Human interaction with the environment remains one of the most pervasive facets of modern society. In a world characterized by rapid population growth, unprecedented global trade and digital communications, energy security, natural resource scarcities, climatic changes and environmental quality, emerging diseases and public health, biodiversity and habitat modifications are routinely touted by the popular press as they canvas global political agendas and scholarly endeavors.
The study of pharmaceuticals in the enviornment is a relatively new area of research, which has really only taken off in recent years. Since the first edition of this book was printed, many papers on the subject have been published. It is exceedingly difficult for those who are not actively involved in the field, to establish trends and developments. The book provides the beginner with a well-founded overview, but it is also of high value for specialists. Following the resounding success of the first edition, the new edition of the book has been updated and greatly extended. The number of contributions has grown in line with the latest developments worldwide. The book reviews the current status of research on pharmaceuticals in soil and the aquatic environment, paying particular attention to field studies and new substance categories including tetracyclines or quinolones and others. The latest results concerning contamination of the environment risk assessment and risk management are presented. This volume also takes account of current legislation in Europe and the USA. Book jacket.
At last – a second edition of this hugely important text that reflects the progress and experience gained in the last decade and aims at providing background and training material for a new generation of risk assessors. The authors offer an introduction to risk assessment of chemicals as well as basic background information on sources, emissions, distribution and fate processes for the estimation of exposure of plant and animal species in the environment and humans exposed via the environment, consumer products, and at the workplace. The coverage describes the basic principles and methods of risk assessment within their legislative frameworks (EU, USA, Japan and Canada).
Environmental decisions must satisfy a multitude of objectives and the matching of a plan, policy or project to such objectives is a matter of both facts and value judgements. Value Functions for Environmental Management provides a systematic approach to the structuring and measurement of value judgements, showing how they drive the decision process and how to make them transparent and effective in support of complex decisions. The value functions that the book describes provide a scheme for the exploration of human values and a tool for transforming them into an analytical model. A clear statement can then be made of the degree to which a decision has achieved its objectives, and how conflicting objectives may be addressed. This does not mean that there is no role for human judgement in the process. Complexity, often coupled with large information gaps, necessitates expert judgement, but the values adopted by the experts are themselves capable of being structured and measured according to the value function methodology presented here, even if the judgements themselves are qualitative and tentative. Value models for expert panels are also presented. The use of the methodology in practice is illustrated by examples. The book contains an extensive subject index.
This book is an essential guide and support to understanding of the science and policy, procedure and practice that underpins the REACH risk assessments required for the use and placing on the market of chemicals in the European Union. A clear understanding of information provision and how this affects the assessment of chemical safety is fundamentally important to the success of policy on chemicals and ultimately to the sustainability of the chemicals industry. Within the book, the scientific processes that underpin the policy are explained in a practical way. Importantly, it includes coverage of techniques to help solve the problems of using potentially risky and hazardous chemicals through the use of less hazardous alternatives and ‘green chemistry’, and also the analysis of the risks of the use of the most hazardous substances against the social and economic benefits of use. Chemical Risk Assessment: A Manual for REACH covers the following main themes: i) Assessment of chemical risk; ii) Risk management; iii) Hazard reduction, substitution and green chemistry; iv) Risk versus benefit – socio-economic analysis. The book acts as a practical guide and overview to chemicals risk assessment and risk management (in the EU context), as well as a support text for planning for the challenges of the future, which will see ever-increasing pressure to withdraw hazardous substances from the EU (and global) market, balanced against opportunities for innovation in the development of less hazardous chemicals.
Phthalate esters are an important class of chemicals widely used in commercial applications, primarily as plasticizers to soften vinyl, but they are also used in consumer products. This book reviews the state of the scientific knowledge of phthalate esters in the environment. Key information reported includes: analytical methodologies; a compilation of concentration measurements in water, sediment, soil, air, dust, and food; plus an assessment of critical exposure pathways. In addition, key physical properties data and fate characteristics that control exposure are reviewed. Also included are pertinent ecotoxicity data and mammalian toxicity and human health information. Finally, the monograph addresses potential environmental risks.
This book presents new results on metal fluxes from society to the environment, on metal speciation in water, soil and sediment, and its mobility, biological uptake and toxicity. New approaches, like the Acid Volatile Sulphide (AVS) concept to predict metal bioavailability in sediments, and the Biotic Ligand Model to calculate the toxicity of metals to aquatic organisms, are critically evaluated, with a focus on copper, nickel, zinc, and, chromium.
This book introduces the theory and practice of ecological risk management. Using recent and live case studies in Japan, the book explains the use of basic mathematical techniques in extinction risk, adaptive population management, avian collision risk in wind farms, potential biological removal for marine mammals, and ecological risk assessment of heavy metals. The focus of this book is on case studies of nature conservation in Japan, including internationally renowned topics of Japanese fisheries, Shiretoko World Heritage, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. It also covers the adaptive risk management of the new coronavirus disease. The book comprises four parts covering ecotoxicology, fisheries, wildlife management and conservation, and ecosystem-based management. It differs from other books in having its primary interest in human impacts on animals, plant, and ecosystems, while existing works in this area concentrate on the fate of toxic substances in the environments and their effects on humans. This book is unique in that it indicates various environmental issues that the theoretical ecology is potentially applicable without concentrating into any particular subject such as ecotoxicology or conservation biology. Primary readers are undergraduate/graduate students, staffs of environmental consultant companies and environmental NPOs, and journalists. Readers will find this book useful for its abundant information on case studies of ecological risk management and consensus building in Japan.
