Assessing seasonal and spatial trends of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in Indian agricultural regions using PUF disk passive air samplers

Atmospheric polychlorinated biphenyls in Indian cities: Levels, emission sources and toxicity equivalents

“…PCBs levels in New Delhi have increased drastically since 1989 and is consistent with the recent observation under GAPS study where elevated levels have been observed at New Delhi (Pozo et al, 2008). The levels in New Delhi in this study is again comparable or even occasionally lower than the observed levels in more remote regions of northern India reported by a seasonal passive air sampling study (Pozo et al, 2011).…”

“…Inhalation exposure is an important route and is of substantial concern for the urban environment. Very limited data is available on the atmospheric emissions and concentrations of PCBs in Indian cities although high levels were reported in 1994 (Iwata et al, 1994) and recently elevated levels have been reported in our previous work (Zhang et al, 2008) and also by the global atmospheric passive air sampling study from New Delhi in India (Pozo et al, 2008) and from agricultural regions of India (Pozo et al, 2011). An international mandate under the Stockholm Convention (UNEP, 2001) aims to identify and quantify ongoing PCB sources and the continued presence and distribution of these chemicals in the environment.…”

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) in the equatorial Indian Ocean: Temporal trend, continental outflow and air–water exchange

“…16 collected near Sri Lanka and India (Fig. 2), which may be related to continental outflow from India, where substantially high concentrations have been detected in the air (Pozo et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2008). For example, P ICES PCB concentrations higher by a factor of $30 than this study were measured by Zhang et al (2008) in Mumbai, Bangalore, and Kolkata with levels of 253, 243, and 239 pg m À3 , respectively.…”

Current status of persistent organic pesticides residues in air, water, and soil, and their possible effect on neighboring countries: A comprehensive review of India

“…Endosulfans and chlordane were found high in concentration during the summer season (260 pg m − 3 ) and low during the monsoon seasons (44 pg m −3 ) at the rural site. Pozo et al (2011) assessed the concentration of persistent organic pesticides in the air across several Indian agricultural regions, using PUF-PAS for the first time. The project was conducted as a sub-project of the Global Atmospheric Passive Sampling (GAPS) Network.…”

“…Chakraborty et al (2010) studied the concentration of OCPs in several major cities in India and found that the concentration of HCH observed in India was the highest concentration reported across the globe, and that the cause of this could be local and regional sources of OCPs within India. Pozo et al (2011) analyzed the different types of persistent organic pesticides in the agricultural regions of India and found wide spread use of OCPs, with the potential for most OCPs to undergo long range atmospheric transport. In a recent study of air samples from Manipur (Northeast India), Devi et al (2011) found elevated levels of OCPs, the source of which could be long range atmospheric transport (LRAT) of OCPs from Indian cities located on coastal region, crossing through Kolkata (East India) to reach Manipur.…”