Summary of historical terrestrial toxicity data for the brominated flame retardant tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA): effects on soil microorganisms, earthworms, and seedling emergence.

This article summarizes historical and recent research on the terrestrial toxicology of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA). Despite its ubiquitous use and presence in the environment, little published data is available to evaluate the terrestrial ecotoxicity of TBBPA. The purposes of this paper are to enable broad access to a series of TBBPA ecotoxicity tests (nitrogen transformation, earthworm survival/reproduction, and seedling emergence/growth) that were conducted in support of regulatory risk assessments, and to summarize available research in the terrestrial toxicity of TBBPA.

Local structure and speciation of platinum in fresh and road-aged North American sourced vehicle emissions catalysts: an X-ray absorption spectroscopic study.

Given emerging concerns about the bioavailability and toxicity of anthropogenic platinum compounds emitted into the environment from sources including vehicle emission catalysts (VEC), the platinum species present in selected North American sourced fresh and road-aged VEC were determined by Pt and Cl X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Detailed analysis of the Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure at the Pt L3 and L2 edges of the solid phase catalysts revealed mainly oxidic species in the fresh catalysts and metallic components dominant in the road-aged catalysts. In addition, some bimetallic components (Pt-Ni, Pt-Pd, Pt-Rh) were observed in the road-aged catalysts from supporting Ni-, Pd-, and Rh-K edge XAS studies.

Occurrence and concentration of dissolved silver in rivers in England and Wales.

There is a paucity of monitoring data for silver in freshwater environments in Europe. There are several reasons for this, including the relatively low levels of silver in the aquatic environment and the requirement for commensurately low levels of detection (<100 ng l⁻¹), which are generally not routinely achieved in analytical laboratories. In this study 425 separate analytical determinations for dissolved (<0.

Polybrominated diphenyl ether exposure to electronics recycling workers--a follow up study.

Workers at an electronics recycling plant have previously been shown to have elevated serum levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) compared to referents without occupational PBDE exposure. Subsequent structural changes and industrial hygiene measures at the plant were applied to improve the work environment. The present study aims to assess the impact of these work environment changes on the occupational exposure to PBDEs.