Topic E: Introduction to

Environmental
toxicology
By the end of this topic, you should be able to;
• Definition of environmental toxicology ;
• Public Health Concerns of Trace Chemical
Contaminants;
• Fate and effects of organic pollutants in the
ecosystem;
• Fate of POPs in the environment;
• Control and management of pollutants in the
environment (Mitigation of Environmental
contamination).
•
i. Definition of
environmental
toxicology
What is environmental toxicology ?
 ‘ecotoxicology’

 Definition: ‘study of impacts of pollutants on the

structure and function of ecosystems’
 Ecotoxicology is the study of the toxic effects of
chemicals on the aquatic and terrestrial
environment.

 Ecotoxicology integrates toxicology and ecology.

 Ecotoxicology looks at manmade poisonous

chemicals and their effect on the environment

 Does not include the study of naturally occurring

toxins, for example cholera toxin, or brevitoxin
What is environmental toxicology ?

 Environmental toxicology is a new discipline

that grew out of studies on the environmental
fate and transport of pesticides in the 1940s
and 1950s

 The discipline ‘toxicology’ is as old as medicine

– many toxic plant chemicals are used as
therapeutic agents in medicine.

 The term ‘ecotoxicology’ appeared in the

literature in 1969

 Field was pioneered by Rachel Carson

 Environmental toxicology is highly interdisciplinary
Environmental toxicology takes and field
assimilates from a variety of disciplines.
Ecology provides the basis of our ability
to interpret the interactions of species in
ecosystems and the impacts that
toxicants may have upon the function and
structure of a particular ecosystem.
Molecular biology and pharmacokinetics
operate at the opposite ends of the
biological hierarchy, describing the
interactions of an organism with a
toxicant at the molecular level. Analytical
chemistry provides data on the
environmental concentration of a
compound and can also be used to
estimate dose to an organism when
tissues are analyzed. Organic chemistry
provides the basic language and the
foundation of both the abiotic and biotic
interactions within an ecosystem.
Biometrics, the application of statistics to
biological problems, provides the tools for
data analysis and hypothesis testing.
Mathematical and computer modeling
enables the researcher to predict effects
and to increase the rigor of a hypothesis.
Evolutionary biology
 Rachel Carson (1907-1964)
 Marine Biologist from Pennsylvania
 MA from Johns Hopkins U.
 Author of ‘Silent Spring’
 Received much attention, because she wrote
and presented scientific facts well
 She was disturbed by the widespread and indiscriminate
use of pesticides

 Many of these pesticides were known to affect wildlife

e.g. kill birds

 She lobbied very hard to control and ban certain

highly toxic chemicals

 Testified before congress in 1963 and called for new

policies with respect to human health and the
environment
 Environmental toxicology interacts
with a wide range of fields.

 There are many types of

interactions that make up the field
of environmental toxicology
 Research Programs  It
includes the identification of
toxicity and what causes it.
 Scientific community  the
intellectual and industrial force
behind the conduct of
research.
 Risk assessment  the tool for
translating the research into
predictions of environmental
effects and public policy has
been risk assessment
 General public, governmental
entities, and industry  Policy
is formulation
 Governmental and regulatory
agencies  often set standards
for chemical concentrations in
air, water, soil, sediment, and
tissue which safeguard human
health and the valued
 Environmental toxicology is driven by legislation

Here are some examples from the US (Malawi legislation will be

discussed later in this lecture series)

• National Environmental Policy Act

• Clean Air Act

• Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act

• Federal Water Pollution Control Act

• Safe Drinking Water Act

• Toxic Substances Control Act

• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

• Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and

Liabilities Act

• Clean Water Act

 XENOBIOTIC
– a chemical that is foreign to the biosphere
i.e. is not produced by a natural biological or
abiotic source

– Also called anthropogenic, man-made,

synthetic, pollutant, contaminant,
recalcitrant, persistent, and toxicant

– BTEX is an acronym for benzene, toluene,

ethylbenzene, and xylene.
• These compounds occur naturally in crude oil
and can be found in sea water in the vicinity of
natural gas and petroleum deposits.

