Organic Pollutant Levels in Sediments of Ennore, India

Abstract

Marine pollution is a major concern of modern times as oceans have become a sink for various industrial effluents and domestic wastewater. Therefore there is a need to study in the physical and chemical behaviour, fate in the environment and potential to cause harm in the long run. The Stockholm convention on persistent organic pollutants is a global treaty aiming to protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants. Persistent organic pollutants are linked to serious health effects in humans and other species including reproductive and developmental illness, immune suppression, nervous systems disorders and cancer and hormone disruption. Every living organism on earth now carries measurable levels of persistent organic pollutant chemicals in its tissues. Because of their particular characteristics, production or use of persistent organic pollutant chemicals anywhere threatens people and the environment everywhere. According to Hurst et al. 1 dioxinlike compounds belong to a class of compounds called polyhalogenated aromatic hydrocarbons and include congeners of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzo-furans (PCDFs) and biphenyls (PCBs). Dioxin-like compounds are ubiquitous in the environment 2 and their presence is primarily the result of by-products of human activities including industrial 3 and other sources (e.g. waste incineration 4). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are among the most ubiquitous pollutants, with their concentration increasing due to the dependency of human communities to the fossil fuels 5. The present study aims at understanding the dioxin and furan contamination levels and