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Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs): Mammalian and environmental toxicology
Environmental Pollution
56 (1989) 169 171
Book Reviews
Acid Rain and Britain's Natural Ecosystems. Edited by M. Ashmore, N. Bell & A. C. Garretty. Imperial College Centre for Environmental Technology, 1988. Pp. 138, ISBN 0 950 7744 6 4. Price: £8-00. A one-day conference was held at Imperial College, London, in September 1986 to assess the evidence of effects by acid deposition on British natural ecosystems. It is a nice question of course whether there are any natural ecosystems in Great Britain, but this is a useful review of knowledge on historical changes in air pollutants, the mechanisms of soil and water acidification, effects on lichens, wetlands, trees and higher plants, freshwater flora and fauna, and birds. The chairman of the final session commented on the disparity between different social groups in their assessments of the problem's seriousness. This is to be expected: we lack consensus on the value of wild-life compared to other aspects of our social well-being. There are brief statements from representatives of the Nature Conservancy Council, the Confederation of British Industry, Friends of the Earth, the Central Electricity Generating Board and the Department of the Environment.
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs): Mammalian and Environmental Toxicology. Edited by S. H. Safe & O. Hutzinger. Springer Verlag, 1987. Pp. 152. ISBN 3 540 15550 3. Price: DM 98"00. This is the first in a new series of reviews and monographs on compounds important in environmental toxicology. The emphasis is therefore on human health, but much in this first volume is relevant to ecotoxicology. 169 Environ. Pollut. (56) (1989)--© 1989 Elsevier SciencePublishers Ltd, England. Printed in Great Britain
170
Book reviews
Individual PCBs, with 209 possible isomers and congeners, differ markedly in their environmental behaviour and biological effects. The first chapter discusses the problems and recent advances in analytical techniques, and concludes that it is time to move from approximate estimates of total PCBs in samples to analysis for individual samples, with consequent improved risk assessments. L. G. Hansen then discusses environmental toxicology, and, after some overlap with the first chapter, gives an interesting account of the relationship between chemical structure and physical and biological properties of PCBs. The subsequent discussion of ecological effects tends to confuse correlation, of residues and observed biological changes, with causation that PCBs are responsible. The last five chapters focus much more on human health: effects on mammals, carcinogenic and mutagenic effects, metabolic pathways, pharmacokinetics, and human health. For the chapter on pharmacokinetics, Lutz & Dedrick discuss physiologic models. The difference from the frequently used compartmental models was not clear to me, nor was any account given of how one actually derives estimates for rate constants, nor what the standard errors for these estimates might be. One important, stated, assumption was that intravenous injection of PCBs avoids some problem of data interpretation, but still yields model parameters of universal utility. True, but, in practice, how relevant for predicting toxicity from other types of exposure? A useful book, but it could have been improved by firmer editing. Sections do overlap, and for example, one reaches page 51, in the third chapter, before one finds a clear diagram to explain the way in which different PCB molecules are described--information needed to understand some parts of both the previous chapters.
Tropospheric Ozone: Regional and Global Scale Interactions. Edited by I. S. A. Isaksen. D. Reidel Publishing Co (Kluwer Academic Publishers Group), 1988. Pp. 425, ISBN 90 277 2676 0. Price: £58"00. This N A T O advanced research workshop was held in Lillehammer, Norway, in June 1987. Apart from one paper by B. Prinz on the effects of ozone on vegetation, the underlying theme was the interaction between chemical processes and atmospheric transport as determinants of ozone distribution and amounts in the troposphere, with detailed accounts of many programmes of work.
Contaminated Soil '88. (Volumes 1 & 2). Edited by K. Wolf, W. J. Van Den Brink & F. Colon. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers (Kluwer Academic
56 (1989) 169 171
Book Reviews
Acid Rain and Britain's Natural Ecosystems. Edited by M. Ashmore, N. Bell & A. C. Garretty. Imperial College Centre for Environmental Technology, 1988. Pp. 138, ISBN 0 950 7744 6 4. Price: £8-00. A one-day conference was held at Imperial College, London, in September 1986 to assess the evidence of effects by acid deposition on British natural ecosystems. It is a nice question of course whether there are any natural ecosystems in Great Britain, but this is a useful review of knowledge on historical changes in air pollutants, the mechanisms of soil and water acidification, effects on lichens, wetlands, trees and higher plants, freshwater flora and fauna, and birds. The chairman of the final session commented on the disparity between different social groups in their assessments of the problem's seriousness. This is to be expected: we lack consensus on the value of wild-life compared to other aspects of our social well-being. There are brief statements from representatives of the Nature Conservancy Council, the Confederation of British Industry, Friends of the Earth, the Central Electricity Generating Board and the Department of the Environment.
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs): Mammalian and Environmental Toxicology. Edited by S. H. Safe & O. Hutzinger. Springer Verlag, 1987. Pp. 152. ISBN 3 540 15550 3. Price: DM 98"00. This is the first in a new series of reviews and monographs on compounds important in environmental toxicology. The emphasis is therefore on human health, but much in this first volume is relevant to ecotoxicology. 169 Environ. Pollut. (56) (1989)--© 1989 Elsevier SciencePublishers Ltd, England. Printed in Great Britain
170
Book reviews
Individual PCBs, with 209 possible isomers and congeners, differ markedly in their environmental behaviour and biological effects. The first chapter discusses the problems and recent advances in analytical techniques, and concludes that it is time to move from approximate estimates of total PCBs in samples to analysis for individual samples, with consequent improved risk assessments. L. G. Hansen then discusses environmental toxicology, and, after some overlap with the first chapter, gives an interesting account of the relationship between chemical structure and physical and biological properties of PCBs. The subsequent discussion of ecological effects tends to confuse correlation, of residues and observed biological changes, with causation that PCBs are responsible. The last five chapters focus much more on human health: effects on mammals, carcinogenic and mutagenic effects, metabolic pathways, pharmacokinetics, and human health. For the chapter on pharmacokinetics, Lutz & Dedrick discuss physiologic models. The difference from the frequently used compartmental models was not clear to me, nor was any account given of how one actually derives estimates for rate constants, nor what the standard errors for these estimates might be. One important, stated, assumption was that intravenous injection of PCBs avoids some problem of data interpretation, but still yields model parameters of universal utility. True, but, in practice, how relevant for predicting toxicity from other types of exposure? A useful book, but it could have been improved by firmer editing. Sections do overlap, and for example, one reaches page 51, in the third chapter, before one finds a clear diagram to explain the way in which different PCB molecules are described--information needed to understand some parts of both the previous chapters.
Tropospheric Ozone: Regional and Global Scale Interactions. Edited by I. S. A. Isaksen. D. Reidel Publishing Co (Kluwer Academic Publishers Group), 1988. Pp. 425, ISBN 90 277 2676 0. Price: £58"00. This N A T O advanced research workshop was held in Lillehammer, Norway, in June 1987. Apart from one paper by B. Prinz on the effects of ozone on vegetation, the underlying theme was the interaction between chemical processes and atmospheric transport as determinants of ozone distribution and amounts in the troposphere, with detailed accounts of many programmes of work.
Contaminated Soil '88. (Volumes 1 & 2). Edited by K. Wolf, W. J. Van Den Brink & F. Colon. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers (Kluwer Academic