• They are primarily released via man-made

actions  through emissions from motor
vehicles and aircrafts, and cigarette smoke.
• Environmental toxicology depends on

– Lab work
• Effects of toxicants on biochemistry and physiology

– Field work
• Field observations of reproduction and survival in
polluted vs. non-polluted sites

– Modeling of fate and transport of toxicants in the

environment i.e. exposure and risk assessment

• Static models : short term modeling of

ecosystems
• Strategic models : model of a specific aspect of a
system
• Testable models : model makes predictions that can
be tested in the field or
laboratory
 • Purpose/function of environmental toxicology is to

– Identify the mode / site of action of a xenobiotic

– FATE and TRANSPORT / interaction of a xenobiotic
with the biosphere (including specific organisms)
after it is released / pollution occurs
– identify the effect the xenoboitic has on an
ecosystems / higher level organisation e.g. loss of
fertility of Alligators in Lake Apopca

physiology community
behavior parameters
site of
action
Introduction of Ecosystem
xenobiotic effect

biotransformation biochemistry population

dynamics
 Parameters of xenobiotic interaction with the ecosystem

Physiology, Behavior Community structure

Chromosome damage Diversity
Lesions, Necrosis Energy transfer
DNA Tumors
RNA Stability
Teratogenic effects Succession
Receptors Behavior, Mortality
Key enzymes Chemical parameters
Biochemical integrity

Introduction of Ecosystem
xenobiotic effect

Stress proteins Population density

enzyme induction
Metabolic indicators Productivity
Glutathione S Transferase
Acetylcholinesterase inhibition Mating success
Mixed Functional Oxidases
Adenyl energy charge Fecundity
Hydrolases
Metallothionen production Genetic alterations
DNA repair mechanisms
Immuno suppression Competitive alterations
How do we measure these effect ?
• Physio-chemical characteristics:
– QSAR (quantitative structure - activity relationship)

O
N COOH

CH2 CH CH CH3
S
NH CH3

COOH

CH2 O N COOH
N CH3
HC CH3
CH3
CH CH S
O
S CH3
HN

– Estimate the contribution of portions of the molecule to

physio-chemical characteristics
• Ionic interactions
• Hydrophobic interactions
• Van der Vaals forces
• Hydrogen bonding
• Abiotic environmental fate

• Partitioning
• Adsorption - occurs when strong interactions, including
hydrogen bonding and covalent and ionic bond
formation, occur between the adsorbate and the solid
surface.
• Transport/advection  the process by which solutes are
transported in the subsurface especially in highly
permeable material.
• PCB vs. Benzene …
• Biotic environmental fate
– The Biological fate for the xenobiotics may be as follows:

– Bioaccumulation

• The storage of a compound in fatty tissue of an

animal
• Result of food chain / trophic levels

– Biotransformation

• Metabolic processes, mainly by environmental

bacteria, that alter the structure and toxicity of a
compound

– Biodegradation

• Breakdown of a xenobiotic to CO2 and water

• Biotic mode of action (Receptors)

– Chemicals that interfere with biochemical

receptor sites
• Signaling
• proteins in membranes
• Replication
• Protein synthesis

– Chemicals that damage biochemical or

molecular targets
• DNA damage
• Strange breakage
• Chromosome abnormalities
• Cancer
• Non-genotoxic effects such as
immunosuppression
• Physiological and behavioral effects

– Standard tool for assessing toxicological effects on

populations
– Tissue lesions
– Tumors
– Reproductive success

• Population success

– Population age structure – xenobiotics often exert a

stronger effect on juveniles => a shift in age
structure might indicate that a population is not
doing well, because it is affected by a xenobiotic
– Shift in bacterial communities – contamination
reduces bacterial diversity; bacterial numbers often
increase because the contaminant is food for some
while it is toxic for others
• Community effects

– Species diversity
– Abundance
– Distribution

• Ecosystem effects

– Productivity
– Trophic level structure
– Stability
iv. Fate and effects
of POPs in the
environment
 Fate and effects of POPs in the
environment

• Concepts

• Persistent Organic Pollutants

(POPs)
– E.g. PCBs

• Heavy Metals
– E.g. Mercury
 Concepts
Bioaccumulation
• The process by which a contaminant
accumulates in the tissues of an
individual organism

• E.g. certain chemicals in food eaten by

a fish tend to accumulate in its liver and
other tissues – the chemicals are taken
in faster than the individual can get rid
of them
– PCBs are stored in fat
– Cadmium is stored in the kidneys
– Mercury is stored in the liver
Bioaccumulation
 Concepts
Biomagnification
• Increase in concentration of certain
stable chemicals (for example, heavy
metals or fat-soluble pesticides) in
successively higher trophic levels of a
food chain or web.

