FORENSIC INVESTIGATIONS IN COMPLEX POLLUTION CASES INVOLVING PCBS, DIOXINS AND FURANS: POTENTIAL PITFALLS AND TIPS

摘要

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins (PCDDs) and furans (PCDFs) are frequently detected in grass, soil and farm animals near incineration plants, electric transformers recycling facilities, or after major fires during environmental forensic investigations. The sale of farm animals for food above established PCBs and PCDD/F limits is forbidden, and therefore are slaughtered, or removed from contaminated areas to graze on uncontaminated food, in an attempt to detoxify. This policy can result in substantial financial losses to farmers and other parties on whose property these contaminants are detected. If regulated levels are exceeded in one sample, the impacts are rarely limited to one area, or within the sampling period. It is therefore important to establish the extent of the contamination, distinguish the potential source(s) and identify the duration of the contamination event. These determinations are especially challenging to account for background noise or when multiple sources of these contaminants are present within a 10 kilometre (km) radius of the investigated area and could have contributed to the contamination,