Hudson/Delaware Chapter
of SETAC
2013 Fall Workshop
PBTs: Persistent, Bioaccumulative, Toxic
Compounds
October 23, 2013
The Coach Barn at Duke Farms,
Hillsborough, New Jersey 08844
PROGRAM
About the Workshop – PBT chemicals are those that are persistent, bioaccumulative, AND,
toxic making them a concern for both human health and the environment. World-wide initiatives
are in place to identify and characterize PBTs to determine if these chemicals should be removed
from the marketplace or can be replaced with greener alternatives. This workshop will discuss
these various aspects of PBTs.
About SETAC – SETAC is an international professional society of more than 4,000
environmental chemists, toxicologists, and ecologists from academia, government, and private
industry. The Hudson-Delaware Chapter of SETAC was founded in 1987 to help further the
goals of SETAC in the greater New York-Philadelphia Metropolitan Area. SETAC promotes
learned discourse and education on all aspects of environmental toxicology and chemistry.
Agenda–
Time
7:45-8:45 a.m.
8:45-9:00 a.m.
HDC-SETAC 2013 Meeting Program Agenda
Wednesday October 23, 2013
Registration/Breakfast/Poster Set-up/Networking
Welcome
Morning Session
9:00-9:40 a.m.
Laurie Gneiding, AMEC (Title: Overview of PBT Regulatory Issues)
9:40–10:20 a.m. Nora Lopez of EPA Region 2 (Title: Toxic Release Inventory)
20 Minute Break
10:20-10:40 a.m.
10:40-11:20 a.m. Jessica Small of Merck & Co. (Title: Environmental Risk Assessment and
Classification of Pharmaceuticals)
11:20-12:00 a.m. Chris Prosser of ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences Inc. (Title: Influence of
Multiple Stressors on PBT Compounds)
12:00-1:30 p.m.
Lunch and Poster Viewing: Walking the Grounds
Afternoon Session
1:30-2:10 p.m.
2:10-2:50 p.m.
2:50-3:30 p.m.
3:30 p.m.
Keith R. Cooper, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (Title:
Perfluorinated Chemicals – Emerging Drinking Water Contaminants)
Eileen Mahoney - NYCDEP/Solomon Gbondo-Tugbawa - Louis Berger
Group, Inc. (Title: Concentrations of Priority Pollutants in Combined
Sewer Overflow to the Gowanus Canal)
Pravin Anraj Punamiya, Montclair State University (Title: Green
Remediation of Veterinary Antibiotics in Soil-Water Systems)
Meeting Adjourn
Directions to Coach Barn
Please make sure that you follow directions to Coach Barn at Duke Farms and
not those to the Orientation Center.
Telephone # for Duke Farms– (908) 722-3700 ext. 4.
Map:
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=207521700587330519214.0004e8f3176a6b93e39a7&
msa=0
Directions:
Driving from the North on 206 South: Take the exit off 206 onto Duke's Parkway E (it is the first
cross street/exit after you go over the Raritan River). Go through the property entrance and past
the guard house – you will now be on Overlook Way. Stay straight. Coach Barn is on the left at
the end of the road (or at the point where the road turns left) - you will see the clock tower.
Duke Farms security people will be there to direct us to parking.
Driving from the South on 206 North: Go past the exit for Duke's Parkway W. Take the
jughandle/exit for Dukes Parkway East. Make a left at the end of the ramp. Cross over 206 (at
the light) and go through the property entrance and past the guard house – you will now be on
Overlook Way. Stay straight. Coach Barn is on the left at the end of the road (or at the point
where the road turns left) - you will see the clock tower. Duke Farms security people will be
there to direct us to parking.
Platform Abstracts
Overview of PBT Regulatory Issue
Laurie Gneiding, AMEC Environment & Infrastructure, Inc., Somerset, NJ
This presentation will provide an introduction to PBT which will discuss its definition and
criteria, regulations supporting PBT, and a discussion of the PBT profiler
Toxic Release Inventory
Nora Lopez, EPA Region 2, Edison NJ
The presentation will cover the different policies and programs that address Persistent
Bioaccumulative Chemicals within EPA, collection of information as well as data available on
these chemicals. It will also provide a review on how EPA addresses new chemicals under the
Toxic Substances Control Act and how the existing chemical program under the High Production
Program gathers information on physical chemical information, fate, ecotoxicity and mammalian
effects, their hazard evaluation.
Environmental Risk Assessment and Classification of Pharmaceuticals
Jessica Small,*, Greg Gagliano, Joan Tell, Merck & Co., Inc. Whitehouse Station, NJ
*presenter
The environmental risk of pharmaceuticals is regulated as part of the drug approval process in
the US and EU. Environmental fate and effects testing follows a tiered approach based on
physical-chemical properties, predicted environmental exposure and results of screening
calculations. This presentation provides an overview of the environmental risk assessment
process for human and veterinary drugs, the tests conducted to evaluate environmental fate and
effects and the processes used to classify our medicines to satisfy varied regulatory classification
systems.
