An Interdisciplinary Initiative

IMTOX

Impact, Metabolism and Toxicity of Organic Xenobiotics - IMTOX

IMTOX

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An Interdisciplinary Initiative

Editors: 1Peter Schr6der, 2Benoit Rether, 3Hartmut Frank 1 GSF - Forschungszentrumfiir Umwelt und Gesundheit,Institut fiir BiochemischePflanzenpathologie,Neuherberg, D-85758 Oberschleiflheim,Germany 2 IUT Louis Pasteur Lab. BiologieVegetableAppliquee, 3 Rue de l'Argonne, F-67000 Strasbourg, France 3 Universit/itBayreuth, Lehrstuhl fiir Umweltchemie und Okotoxikologie,D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany

In recent years, organic pollutants have been regarded as "micropollutants'. This euphemistic nomenclature disregards the fact that the large group of organic pollutants consists of several thousand substances with great diversity in their physico-chemical properties, such as life time, lipophilicity and reactivity. They can be transformed to secondary pollutants and may potentially increase the greenhouse effect or contribute to ozone layer destruction. Even though the concentration of single substances present in certain environmental compartments may be only in the ppb or ppt range, the overall emission of organic substances from industry, agriculture and households will not decrease in the more or less "near" future. It was the aim of the three initiators (see above) of IMTOX to provide information for the solution of environmental problems arising from organic pollutants. Being aware that the impact of organic xenobiotics on the environment can only be comprehended from an interdisciplinary point of view, they created this interdisciplinary initiative on the Impact, Metabolism and Toxicity of Organic Xenobiotics - IMTOX.

Sources of Airborne - Critical Armin

To date, IMTOX consists of research groups from Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Portugal, Sweden and the Czech Republic. They are concerned with topics in environmental chemistry, ecology, plant and animal physiology and toxicology. Apart from three workshops in Ti~bingen, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany and Strasbourg, France, the IMTOX initiative has resulted in several publications and especially in a scientific exchange. The focus of this exchange is to arouse wide scientific interest in this field of emerging environmental relevance. ESPR will report on this scientific exchange and on further activities of IMTOX. First, selected articles from the recent workshop in Strasbourg, France, are presented. Due to the complexity of the topic, the articles are concerned with atmospheric chemistry, the uptake and metabolism of plants, and the accumulation of substances in animals. The first three articles resulting from the workshop in Strasbourg deal with airborne pollutants.

CC14

Remarks

Weifl

Fraunhofer Institute for Atmospheric Environmental Research, D-82467 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

Abstract Atmospheric mixing ratios of chlorinated C 1 and C2 hydrocarbons (CHCs) were measured at the mountain Wank (GarmischPartenkirchen, Bavarian Alps) in autumn 1992. The data lead to the assumption that at least part of the observed CCI4 originates from a source different to the other CHCs measured (C2HCL3,C2C14, CHCI 3 and CH3CCI3). The nature of this source is discussed. Key words:

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Organic xenobiotics, impact, metabolism, toxicity; impact, organic xenobiotics; metabolism, organic xenobiotics; toxicity, organic xenobiotics; chlorinated hydrocarbons; airborne CC14, sources; sources, Cp C 2 halocarbons; CC14, sources; CHCs, sources

Introduction

phere over the Atlantic ocean [1]. These measurements, and the estimated atmospheric lifetime of CCI 4 of about one year, were used to calculate a global budget of this substance. In order to b a l a n c e this b u d g e t , a s t r o n g n a t u r a l source of CCI 4 was a s s u m e d . A p h o t o c h e m i c a l step-by-step c h l o r i n a t i o n of n a t u r a l , p r o b a b l y b i o g e n i c CH3C1 in aerosols of m a r i n e origin was suggested [2, 3]. Later, the est i m a t e of the a t m o s p h e r i c lifetime of CCI 4 was corrected. T h u s , n a t u r a l sources were n o l o n g e r necessary to e x p l a i n the CC14 c o n c e n t r a t i o n s f o u n d in a m b i e n t air. M o r e o v e r , WALLACE et al. [4] recently p u b l i s h e d evidence a g a i n s t the existence of a p p r e c i a b l e n a t u r a l CC14 sources. O n the o t h e r h a n d , results of C H C analyses of the last few years indicate that CHC13 m a y i n d e e d have n a t u r a l sources, i.e. t h a t a c h l o r i n a t i o n process m a y occur in the m a r i n e e n v i r o n m e n t [5, 6]. T h u s , the origin of a i r b o r n e CC14 still a p p e a r s to be uncertain.

In 1971, J. E. LOVELOCK a n d c o w o r k e r s r e p o r t e d o n the first m e a s u r e m e n t s of a i r b o r n e CC14 in the r e m o t e a t m o s -

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ESPR- Environ. Sci. & Pollut. Res. 3 (2) 112-114 (1996) 9 ecomed publishers, D-86899 Landsberg, Germany