Levels and health risk assessment of pesticides and metals in Lycium barbarum L. from different sources in Ningxia, China

The berries of Lycium barbarum L. (Goji) are widely used as a Chinese traditional herbal medicine and functional food because of their reported beneficial pharmacological effects. However, there are reports of Goji berries being contaminated by chemical residues that could pose a hazard to humans. In this study, samples of L. barbarum L. berries were collected from plantations in a genuine production area and supermarkets in Ningxia, China. The major hazardous chemicals, including pesticides (dichlorvos, omethoate, cypermethrin, fenvalerate, malathion, and deltamethrin) and metals (lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), and arsenic (As)), were quantified by gas chromatography and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry. In addition, associated daily exposures and health risks were determined using deterministic and probabilistic assessments. The levels of five pesticides from the plantation samples were considerably lower than the maximum residue limits; only dichlorvos was detected in the supermarket samples, and deltamethrin was not detected in any samples. Cu, Zn, As, Pb, Ni and Cd were detected in samples from both sources. The hazard quotient values of individual hazardous chemicals and the hazard index of combined hazardous chemicals were considerably less than 1, indicating the absence of a non-carcinogenic effect of hazardous chemical exposures through Goji berry consumption. The R value of As was much less than 10–6, which shows that consumption of the Goji berries had no obvious carcinogenic risks. The potentially harmful effects of the L. barbarum L. are more likely from berries obtained from plantations than those from supermarkets, and metal exposure is more dangerous than pesticide exposure. However, on the basis of our analysis, no population would be exposed hazardous chemicals exceeding existing standards, and the factors most affecting the health risk were exposure frequency and As content.

Joint Labor and Environmental Networks’ Chemical Disaster Prevention Recommendations to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board

More than 180 preventable incidents at hazardous chemicals facilities occur each year, resulting in deaths, injuries, evacuations, shelter in place orders, environmental contamination, and facility shutdowns with permanent job loss. As of June 17, 2021, the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) had nineteen open site investigations of incidents that in total killed thirty-two people, injured at least eighty-seven people, led to thousands of residents sheltering in place or evacuating, and resulted in many millions of dollars in property damage. This document outlines twenty-one practical and measurable actions that the CSB can take to rebuild its investigative and recommendations capacity; set clear priorities for agency action; reform its governance policies; and increase public transparency and engagement. The proposed actions address incident investigations, safety studies, safety recommendations, agency governance, and public transparency and engagement.

Chemical ripening and contaminations detection using neural networks-based image features and spectrometric signatures

In this pandemic-prone era, health is of utmost concern for everyone and hence eating good quality fruits is very much essential for sound health. Unfortunately, nowadays it is quite very difficult to obtain naturally ripened fruits, due to existence of chemically ripened fruits being ripened using hazardous chemicals such as calcium carbide. However, most of the state-of-the art techniques are primarily focusing on identification of chemically ripened fruits with the help of computer vision-based approaches, which are less effective towards quantification of chemical contaminations present in the sample fruits. To solve these issues, a new framework for chemical ripening and contamination detection is presented, which employs both visual and IR spectrometric signatures in two different stages. The experiments conducted on both the GUI tool as well as hardware-based setups, clearly demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed framework in terms of detection confidence levels followed by the percentage of presence of chemicals in the sample fruit.

Overview of the Leather Industry and Pollution Impact

The growing awareness of the human and environmental vulnerability, to the pollution resulting from industrial activity, highlights the urgent need for control and mitigate the degradation of the world as we know it. The leather industry, considered as one of the industries with a significant environmental impact, applies several chemicals, some of them considered as hazardous chemicals, such as chromium, in leather production. The restricted EU environmental regulations have driven the search for a process that ensures regulatory compliance and a final product that fulfills society’s requirements. The present review describes alternative options, applied in the leather tanning process in the last five years, to overcome some of the industry barriers, without compromising the final characteristics of leather.

An in vitro-based hazard assessment of liquid smoke food flavourings

Liquid smoke products are widely used as a food additive to create a desired smoke flavour. These products may contain hazardous chemicals generated during the wood-burning process. However, the toxic effects of these types of hazardous chemicals constituting in the commercially available products are largely unknown. Therefore, a test battery of cell-based in vitro methods, covering different modes of actions of high relevance to human health, was applied to study liquid smoke products. Ten liquid smoke flavourings were tested as non-extracted and extracted. To assess the potential drivers of toxicity, we used two different solvents. The battery of in vitro methods covered estrogenicity, androgenicity, oxidative stress, aryl hydrocarbon receptor activity and genotoxicity. The non-extracted samples were tested at concentrations 0.002 to 1 μL liquid smoke flavouring/mL culture medium, while extracted samples were tested from 0.003 to 200 μL/mL. Genotoxicity was observed for nearly all non-extracted and all hexane-extracted samples, in which the former had higher potency. No genotoxicity was observed for ethyl acetate-extracted samples. Oxidative stress was activated by almost all extracted and non-extracted samples, while approximately half of the samples had aryl hydrocarbon receptor and estrogen receptor activities. This study used effect-based methods to evaluate the complex mixtures of liquid smoke flavourings. The increased bioactivities seen upon extractions indicate that non-polar chemicals are driving the genotoxicity, while polar substances are increasing oxidative stress and cytotoxic responses. The differences in responses indicate that non-extracted products contain chemicals that are able to antagonize toxic effects, and upon extraction, the protective substances are lost.

Chemical safety in the context of environmental goals of sustainable development

The aim of the article is to carry out a systematic analysis of the components of chemical safety in the context of the environmental aspect of sustainable development goals and to identify those components with the help of competent health professionals. Hazardous chemicals can travel for long distances, be accumulated in the environment as well as cause adverse effects on human health through food chains. The action of toxicants of inorganic and organic nature occurs due to the violation of metabolic processes, inhibition of enzymes, and biotransformation of xenobiotics into more toxic compounds. Physicians must be clearly aware of the relationship in the “toxicant-pathology” system; understand the molecular mechanisms of the hazardous chemicals action; use terminology regarding toxicological characteristics of toxicants; conduct educational, treatment, and prevention activities among the population; acquire information on regulations governing the management of chemical compounds. The next component of chemical safety is the knowledge of approaches to chemical labeling and safety measures for working with chemical products throughout their life cycle. Proper interpretation of the type and level of hazard will enable taking necessary precautions and following relevant safety rules while working with chemical products.