Influence of Multiple Stressors on PBT
Chris Prosser, ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences Inc. Annandale, NJ
Toxicity assessments are often conducted in controlled laboratory settings with single
compounds of concern. While this provides information about compound specific effects on a
given species (i.e LC50), is does not take into account the cumulative effects from outside
stressors that may be encountered in the environment. Accounting for endogenous and
exogenous stressors is important because these factors can potentially modulate metabolism and
ultimately toxicity of a compound. A case study is presented in which adult zebrafish (Danio
rerio) are simultaneously exposed to the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) phenanthrene
and bacteria mycobacterium marinum. Exposure studies show increased survivorship in dually
challenged fish as compared to those exposed only to a high concentration of phenanthrene.
Inflammatory interactions with the metabolic pathway and alternate routes of phenanthrene
toxicity are suggested as a possible explanation. This study demonstrates evaluating cumulative
effects can be important for comprehensive assessment and site-specific analysis.
Perfluorinated Chemicals – Emerging Drinking Water Contaminants
Keith R. Cooper, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ
Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) are a class of anthropogenic chemicals with past and current
uses in industrial processes and consumer products. Their structure consists of a totally
fluorinated carbon chain of varying length and a charged functional group, such as carboxylic or
sulfonic acid. While perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS)
are the most intensively studied PFCs thus far, recent research has focused on other PFCs and on
mixtures of PFCs found in the environment. PFCs are extremely resistant to degradation, occur
in many environmental media worldwide, and have potential ecological and human health
effects. Unlike most other persistent and bioaccumulative organic pollutants, PFCs are watersoluble and bioaccumulate in serum rather than in fat. Several PFCs have human half-lives of
several years and are detected ubiquitously in human serum. PFCs are commonly detected in
drinking water, and even relatively low drinking water concentrations of biologically persistent
PFCs can substantially increase total human exposure. For example, continued exposure to
PFOA in drinking water increases PFOA serum levels with a serum:drinking water ratio of
approximately 100:1. Human exposure to biologically persistent PFCs is associated with
numerous health effects in the general population, communities with contaminated drinking
water, and/or exposed workers. In experimental animals, PFCs cause hepatic, developmental,
immune, neurobehavioral, endocrine, and metabolic toxicity, with similarities and differences in
toxicological effects and varying potencies among the individual compounds. PFCs are present
in human breast milk and umbilical cord blood, and serum levels in infants and children are
generally higher than in adults. These prenatal and early-life exposures are relevant to potential
developmental effects, which are sensitive endpoints for toxicity for some PFCs. Alternative
compounds that are excreted more rapidly have been introduced to replace PFOA, PFOS, and
other biologically persistent PFCs, but these replacements are still highly persistent in the
environment. PFCs are currently unregulated in drinking water. To our knowledge, New Jersey
is the first state to have conducted statewide drinking water monitoring studies of PFCs. In 60
NJ public water supplies (PWS) tested in 2005-13, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and
perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) were found (>4-5 ng/L) in 60% and 43%, respectively, at up to
280 ng/L and 48 ng/L, respectively. Raw water from 31 of these PWS was also monitored for
eight additional PFCs. Between one and eight PFCs were detected (>5 ng/L) in raw water from
74% of these PWS, at totals of 5-330 ng/L. Perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) was detected more
frequently (35%) and at higher concentrations (up to 96 ng/L) than in drinking water studies
from other locations around the world. It was often the sole or predominant PFC, a pattern not
reported elsewhere. Possible sources of PFCs were identified at some PWS, but are unknown for
others. Future work is needed to develop human health risk assessments for individual PFCs, as
well as for the mixtures of PFCs found in drinking water.
Concentrations of Priority Pollutants in Combined sewer Overflow to the Gowanus Canal
Eileen Mahoney1, Solomon Gbondo-Tugbawa2, Edward A. Garvey2, and Chitra Prabhu3
1 New York City Department of Environmental Protection, 59-17 Junction Blvd, Elmhurst, NY
2 Louis Berger Group, Inc., 412 Mt. Kemble Ave, Morristown, NJ.
3 Louis Berger Group, Inc., 595 Taxter Road, Elmsford, NY
The Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, NY has become a center of environmental interest as the City
of New York, the USEPA and the National Grid Corporation evaluate the extensive
contamination that lies within its banks. The Gowanus Canal itself is a small, urbanized,
commercial waterway with extensively bulkheaded shorelines. Its use for commercial shipping
extends back to the late 19th century, and parallels the growth and decline of industrial activities
in Brooklyn. There are a number of industrial contaminant sources to the Canal, in particular,
three manufactured gas plants located along the banks. CSO discharges also impact water quality
in the Canal. Recently, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP)
conducted an extensive sampling effort in the Canal to understand the nature of contamination in
CSO discharges. In particular, the City obtained both dissolved and suspended matter samples
from each of the four major CSOs to the Canal on at least four separate occasions. These samples
represent time-weighted averages of the overflow discharge during discrete rainfall events. The
samples were analyzed for an extensive set of parameters including PAHs, metals, PCB
congeners, and many supporting parameters like total suspended solids. This investigation
represents some of the first measurements of split–phase CSO discharges in the US. Among the
more important observations was the consistency of particulate-bound PAH concentrations
across CSOs and rainfall events, despite different urban drainage areas. This presentation will
focus on the nature of particulate PAH discharges from CSOs and compare the concentrations
and patterns to those of surface sediments within the Canal. Concentrations of TPAH in CSO
solids, which average 30 mg/kg, are substantially lower than surface sediment concentrations in
the Upper Canal (mean of 270 mg/kg) and Middle Canal (mean of 920 mg/kg). The fingerprint
of PAHs on the CSO solids are differ from those observed on sediments of the Canal, providing
a basis to exclude CSOs as significant contributors to sediment PAH contamination. TPCB
concentrations were also measured on CSO solids. Like PAHs, PCB levels were much lower
than concentrations found elsewhere in the Canal. Overall, these data suggest that the CSOs
cannot be the primary contributor of PCBs and PAH to the sediments of the Gowanus Canal. The
data also provide an accurate picture of the low levels of these two compound classes in CSO
discharges. NYCDEP’s response to EPA’s Record of Decision (ROD) will also be discussed.
