Exposure to airborne dust contaminated with pesticide in the Aral Sea region

O’Hara, Sarah L.; Wiggs, Giles F.S.; Mamedov, B.; Davidson, G.; Hubbard, Richard

doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(99)04753-4

Cited by 138 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…The average temperature in summer rises with each passing year while it drops remarkably in winter. The season for growth becomes shorter and shorter (O'Hara et al, 2000a, b;Wiggs et al, 2003). All the benefits acquired in the past decades in the Aral Sea basin by the former Soviet Union is far from compensating the consequences of ecological disasters in this basin.…”

Section: A Typical Case Is the Amu Darya And Syr Darya Transfer Projementioning

confidence: 99%

Eco-environmental impact of inter-basin water transfer projects: a review

Zhuang

2016

Environ Sci Pollut Res

187

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The objective reality of uneven water resource distribution and imbalanced water demand of the human society makes it inevitable to transfer water. It has been an age-old method to adopt the inter-basin water transfers (IBTs) for alleviating and even resolving the urgent demand of the waterdeficient areas. A number of countries have made attempts and have achieved enormous benefits. However, IBTs inevitably involve the redistribution of water resources in relevant basins and may cause changes of the ecological environment in different basins. Such changes are two-sided, namely, the positive impacts, including adding new basins for waterdeficient areas, facilitating water cycle, improving meteorological conditions in the recipient basins, mitigating ecological water shortage, repairing the damaged ecological system, and preserving the endangered wild fauna and flora, as well as the negative impacts, including salinization and aridification of the donor basins, damage to the ecological environment of the donor basins and the both sides of the conveying channel system, increase of water consumption in the recipient basins, and spread of diseases, etc. Because IBTs have enormous ecological risk, it is necessary to comprehensively analyze the inter-basin water balance relationship, coordinate the possible conflicts and environmental quality problems between regions, and strengthen the argumentation of the ecological risk of water transfer and eco-compensation measures. In addition, there are some effective alternative measures for IBTs, such as attaching importance to water cycle, improving water use efficiency, developing sea water desalination, and rainwater harvesting technology, etc.

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Section: A Typical Case Is the Amu Darya And Syr Darya Transfer Projementioning

confidence: 99%

Eco-environmental impact of inter-basin water transfer projects: a review

Zhuang

2016

Environ Sci Pollut Res

187

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“…Environmental Health Perspectives • VOLUME 111 | NUMBER 10 | August 2003 be hypothesized that animal exposure to such pesticides could be from consumption of such waters and/or contaminated feeds, and/or possibly via inhalation of polluted dust disseminated by strong winds off the desiccated Aral Sea seabed (O'Hara et al 2000). Traces of HCH isomers found in onions, potatoes, carrots, and rice could also result from contact with contaminated water or soil, but further investigations are needed to clarify exposure pathways.…”

Section: Article | Dietary Exposure To Persistent Organics In Uzbekistanmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Numerous studies carried out in agricultural regions of Uzbekistan (Bakhritdinov 1991;Crighton et al 2003;Iskanderov 1986;O'Hara et al 2000O'Hara et al , 2001Shafer et al 2001;Small 1999;Small et al 2001;Smith 1991) have documented a wide range of serious health problems. Findings potentially related to environmental health and toxicology include elevated levels of developmental retardation, malabsorption, hypothyroidism, immunodeficiency, and chronic renal and lung diseases among area children (Jensen et al 1997).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of dietary exposure to some persistent organic pollutants in the Republic of Karakalpakstan of Uzbekistan.

Muntean¹,

Jermini²,

Small³

et al. 2003

Environ Health Perspect

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A 1999 study heightened long-standing concerns over persistent organic pollutant contamination in the Aral Sea area, detecting elevated levels in breast milk and cord blood of women in Karakalpakstan (western Uzbekistan). These findings prompted a collaborative research study aimed at linking such human findings with evidence of food chain contamination in the area. An international team carried out analyses of organochlorine and organophosphate pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) on samples of 12 foods commonly produced and consumed in Karakalpakstan. Analysis consistently detected long-lasting organochlorine pesticides and their metabolites in all foods of animal origin and in some vegetables such as onions and carrots-two low-cost components of many traditional dishes. Levels of PCBs were relatively low in all samples except fish. Analyses revealed high levels of PCDDs and PCDFs (together often termed "dioxins") in sheep fat, dairy cream, eggs, and edible cottonseed oil, among other foodstuffs. These findings indicate that food traditionally grown, sold, and consumed in Karakalpakstan is a major route of human exposure to several persistent toxic contaminants, including the most toxic of dioxins, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD). Intake estimations demonstrate that consumption of even small amounts of locally grown food may expose consumers to dioxin levels that considerably exceed the monthly tolerable dioxin intake levels set by the World Health Organization. Data presented in this study allow a first assessment of the risk associated with the consumption of certain food products in Karakalpakstan and highlight a critical public health situation.

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“…One of the most critical environmental issue is the increasing sand storms in this region, which is characterized by satellite retrieved aerosol optical depth. The salts, sands, and dust originated from the Aralkum Desert contain poisoned pollutants due to excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers from farming [31] and heavy metals from weapon tests in the former Soviet Union [32,33]. Tons of these pollutants can be transported thousands of kilometers away from the Aralkum Desert and the surrounding regions in the ASB to Himalayan, the Antarctic continent, Greenland's glaciers, Norway's forests, and Byelorussia's fields [11,34] and thus adversely influence the vegetation growth and health of human beings [35,36].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Irrigation-Induced Environmental Changes around the Aral Sea: An Integrated View from Multiple Satellite Observations

et al. 2017

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Abstract:The Aral Sea basin (ASB) is one of the most environmentally vulnerable regions to climate change and human activities. During the past 60 years, irrigation has greatly changed the water distribution and caused severe environmental issues in the ASB. Using remote sensing data, this study investigated the environmental changes induced by irrigation activities in this region. The results show that, in the past decade, land water storage has significantly increased in the irrigated upstream regions (13 km 3 year −1 ) but decreased in the downstream regions (−27 km 3 year −1 ) of the Amu Darya River basin, causing a water storage decrease in the whole basin (−20 km 3 year −1 ). As a result, the water surface area of the Aral Sea has decreased from 32,000 in 2000 to 10,000 km 2 in 2015. The shrinking Aral Sea exposed a large portion of the lake bottom to the air, increasing (decreasing) the daytime (nighttime) temperatures by about 1 • C year −1 (0.5 • C year −1 ). Moreover, there were other potential environmental changes, including drier soil, less vegetation, decreasing cloud and precipitation, and more severe and frequent dust storms. Possible biases in the remote sensing data due to the neglect of the shrinking water surface area of the Aral Sea were identified. These findings highlight the severe environmental threats caused by irrigation in Central Asia and call attention to sustainable water use in such dryland regions.

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Exposure to airborne dust contaminated with pesticide in the Aral Sea region

Cited by 138 publications

References 1 publication

Eco-environmental impact of inter-basin water transfer projects: a review

Eco-environmental impact of inter-basin water transfer projects: a review

Assessment of dietary exposure to some persistent organic pollutants in the Republic of Karakalpakstan of Uzbekistan.

Irrigation-Induced Environmental Changes around the Aral Sea: An Integrated View from Multiple Satellite Observations

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