Vascular plants as sensitive indicators of lead and PCB transport from local sources in the Canadian Arctic

Short-range transport of contaminants released from e-waste recycling site in South China

“…The high concentrations of metals detected in other sampling sites might be possibly due to local pollution sources or possibly the high environmental background values. A previous study in Canada 22 also reported no significant difference was observed for most inorganic elements, except for Pb, in plants collected at the source of contamination and the surrounding areas. Therefore, the following discussion on the SRT of contaminants only focuses on the two classes of POPs.…”

“…Therefore, it is helpful to investigate the transport processes of these contaminants and understand their potential risks on surrounding areas resulting from the e-waste recycling practices. Reimer et al [21][22][23][24] studied the SRT of PCBs in the Canadian Arctic by comparing their congener patterns and showed PCBs would affect the surrounding environment up to 27 km. In addition, camphor tree leaves were used as biomonitors to evaluate diffusion of PBDEs from an e-waste recycling site to the surrounding regions in Southeast China, and results showed areas within 74 km may be influenced by PBDEs.…”

Redistribution of Polychlorinated Biphenyls from a Local Point Source: Terrestrial Soil, Freshwater Sediment, and Vascular Plants as Indicators of the Halo Effect

“…While long-range transport of organic contaminants is well known and understood, local source redistribution is less well documented and accepted. Previous studies conducted by our group around DEW Line radar stations have provided evidence that contaminant concentrations in the environment up to 20 km from the source of contamination were impacted by short-range transport of contaminants from the local source (Bright et al, 1995;Dushenko et al, 1996), creating a ''halo'' of contamination.…”

“…There has been comparatively less use of vascular plants in studies of organic contamination of arctic ecosystems (Dushenko et al, 1996;France et al, 1997;Kelly and Gobas, 2001), probably as a consequence of a perception among the scientific community of the inability of vegetation to absorb organic contaminants representative of ambient environmental contaminant loads. Plants have been used, however, in studies concerned with monitoring inorganic and/or radioactive contaminants in this remote region of the globe (Brakenhielm and Liu, 1995;Lippo et al, 1995;Steinnes, 1995), and it is increasingly recognized that concentrations of organic contaminants in plants do reflect conditions in the surrounding environment (Simonich and Hites, 1995;Ockenden et al, 1998).…”

Protecting the Health of First Nation Personnel at Contaminated Sites: A Case Study of Mid-Canada Radar Line Site 050 in Northern Canada

“…After closure, the MCRL stations in the Subarctic were not properly decommissioned (Gibson, 1993). Other radar-line sites have been point sources of contaminants (especially PCBs and lead) in the Canadian North (Bright et al, 1995a, b, c;Dushenko et al, 1996;ESG, 1999a;Poland et al, 2001). In 1997, representatives of the Canadian federal government, the Government of Ontario, and the First Nations (FNs) of the western James Bay region (northern Ontario) entered into a partnership to investigate the MCRL sites in Ontario and make recommendations for remediation of these sites if required (ESG, 1999b).…”