Contaminants and the food chain

Summary

Heavy metals and some other nutrients may pose a risk to public health if they enter the food chain in sufficient amounts through vegetables and other sources. This project is developing models which will help clarify the uptake of these substances by plants, the pathways by which they can enter humans and the risks they pose.

Project description

The potential of respirable size alumina particles to adsorb selected organic chemical species from a gaseous environment will be investigated, together with the subsequent desorption of these compounds.

This project will provide new knowledge on the surface chemistry of alumina particles with docked organic compounds, and may impact on the way exposure health standards are currently derived in Australia. The work will provide a foundation for cytoxicity health studies of alumina dust with adsorbed organic species.

Journal publications

Juhasz, AL, Weber, J, Smith, E, Naidu R, Marschner, B, Rees, M, Rofe, A, Kuchel, T & Sansom, L 2009, ‘Evaluation of SBRC-Gastric and SBRC-Intestinal Methods for the Prediction of In Vivo Relative Lead Bioavailability in Contaminated Soils’, Environmental Science & Technology 43, 4503-4509.

Smith, E & Naidu, R 2009, ‘Chemistry of inorganic arsenic in soils: kinetics of arsenic adsorption–desorption’, Environmental Geochemistry and Health 31: 49-59.

Smith, E, Juhasz, AL & Weber, J 2009, ‘Arsenic distribution and bioaccessibility across particle fractions in historically contaminated soils’, Environmental Geochemistry and Health 31: 85-92.

Smith, E, Juhasz, AL & Weber, J 2009, ‘Arsenic uptake and speciation in vegetables grown under greenhouse conditions’, Environmental Geochemistry and Health 31: 125-132.

Smith, E, Juhasz, AL, Weber, J & Naidu, R 2008, 'Arsenic uptake and speciation in rice plants grown under greenhouse conditions with arsenic contaminated irrigation water', Science of the Total Environment 392: 277-283.

Smith, E, Naidu, R, Weber, J & Juhasz, AL 2008, 'The impact of sequestration on the bioaccessibility of arsenic in long-term contaminated soils', Chemosphere 71: 773-780.

Conference papers

Juhasz, AL, Smith, E, Weber, J, Naidu, R, Rees, M, Rofe, A, Kuchel, T & Sansom, L 2009, ‘Comparison of in vivo and in vitro methods for the assessment of lead bioavailability in contaminated soils’ (poster paper), in 5th International Workshop on Chemical Bioavailability in the Environment: Workshop program and proceedings, CleanUp 09, Adelaide 24-25 September, pp.53-54.

Smith, E, Juhasz, AL, Weber, J, Naidu, R, Rees, M, Rofe, A, Kuchel, T & Sansom, L 2008, 'Arsenic Speciation and its Impact on Human Health Bioavailability', Sixth International Conference on the Remediation of Chlorinated and Recalcitrant Compounds, Monterey, USA, May 2008.