Environmental Safety Assessment Research Articles

Responses of Nitrogen-Cycling Microorganisms to Dazomet Fumigation.

The influence of soil fumigation on microorganisms involved in transforming nitrogen remains little understood, despite the use of fumigants for many decades to control soil-borne pathogens and plant-parasitic nematodes. We used real-time PCR (quantitative polymerase chain reaction) and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing techniques to monitor changes in the diversity and community structure of microorganisms associated with nitrogen transfer after the soil was fumigated with dazomet (DZ). We also examined nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from these microorganisms present in fumigated fluvo-aquic soil and lateritic red soil. Fumigation with DZ significantly reduced the abundance of 16S rRNA and nitrogen cycling functional genes (nifH, AOA amoA, AOB amoA, nxrB, narG, napA, nirK, nirS, cnorB, qnorB, and nosZ). At the same time, N2O production rates increased between 9.9 and 30 times after fumigation. N2O emissions were significantly correlated with , dissolved amino acids and microbial biomass nitrogen, but uncorrelated with functional gene abundance. Diversity indices showed that DZ temporarily stimulated bacterial diversity as well as caused a significant change in bacterial community composition. For example, DZ significantly decreased populations of N2-fixing bacteria Mesorhizobium and Paenibacillus, nitrifiers Nitrosomonas, and the denitrifiers Bacillus, Pseudomonas, and Paracoccus. The soil microbial community had the ability to recover to similar population levels recorded in unfumigated soils when the inhibitory effects of DZ fumigation were no longer evident. The microbial recovery rate, however, depended on the physicochemical properties of the soil. These results provided useful information for environmental safety assessments of DZ in China, for improving our understanding of the N-cycling pathways in fumigated soils, and for determining the potential responses of different N-cycling groups after fumigation.

Fitness Cost of Transgenic cry1Ab/c Rice Under Saline-Alkaline Soil Condition.

The environmental release and biosafety of transgenic Bt crops have attracted global attention. China has a large area of saline-alkali land, which is ideal for large-scale production of Bt transgenic rice. Therefore an understanding of the fitness of Bt transgenic rice in saline-alkaline soils and the ability to predict its long-term environmental effects are important for the future sustainable use of these crops. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the fitness of cry1Ab/c transgenic rice in both farmland and natural ecosystems. Transgenic cry1Ab/c rice Huahui1, for which a national biosafety certificate was obtained, was grown on normal farmland and saline-alkaline soils in a glass greenhouse. The expression pattern of exogenous Cry1Ab/c protein, and vegetative and reproductive fitness of rice were assessed. The expression of the exogenous Cry1Ab/c protein in the transgenic rice grown on saline-alkaline soil was lower than that in the strain grown on farmland soil. Under both the soil conditions, vegetative growth abilities, as evaluated by tiller number and biomass, and reproductive growth abilities, as measured by filled grain number and filled grain weight per plant, showed a significantly higher fitness cost for Huahui1 than that for the parental rice Minghui63 grown under the same soil conditions. In saline-alkaline soil, the fitness cost of Huahui1was moderately higher than that of Minghui63. Therefore, the ecological risk of cry1Ab/c transgenic rice is not expected to be higher than that of parental rice Minghui63 if the former escapes into natural saline-alkaline soil. The results of the present study provide a scientific basis to improve environmental safety assessment of the insect-resistant transgenic rice strain Huahui1 before commercialization.

Effects of soil type, temperature, moisture, application dose, fertilizer, and organic amendments on chemical properties and biodegradation of dimethyl disulfide in soil

AbstractDimethyl disulfide (DMDS) is a potential alternative to methyl bromide for soil fumigation to control soil‐borne disease. Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of combinations of soil and environmental factors of DMDS degradation in soil. The results showed that soil pH and soil organic matter content are the major factors influencing the degradation of DMDS in soil. Generally, DMDS degradation was significantly slower in acidic and high organic content soils. The degradation rate increased with temperature and water content. However, when the temperature exceeded 35°C, the degradation rate decreased, and when the soil water content was raised to 10%, the change in DMDS degradation was not significant in Fangshan soil. The degradation of DMDS in soil depended on the initial application rate. Degradation slowed down as the fumigant application rate increased. DMDS degradation in soil was restrained by the addition of organic matter to soil, and the effect was enhanced by increased dosage. DMDS degradation in soil was also restrained by the use of chemical fertilizers except when amended with sodium dihydrogen phosphate and sodium thiosulfate. The impact of fumigant application rates and chemical fertilizers on bacterial communities in soil was determined by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. The results showed that bacterial diversity was affected by different treatments. Our study provides useful information to evaluate environmental safety assessments of DMDS in soil.

