Pentachlorophenol (PCP) was used in large quantities, and mainly for killing the intermediate host snails of schistosome in China, thereby resulting in ubiquitous PCP residue in the environment. However, studies considering the carcinogenicity of PCP for humans mainly focused on occupational workers, and the actual carcinogenicity of PCP for general population is uncertain. To investigate the association between cancer risks and PCP exposure in a community population, an ecological study was conducted in three contaminated areas along the Yangtze River. Standardized rate ratio (SRR) was calculated to represent the risk of cancer incidence, by using incidence in the low PCP exposure category as the reference group. A total of 15,962 cancer records were collected, and 76 water samples and 213 urine samples in three areas were examined. Our findings suggested that compared with the low PCP group, the high PCP group had significantly excessive incidences of various cancers related to different organs including lymph (SRR = 19.44, 95% CI = 15.00–25.19), blood (SRR = 17.24, 95% CI = 12.92–23.01), nasopharynx (SRR = 3.97, 95% CI = 3.75–4.21), gallbladder (SRR = 3.46, 95% CI = 3.09–3.87), pancreas (SRR = 3.41, 95% CI = 3.07–3.79), respiratory system (SRR = 3.41, 95% CI = 3.27–3.57) and liver (SRR = 3.31, 95% CI = 3.09–3.56). Taken together, our present study provides evidence that general community population exposed to high level of PCP exhibits a broader spectrum of increased cancer risks as compared to occupational groups.

Dispersant use in nearshore areas is likely to increase the exposure of aquatic organisms to petroleum. To measure the toxicity of this controversial response technique, golden grey mullets (Liza aurata) were exposed to mechanically dispersed oil, chemically dispersed oil, dispersant alone in seawater, water-soluble fraction of oil and to seawater as a control treatment. Several biomarkers were assessed in the gills (enzymatic antioxidant activities, glutathione content, lipid peroxidation) and in the gallbladder (polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons metabolites). The significant differences between chemically dispersed oil and water soluble fraction of oil highlight the environmental risk to disperse an oil slick when containment and recovery can be conducted. The lack of significance between chemically and mechanically dispersed oil suggests that dispersant application is no more toxic than the natural dispersion of the oil slick. The results of this study are of interest in order to establish dispersant use policies in nearshore areas.

It is likely that pollution from chemical facilities will affect the health of any exposed population; however, the majority of scientific evidence available has focused on occupational exposure rather than environmental. Consequently, this study assessed whether there could have been an excess of cancer-related mortality associated with environmental exposure to pollution from chemical installations – for populations residing in municipalities in the vicinity of chemical industries. To this end, we designed an ecological study which assessed municipal mortality due to 32 types of cancer in the period from 1999 to 2008. The exposure to pollution was estimated using distance from the facilities to the centroid of the municipality as a proxy for exposure. In order to assess any increased cancer mortality risk in municipalities potentially exposed to chemical facilities pollution (situated at a distance of ≤5 km from a chemical installation), we employed Bayesian Hierarchical Poisson Regression Models. This included two Bayesian inference methods: Integrated Nested Laplace Approximations (INLA) and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC, for validation). The reference category consisted of municipalities beyond the 5 km limit. We found higher mortality risk (relative risk, RR; estimated by INLA, 95% credible interval, 95%CrI) for both sexes for colorectal (RR, 1.09; 95%CrI, 1.05–1.15), gallbladder (1.14; 1.03–1.27), and ovarian cancers (1.10; 1.02–1.20) associated with organic chemical installations. Notably, pleural cancer (2.27; 1.49–3.41) in both sexes was related to fertilizer facilities. Associations were found for women, specifically for ovarian (1.11; 1.01–1.22) and breast cancers (1.06; 1.00–1.13) in the proximity of explosives/pyrotechnics installations; increased breast cancer mortality risk (1.10; 1.03–1.18) was associated with proximity to inorganic chemical installations. The results suggest that environmental exposure to pollutants from some types of chemical facilities may be associated with increased mortality from several different types of cancer.

