated as sources for disease. In some cases, the links are clear. For example, excessive exposures to mineral dusts have long been recognized for their role in diseases such as: asbestosis, mesothelioma, and lung cancers (asbestos); silicosis and lung cancer (silica dusts); and coal-workers pneumoconiosis (coal dust). Lead poisoning, particularly in toddlers and young children, has been conclusively linked to involuntary ingestion of soils or other materials contaminated with lead-rich paint particles, leaded gasoline combustion byproducts, and some types of lead-rich mine wastes or smelter particulates. Waters with naturally elevated arsenic contents are common in many regions of the globe, and consumption of these waters has been documented as the source of arsenic-related diseases affecting thousands of people in south Asia and other regions. Exposure to dusts or soils containing pathogens has been documented as the cause of regionally common diseases such as valley fever (coccidioidomycosis) and much rarer diseases such as anthrax. Links between many other earth materials and specific diseases, although suspected, are less clear or are debated. For example, it has been suggested that geographic clusters of diseases such as leukemia are related to exposures to waters or atmospheric particulates containing organic or metal contaminants; however, for many clusters the exact causal relationships between disease and environmental exposure are difficult to prove conclusively. Even for many diseases in which the causal relationship is clear, such as in asbestosis and mesothelioma triggered by asbestos exposure, the minimum exposures needed to trigger disease, the influence of genetic factors, and the exact mechanisms of toxicity are still incompletely understood and are the focus of considerable debate within the public health community. Hence, understanding the health effects resulting from occupational and environmental exposures to a wide variety of earth materials remains a very active and fruitful area of research.

Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry