Contaminants of emerging concern
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Emerging contaminants are contaminants which historically have not been considered as such, but might be present in the environment on a global scale. They are commonly derived from municipal, agricultural, and industrial wastewater sources and pathways.
"Emerging contaminants" can be broadly defined as any chemical or microorganism that is not commonly monitored in the environment but has the potential to enter the environment and cause known or suspected adverse ecological or human health effects. In some cases, release of emerging chemical or microbial contaminants to the environment has likely occurred for a long time, but may not have been recognized until new detection methods were developed. In other cases, synthesis of new chemicals or changes in use and disposal of existing chemicals can create new sources of emerging contaminants.[1]
General problem
For a compound to be recognized as an emerging contaminant it has to meet at least next requirements:
- Somewhere on the world people are hampered by the effect(s) of the compound.
- A relation between the effects and the presence of the compound needs to be established and accepted as such.
Hamperings
Somewhere on the world
Due to the large differences in transportability of compounds either practically none or very large distances might occur between the location of contamination and the place of occurring hazards. An example of the first is the effect of municipal solid waste on the environmental distinct reek. On the other hand, the effects of water-soluble contaminants may be obscured a long time as they are washed far away from the contamination site and only slowly accumulate in oceans to harmful concentrations. The same is true for air "soluble" gasses like carbon dioxide: they dissolve in the vast quantity of the atmosphere, only accumulating very slowly.
Relation between the compound and effects
Associated to the distance in place and time between contamination and effects is the problem of relating the two in a convincing way. The ongoing discussion on the effects of carbon dioxide is a clear example of this problem.
Examples from the past
As stated above, the predicate "Emerging contaminant" is time dependant.
- In the 1950s asbestos should have earned the title emergent contaminant. Today it has passed that status, but it took the compound a long time to move from perfect material of construction to its present status of no go area.[2]
- The CFC's are on the same route as asbestos, only 20 years behind.[3]
- A present-day candidate would be perfluorooctanoic acid.[4]
References
- ^ "U.S. Geological Survey". Retrieved 3 February 2017.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ The article on asbestos and the law contains a broad list of references to the compounds as an emerging contaminant and its phasing out.
- ^ The article on chlorofluorocarbon contains a broad list of references to the compounds as an emerging contaminants and its phasing out.
- ^ The article on perfluorooctanoic acid contains a broad list of references to the compound as an emerging contaminant.