Evidences of N2O Emissions in Chloropicrin-Fumigated Soil.

The mechanism of N2O production following chloropicrin (CP) fumigation was investigated in this study. Our results showed that CP fumigation increased N2O production from 23 to 25 times in comparison with the control and significantly decreased the abundance of 16S rRNA and N-cycling functional genes. CP also decreased the soil bacterial diversity and caused a shift in the community composition. The N2O emissions in fumigated soil were significantly correlated with soil environmental factors (NH4+, dissolved amino acid, microbial biomass nitrogen, and NO3-) but were not correlated with the abundance of functional genes. Metatranscriptomes and dual-label 15N-18O isotope analysis revealed that CP fumigation inhibited the expression of gene families involved in N2O production and sink processes and shifted the main pathway of N2O production from nitrification to denitrification. These results provided useful information for environmental safety assessments of CP in China, to improve our understanding of the N-cycling pathways in fumigated soils.

Research status of the development of genetically modified papaya (Carica papaya L.) and its biosafety assessment

Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is one of the crops widely planted in tropical and subtropical areas. The papaya fruit has low calories and are plentiful in vitamins A and C and in minerals. A major problem in papaya production is a plant disease caused by the papaya ringspot virus (PRSV). The first PRSV-resistant GM papaya expressing a PRSV coat protein gene was developed by USA scientists in 1992. The first commercial GM papaya cultivars derived from the event was approved by the US government in 1997. Development of transgenic papayas has been focused on vaccine production and limited agricultural traits, including insect and pathogen resistance, long shelf life, and aluminum and herbicide tolerance. Approximately 17 countries, including the USA and China, produced transgenic papayas and/or commercialized them, which provoked studies on biosafety assessment and development of GM-detection technologies. For the biosafety assessment of potential effects on human health, effects of long-term feeding to model animals have been studied in terms of toxicity and allergenicity. Studies on environmental safety assessment include influence on soil-microbial biodiversity and transfer to soil bacteria of GM selection markers. Many countries, such as Korea, the European Union, and Japan, that have strict regulations for GM crops have serious concerns about unintended introduction of GM cultivars and food commodities using unauthorized GM crops. Transgene- and/or GM event-specific molecular markers and technologies for genomics-based detection of unauthorized GM papaya have been developed and have resulted in the robust detection of GM papayas.

Environmental Safety Assessment of a Printing Plant in Cairo, Egypt

Background: The workplace environment impacts workers health, morale, productivity and engagement - both positively and negatively. The workplace environment in most of industry is unsafe and unhealthy. During the past ten years, the printing services have met a large development. Technological changes and the introduction of new work processes in the matter of printing have had a deep impact on labor, security and health. Objectives: to describe the environmental features of a printing press in Cairo. Methods: A descriptive observational study was carried out in a big printing press in Cairo, Egypt. Assessment of the work environment (prepress department, printing department, bookbinding section & office) was done using checklist modified from that of occupational safety team, 2012. Results: The majority of the study participants (79.5%) in the printing press were working in the printing and bookbinding department. which complains from poor ventilation, poor housekeeping, presence of spills & tripping hazards, lack of personal protective equipments, presence of noisy machines, significant manual handling & awkward body positions, lack of first aid kit & hazardous containers (ink containers in the printing department & adhesives in the bookbinding department) were left open. By comparing the departmental total score of the items in the environmental checklist; the prepress department were the highest in fulfilling the positive items with score (86.66%) and the printing & bookbinding department were the least with total score (40.09%). Conclusion: The study concluded that some areas of the printing press (printing & bookbinding department) need urgent attention to the work environment and recommend periodic environmental examination, good housekeeping, training, health education & provision of protective measures. Further work to confirm these findings in other study settings & population is also needed.

Study on Environmental Safety Assessment for Recycling of Inorganic Sludge Generated from the Car Washing Facilities

Study on Environmental Safety Assessment for Recycling of Inorganic Sludge Generated from the Car Washing Facilities

Introducing Nursing Students to an Environmental Safety Assessment Through Simulation

In response to the Institute of Medicine report criticizing health care professionals' competence in providing safe patient care, health care educators were challenged to transform their nursing programs. One powerful tool in developing competent nurses, without endangering patients, is simulation. This article discusses advantages and disadvantages of using simulation as a teaching strategy and describes how to teach environmental safety concepts to beginning nursing students, through a simulated patient room using an environmental safety assessment.

