Cancer risk to First Nations’ people from exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons near in-situ bitumen extraction in Cold Lake, Alberta

Irvine, Graham; Blais, Jules M.; Doyle, James R.; Kimpe, Linda E.; White, Paul A.

doi:10.1186/1476-069x-13-7

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In addition to wildlife studies, studies have also been conducted on human health. Irvine et al (2014) studied the excess cancer risks (ECR) from PAH exposure for First Nations communities in the Cold Lake OSR. ECRs were determined from PAH levels in soil and the atmosphere in the Cold Lake region using deterministic and probabilistic assessment methods.…”

Section: Effects Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air synthesis review: polycyclic aromatic compounds in the oil sands region

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This air synthesis review presents the current state of knowledge on the sources, fates, and effects for polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) and related chemicals released to air in the oil sands region (OSR) in Alberta, Canada. Through the implementation of the Joint Canada–Alberta Oil Sands Monitoring Program in 2012 a vast amount of new information on PACs has been acquired through directed monitoring and research projects and reported to the scientific community and public. This new knowledge addresses questions related to cumulative effects and informs the sustainable management of the oil sands resource while helping to identify gaps in understanding and priorities for future work. As a result of this air synthesis review on PACs, the following topics have been identified as new science priorities: (i) improving emissions reporting to better account for fugitive mining emissions of PACs that includes a broader range of PACs beyond the conventional polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) including, inter alia, alkylated-PAHs (alk-PAHs), dibenzothiophene (DBT), alk-DBTs, nitro-PAHs, oxy-PAHs including quinones and thia- and aza-arenes; (ii) improving information on the ambient concentrations, long-range transport, and atmospheric deposition of these broader classes of PACs and their release (with co-contaminants) from different types of mining activities; (iii) further optimizing electricity-free and cost-effective approaches for assessing PAC deposition (e.g., snow sampling, lichens, passive ambient sampling) spatially across the OSR and downwind regions; (iv) designing projects that integrate monitoring efforts with source attribution models and ecosystem health studies to improve understanding of sources, receptors, and effects; (v) further optimizing natural deposition archives (e.g., sediment, peat, tree rings) and advanced forensic techniques (e.g., isotope analysis, marker compounds) to provide better understanding of sources of PACs in the OSR over space and time; (vi) conducting process research to improve model capabilities for simulating atmospheric chemistry of PACs and assessing exposure to wildlife and humans; and (vii) developing tools and integrated strategies for assessing cumulative risk to wildlife and humans by accounting for the toxicity of the mixture of chemicals in air rather than on a single compound basis.

show abstract

Section: Effects Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air synthesis review: polycyclic aromatic compounds in the oil sands region

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Air samples revealed weak correlation between mutagenicity and PAC concentrations, with no correlation for cytotoxicity, implying that the measured PACs were not driving mutagenicity or cytotoxicity. Irvine et al ( 2014 ) studied excess cancer risks in Indigenous communities in the Cold Lake OSR resulting from PAH exposure from inadvertent ingestion of soils and inhalation of PAHs in air. The results did not indicate any statistically significant increased cancer risk from these exposure pathways.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A decadal synthesis of atmospheric emissions, ambient air quality, and deposition in the oil sands region

Horb

Wentworth

Makar

et al. 2021

Integr Envir Assess & Manag

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This review is part of a series synthesizing peer‐reviewed literature from the past decade on environmental monitoring in the oil sands region (OSR) of northeastern Alberta. It focuses on atmospheric emissions, air quality, and deposition in and downwind of the OSR. Most published monitoring and research activities were concentrated in the surface‐mineable region in the Athabasca OSR. Substantial progress has been made in understanding oil sands (OS)‐related emission sources using multiple approaches: airborne measurements, satellite measurements, source emission testing, deterministic modeling, and source apportionment modeling. These approaches generally yield consistent results, indicating OS‐related sources are regional contributors to nearly all air pollutants. Most pollutants exhibit enhanced air concentrations within ~20 km of surface‐mining activities, with some enhanced >100 km downwind. Some pollutants (e.g., sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides) undergo transformations as they are transported through the atmosphere. Deposition rates of OS‐related substances primarily emitted as fugitive dust are enhanced within ~30 km of surface‐mining activities, whereas gaseous and fine particulate emissions have a more diffuse deposition enhancement pattern extending hundreds of kilometers downwind. In general, air quality guidelines are not exceeded, although these single‐pollutant thresholds are not comprehensive indicators of air quality. Odor events have occurred in communities near OS industrial activities, although it can be difficult to attribute events to specific pollutants or sources. Nitrogen, sulfur, polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs), and base cations from OS sources occur in the environment, but explicit and deleterious responses of organisms to these pollutants are not as apparent across all study environments; details of biological monitoring are discussed further in other papers in this special series. However, modeling of critical load exceedances suggests that, at continued emission levels, ecological change may occur in future. Knowledge gaps and recommendations for future work to address these gaps are also presented. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:333–360. © 2021 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

show abstract

“…Many studies concerning the extraction of PAHs from diverse matrices have been conducted using conventional methods, such as Soxhlet [16][17][18], ultrasound-assisted solvent extraction [19,20], PLE [21][22][23], and others [24][25][26]. Since these methods can greatly benefit from further improvements in the time and solvent they require, it would therefore be interesting to examine if μPLE could facilitate the preparation of such solid samples for analysis.…”

Section: Open Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Novel Micro Pressurized Liquid Extraction Method for Rapid Sample Preparation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Various Solids

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The use of a novel micro pressurized liquid extraction (µPLE) method for the isolation of 16 priority pollutant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from various solid samples is explored. The technique employs rapid heating in a single static extraction mode to remove analytes in a matter of seconds from 5-10 mg samples using only 125 µL of solvent. For example, results show that 30 s extractions with toluene at 200 °C produce respective PAH recovery ranges of 90%-130% and 88%-114% from samples of soil and smoked chicken. Comparatively, solids containing significant amounts of biochar were more challenging to extract from. For instance, when using a pure biochar sample matrix, recoveries for the 16 PAHs range from only 33%-66% after 60 s of extraction with toluene at 200 °C. Overall, these extraction results agree very well with those reported when using conventional methods on similar samples. Therefore, the findings indicate that µPLE can potentially provide an alternative sample preparation method for PAHs that is both very rapid and requires little solvent.

show abstract

Cancer risk to First Nations’ people from exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons near in-situ bitumen extraction in Cold Lake, Alberta

Cited by 13 publications

References 29 publications

Air synthesis review: polycyclic aromatic compounds in the oil sands region

Air synthesis review: polycyclic aromatic compounds in the oil sands region

A decadal synthesis of atmospheric emissions, ambient air quality, and deposition in the oil sands region

A Novel Micro Pressurized Liquid Extraction Method for Rapid Sample Preparation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Various Solids

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About