Environmental Heavy Metal Pollution and Effects on Child Mental Development: Risk Assessment and Prevention Strategies

✍ Scribed by Lubomir I. Simeonov, Mihail V. Kochubovski, Biana G. Simeonova

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 366
• Series: NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Heavy metals can be emitted into environment by both natural and anthropogenic sources, mainly mining and industrial activity. Human exposure occurs through all environmental media. Infants are more susceptible to the adverse effects of exposure. Increasing attention is now being paid to the mental development of children exposed to heavy metals. The purpose of this book is to evaluate the existing knowledge on intellectual impairment in children exposed to heavy metals in their living environment and to identify the research needs in order to obtain a clearer picture of the situation in countries and regions at risk, in which the economy is closely related to metallurgy and heavy metals emission, and to recommend a strategy for human protection. In greater detail the main objectives could be formulated as follows: to review the principal sources of single, and complex mixtures of, heavy metal pollutants in the environment; to identify suitable methodology for chemical analyses in the environment and in humans; to evaluate the existing methods for measuring mental impairment, including their reliability and validity; to recommend a standard testing protocol to be used in future research; to assess the future role of environmental heavy metal pollution in countries and regions at risk and its effects on children’s neurological development; to recommend a prevention strategy for protecting children’s health and development.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Environmental Heavy Metal Pollution and Effects on Child Mental Development......Page 4
ISBN 9789400702523......Page 5
CONTENTS......Page 6
PREFACE......Page 10
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......Page 12
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS......Page 14
ENVIRONMENTAL HEAVY METALS AND MENTAL DISORDERS OF CHILDREN IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES......Page 23
LEAD (Pb)......Page 24
MERCURY (Hg)......Page 28
2. Exposure Routes of Environmental Heavy Metals......Page 29
3. Children’s Vulnerability to Environmental Heavy Metals......Page 30
4. Biochemical Mechanisms of Heavy Metals Toxicity......Page 32
5. Mental Health Hazards of Heavy Metals Toxicity......Page 33
6. Neurotoxicity of Children due to Heavy Metals......Page 35
7. Autism and Environmental Heavy Metals......Page 36
8. Genetics as a Major Determinant of Neurotoxicity by Environmental Heavy Metal......Page 37
9. Health Risk Assessment (HRA) of Neurotoxicity due to Heavy Metals in Children......Page 38
10. Conclusions......Page 41
References......Page 42
EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT TO HEAVY METALS IN THE ENVIRONMENT: MEASURES TO ELIMINATE OR REDUCE THE EXPOSURE TO CRITICAL RECEPTORS......Page 49
1. Introduction......Page 50
2.1. CADMIUM NATURAL AND ANTHROPOGENIC SOURCES......Page 51
2.2. MERCURY (NATURAL AND ANTHROPOGENIC SOURCES)......Page 53
2.3. LEAD (NATURAL AND ANTHROPOGENIC SOURCES)......Page 54
3. Heavy Metals European Emissions......Page 56
4. Heavy Metals Emissions into the Environment in Portugal......Page 59
5. General Overview of Methodologies Used on Exposure Assessment......Page 61
6. Exposure Assessment Methodology Applied to a Hypothetical Case Study......Page 62
6.1. EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT – DOSE CALCULATIONS......Page 64
7. Measures to Reduce or to Mutigate Exposure to Heavy Metals......Page 68
8. Conclusions......Page 69
References......Page 70
1. Introduction......Page 73
2. Cadmium Exposure and Its Effects......Page 75
3. Lead Exposure and Its Effects......Page 78
4. Arsenic Exposure and Its Effects......Page 80
5. Synergistic Effects of Cadmium, Lead and Arsenic......Page 81
References......Page 83