EVALUATION OF ECOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT SECURITY IN CONTIGUOUS POVERTY ALLEVIATION AREA OF SICHUAN PROVINCE

Abstract. According to the overall requirements of ecological construction and environmental protection, rely on the national key ecological engineering, strengthen ecological environmental restoration and protection, improve forest cover, control soil erosion, construct important ecological security barrier in poor areas, inhibit poverty alleviation through ecological security in this area from environmental damage to the vicious cycle of poverty. Obviously, the dynamic monitoring of ecological security in contiguous destitute areas of Sichuan province has a policy sense of urgency and practical significance. This paper adopts RS technology and GIS technology to select the Luhe region of Jinchuan county and Ganzi prefecture as the research area, combined with the characteristics of ecological environment in poor areas, the impact factors of ecological environment are determined as land use type, terrain slope, vegetation cover, surface water, soil moisture and other factors. Using the ecological environmental safety assessment model, the ecological environment safety index is calculated. According to the index, the ecological environment safety of the research area is divided into four levels. The ecological environment safety classification map of 1990 in 2009 is obtained. It can be seen that with the human modern life and improve their economic level, the surrounding environment will be destroyed, because the research area ecological environment is now in good, the ecological environment generally tends to be stable. We should keep its ecological security good and improve local economic income. The relationship between ecological environmental security and economic coordinated development in poor areas has very important strategic significance.

Exploring the chemistry of complex samples by tentative identification and semiquantification: A food contact material case

In this month's Featured Article Eelco Pieke and his colleagues from the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, discuss some timely issues in the objective and practical assessment of food and environmental safety. As the authors rightly suggest, in our increasingly unpredictable world, even with powerful analytical tools at our disposal, the realistic assessment of risk is a challenge. In any given scenario, an almost limitless array of unknown substances can ‘contaminate’ our environment, and depending on structure, properties and amount, any one of these could pose a significant threat. The task of defining the risk in a cost- and time-efficient manner is much more than an exercise in analytical chemistry given the volume of data, scope of the problem and the uncertainties involved. In this article Pieke, Smedsgaard and Granby discuss their approach to defining and prioritizing risk. They use mass spectrometry as their central analytical platform for both structural elucidation and to estimate analyte concentration and they illustrate their approach through a practical, real-world example involving food contact materials.

Toxicity of contaminants of emerging concern to Dugesia japonica: QSTR modeling and toxicity relationship with Daphnia magna

Freshwater planarian Dugesia japonica has a critical ecological importance owing to its unique properties. This study presents for the first time an in silico approach to determine a priori the acute toxicity of contaminants of emerging concern towards D. japonica. Quantitative structure-toxicity/toxicity-toxicity relationship (QSTR/QTTR) models provided here allow producing reliable information using the existing data, thus, reducing the demand of in vivo and in vitro experiments, and contributing to the need for a more holistic approach to environmental safety assessment. Both models are promising for being notably simple and robust, meeting rigorous validation metrics and the OECD criteria. The QTTR model based on the available Daphnia magna data might also contribute to the US EPA Interspecies Correlation Estimation web application. Moreover, the proposed models were applied on hundreds of environmentally significant chemicals lacking experimental D. japonica toxicity data and predicted toxicity values were reported for the first time. The models presented here can be used as potential tools in toxicity assessment, screening and prioritization of chemicals and development of risk management measures in a scientific and regulatory frame.

Examining olfactory and visual cues governing host-specificity of a weed biological control candidate species to refine pre-release risk assessment

In weed biological control programs, pre-release host-specificity testing relies traditionally on no-choice and choice feeding, oviposition, and development tests. Rarely have they included detailed examination of behavioral responses to olfactory and visual cues of biological control candidates, although a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying host recognition may explain potential discrepancies between choice and no-choice tests, and/or between tests conducted in the lab versus field conditions. We investigated how the seed-feeding weevil, Mogulones borraginis, distinguishes its host plant, Cynoglossum officinale, from three native confamilial non-target species in North America. In behavioral bioassays, M. borraginis responded to olfactory and visual cues individually and, to an even greater extent, to both plant cue modalities when offered simultaneously. In tests with the combined cues, M. borraginis was attracted to C. officinale but responded with indifference or was repelled by non-target plants. In electrophysiological experiments, we identified that M. borraginis responded to ten volatile compounds and four wavelengths of lights from inflorescences of C. officinale. We propose that studies of responses to multimodal plant cues can advance our understanding of how biocontrol candidate species discriminate among host plants and closely related non-target species, thereby increasing the accuracy of environmental safety assessments pre-release.

