Herbicides

Estuaries Symposium The subject for the Ninth International Liege Colloquium on Ocean Hydrodynamics, to be held at the Institute of Mathematics in Liege, Belgium, from 2-6 May 1977 is Estuaries. Among aspects to be discussed will be estuarine and fjord dynamics, hydrodynamic and water quality models of estuaries, and the impact of estuaries on coastal waters. For further details write to: Prof Jacques Nihoul, Institut de Math6matique, Avenue des Tilleuls 15, B-4000 Liege, Belgium.

Refinery Effluents and Aquatic Life C6t6, R. P. (1976). The Effects o f Petroleum Refinery Liquid Wastes on Aquatic Life, with Special Emphasis on the Canadian Environment. 77pp. Ottawa, National Research Council of Canada, Associate Committee on ScientifiC Criteria for Environmental Quality. (NRCC 15021) Price: $2.00. The impact of waterborne petroleum refinery effluents on aquatic ecosystems is assessed. In Canada, there are specific petroleum refineries whose effluents are highly toxic to fish; however the majority of refinery effluents tend to be moderately or not acutely lethal. In many cases, petroleum refineries do not contribute large volumes of waste waters to the environment, and there is a continuing trend towards a reduction in effluent volume. Some of the major effluent components are known to be highly toxic under certain circumstances. One of the difficulties in assessment is that the toxic components are discharged in complex mixtures which can contain phenols, sulphides, heavy metals etc., and which vary according to specific refinery operations. Refinery operations may create and discharge carcinogenic compounds, cumulative toxicants, and compounds which can affect the sensory perception of aquatic organisms, in addition to affecting the taste and odour of fish flesh. Since refinery effluents are generally discharged into areas already receiving one or more wastes, it is not always possible to determine and assess the specific effects of refinery effluents on the environment under actual field conditions. It then becomes important to conduct toxico-pharmacological studies, in order tc diagnose those effects in the environment that ar¢ relatable to specific causes. 240

Herbicides Kearney, P. C., and Kaufman, D. D., editors (1976) Herbicides: Chemistry, Degradation and Mode of A ct ion. Volume 2. xi, 456 pp. New York: Marcel Dekker. Price: SFr. 150.00 (2nd Edition). This volume continues to use the style and format found in Volume 1, and covers the important classes of herbicides: Diquat and Paraquat; the Benzoic Acid herbicides; Methylcarbamates, Carbanilates and Acylanilides; Phenols; Diphenyl Ethers; Org.anoarsenical herbicides; Picloram and related herbicides; and other miscellaneous herbicides. Many of the general comments made in my review of Volume 1 (Mar. Pollut. Bull., 7, !76, 1976) could equally well be applied to Volume 2. In addition to those chapters mentioned two further ones cover Herbicide Photodecomposition and Herbicide Volatibility. In the latter chapter some attempts are made to describe losses of herbicide to the environment quantitatively and to compare environmental contamination of herbicides with the better known chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides. This volume, together with Volume 1, provides a most comprehensive description of the chemistry and fates of the important classes of herbicides. M. M. RHEAD

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