Persistent Organic Chemicals in the Environment: Status and Trends in the Pacific Basin Countries II Temporal Trends

Environmental pollution by man-made Persistent Organic Chemicals (POCs) has been a serious global issue for over half a century. Exposure to POCs may result in health effects, including, endocrine disruption leading to birth defects, intellectual disability, low testosterone, childhood obesity, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Therefore, POCs have been the subject of intensive regional, national, and international efforts to limit the production, use, and disposal of these chemicals. Since POCs are ubiquitous and recalcitrant, and cause long-term effects on wildlife and humans, trend monitoring studies are valuable in making clear the behavior and fate of these compounds and to protect our environment and living resources. The Pacific Basin is a unique geographical region representing tropical, temperate and polar zones. This region is home to two-thirds of the world’s population and consists of rapidly growing economies (countries) and highly developed countries. Due to this diversity of climatic and socio-economic conditions, environment and biota in different countries in this basin have varying degrees of environmental contamination and effects on wildlife and humans. The Pacific Rim countries play a pivotal role in governing global POC contamination and resulting harmful health effects. Because articles on POCs and their effect on environment and health are published in a large number of different journals, it is useful to have a book that includes original papers and reviews on the latest advances by well-known scientists in the field, especially focusing on the countries in the Pacific Rim. The two volumes of this book satisfy this need. Topics covered in Volume 2 include lessons learned from three decades monitoring contaminants in Pacific Basin wildlife samples from the USA’s Marine Environmental Specimen Bank; spatial and temporal trends of brominated flame retardants, PCBs, pesticides, and dioxins/furans, in the environment and biota in the USA, Colombia, China, Korea and Japan; emission of emerging pharmaceutical contaminants in the USA and Vietnam; and possible application of bio-analytical assays in the biological impact assessment of persistent organic pollutants in Mangrove sediments in Southeast Asia with particular reference to Malaysia. The collection of chapters in these volumes may serve as a reasonable representation of current and future trends of POCs in the Pacific Basin countries. It is hoped that the book can inspire students and researchers, as well as professionals, to facilitate the understanding of the environmental and biological behavior of these persistent chemicals and to help in the development of strategies and practices for protecting the global environment for future generations.