Accurate prediction of acute fish toxicity of fragrance chemicals with the RTgill-W1 cell assay.

Testing for acute fish toxicity is an integral part of the environmental safety assessment of chemicals. A true replacement of primary fish tissue was recently proposed using cell viability in a fish gill cell line (RTgill-W1) as a means of predicting acute toxicity, showing good predictivity on 35 chemicals. To promote regulatory acceptance, the predictivity and applicability domain of novel tests need to be carefully evaluated on chemicals with existing high-quality in vivo data. We applied the RTgill-W1 cell assay to 38 fragrance chemicals with a wide range of both physicochemical properties and median lethal concentration (LC50) values and representing a diverse range of chemistries. A strong correlation (R2 = 0.90-0.94) between the logarithmic in vivo LC50 values, based on fish mortality, and the logarithmic in vitro median effect concentration (EC50) values based on cell viability was observed. A leave-one-out analysis illustrates a median under-/overprediction from in vitro EC50 values to in vivo LC50 values by a factor of 1.5. This assay offers a simple, accurate, and reliable alternative to in vivo acute fish toxicity testing for chemicals, presumably acting mainly by a narcotic mode of action. Furthermore, the present study provides validation of the predictivity of the RTgill-W1 assay on a completely independent set of chemicals that had not been previously tested and indicates that fragrance chemicals are clearly within the applicability domain. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018;37:931-941. © 2017 SETAC.

Study on Comprehensive Risk Assessment of Marine Environment Safety Based on Public Safety Triangle Theory

With the continuous improvement of marine strategic status, the degree of emphasis on marine environmental security incidents has increased. In order to effectively prevent and manage marine environmental events, we need to work through risk assessments to prevent the occurrence of events or reduce the impact of events. Based on the theory of public safety triangle, this paper studies and analyzes the comprehensive risk assessment of marine environmental safety. Based on the historical disaster situation investigation and the existing disaster risk assessment research results, a comprehensive risk assessment framework was established. According to the development process of the marine environmental safety incident and the influence of the incident, the comprehensive risk evaluation index system is constructed from three aspects: event risk, disaster tolerance and emergency management. According to the expert experience and judgment matrix, considering the acceptable level of risk, the risk assessment grading standard is established, which provides theoretical support for the comprehensive risk assessment of marine environmental safety.

Basin water environmental safety assessment based on fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method: a case study

Basin water environmental safety assessment based on fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method: a case study

Potential toxicity of nano-graphene oxide on callus cell of Plantago major L. under polyethylene glycol-induced dehydration

Graphene-based nanomaterials have shown a great potential towards improving plant performance in various contexts. However, their increased application over the last few years has raised concerns about their potential biological and environmental risks, warranting optimization and safety assessment considerations. The current study was performed to explore the potential impacts of nano-garphene oxide (NGO) at various concentrations (100–800µgmL−1) on morphological, physiological and biochemical responses of Plantago major L. calli cultures under normal and polyethylene glycol-induced drought stress conditions. Leaf-derived calli on the ½ MS-treated medium with polyethylene glycol showed a decrease in relative growth rate (78.5%), osmotic potential value (48.2%) and an increase in dry matter (35.1%) and H2O2 (54.2%) contents at the highest employed NGO concentration compared with control (p < 0.05). The engineered NGO affected secondary metabolites and amino acid contents under normal water availability as well: at 800µgmL−1, NGO significantly increased total phenolic (40.9%) and flavonoid (35.3%) contents, but significantly reduced proline (26.9%) content compared to the respective control. The integrated biological marker (IBR/n) index for antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, POD, and APX) activities was differentially influenced by the experimental treatments. Overall, the results demonstrated that NGO can positively affect the performance of P. major L. calli cells when applied at specific concentrations, and provide useful inputs into the further studies on phytotoxicity assessment of NGO.

Criterion for Estimation of Ecological Safety of Objects of Urban Transport Construction

A new approach to assess the ecological safety of the urban environment including urban transport facilities is being considered. The chemical and acoustic pollution of the environment from the impact of the urban transport construction objects is analyzed. The description of the sustainable state concept and ecological balance of the urban environment is given. A criterion for assessing environmental safety based on a comprehensive indicator of the city’s biosphere compatibility was proposed. The scale of environmental safety assessments is constructed.

