Environmental forensics for persistent organic pollutants

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Jul 31, 2014 - BOOKS AND SOFTWARE IN REVIEW. Gwen O'Sullivan and Court Sandau (Eds.): Environmental forensics for persistent organic pollutants.
Anal Bioanal Chem (2014) 406:6085–6086 DOI 10.1007/s00216-014-8052-9

BOOKS AND SOFTWARE IN REVIEW

Gwen O’Sullivan and Court Sandau (Eds.): Environmental forensics for persistent organic pollutants Ethel Eljarrat

Published online: 31 July 2014 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014 Bibliography Environmental forensics for persistent organic pollutants Gwen O’Sullivan and Court Sandau (Eds.) Elsevier ISBN: 978-0-444-59424-2 Hardcover, 424 pages December 2013, €155.00

Book’s topic Environmental forensics comprise the area of scientific investigations that address environmental contamination, which is subject to law court, arbitration, public debate, or formal argumentation and is subject to the basic science that serves as underpinnings to those activities. This book covers a wide range of environmental forensic applications in relation to persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including all aspects of contamination within the environmental media of air, water, soil, and biota. Contents The book consists of eight chapters contributed by 25 authors from four countries: USA, Canada, Belgium, and UK. The first chapter explains the concept of environmental forensics and describes significant discoveries of POPs in the environment, development of key analytical techniques, and legislative milestones in the control of POPs in the E. Eljarrat (*) IDAEA-CSIC, Environmental Chemistry, Jordi Girona 18-26, Barcelona 08034, Spain e-mail: [email protected]

environment. The second chapter introduces key treaties, statutes, regulations, and case law pertaining to the control of POPs by the federal governments in the United States and Canada. The next chapter covers the analytical aspects: a variety of techniques, procedures, and instruments are introduced, including discussion on optimum conditions important to ensure a quantitative determination. Chapter 4 provides an overview of quality systems, which includes project planning, field documentation, and data verification and validation. It provides readers with the fundamental requirements of environmental forensics sample collection and management. Chapter 5 reviews basic information relevant to the interpretation of biomonitoring data for POPs in a forensic context. Moreover, human exposures are discussed related to accidental exposures, poisonings, food contamination incidents, and occupational exposures. The three following chapters, 6–8, provide a summary in different environments. Chapter 6 discusses the sources to the atmosphere, chemical transformation during atmospheric transport, and levels found in ambient air. Chapter 7 examines a variety of terrestrial environments, including soil and sediments, herbage, wildlife, and humans. Two case studies are presented to highlight how environmental forensic investigations in the terrestrial environment may be carried out using different tools. Finally, Chapter 8 provides a summary of POPs in the aquatic environments. The most interesting is the inclusion of emerging chemicals, such as polyfluoroalkyl compounds, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, nanomaterials, marine debris and microplastics. Comparison with the Existing Literature There are many good textbooks on POPs. Several have been published more than a decade ago, so they do not include new analytical developments and new families of emerging POPs. This is the case of Persistent Organic Pollutants by H. Fiedler (2003). The book Persistent Organic Pollutants by S. Harrad (2010) is probably closest in scope to the book under review.

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Other recent books are very detailed regarding one unique family of compounds (i.e., Brominated Flame Retardants by E. Eljarrat and D. Barceló (2010), or Chlorinated Paraffins by C. de Boer (2010), or Polyfluorinated Chemicals and Transformation Products by T. Knepper and F. Lange (2012). Critical Assessment The monograph describes a wide range of applications of environmental forensics to POPs. Each chapter comprises a brief introduction, followed by precise description of the topic, including the presentation of case studies. The coverage of the topic is good; the only omission noticed by this reviewer was related to Chapter 2, in which regulations and case law pertaining to the control of POPs are presented for the United States and

E. Eljarrat

Canada. However, information related to other parts of the world (i.e., Europe) are missed. Summary Environmental Forensics for Persistent Organic Pollutants is a Monograph that addresses numerous applications, ranging from classic POPs (the Dirty Dozen) to emerging POPs (halogenated flame retardants, perfluoroalkyl substances, …). Many chapters have been contributed by leading experts and specialists in their particular fields. The book is clearly written and comprehensive. The information in book represents a significant advancement in the forensic sciences and while specific to POPs, is applicable to the forensic investigation of many contaminants of concern.