Green Remediation of Veterinary Antibiotics in Soil-Water Systems
Pravin Punamiya1, Dibyendu Sarkar1, and Rupali Datta2
1
Department of Earth and Environmental Studies, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ
2
Department of Biological Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI
Veterinary antibiotics (VAs) are considered emerging contaminants of concern. Considerable
efforts have been made to understand the fate and transport of VAs in soil and water
environment and very few have attempted to develop novel remediation strategies to overcome
the problem of antibiotic resistance and potential toxicity to aquatic species. To our knowledge,
the present study is a pioneer study in which it attempts to develop a low-cost, “green”
remediation technique utilizing a waste by-product of the drinking water treatment industry,
namely, the Al-based water treatment residuals (Al-WTR), as a sorbent to stabilize tetracycline
(TTC) and oxytetracycline (OTC) in aqueous medium, manure piles and manure-treated soil.
The ultimate goal of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Al-WTR in treating manure,
soils, and manure-amended soils to immobilize tetracyclines (TCs) to lower risk associated with
TCs in environment. We conducted: i) laboratory batch sorption study followed by modeling and
surface spectroscopic characterization to understand the extent and mechanism of TTC/OTC
retention by Al-WTR, ii) short-term incubation study to evaluate the effectiveness of Al-WTR in
immobilizing and stabilizing TTC and OTC in manure, soils, and manure-amended soils under
static conditions, and iii) long -term greenhouse column study to evaluate the effectiveness of
Al-WTR in immobilizing and stabilizing TTC and OTC in soils and manure amended soils under
dynamic conditions in a controlled environment. Results from the batch sorption study showed
that Al-WTR has high sorption capacity for TTC and OTC as a function of solution properties.
This, along with the rapid sorption kinetics and low release potential make them excellent
sorbents for TCs removal from aqueous medium. Results from modeling and spectroscopic
studies suggest that TTC and OTC are adsorbed on Al-WTR surface via strong inner-sphere
mechanism, indicating permanent retention. Short term incubation and long term greenhouse
column studies showed immobilization of TTC and OTC in Al-WTR amended soils and manure
amended soils. LC/MS/MS analysis did not reveal any known detectable degradants or
metabolites of TCs other than very low concentration of daughter compounds. Greenhouse
column studies also showed that Al-WTR application significantly reduces plant available and
water soluble TCs from soils and manure-amended soils. Overall, this research demonstrated the
potential of Al-WTR to develop into an effective, low-cost, green remediation technology for
TCs-contaminated soil-water systems.
POSTER ABSTRACTS
Applying the Toxic Unit Approach to Assess Toxicity of a Simple Hydrocarbon Mixture to
Eary Lifestages of Zebrafish.
Josh Butler1, Tom Parkerton1, Dan Letinski1, Mark Lampi2, Aaron Redman1, Keith Cooper3
1
ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences, Inc., Annandale, NJ, USA;
ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical, Machelen, Belgium;
3
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
2
Performing risk assessments on the large number of chemicals in current use as well as new
chemicals entering commerce is a large task. In reality some chemicals have never gone through
a formal risk assessment. Experimental costs as well as extensive regulatory requirements have
made the generation of quality data for use in environmental risk assessments challenging.
Predictive models such as the target lipid model in addition to reliable toxicity data are needed to
help accurately characterize a large number of chemical substances in a timely manner. In this
research zebrafish embryo-larval sublethal and lethal developmental endpoints after a 30 day
exposure to a defined mixture of ten aromatic and naphthenic hydrocarbons with a log Kow
range of ca. 4 - 7.5 is described. Three treatment levels corresponding to a toxic unit range above
and below unity (assuming concentration addition) were tested. To predict acute and chronic
toxicity of mixture components, the target lipid model was fit to five previously tested single
components. To deliver well-controlled exposure concentrations, a passive dosing system
consisting of silicone O-rings was employed. Results indicated that effects on 30 d embryo-larval
survival endpoints were similar to effects on survival after 10 d. Acute and chronic effects were
consistent with the assumption of additive toxicity.