Thallium Contamination of Water in Canada

摘要

Thallium is highly toxic but has been an obscure element compared to its three popular neighbours, lead, mercury and cadmium. It is partly due to the scarci- ty of its analytical data, caused by its high analytical detection limit relative to the other three elements and by its generally low level in the environment. We have develop a highly sensitive instrument, a Laser-Excited Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometer, to study thallium contamination in some important Canadian ecosystems form the Arctic (containing very low thallium concentra- Tion) to coal-related industries across Canada and even to the study of thallium Toxicity in an invertebrate, Hyalella azteca.