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ASSESSING THE POTENTIAL FOR PHOTO-ACTIVATED TOXICITY OF PAHS IN AQUATIC SYSTEMS
Citation:
Mount, D. R. ASSESSING THE POTENTIAL FOR PHOTO-ACTIVATED TOXICITY OF PAHS IN AQUATIC SYSTEMS. Presented at Minnesota Water 2004, Minneapolis, MN, March 23-24, 2004.
Description:
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants introduced through combustion processes and from release of petroleum and petroleum products. Assessing the ecological risk from PAHs is complicated by several factors, including their occurrence as mixtures of hundreds of different structures, and their potential to cause toxicity via multiple modes of action. One mode of toxic action that has received increased attention of late is so-called "photo-activated" toxicity, which occurs through an interaction of PAHs and ultraviolet (UV) light such as that in sunlight. Most studies of PAH toxicity have not included this mechanism because typical laboratory toxicity studies are conducted under artificial light that contains very little UV radiation. PAH exposures that have no observable toxicological effect under laboratory light can be exceptionally toxic when they occur in the presence of sunlight or other UV source. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the photo-activation phenomenon, and to describe a series of laboratory and field studies intended to build a framework for evaluating risks from photo-activation to aquatic organisms. This abstract does not necessarily reflect EPA policy.