Natural formation and transformation of silver nanoparticles in the aquatic environment

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are well known for their excellent antibacterial ability and superior physiochemical properties, and are widely used in a growing number of applications, including home disinfectants, medical devices and water purificants. During the production, use and disposal of AgNP-containing products, AgNPs may be released into the environment. AgNPs are highly dynamic in aqueous systems. They could undergo different chemical and morphology transformation, which greatly affects their final fate, transport, distribution and potential bioeffects. The study on the fate and transformation of AgNPs in natural systems is the basis and prerequisite for the accurate assessment of environmental and biological safety of AgNPs. Herein, we reviewed the recent progress of the natural formation and transformation of AgNPs in the aquatic environment, including the chemical and biosynthesis of AgNPs, the aggregation, enrichment in water surface microlayer, oxidation and dissolution, sulfidation and chlorination of AgNPs in the aquatic environment. The prospects and possible directions in the field are also discussed.

УСЛОВИЯ ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЯ ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКОЙ БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ В КУЗБАССЕ: НОКСОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ ПОДХОД

&lt;p&gt;The article features some aspects of ecological environment in an industrial region, which characterize potential (artificial, man-induced) ecological threats that compose the noxosphere, i. e. constantly or periodically hazardous environment. In spite of the fact that noxology (science of hazards) is actively developing and there are numerous scientific approaches to ecological safety issues, the noxological approach is not adequately reflected in science media. In our attempt to fill this gap we use the following interpretation: noxological approach is a set of scientific and practical methods based on the semantic concept of noxosphere aimed at the transformation of hazardous objects and protective measures needed to ensure the environmental safety of the natural environment and human society. The paper presents some research results concerning environmental hazards, describing the impact on natural environment and man in a complex industrial region, and discusses them from the standpoint of noxological approach. As legal basis for noxological approach the authors use scientific ecological and legal interpretations, in particular, Articles 2 and especially 9 of the Constitution [1; 2, p. 5] on man and land (natural environment). Since "... nature is a value in itself, due to the fact that it is the source of life, but not only that of man", and degradation and extinction (an imbalance in biodiversity, i. e. expansion of noxosphere) of other organisms, more susceptible to changes in the natural environment, it means – for humans – that they will suffer the same fate. This process serves as an indicator of risk. This implies that "there will be no man without a favorable state of nature. And "in the context of meeting the global challenges of biodiversity, only an ecocentric concept of nature protection can be legally recognized and formalized" [2, p. 7]. In our understanding, the use noxological approach to environmental safety assessment could serve the development of ideas of socio-natural interactions and their optimization not only in line with technological solutions, but also in the process of changing the way of thinking and the formation of noxological culture through the synthesis of important traditions and perception of nature and all things natural as a full subject in conjunction with man. As an illustration of the relevance of the noxological approach concept, we consider some research data and results of practical studies performed by Kuzbass scientists aimed at preserving a balanced biodiversity in a coal mining environment. The information system they developed allows one to keep track of growing hazards and assess the risks of their development, in order to make the best decisions for the preservation of the natural environment in the context of heavy anthropogenic impact, which determines the conditions of environmental safety. We believe this approach corresponds to the principle of "balanced development".&lt;/p&gt;

Effect of fumigation with chloropicrin on soil bacterial communities and genes encoding key enzymes involved in nitrogen cycling

Chloropicrin (CP) is a potential alternative for methyl bromide as a soil fumigant given that the use of methyl bromide has become limited. However, little is known about how fumigation with CP affects the condition of the soil microbial community. In this study, 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and quantitative PCR were combined to investigate the effect of CP on soil bacterial community. In total, 938,922 effective reads were obtained from 18 samples and clustered into 58,662 operational taxonomic units at a similarity cut-off of 97%. Both approaches showed that the primary structure of bacterial community in soil did not significantly change at the phylum level after fumigation, but CP had a significant impact on the abundance of the bacterial microbiome that was recovered and identified. Additionally, bacterial community diversity decreased significantly, and there was a shift in the predominant populations. Staphylococcus, Actinomadura, Acinetobacter and Streptomyces significantly decreased in number or disappeared, and Bacteroides, Lachnoclostridium, Pseudoalteromonas, Colwellia, Idiomarina and Cobetia became the new predominant populations. In addition, some species associated with biodegradation, such as Sphingomonas spp. and Rhodococcus spp., significantly increased in number. The abundance of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) were significantly inhibited, yet the abundance of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) significantly increased, and denitrification was significantly promoted. These changes in bacterial flora can considerably impact soil function and health and lead to negative effects on the environment surrounding fumigated soils, indicating the need for proactive risk management. Our study provides useful information for environmental safety assessments of CP in China.