International audience | In recent decades, stormwater management has developed to allow stormwater to infiltrate directly into the soils instead of being collected and routed to sewer systems. However, during infiltration, stormwater creates a sediment deposit at the soil surface as the result of high loads of suspended particles (including pollutants), leading to the settlement of sedimentary layers prone to colonization by plants and earthworms. This study aims to investigate the earthworm communities of a peculiar infiltration basin and investigate the influence of edaphic conditions (water content, organic matter content, pH, height of sediment) and of persistent organic pollutants (POPs: PCBs, PCDDs and PCDFs) on these earthworms. Attention was paid to their age (juveniles or adults) and their functional group (epigeic, endogeic, anecic). We found that the earthworm abundance was mostly driven by edaphic conditions, with only a slight impact of POPs, with a significant negative impact of PCBDLno for juveniles and endogeic, and PCDDs for epigeic. On the contrary, the height of the sediment and the water content are beneficial for their presence and reproduction. Furthermore, POPs contents are also linked to physicochemical parameters of the sediment. Bioaccumulation was clearly revealed in the studied site but does not differ between juveniles and adults, except for PCDDs. Conversely, BAF values seemed to vary between functional groups, except for PCBDL non-ortho. It strongly varies with the family types (PCBs versus PCCD/Fs) and between congeners within the same family, with specific strong bioaccumulation for a few congeners.

The relation between pesticides exposure and metabolic syndrome (MetS) has not been clearly identified. Performing a systematic review and meta-analysis, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and ScienceDirect were searched for studies reporting the risk of MetS following pesticides exposure and their contaminants. We included 12 studies for a total of 6789 participants, in which 1981 (29.1%) had a MetS. Overall exposure to pesticides and their contaminants increased the risk of MetS by 30% (95CI 22%–37%). Overall organochlorine increased the risk of MetS by 23% (14–32%), as well as for most types of organochlorines: hexachlorocyclohexane increased the risk by 53% (28–78%), hexachlorobenzene by 40% (0.01–80%), dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene by 22% (9–34%), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane by 28% (5–50%), oxychlordane by 24% (1–47%), and transnonchlor by 35% (19–52%). Sensitivity analyses confirmed that overall exposure to pesticides and their contaminants increased the risk by 46% (35–56%) using crude data or by 19% (10–29%) using fully-adjusted model. The risk for overall pesticides and types of pesticides was also significant with crude data but only for hexachlorocyclohexane (36% risk increase, 17–55%) and transnonchlor (25% risk increase, 3–48%) with fully-adjusted models. Metaregressions demonstrated that hexachlorocyclohexane increased the risk of MetS in comparison to most other pesticides. The risk increased for more recent periods (Coefficient = 0.28, 95CI 0.20 to 0.37, by year). We demonstrated an inverse relationship with body mass index and male gender. In conclusion, pesticides exposure is a major risk factor for MetS. Besides organochlorine exposure, data are lacking for other types of pesticides. The risk increased with time, reflecting a probable increase of the use of pesticides worldwide. The inverse relationship with body mass index may signify a stockage of pesticides and contaminants in fat tissue.

Sediment and polyethylene sampler-based estimates of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin/dibenzofuran (PCDD/F) concentrations in Newark Bay, New Jersey (USA) benthic biota were compared. Biota concentrations based on sediment were estimated using an organic carbon (OC)-water partitioning model and an OC and black carbon (BC)-water dual model. Biota concentrations based on polyethylene were estimated from samplers deployed in the Newark Bay water column and samplers immersed in a sediment/porewater slurry in the laboratory. Porewater samplers provided the best estimates of biota concentrations (within 3.1×), with best results achieved for deposit-feeders (within 1.6×). Polyethylene deployed in deep water also provided good estimates of biota concentrations (within 4×). By contrast, OC-water partitioning overestimated biota concentrations by up to 7×, while OC and BC combined underestimated biota concentrations by up to 13×. We recommend passive samplers such as polyethylene for estimating concentrations of hydrophobic organic contaminants in field biota given its simplicity and relatively lower uncertainty compared to sediment equilibrium partitioning.

Concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-para-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) were measured in sediment and bivalves at 25 locations along the Korean coasts during 2001–2012. Concentrations of PCDD/Fs in sediment and bivalves ranged from 0.15 to 18.9 pg TEQ/g dry weight and from 0.06 to 7.70 pg TEQ/g wet weight, respectively. Elevated PCDD/F concentrations were found at locations close to largest industrial complexes and commercial harbors. A significant decreasing trend of PCDD/Fs in sediment was associated with strong regulation of PCDD/Fs, whereas levels in bivalves did not show a decreasing trend. Octachlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin (OCDD) was predominant in sediment, while tetrachlorinated dibenzofuran and OCDD were predominant in bivalves. Almost half (46%) of sediment samples exceeded the threshold effect level suggested by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, implying ecotoxicological risks to benthic organisms. Our findings support the effectiveness of legislative action on PCDD/Fs for coastal environments of Korea.