Atmospheric Dioxin and Furan Deposition in Relation to Land-Use and Other Pollutants: A Survey with Lichens

Abstract

Abstract. Polychlorodibenzeno-dioxins and polychlorodibenzeno-furans (PCDD/Fs) are considered among the most toxic compounds on earth. The aim of the present study was to evaluate atmospheric PCDD/F deposition and identify the areas with greater deposition of these compounds in an important industrialized and urbanized region of Portugal, using lichens as biomonitors. For this purpose, samples of the lichen Xanthoria parietina were collected at 60 sampling sites, covering urban, industrial, forestry and agriculture areas, and analyzed for PCDD/Fs, sulfur, nitrogen, zinc, iron, chromium, lead, cobalt, nickel, copper, calcium, manganese, magnesium and potassium. The concentrations of PCDD/Fs in lichens were compared with the other elements and related to land-use and population density. The results obtained through the geostatistical interpolations and after principal component analysis have shown that PCDD/F deposition estimated by lichens is greater near industrial and highly populated urban areas. We found that lichens are suitable biomonitors of PCDD/F atmospheric deposition and can contribute to a better knowledge of air quality in a region, enabling identification of critical pollutant deposition areas.

Occupational airborne contamination in South Brazil: 2. Oxidative stress detected in the blood of workers of incineration of hospital residues

“…Considering that the process of incineration is growing in many countries (Leem et al 2003;Kuo et al 2008), and despite that in the last two decades a decline in dioxin levels was detected in some countries (Hays and Aylward 2003;Fierens et al 2003;Augusto et al 2004), this industrial activity is still a matter of public concern. In this regard, an important increase in morbidity and mortality in the city of Capivari de Baixo occurred in 2002, the mortality numbers were closely related to tumors, different from data of the whole country where tumors are the third cause of mortality (DATASUS 2008).…”

“…Indeed, the soil, air and food near the incineration plants are contaminated with relatively high levels of dioxins and heavy metals, causing concern among the population living in such areas (Fierens et al 2003;Augusto et al 2004Augusto et al , 2007Masuda et al 2005;Huang et al 2006). In addition, exposure to the emission from solid waste incinerators seems to be the main cause of oxidative stress measured both in vivo and in vitro (Yoshida and Ogawa 2000;Leem et al 2003;Yoshida et al 2003).…”

Electron-impact total cross sections for inelastic processes for furan, tetrahydrofuran and 2,5-dimethylfuran

“…Thus a study of electroninduced reactions with furan is necessary to understand and model electron-driven processes in living cells. Furan is also an important molecule in nutrition industry [4][5][6] as well as environment sciences [7,8] as it is formed during thermal food processing and is a human carcinogen which is released into the environment.…”

Understanding the performance of different lichen species as biomonitors of atmospheric dioxins and furans: potential for intercalibration

“…In this sense, X. parietina and R. canariensis could be used for monitoring PCDD/F concentrations. Using the lichen X. parietina as a biomonitor, Augusto et al (2004b) found that PCDD/F deposition occurred mainly in industrial and highly populated urban areas. The same authors found that the PCDD/F profiles detected in R. canariensis reflect air pollution rather than soil contamination (Augusto et al 2007b).…”