Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

Water is an important component supporting human life and the natural environment but also media for transmission of chemical and biological pollutants.

Quantitative human health risk assessment was performed for the evaluation of health threat resulting from the chemical contamination of the soil and groundwater in the area of the former open field pharmaceutical waste burning site. The main aim of the study was the determination of the remediation target-value, in compliance with the No. 219/2004. (VII. 21.) Hungarian Government Decree on “The protection of groundwaters”.

This short review collects the essential data on the acute and chronic oral toxicity of 6 Chemical-Warfare Agents (CWA) and 5 Warfare Toxins (WT). It evaluates the risk potential of each compound for drinking water supplies and consumers. With regard to toxicity on the one side plus cheapness and easiness of availability on the other side, VX and sulfur mustard present the highest risk potential among the CWA, whereas Ricin, Abrin and the Botulinum Toxins seem to contain the highest risk potential within the group of Warfare Toxins. Reproductive toxins (living microbial agents; viruses) are not included in this overview.

On 30 January 2000, a tailings pond burst at a facility near the city of Baia Mare, Romania which was reprocessing old mining tailings and re-depositing the waste sludge into a new tailings pond. This led to approximately 100,000 m of waste water containing up to 120 tons of cyanide and heavy metals being released into the Lapus River, then traveling downstream into the Somes and Tisa rivers into Hungary before entering the Danube.

An assessment concept was developed accordingly to the claims of “Vorsorge” (precaution) of the drinking water hygiene, which authorise a prospective evaluation of potential environmental contamination. The problematic is represented by the example of military contaminated sites in Germany and generalised by an adequate and extensive system of assessment for soils and waters. Over the description of substance properties of the environmental contaminants, values of substance characteristics (SC-Values) will be calculated. The combination of different values of substance characteristics shows a potential exposition and health risk over the drinking water path. The identification of hazards is presented, in a second step, with explicit health related guidance values (GV) and in form of measure values (short term health related guidance values GV) in the context of human toxicological assessments. Another approach is the calculation of permissible bearable maximum concentrations (BMC) through an aqua toxicological evaluation. With these two concentrations - the human-tox and the aqua-tox derivated - values, one can decide on the fact whether the chemical quality

In 2002-2003, studies were performed in concern of persistent organic pollutants: DDT, HCH, Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in open water basins of Armenia.Main goal of the study was to trace their fate in such specific media as surface waters. Samples of water were taken from the Lake Sevan and rivers Argichi, Arpa, Debet, Gavaraget, Hrazdan, Karchaghbyur, Pambak, Vardenik, Voghchi, and Vorotan. Analyses were performed by means of gas chromatography. Research findings indicate that in samples taken from rivers, at which hydro power plants are functioning, the content of PCBs is extremely high, as compared to the levels of HCH and DDT. This signifies that PCBs are a real problem for Armenia and the energy sector is the main source of PCB-related pollution in rivers of Armenia.

Directive 91/414/CEE (1991), concerning the placing on the market of plant protection products, states evaluation criteria to assure that no harmful effect on human or animal health and no unacceptable influence on the environment occur after pesticide use.

Life on this planet is dependent on water but our health is greatly impacted by the quality of that water. The global water crisis is clear, one only needs to quote the statistics on the billions of people without access to safe water, sanitation and the global estimates of the burden of waterborne disease. The greatest sources of biological contaminants associated with this disease burden in water remains human and animal feces. There is a critical need to develop a science-based program to address both water quantity and quality of water, water uses and discharges. Recommendations to achieve better access to scientific information for decision making include: 1) develop watershed approaches for determining the source and the behaviour of water-borne biological contaminants which can be used within Water Safety Plans, 2) utilize new tools and technologies for measuring the hazards and the exposure within a risk assessment framework and 3) develop a global data base and goals for biological contaminant loading for achieving safe water.

Greater and greater demand is needed to detect and identify the new emerging biological agents in drinking water supply. The so called indicator organisms like bacteria (E. coli, coliform bacteria etc.) often do not indicate the real danger for human health because of their higher sensitivity to chlorination for e.g. The other pathogen organisms like , , and their toxins, viruses, , fungi have higher resistance in other words lower sensitivity to chlorine. So some water borne disease can emerge beside the indicator parameters are satisfying. A case study in Hungary could prove this. Calicivirus caused outbreak in two villages spreading by the network of potable water. There are some indicators in legislation used in Hungary with similar sensitivity like pathogens to point out the possibility of occurrence of pathogens. These organisms are not pathogens but their appearance indicate the neglected condition of the network and the procedure of treatment plant. On the other hand the organisms can be used for detecting hazards like chemicals, genotoxic agents etc. Two technical workshops were organised on Toxicity for Biodefense in Oregon State University, USA and University of Pecs, Hungary. Both of the workshops were organised on the idea that each participant/group brought everything that were needed to carry out toxicity bioassay(s). All participants were given identical samples, and results were compared.

Since groundwater represents a capital resource of drinking water in many countries, there is a growing public concern with contamination of groundwater aquifers by different health relevant chemicals. Based on an expected ability of autochthonous microbial populations and other natural factors over time to bring about reduction or even elimination of health hazard for humans and animals, natural attenuation might stand for remedy of aquifers and other contaminated sites. To be effective in transformation or degradation of chemicals, microorganisms indigenous to groundwater should be capable of resisting to chemical pollutants, above all. In our laboratory experiments, microorganisms indigenous to an unpolluted deep groundwater aquifer were enriched, and in portions, the microbial biomass obtained was exposed to different organic chemicals in samples of groundwater. The effect of the chemicals on the size of biomass (ATP contents), and metabolic activities (dehydrogenase, and respiratory activity) was measured. The results indicate toxic effects to be predominantly caused by very high concentrations of the chemicals, sometimes even near to the full water saturation capacity.