Here we proposed a battery of non-invasive biomarkers and a histological survey to examine physiological/anatomical features in embryos, eleutheroembryos (13 days post-fertilization, dpf), and larvae (28–42 dpf) of medaka to investigate the effects of embryonic exposure to propylparaben (PrP). Concentrations <1000 μg PrP/L didn't exert early or late toxic effects. However, survivorship was affected at 4000 μg/L in eleutheroembryos and at ≥1000 μg/L in larvae. Histological alterations were found in 37.5% of eleutheroembryos exposed to 4000 μg PrP/L. Morphometric analysis of the gallbladder revealed significant dilation at ≥400 μg/L throughout embryo development. Ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD), as indicator of cytochrome P4501A activity, didn't reveal induction/inhibition although its combination with a P4501A agonist (i.e. β-naphthoflavone) resulted in a synergic EROD response. Results suggest a low toxicity of PrP for fish and support the use of fish embryos and eleutheroembryos as alternatives of in vivo biomarkers indicative of exposure/toxicity.

Long-term exposure to PM₂.₅ has been linked to lung cancer incidence and mortality, but limited evidence existed for other cancers. This study aimed to assess the association between PM₂.₅ on cancer specific mortality. An ecological study based on the cancer mortality data collected from 5,565 Brazilian cities during 2010–2018 using a difference-in-differences approach with quasi-Poisson regression, was applied to examine PM₂.₅-cancer mortality associations. Globally gridded annual average surface PM₂.₅ concentration was extracted and linked with the residential municipality of participants in this study. Sex, age stratified and exposure-response estimations were also conducted. Totalling 1,768,668 adult cancer deaths records of about 208 million population living across 5,565 municipalities were included in this study. The average PM₂.₅ concentration was 7.63 μg/m³ (standard deviation 3.32) with range from 2.95 μg/m³ to 28.5 μg/m³. With each 10 μg/m³ increase in three-year-average (current year and previous two years) concentrations of PM₂.₅, the relative risks (RR) of cancer mortality were 1.16 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.11–1.20) for all-site cancers. The PM₂.₅ exposure was significantly associated with several cancer-specific mortalities including oral, nasopharynx, oesophagus, and stomach, colon rectum, liver, gallbladder, larynx, lung, bone, skin, female breast, cervix, prostate, brain and leukaemia. No safe level of PM₂.₅ exposure was observed in the exposure-response curve for all types of cancer. In conclusion, with nationwide cancer death records in Brazil, we found that long-term exposure to ambient PM₂.₅ increased risks of mortality for many cancer types. Even low level PM₂.₅ concentrations had significant impacts on cancer mortality.

Hydraulic fracturing has become widely used in recent years to access vast global unconventional sources of oil and gas. This process involves the injection of proprietary mixtures of water and chemicals to fracture shale formations and extract the hydrocarbons trapped within. These injection fluids, along with minerals, hydrocarbons, and saline waters present within the formations being drilled into, return to the surface as flowback and produced water (FPW). FPW is a highly complex mixture, containing metals, salts and clay, as well as many organic chemicals, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons such as phenanthrene. The present study sought to determine the effects of temperature on the accumulation of phenanthrene in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). This model organism resides in rivers overlapping the Montney and Duvernay formations, both highly developed formations for hydraulic fracturing. Rainbow trout acclimated to temperatures of 4, 13 and 17 °C were exposed to either 5% or 20% FPW, as well as saline mixtures representing the exact ionic content of FPW to determine the accumulation of radiolabelled ¹⁴C phenanthrene within the gill, gut, liver and gallbladder. FPW exposure reduced the overall accumulation of phenanthrene in a manner most often similar to high salinity exposure, indicating that the high ionic strength of FPW is the primary factor affecting accumulation. Accumulation was different at the temperature extremes (4 and 17 °C), although no consistent relationship was observed between temperature and accumulation across the observed tissues. These results indicate that several physiological responses occur as a result of FPW exposure and water temperature change which dictate phenanthrene uptake, particularly in the gills. Temperature (and seasonality) alone cannot be used to model the potential accumulation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons after FPW spills.

Aflatoxicosis is a serious health condition resulted from aflatoxin (AF)-producing fungi. Major health threats resulted from AFs and reflect on the livestock industry with great economic losses. There are limited scientific evidences concerning the AFs in ruminant, therefore it is important to evaluate AFs health hazards in cattle. Here, we investigate biochemical, oxidative stress, and postmortem changes associated with unexpected acute bovine aflatoxicosis. Seventy-two cattle were suffered from aflatoxisocis. Depression and inappetence were predominant clinical findings of the diseased animals. Analysis of feedstuffs revealed presence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). The AF-intoxicated animals showed a significant increase in alanine amino transferase (ALT), aspartate amino transferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), serum creatinine (SCr), catalase (CAT), and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Moreover, a significant decrease in total protein (TP), magnesium (Mg), and reduced glutathione (GSH) were also seen. Hepatomegaly, enlarged gallbladder as well as congestion of the intestine and kidney were observed. This study elucidates the critical and constructive measurements needed for the prevention of the AFs hazardous effects to livestock for the future control of AF outbreaks. Conducting series of diagnostic assays reflect the marked health condition alterations in the biochemical and antioxidant status of the AF-intoxicated cattle.