EVOLVING UNDERSTANDING OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MERCURY EXPOSURE AND AUTISM......Page 87
1. Autism......Page 88
1.1. CHANGING PREVALENCE OF AUTISM......Page 90
1.2. KNOWN AND SUGGESTED CAUSES OF AUTISM......Page 91
2.1. EVIDENCE OF NEURODEVELOPMENTAL EFFECTS......Page 92
3. Autism, Vaccines and Mercury......Page 94
4.1. EARLIER STUDIES......Page 97
4.2. REANALYSIS OF THE TEXAS DATA (LEWANDOWSKI ET AL., 2009)......Page 98
5. Conclusions......Page 100
References......Page 101
1. Objective of the Study......Page 107
1.1. METHODS......Page 108
1.2. RESULTS......Page 109
1.3. DICUSSION......Page 113
2.1. INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS RELATED ISSUESS......Page 116
2.2. HISTORY, PRESENT STATE & FUTURE RESEARCH CHALLENGES......Page 118
2.3. ARSENIC TOLERANCE......Page 119
3. Conclusions......Page 120
References......Page 121
LEAD OCCURRENCE IN CHILDREN’S BIOLOGICAL FLUIDS FROM BAIA MARE AREA, ROMANIA......Page 123
1. Introduction......Page 124
2.1. THE MAIN SOURCES OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION IN BAIA MARE AREA......Page 126
2.2. AIR POLLUTION......Page 127
2.3. THE SOIL POLLUTION......Page 132
3. Effects of Lead on the People Health. The Lead Level of the Blood in Children in Baia Mare.......Page 136
4. Conclusions......Page 142
References......Page 143
1. Introduction. Studies on Lead Exposure in Children......Page 145
2. Studies in Hungary......Page 146
3. Conclusions......Page 149
References......Page 150
1. Introduction......Page 151
2. Sample Collection......Page 152
3. Sample Preparation......Page 154
4. Analytical Separation Techniques......Page 156
5. Hydride Generation Methods......Page 157
6. Metal Speciation......Page 158
6.1. ARSENIC SPECIATION......Page 159
6.4. SAMPLE PREPARATION FOR METAL DETERMINATION IN HUMAN BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS......Page 160
7. Conclusions......Page 162
References......Page 163
1. Introduction......Page 167
2. Analytical Methods and Techniques for Heavy Metals Determination......Page 168
3. Method Validation for Copper Cations Determination in Aqueous Samples......Page 172
3.2. SELECTIVITY......Page 173
3.3. LINEARITY DOMAIN OF CONCENTRATION, LIMIT OF DETECTION AND LIMIT OF QUANTITATION......Page 174
3.4. PRECISION......Page 175
3.5. ACCURACY......Page 176
3.6. UNCERTAINTY ESTIMATION......Page 177
4. Conclusions......Page 179
References......Page 180
ANALYSES OF HEAVY METAL MIXTURES IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL MEDIA......Page 181
2. Instrumental Design and Main Functional Units of the Laser Mass Spectrometer LASMA......Page 182
3. Overview of Possible Application Areas of the Analyzer......Page 184
4.1. MASS RESOLUTION......Page 185
4.2. REPEATABILITY OF MESSUREMENT......Page 186
4.3. THE INSTRUMENT CALIBRATION......Page 187
5. Analysis Examples......Page 188
6. Conclusions......Page 191
References......Page 192
ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY (FLAME, ELECTROTHERMAL, VAPOUR GENERATION) IN ENVIRONMENTAL, BIOLOGICAL AND FOOD ANALYSIS......Page 193
1.1. NEEDS FOR TRACE ELEMENT DETERMINATION......Page 194
1.2. ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES FOR TRACE ELEMENT DETERMINATION IN BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL FIELD......Page 195
1.3. ESSENTIAL METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN TRACE ELEMENT ANALYSIS......Page 197
2.1. GENERAL CHARACTERIZATION OF AAS TECHNIQUES......Page 199
Flame AAS......Page 201
VGAAS......Page 202
2.2. FLAME ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY......Page 203
2.3. ELECTROTHERMAL ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY (GRAPHITE FURNACE AAS)......Page 204
2.4. VAPOUR GENERATION ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY......Page 209
2.5. COMBINED AND HYPHENATED VAPOUR GENERATION AAS TECHNIQUES......Page 211
2.6. RECOMMENDED EXPOSURE TESTS BASED ON AAS MEASUREMENTS......Page 213
3. Quality Control and Quality Assurance Considerations in Trace Element Analyses......Page 215
4. Compilation of Some Reference Values for Bulgaria......Page 216
