Hazardous substances in the aquatic environment of Estonia.

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims to regulate the management of European surface water bodies. Directive 2008/105/EC, which establishes the environmental quality standards of priority substances and certain other pollutants, the content of which in the surface water should be monitored, has been transposed by the Estonian Ministry of Environment 9 September 2010 Regulation No. 49.

Food contamination control in European new Member States and associated candidate countries: data collected within the SAFEFOODNET project.

This paper reports the results obtained from the data collected within the European Commission funded project SAFEFOODNET regarding the state of the art in the control of chemical food contaminants in twelve European New Member States and one Associated Candidate Country (Turkey). Information has been gathered on institutions involved in food chemical contamination control, types of contaminants and matrices analyzed, procedures for data quality assurance, purposes of the analyses and accessibility of data in the participant countries. The resulting picture points out the general availability of adequate capabilities for the analysis of food contaminants in the laboratories in charge of control and the performance of the analysis of a large variety of chemicals (persistent organic pollutants, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides, mycotoxins, heavy metals, radionuclides) in almost each country with few exceptions (dioxins in Bulgaria, Turkey, Latvia, persistent organic pollutants in Lithuania and Malta, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Malta).

Distribution pattern of PCBs, HCB and PeCB using passive air and soil sampling in Estonia.

Background, Aim, And Scope: Passive air sampling survey of the Central and Eastern Europe was initiated in 2006. This paper presents data on toxic organic compounds such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB 28, 52, 101, 118, 153, 138, and 180), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), pentachlorobenzene (PeCB), hexachlorocyclohexane compounds (alpha-HCH, beta-HCH,gamma-HCH, delta-HCH), and dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) compounds (p,p'DDE, p,p'DDD, p,p'DDT, o,p'DDE, o,p'DDD, and o,p'DDT) determined in ambient air and soil samples collected at Estonian monitoring stations.

Materials And Methods: Ambient air and soil samples were collected in five sites in northern Estonia.

Profiles of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in aquatic biota.

The profiles (concentrations scaled to a sum of 100) of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in aquatic fauna differ from those of the commercial PBDE formulations, particularly by a much higher proportion of the congener 47. At the same time, the profiles reported by different authors vary a great deal and no patterns related to species, localities, etc. are obvious.

PCDD/Fs in sprat (Sprattus sprattus balticus) from the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea.

The concentrations and congeners pattern of the polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) were determined in sprat collected by the commercial catches in the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea. Based on the toxic equivalent concentrations 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF prevailed among the congeners of PCDD/Fs. The significance of age- and season-specific relationship between the concentration of lipids and dioxins was demonstrated.

Concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans in soil in the vicinity of a landfill.

Estonia still has no waste incineration facilities, which would act as substantial sources of dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) pollution. As landfill fires may serve as sources of dioxins, we focused on the concentrations of PCDD and PCDF in soil samples taken in the vicinity of the landfill located at south-east Estonia in the course of our inventory. Concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) were studied in five soil samples taken in the vicinity of the Laguja landfill in south-east Estonia.

Chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans in the Baltic herring and sprat of Estonian coastal waters.

Background, Aims And Scope: The concentration of chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans in many fish from the Baltic requires monitoring, since it approaches or exceeds the European Union threshold limit value of 4 pg TEQ/g wet weight of fish for human consumption. The concentrations, expressed in TEQs, are important for toxicology and regulations, but hide the concentrations of the individual congeners, which are important for other environmental sciences, source allocation, and for the detection of measurement errors. This report evaluates the results of a survey reported earlier only in the terms of the TEQ concentrations.