Environmental Science & Technology Letters Environ.最新文献

Environmental pollutants pose significant health risks and elevate the likelihood of developing diseases. Organoid-based models offer the potential to transform environmental toxicology by offering platforms that closely mimic human physiology for precise toxicological assessments. Here, we discuss recent studies utilizing human-derived organoids as a preferable in vitro model for screening environmental toxins. We also address the persistent challenges arising from the pluripotent nature of their cellular origin. Furthermore, we emphasize future perspectives regarding the utility of organoids in understanding the intricate interactions between environmental pollutant exposure and human health by considering both ad hoc modifications and post hoc analyses. Overall, exploring human-organoid-based in vitro models holds promise for environmental toxicology, offering reproducible, reliable, and relevant data comparable to those from in vivo studies.

Decades-long emissions and long-range transport of chlorinated paraffins (CPs) have resulted in their pervasive presence in the global environment. The lack of an understanding of the global distribution of short-, medium-, and long-chain CPs (SCCPs, MCCPs, and LCCPs) hinders us from quantitatively tracing their origins in remote regions. Using the BETR-Global model and historical emission estimates, we simulate the global dispersion of CPs from 1930 to 2020. Whereas contamination trends in the main contaminated regions (East Asia, Europe, North America, and South Asia) diverge, CP concentrations in the Arctic, Antarctica, and the Tibetan Plateau all increase. By 2020, East Asian, European, and North American emissions contributed 38%, 26%, and 18% of CP contamination in the High Arctic, respectively, while Southern hemispheric emissions and emissions around the Tibetan Plateau primarily contribute to CP contamination in central Antarctica and on the Plateau, respectively. Our results emphasize the important contribution of (i) European and North American emissions to historical CP contamination in remote regions and current MCCP and LCCP contamination in the High Arctic and (ii) East Asian emission to current SCCP and MCCP contamination of all three remote regions. These results can help to evaluate the effectiveness of potential global and regional CP emission-reduction strategies.

Hair is a valuable, non-invasive material for human biomonitoring. However, little is known about polluting contaminants in hair, particularly regarding the relationship between biocomponents and contaminant levels in hair. We measured the concentrations of 42 contaminants, including 11 phosphorus flame retardants (PFRs), 13 bisphenols (BPs), and 18 perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), while simultaneously measuring the levels of keratin, melanin, and eight sphingolipids in hair samples. Long-chain sphingolipids (C20CER) were negatively associated with levels of PFRs, PFAS, and BPs, while C12CER and C14CER (short-chain) were positively associated with levels of PFRs and BPs. Furthermore, we observed an overall negative association between ∑₇PFRs and endogenous biocomponents but a positive dose–effect relationship with ∑₅BPs and biocomponents using Bayesian kernel machine regression models. Among the biocomponents, C20CER and C14CER contributed the most to the negative and positive associations, respectively. Specifically, a change in Ln C20CER (Z-score) concentration from the 25th to 75th percentile was associated with a decrease in ∑₇PFRs of 47.0%-SD (−61.8%, −32.3%) when other biocomponents were at their median values. These findings provide new insights into the relationships between biocomponents and contaminants in hair, which is an essential step for the advancement of hair as a biomonitoring material.

Marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) is increasingly recognized as a potential mitigation pathway to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. Among the scalable and cost-effective options for mCDR, ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) stands out as a potential eco-friendly option. Herein, a novel OAE strategy on the basis of coupled electrochemical alkalinization and CaCO₃ dissolution is developed for the removal of influent CO₂ in ambient conditions. The laboratory strategy also considers the additional benefit of converting dissolved nitrite, which can be toxic at high concentrations in seawater. The protons produced in the anodic sector are neutralized by timely dissolution of CaCO₃ powders, which converts an equivalent mole of dissolved inorganic carbon. The alkalinity generated in the cathodic sector reacts with influent CO₂ to form bicarbonate anions in seawater. As a result, the integrated OAE design produces increased total alkalinity and dissolved inorganic carbon in seawater with a relatively moderate energy consumption of 104.5 kJ/mol of CO₂ and high electron efficiency. In addition, the anodic reaction converts nitrite to nitrate. The proof-of-concept module thus provides an eco-beneficial pathway for mCDR. A potential environmental scenario could be the integration of OAE and wastewater treatment in intensive and recirculating marine aquaculture.