Studies of metal accumulation in fish are mainly focused on the muscle tissue, while the metal accumulation patterns in other tissues have been largely neglected. Muscle is not always a good indicator of the whole fish body contamination. Elemental accumulation in many fish tissues and organs and their potential use in monitoring programs have not received proper attention. In the present study, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, and Zn concentrations were assessed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) in the following 14 tissues of the wels catfish (Silurus glanis) from the Danube River: muscle, gills, spleen, liver, kidneys, intestine, gizzard, heart, brain, gallbladder, swim bladder, vertebra, operculum, and gonads. A high level of differential elemental accumulation among the studied tissues was observed. The maximum overall metal accumulation was observed in the vertebra, followed by the kidneys and liver, with the metal pollution index (MPI) values of 0.26, 0.25, and 0.24, respectively. The minimum values were observed in the gallbladder, muscle, brain, and swim bladder, with MPI values of 0.03, 0.06, 0.07, and 0.09, respectively. Average metal concentrations in the fish muscle were below the maximum allowed concentrations for human consumption. The mean As, Cd, Pb, Cu, Fe, and Zn concentrations in the muscle were 0.028, 0.001, 0.001, 0.192, 3.966, and 3.969 μg/g wet weight, respectively. We believe that the presented findings could be of interest for the scientific community and freshwater ecosystem managers. There is a need for further research that would assess less studied tissues in different fish species.

Outdoor air pollution may be associated with cancer risk at different sites. This study sought to investigate outdoor air pollution from waste gas emission effects on multiple cancer incidences in a retrospective population-based study in Shanghai, China. Trends in cancer incidence for males and females and trends in waste gas emissions for the total waste gas, industrial waste gas, other waste gas, SO₂, and soot were investigated between 1983 and 2010 in Shanghai, China. Regression models after adjusting for confounding variables were constructed to estimate associations between waste gas emissions and multiple cancer incidences in the whole group and stratified by sex, Engel coefficient, life expectancy, and number of doctors per 10,000 populations to further explore whether changes of waste gas emissions were associated with multiple cancer incidences. More than 550,000 new cancer patients were enrolled and reviewed. Upward trends in multiple cancer incidences for males and females and in waste gas emissions were observed from 1983 to 2010 in Shanghai, China. Waste gas emissions came mainly from industrial waste gas. Waste gas emissions was significantly positively associated with cancer incidence of salivary gland, small intestine, colorectal, anus, gallbladder, thoracic organs, connective and soft tissue, prostate, kidney, bladder, thyroid, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, lymphatic leukemia, myeloid leukemia, and other unspecified sites (all p < 0.05). Negative association between waste gas emissions and the esophagus cancer incidence was observed (p < 0.05). The results of the whole group were basically consistent with the results of the stratified analysis. The results from this retrospective population-based study suggest ambient air pollution from waste gas emissions was associated with multiple cancer incidences.

Microcystins (MCs) produced by cyanobacteria can accumulate in freshwater fish tissues and pose potential risk to human health. In this study, variations in MC content were examined in water samples and fish tissues during a Microcystis aeruginosa-dominated bloom in a fish pond in China, from June 2009 to August 2009. A total of ten microcystin variants were detected in water samples in the fish pond, including MCLR, MCRR, MCYR, MCLF, MCLY, MCLA, and MCLW, and other three undefined MC variants. MCLR was the dominant variant in the water samples, followed by MCLF and MCLY. The highest MC concentration in the common carp (Aristichthys nobilis) was found in the order intestine > spleen > muscle; however, the order with the most MC variants detected was muscle > spleen = kidney = gallbladder > liver = intestine. The highest overall MC concentration detected in the water samples was 12.24 μg L⁻¹, and the estimated daily intake for humans from the consumption of fish was about 0.48 μg MCLR eq kg⁻¹ body weight (BW), 12-fold the tolerable daily intake (TDI) proposed by the World Health Organization. Therefore, the combined risks from skin exposure and food intake in this fish pond should not be overlooked.