Hidden pethidine administration: A substance rarely reported in drug‐facilitated crimes

Riess, Salomé; Klinger, Nadine; Roussel, Olivier; Chèze, Marjorie; Deveaux, Marc; Cirimele, Vincent

doi:10.1002/dta.3523

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Pyroplastics enter the marine environment not only from a maritime disaster like that of the M/V X-Press Pearl and presumably other ship fires (e.g., M/V Golden Ray and Felicity Ace ) but also from more frequent open burning of waste and large-scale fires. − Such material arises from the open burning of an estimated 970 million tons of plastic-containing waste each year. , Natural disasters–especially wildfires–can be another source of pyroplastic entering the environment. ,,, Municipal water lines have already been shown to be contaminated by polyvinyl chloride and polyethylene pipes that melted and burned during wildfires. , Forms of plastic like those from the X-Press Pearl are likely produced by these actions, and remnants of this material presumably enter the environment along the same paths as other mismanaged waste . Defining comprehensive chemical features for openly burned plastic is needed.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire and Oil Led to Complex Mixtures of PAHs on Burnt and Unburnt Plastic during the M/V X-Press Pearl Disaster

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In May 2021, the M/V X-Press Pearl container ship burned for 2 weeks, leading to the largest maritime spill of resin pellets (nurdles). The disaster was exacerbated by the leakage of other cargo and the ship's underway fuel. This disaster affords the unique opportunity to study a time-stamped, geolocated release of plastic under real-world conditions. Field samples collected from beaches in Sri Lanka nearest to the ship comprised nurdles exposed to heat and combustion, burnt plastic pieces (pyroplastic), and oil-plastic agglomerates (petroplastic). An unresolved question is whether the 1600+ tons of spilled and recovered plastic should be considered hazardous waste. Due to the known formation and toxicity of combustion-derived polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), we measured 20 parent and 21 alkylated PAHs associated with several types of spilled plastic. The maximum PAH content of the sampled pyroplastic had the greatest amount of PAHs recorded for marine plastic debris (199,000 ng/g). In contrast, the sampled unburnt white nurdles had two orders of magnitude less PAH content. The PAH composition varied between the types of spilled plastic and presented features typical of and conflicting with petrogenic and pyrogenic sources. Nevertheless, specific markers and compositional changes for burning plastics were identified, revealing that the fire was the main source of PAHs. Eight months after the spill, the PAH contents of sampled stray nurdles and pyroplastic were reduced by more than 50%. Due to their PAH content exceeding levels allowable for plastic consumer goods, classifying burnt plastic as hazardous waste may be warranted. Following a largely successful cleanup, we recommend that the Sri Lankans re-evaluate the identification, handling, and disposal of the plastic debris collected from beaches and the potential exposure of responders and the public to PAHs from handling it. The maritime disaster underscores pyroplastic as a type of plastic pollution that has yet to be fully explored, despite the pervasiveness of intentional and unintentional burning of plastic globally.

show abstract