Prospective influenza A (IAV) RNA monitoring at 190 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) across the US identified increases in IAV RNA concentrations at 59 plants in spring 2024, after the typical seasonal influenza period, coincident with the identification of highly pathogenic avian influenza (subtype H5N1) circulating in dairy cattle in the US. We developed and validated a hydrolysis-probe RT-PCR assay for quantification of the H5 hemagglutinin gene. We applied it retrospectively to samples from four WWTPs where springtime increases were identified and one WWTP where they were not. The H5 marker was detected at all four WWTPs coinciding with the increases and not detected in the WWTP without an increase. Positive WWTPs are located in states with confirmed outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza, H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, in dairy cattle. Concentrations of the H5 gene approached overall influenza A virus gene concentrations, suggesting a large fraction of influenza virus inputs were H5 subtypes. At all four H5 positive WWTPs, industrial discharges containing animal waste, including milk byproducts, were permitted to discharge into sewers. Our findings demonstrate that wastewater monitoring can detect animal-associated influenza contributions and highlight the need to consider industrial and agricultural inputs into wastewater. This work illustrates wastewater monitoring’s value for comprehensive influenza surveillance, including for influenzas that currently are thought to be primarily found in animals with important implications for animal and human health.

Time trends in atmospheric concentrations serve to evaluate how effective the Stockholm Convention is in reducing or eliminating environmental releases of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Twelve years (2005–2016) of continuous monitoring with a global network of 20 sampling sites reveals that concentrations of the pesticide endosulfan began to drop coincident with its listing as POP in 2011. Concentrations of other POPs started to decrease prior to listing and during the sampling period declined very slowly or not at all. Concentrations of some unintentionally produced POPs (hexachlorobenzene, hexachlorobutadiene) increased to become the most abundant and most widely dispersed POPs in the global atmosphere. Their formation processes and release locations need to be identified to facilitate the Convention’s goal of curbing releases from unintentional production.

Addressing the challenges of ion adsorption capacity and electrode stability in capacitive deionization (CDI), this research introduces a pioneering anion exchange membrane (AEM)-based rocking chair CDI (RCDI) system equipped with activated carbon electrodes. Designed to counteract co-ion effects, this AEM-RCDI system significantly enhances ion-selective adsorption through improved electrode surface charge dynamics. This study also elucidates how these dynamics influence electrode potential distribution, the potential of zero charge, and the mechanism facilitating differential adsorption of ions, bridging fundamental electrochemical insight with practical improvement in desalination performance. Our investigation reveals that the oxidation of the carbon electrode, both during desalination and through targeted preoxidation, significantly boosts desalination efficacy and electrode stability. Especially, preoxidation increases cation adsorption, achieving an impressive desalination capacity of 87.3 mg g^–1, rate of 12 mg g^–1 min^–1, and charge efficiency of 88.6%, with remarkable stability over 240 desalination cycles. This study not only unveils key insights into the deionization mechanisms and properties of carbonaceous electrodes in RCDI but also sets a new benchmark for commercial CDI development.

Despite the ubiquitous use of textiles, the chemical additives used in textile manufacturing, their human exposure, and their environmental release have been largely overlooked. Herein, we screened for numerous chemical additives, including synthetic antioxidants, organophosphate esters, and phthalate esters, detecting 93 of 98 chemicals in 78 items of clothing (sum concentration: 328 to 2.51 × 10⁵ ng/g, median: 2.77 × 10⁴ ng/g). Compared with organophosphate esters and phthalate esters, significantly high concentrations of synthetic antioxidants (median: 2.51 × 10⁴ ng/g) were found in clothes for both children and adults. Different chemical compositions were observed between cotton and artificial fabrics, with 3 times higher concentrations observed in clothing for children than for adults. Dermal contact via sweaty clothes may be a major exposure pathway for 2,4-di-tert-butyl-phenol (contributing 39.1% to total exposure); thus, it is recommended to avoid rewearing sweaty clothes to minimize human exposure. Additionally, environmental emissions of chemicals through laundry wastewater were estimated at 11.2 tons/year in China. The discharge of 2,6-di-tert-butyl-p-benzoquinone via laundry wastewater contributed 20.4% of the total input into wastewater treatment plants in China, indicating a non-negligible source of this chemical. This work provides comprehensive evidence of unwanted chemical additives in clothes and underscores the necessity for continuous monitoring of environmental and human risks associated with textile products.