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Reviews of environmental contamination and toxicology: Continuation of residue reviews, vol. 102
Environmental Pollution 57 (1989) 79-83
Book Reviews
Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology: Continuation of Residue Reviews, Vol. 101. Edited by George W. Ware. Springer-Verlag, 1988. 174 pp. ISBN 3 540 96593 9. Price: DM 85.00. Two of the five reviews in this volume are of some relevance to readers of the journal. A. M. Fan considers trichloroethylene. The main emphasis is on human toxicology, but two pages consider the extent to which ground water is contaminated in the USA. E.R.I.C. Sandmann et al. review the literature on microbial degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid'. They describe the development and persistence of the enrichment effect, numbers and types of degrading microorganisms, methods for sampling soil and for estimating the density of micro-organisms, and the factors that affect densities and degradation rate. A final section considers, in this context, the pervasive problem of how to relate field and laboratory results to each other. Here, as for other habitats, attempts have been made to develop an intermediate stage, called in this instance microagroecosystems. Relatively little appears to have been done yet with this approach. There is also a brief mention of the use of mathematical models to predict degradation rates.
Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology: Continuation of Residue Reviews, Vol. 102. Edited by George W. Ware. Springer-Verlag, 1988. 184 pp. ISBN 3 540 96647 1. Price: DM 78.00. This volume contains three reviews, of which the first two, on teratologic testing and cellular toxicology, are concerned with human health. The third, 79 Environ. Pollut. (57) (1989)--@ 1989 Elsevier Science Publishers Ltd, England. Printed in
Great Britain
80
Book reviews
by D. W. Connell, on the bioaccumulation of persistent organic compounds by aquatic organisms, is very relevant. The underlying approach is the search for mathematical equations that will relate what one wishes to measure, the tendency of contaminants to occur in high concentrations within animals, to what can be measured relatively easily. An initial brief useful section indicates properties found in organic molecules that tend to bioaccumulate: bond types that confer stability, fat solubility, molecular size and resistance to metabolism. There then follows a rather heavy-handed account of pathways and mechanisms, with terms like fugacity, defined later as the escaping tendency, used in seemingly circular statements. The important points could have been made much more clearly, with far fewer words. The next, longest, section considers the relevance of quantitative structure-activity relationships, with the intent of producing linear regressions to predict the bioconcentration (KB). Little attention is paid to precision, or lack of it. Relationships of this type commonly have residual deviations from the regression line, for observed values of KB, that are measured in orders of magnitude. Clearly, if this approach is valid as anything more than a preliminary screening tool, much is still unknown. The final section on models derived from rates of transfer between compartments is rudimentary. It recognises the existence of models with more than one (i.e. two) compartment, and then discusses, briefly, onecompartmental models. The underlying assumptions are not discussed. There are many irritating spelling errors, some sentences are--as written--meaningless, and sometimes I could not decide what was meant.
Organic Micropollutants in the Aquatic Environment. G. Angeletti & G. Bjorseth. D. Reidel Publishing Co (Kluwer Academic Publishers Group), 1987. 452 pp. ISBN 90 277 2738 4. Price: £66.00. This fifth European Symposium on organic micropollutants, held in Rome in October 1987, was intended to review progress since the previous meeting in Vienna, two years earlier. There are five main themes, with details also of related poster sessions, with 30 exhibits. Papers on the first theme, analytical methods, include an account of the use of the new relatively cheap bench-top mass spectrometers, and of ' c h e m o m e t r i c s ' - - t h e use of statistical, mathematical and computer techniques for the selection of measurements to make, and their interpretation--for, in particular, interpretation of data obtained from mass spectrometers. Papers on transport include a concise account of the fire in a Sandoz warehouse in November 1986, with
Book Reviews
Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology: Continuation of Residue Reviews, Vol. 101. Edited by George W. Ware. Springer-Verlag, 1988. 174 pp. ISBN 3 540 96593 9. Price: DM 85.00. Two of the five reviews in this volume are of some relevance to readers of the journal. A. M. Fan considers trichloroethylene. The main emphasis is on human toxicology, but two pages consider the extent to which ground water is contaminated in the USA. E.R.I.C. Sandmann et al. review the literature on microbial degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid'. They describe the development and persistence of the enrichment effect, numbers and types of degrading microorganisms, methods for sampling soil and for estimating the density of micro-organisms, and the factors that affect densities and degradation rate. A final section considers, in this context, the pervasive problem of how to relate field and laboratory results to each other. Here, as for other habitats, attempts have been made to develop an intermediate stage, called in this instance microagroecosystems. Relatively little appears to have been done yet with this approach. There is also a brief mention of the use of mathematical models to predict degradation rates.
Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology: Continuation of Residue Reviews, Vol. 102. Edited by George W. Ware. Springer-Verlag, 1988. 184 pp. ISBN 3 540 96647 1. Price: DM 78.00. This volume contains three reviews, of which the first two, on teratologic testing and cellular toxicology, are concerned with human health. The third, 79 Environ. Pollut. (57) (1989)--@ 1989 Elsevier Science Publishers Ltd, England. Printed in
Great Britain
80
Book reviews
by D. W. Connell, on the bioaccumulation of persistent organic compounds by aquatic organisms, is very relevant. The underlying approach is the search for mathematical equations that will relate what one wishes to measure, the tendency of contaminants to occur in high concentrations within animals, to what can be measured relatively easily. An initial brief useful section indicates properties found in organic molecules that tend to bioaccumulate: bond types that confer stability, fat solubility, molecular size and resistance to metabolism. There then follows a rather heavy-handed account of pathways and mechanisms, with terms like fugacity, defined later as the escaping tendency, used in seemingly circular statements. The important points could have been made much more clearly, with far fewer words. The next, longest, section considers the relevance of quantitative structure-activity relationships, with the intent of producing linear regressions to predict the bioconcentration (KB). Little attention is paid to precision, or lack of it. Relationships of this type commonly have residual deviations from the regression line, for observed values of KB, that are measured in orders of magnitude. Clearly, if this approach is valid as anything more than a preliminary screening tool, much is still unknown. The final section on models derived from rates of transfer between compartments is rudimentary. It recognises the existence of models with more than one (i.e. two) compartment, and then discusses, briefly, onecompartmental models. The underlying assumptions are not discussed. There are many irritating spelling errors, some sentences are--as written--meaningless, and sometimes I could not decide what was meant.
Organic Micropollutants in the Aquatic Environment. G. Angeletti & G. Bjorseth. D. Reidel Publishing Co (Kluwer Academic Publishers Group), 1987. 452 pp. ISBN 90 277 2738 4. Price: £66.00. This fifth European Symposium on organic micropollutants, held in Rome in October 1987, was intended to review progress since the previous meeting in Vienna, two years earlier. There are five main themes, with details also of related poster sessions, with 30 exhibits. Papers on the first theme, analytical methods, include an account of the use of the new relatively cheap bench-top mass spectrometers, and of ' c h e m o m e t r i c s ' - - t h e use of statistical, mathematical and computer techniques for the selection of measurements to make, and their interpretation--for, in particular, interpretation of data obtained from mass spectrometers. Papers on transport include a concise account of the fire in a Sandoz warehouse in November 1986, with