Chemicals of emerging concern in marine specimens of the German Environmental Specimen Bank

Abstract

Background: Descriptor 8 of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) (Directive 2008/56/EC) addresses the good environmental status with regard to pollution of marine waters by chemical contaminants. Commission decision (EU) 2017/848 lays down the criteria and methodological standards on good environmental status of marine waters. Member States, in regional or subregional cooperation, shall establish lists of relevant contaminants beside those already covered by the Water Framework Directive (WFD). To provide information on emerging contaminants in marine biota, the German Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB) has compiled data of blue mussels and eelpouts from coastal sites in the North and Baltic Seas. Substances identified by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) as of emerging concern for the marine environment have been used as a starting point. Results and conclusions:The study presents data of 19 emerging flame retardants and degradation products, 40 per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and three cyclic volatile methylsiloxanes (cVMS). Among the emerging flame retardants, only Dec 602 was detected in all samples of 2015. Dec 604, Cl 10 -antiDP, 1,5-DPMA, EH-TBB, PBEB, TBP-AE, BATE, BTBPE and HBBz were constantly < limit of quantification (LOQ). Time trends were barely detected. Legacy PBDE still dominates in most samples. PFAS concentrations were usually higher in samples from the North Sea sites compared to samples from the Baltic Sea. PFOS dominated in most samples. Increasing trends over time were detected for PFNA, PFDA and PFDoDA at the Baltic Sea site and for PFDA at one North Sea site. Concentrations of the cVMS D4, D5 and D6 were below the detection limit at the ESB sampling sites. Based on the results, it should be considered to include the emerging flame retardants DP and Dec 602 and the long-chain perfluoroalkyl substances PFNA, PFDA, PFUnDA and PFDoDA in a regular monitoring in the North and Baltic Seas.

Screening of pharmaceuticals in coastal waters of the southern coast of Viti Levu in Fiji, South Pacific

“…Concentrations are in ng/L. (Fliedner et al, 2020;Loos et al, 2018). Within the present study, two of these pharmaceuticals, namely clarithromycin and diclofenac, were included in the screening and were quantified in 2% and 7% of the samples respectively.…”

Emerging Contaminants in Seafront Zones. Environmental Impact and Analytical Approaches

“…The MSFD and the WFD were designed as a holistic policy to protect marine and freshwater environments around Europe and enable their sustainable use of goods and services. In the specific case of marine coastal zones, there is an overlap between both directives, since the main source of contaminants in marine environments are originated in land-based facilities and from freshwater systems [19].…”

“…CECs include substances that are not regulated by EPA or EU Norman network including a diverse range of chemicals and their sub-products that are classified under a variety of group categories. The most common groups are flame retardants, antifoulants, anticorrosion agents, polyfluoroalkyl substances other than PFOS and PFOA, benzotriazoles or siloxanes [19]; also, pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, personal care products and illicit drugs [27][28][29][30], as well as, microplastics, trace metals, nanomaterials and pesticides [31,32]. While PhaCs have been the most prominent emerging pollutants for decades, PCPs have gained great attention in the last 5-10 years, given the wide and varied use of daily care products by the population.…”

Assessment of contaminants of emerging concern in European apex predators and their prey by LC-QToF MS wide-scope target analysis

“…Recent research has proven that PFAS are present at high concentrations in organisms from both lower and upper trophic levels (Androulakakis et al, 2022;Butt et al, 2010;De Silva et al, 2021;Muir et al, 2019). The presence of PFAS in aquatic organisms of lower trophic levels is well-reported (Catherine et al, 2019;Fliedner et al, 2020), and recently the scientific interest has shifted to the investigation of their occurrence at higher trophic levels of the terrestrial and aquatic food webs (Fujii et al, 2018;Li et al, 2018;Sedlak et al, 2017;Spaan et al, 2020;Wu et al, 2020). For example, through the target analysis of PFAS in 140 liver samples of Eurasian Otters (Lutra lutra) gathered from Scandinavia from 1972 till 2011, Roos et al (2013) observed increasing trends in nine PFAS and extremely high concentrations of Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) which supports the concern of trophic magnification.…”