In this study, we analyzed the concentration of cadmium and mercury in urine and lead in blood from 668 residents in the exposed and compared areas in Gwangyang-si and Yeosu-si, from July 2013 to December 2015. According to the lifestyle (past smoking, current smoking, passive smoking, drinking and exercise), the concentration of cadmium in urine was higher in the compared areas than in the exposed areas in Gwangyang. However, the concentration of cadmium in urine according to the lifestyle except drinking was higher in the exposed areas than in the compared areas in Yeosu. According to the past smoking and current smoking, the concentration of mercury in urine was higher in the compared areas than in the exposed areas in Gwangyang, but the passive smoking, drinking and exercise showed similar concentration levels both in the exposed and compared areas in Gwangyang. The concentration of mercury in urine according to the past smoking and current smoking was higher in the exposed areas than in the compared areas in Yeosu, but the concentration of mercury in urine according to the drinking and exercise was lower in the exposed areas than in the compared areas in Yeosu. According to the past smoking, the concentration of lead in blood showed similar concentration levels in the exposed and compared areas in Gwangyang, but regarding current and passive smoking, it was higher in the compared areas than in the exposed areas in Gwangyang. Especially, the concentration of lead in blood according to the drinking in Gwangyang showed statistically significant difference (p<0.05). The concentration of lead in blood according to the lifestyle was higher in the compared areas than in the exposed areas in Yeosu.

Many researchers reported biodegradation of environmental pollutants by white-rot fungi. Toward in situ bioremediation, we have investigated biodegradation of environmental pollutants by litter-decomposing fungi. In our results, lignin-degrading enzymes produced from litter-decomposing fungi are thought to participate in degradation of pentachlorophenol (PCP) and 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-DA). Then, we examined the biodegradation of PCP, 2,4-DA and the analogs of 2,4-DA by purified laccase and the role of redox mediator on laccase reaction. Laccase purified from Calvatia craniiformis decomposed phenolic compounds, PCP and 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DP), but not non-phenolic compounds, 2,4-DA and 2,4-dichlorophenoxy ethanol (2,4-DE), even in the presence of redox mediators. To clarify the reaction mechanism between the substrates and redox mediators, quantum chemical analysis was applied using MOPAC 2009 and Gaussian 03. The results of the heat of formation and the perturbation energy showed that even redox mediator radicals could not oxidize the non-phenolic compounds. Previously several reports showed that laccase-redox mediator systems decomposed non-phnolic compounds, but we propose that the system could not react on the chlorinated aromatic compounds based on the result of quantum analysis.

Burning mosquito coils in indoor environments maygenerate smoke that can control mosquito effectively. This practice has been used in numerous households in Korea. However the smoke may contain air pollutants of health concern. We conducted the present study to characterize the emission from two common brands of mosquito coils from Vietnam and Malaysia, respectively. We measured mass emission of air pollutants of nitrogen oxides (NOx), fine particulate(PM2.5), formaldehyde (HCHO), total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) in completely closed chamber. Air pollutants concentrations resulting from burning mosquito coils could substantially exceed health-based air quality standards orguidelines. Under the same condition, air pollutants were measured by cigarette smoking to compare mosquito coil. Burning one mosquito coil would release the same amount of PM2.5 mass as burning 20~58 cigarettes. The emission of HCHO from burning one coil can be as high as that released from burning 27 cigarettes.

경북 안동지역의 10개 하천 및 하천 주변으로부터 2004년 5월에 물, 토양, 퇴적물의 시료를 채취하였다. 이들 지역의 환경오염 수준을 평가하기 위해 표준공정시험법이나 U.S. EPA 법을 이용하여 시료 중의 총질소, 총인, 화학적 산소요구량, 중금속, 유기인 및 유기염소계 잔류농약, 그리고 dioxin-like PCBs 등의 오염물질의 분석을 실시하였으며, 이와 더불어 파밤나방(Spodoptera exigua)을 이용한 면역교란의 생체지표 분석을 병행하였다. 일반적으로 총질소가 9.12 mg/L 수준의 와야천을 제외하고는, 각 하천 중의 총질소, 총인, 화학적 산소요구량은 환경부에서 정한 허용기준치보다는 비교적 낮았다. 각 하천 시료 중의 납과 카드뮴의 함량은 허용 기준보다도 매우 낮았지만, 하천에 따라 차이가 있어서 미천, 길안천, 현하천의 납과 카드뮴 함유량은 다른 하천의 시료들에 비해서 몇 배 이상 높게 검출되었다. 잔류농약은 미천 주변의 토양에서 유기인계 살충제인 다이아지논, 파라치온, 그리고 펜토에이트가 0.19, 0.40, 농도로 검출되었다. 반면에 내분비계 교란물질로 알려져 있는 16종의 유기염소계 농약과 12종의 dioxin-like PCB congeners는 검출한계 미만으로는 확인할 수 없었다. 그러나 와야천의 시료에 대한 곤충면역 교란효과를 고려해 볼 때, 이 하천의 수질과 주변의 토양이 조사한 오염원 이외의 화합물에 오염되어 있을 가능성을 제시해 준다. 이상의 분석 결과를 토대로 화학적 및 생물학적 검정 기술의 제약점과 상호 보완성이 기술되었다

The National Environmental Specimen Bank (NESB) has been sampling and cryogenically preserving various wildlife specimens to monitor bio-accumulations of chemical pollutants since 2010. Recently, the NESB set up a plan to develop reference materials at their facility to assure the analytical quality of and validate the analytical methods for their monitoring samples. One of the crucial characteristics of reference materials is intra- and inter-bottle homogeneity. In this study, we used ANOVA for total mercury concentrations in some samples to validate their homogeneities after milling and homogenization. We examined the intra- and inter-bottle homogeneities of two cryogenically-milled samples (Korean mussel (Mytilus coruscus) and black-tailed gull’s egg (Larus crassirostris). The variations in the total mercury concentrations were not significantly different intra- and inter-bottle (mussel: F=0.74, p=0.67; gull egg: F=1.96, p=0.10). Additionally, the relative standard deviations of the total mercury concentrations showed low values (mussel: 2.02%, gull egg: 1.78%). Therefore, the cryogenic-milling process statistically proves the homogeneity of the materials of mussels and sea gull eggs for chemical analysis for total mercury.