Cost-Effective, Scalable Field and Laboratory Approaches for Quantitation of Established and Emerging Chemicals in the Environment

摘要

Globalization has resulted in increased income and has provided economic growth opportunities across the developing world, stemming in large part from the relocation of chemical, pharmaceutical, waste disposal, and other manufacturing activities from established to emerging economies. Despite the economic opportunities that this manufacturing diversification has provided, it has also led to the unintended proliferation of chemical pollutants, including industrial effluents, electronic waste, agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products, in the environment. Unfortunately, low and middle income countries (LMIC) often lack the regulatory infrastructure and the needed resources to adequately assess the impact of these increasingly ubiquitous pollutants. Easy to use, cost-effective and scalable advances are desperately needed in laboratory and field analytics to enable LMIC's to monitor, mitigate, and ultimately prevent the release of toxic chemicals. This presentation will describe field and laboratory analytical capabilities presently applied in resource-constrained LMIC settings for the monitoring of environmentally relevant chemicals and highlight several emerging technological approaches that could extend analytical capacity. Advances in 'gold standard' laboratory-based approaches will be described, along with novel sampling approaches that could significantly reduce logistical costs and barriers. In addition, the potential utility of inexpensive paper and silicon-based sensors will be described for application in monitoring environmental contaminants.