5. Conclusions......Page 219
References......Page 220
IN SITU ELEMENTAL AND ISOTOPIC ANALYSES OF HEAVY METALS IN ENVIRONMENTAL WATER SOLUTIONS......Page 225
1. Introduction......Page 226
2. Experimental Setup......Page 227
3. Sample Preparation Setup......Page 228
4. Results and Discussions......Page 229
References......Page 233
A HEAVY METAL ENVIRONMENTAL THREAT RESULTING FROM COMBUSTION OF BIOFUELS OF PLANT ORIGIN......Page 235
1. Introduction......Page 236
2.1. FIELD EXPERIMENTS......Page 238
2.4.1. Soil properties......Page 240
2.4.2. Concentration of metals in energy plant species......Page 241
References......Page 246
1. Introduction......Page 249
4. Results and Discussion......Page 251
6. Recommendations......Page 261
References......Page 263
ASSESSMENT OF HEAVY METAL CONTAMINATION IN SOILS AROUND KREMIKOVTSI SMELTER (BULGARIA)......Page 267
2. Materials and Methods......Page 268
3. Results and Discussion......Page 270
4. Health Status of the Population from Kremikovtsi Region......Page 273
References......Page 276
COMPARISON STUDY OF PHYSICOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS EVALUATION BETWEEN DANUBE RIVER DELTA AND AXIOS- VARDAR RIVER VALLEY (2003–2009)......Page 279
1. Introduction......Page 280
2.1. SAMPLE COLLECTION......Page 284
2.4. METHODS AND EQUIPMENTS......Page 285
2.5. QUALITY ASSURANCE (QA) AND QUALITY CONTROL (QC) DATA......Page 287
3.1. SURFACE WATER......Page 288
3.2.1. Total Content of Metals......Page 290
3.2.2. Mobile Metallic Fraction......Page 292
3.2.3. Sediment Metallic Structure......Page 296
1. Introduction......Page 298
2.1. METALS......Page 300
3. CONCLUSIONS......Page 304
References......Page 305
ATMOSPHERIC HEAVY METALS POLLUTION: EXPOSURE AND PREVENTION POLICIES IN MEDITERRANEAN BASIN......Page 309
1. Background......Page 310
3. Sources of Atmospheric Heavy Metals......Page 312
4. Measurement Specific Metals in Air Pollution Particles......Page 313
5. Heavy Metals Levels in Aerosols......Page 314
6. Exposure Assessment......Page 321
7. Modeling Personal Exposures......Page 323
8. Initiatives to Reduce Air Pollution and Prevention Policies......Page 324
9. Conclusions......Page 326
References......Page 327
1. Background......Page 331
2. Overview of Heavy Metal Pollution in Armenia......Page 332
3. Mining Industry in Armenia and Heavy Metal Pollution......Page 333
4. Modeling and Optimal Control......Page 335
5. Concluding Remarks......Page 336
References......Page 337
HOW TO GROW ENVIRONMENTAL – SOUND BIOFUELS......Page 339
1. Introduction......Page 340
2. Possible Way How to Grow Environmental – Sound Biofuels......Page 342
3. Conclusion Remarks......Page 350
References......Page 351
NATO ADVANCED RESEARCH WORKSHOP ON ENVIRONMENTAL HEAVY METAL POLLUTION AND EFFECTS ON CHILD MENTAL DEVELOPMENT: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS......Page 353
1. Introduction......Page 354
2.2. TO IDENTIFY THE SUITABLE METHODOLOGY FOR CHEMICAL ANALYSES IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND IN HUMANS......Page 355
2.3. TO EVALUATE THE EXISTING METHODS FOR MEASURING MENTAL IMPAIRMENT, INCLUDING THEIR RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY. TO ASSESS THE FUTURE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEAVY METAL POLLUTION IN COUNTRIES AND REGIONS IN RISK AND ITS EFFECTS
ON CHILDREN’S NEUROLOGICAL DEV......Page 357
2.5. TO RECOMMEND A PREVENTION STRATEGY FOR PROTECTING CHILDREN’S HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT......Page 358
3.1. RECOMMENDATION 1 – SYSTEMATICALLY DESCRIBE ACTUAL/POTENTIAL EXPOSURE SOURCES AND THE KNOWN OR SUSPECTED CONTAMINANTS......Page 359
3.3. RECOMMENDATION 3 – CREATE A MECHANISM FOR COLLABORATION AND COORDINATION OF RESEARCH ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE REGION......Page 360
3.6. RECOMMENDATION 6 – DEVELOP A PROPOSAL FOR RESEARCH FUNDING THAT REINFORCES COLLABORATIONS ACROSS COUNTRIES AND INSTITUTIONS IN THE REGION......Page 361
4. Final Remarks......Page 362
4.3. GOVERNMENTAL ACTION......Page 363
4.4. SUSTAINED EFFORT......Page 364
SUBJECT INDEX......Page 365