• E.g. metals such as mercury, persistent

organic pollutants (POPs) such as PCBs,
pesticides, dioxins

• Note: Not all contaminants biomagnify

Biomagnification
Biomagnification of a Persistent Pesticide – DDT
PPM DDT Residue
Water 0.00005
Plankton 0.04
Silverside Minnow 0.2
Sheepshead Minnow 0.9
Pickerel (Predatory Fish) 1.3
Needlefish (Predatory Fish) 2.1
Heron (Bird, feeds on small animals) 3.6
Tern (Bird, feeds on small animals) 3.9
Herring Gull (Scavenger) 6.0
Fish Hawk (Osprey egg) 13.8
Merganser (Fish eating duck) 22.8
Cormorant (Feeds on large fish) 26.4
BMF (Biological Magnification Factor) = 26.4/0.00005 = 528,000
BMF = ratio of concentration in the organism divided by the concentration
in the medium.
Bioavailable – term used to describe the availability of
chemicals or materials to living organisms. Measurements
of total concentrations of chemicals in water or sediments
does not necessarily indicate that the chemical measured
is in a form that can be taken up by organisms.
Bioaccumulation – General term describing a process by
which chemicals are taken up by aquatic organisms from
the water directly, or through consumption of food
containing the chemicals.
Bioconcentration – A process by which there is a net
accumulation of a chemical directly from water into aquatic
organisms (e.g., by gill, epithelial tissue, or through cell
walls). Example lead
Biomagnification – A process by which there is a net
accumulation of a chemical as the chemical passes up
through two or more trophic levels. The term implies an
efficient transfer of a chemical from food to consumer, so
 Contamination: Persistent Organic
Pollutants (POPs)
• Also called
organochlorines

• An organic
compound
containing chlorine

• E.g. polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs);
common pesticides,
such as DDT or
 Persistent Organic Pollutants
(POPs)
• Highly toxic chemicals.

• Estimated that 400 million tons are

produced annually worldwide.

• The “dirty dozen”  aldrin,

chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, dioxins,
furans, endrin, HCB, heptachlor,
mirex, PCBs, toxaphene.
Organochlorines
 Example: Polychlorinated Biphenyls
(PCBs)
• No longer produced in
North America, but are
still produced in some
developing countries.

• Were commonly used

as lubricants in
hydraulic fluid,
transmission oil, and in
electrical transformers

• Considered a POP 
they stay in the
environment for a long
 Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)
• PCBs biomagnify

• At low level in food  can affect the

reproductive system and thyroid, may
damage the immune and nervous system.

• Prenatal infants exposed to PCBs tend to

have a higher incidence of upper
respiratory-tract infections

• Suspected to cause liver, skin, and

intestinal cancers
Contamination: Heavy Metals
• Minerals that are naturally present in rocks and
soils in all parts of the world, including the bed
rock and unconsolidated material.

• E.g. mercury, cadmium, lead

• Cadmium and mercury are released as a by-

product of mining and smelting into the
atmosphere.

• Significant quantities of mercury are also

released as a result of the erosive and chemical
actions that take place in reservoirs built to store
water for large hydro-electric projects.

• Metal levels are highest in people who eat large

amounts of organ meat
 Example: Mercury
• Mercury is a natural element that
occurs in terrestrial and aquatic
ecosystems.

• Atmospherically deposited mercury

is emitted from sources such as
coal-fired electric utilities and waste
incinerators in the south

• Global levels of atmospheric

mercury are increasing each year
 Mercury
• Major source of mercury is through meat,
in the form of methyl mercury.

• Highest in people who eat a lot of marine

food.

• Methyl mercury is easily taken up through

the intestinal wall.

• Major health concern is damage to the

brain and nervous system, may also affect
the immune system.

• Methyl mercury easily passes through the

placenta and can affect the fetus  may
cause neurological damage
Methyl Mercury
Eco-colonialism
Malaria, an old scourge long thought vanquished, has returned to South
Africa. In 1931-32 a malaria epidemic killed more than 22,000 people in
the region. After health authorities began spraying DDT inside homes to
attack mosquitoes that carry the disease, the incidence dropped
dramatically. By 1973, South Africa recorded only 331 malaria cases in
the entire country, in 1977 a single death. DDT was phased out by
industrialized countries-including South Africa-starting in the mid-1970s
in favor of the more expensive insecticides called pyrethroids
(chrysanthemum flowers). But mosquitoes have developed resistance to
these compounds, and malaria is again rampant throughout poor and
politically unstable regions of Asia, South and Central America, and sub-
Saharan Africa. The WHO says malaria affects up to 500 million people
per year and kills about 2.7 million of them, mostly children in sub-
Saharan Africa. The South African government has renewed DDT
spraying, and malaria cases are dropping. But the back lash has created
total uproar. The South Africans say if they don’t use DDT
they will have a pandemic disaster. In December 2000 to the
beginning of 2001 representatives of more than 100 nations finalized
a UN proposal to impose a prohibition or gradual phase out of 12
substances including DDT. The group of 12 chemicals many of them
chlorinated hydrocarbons are known as POPs (persistent organic
pollutants). Malaria specialists have no quarrel with banning such
compounds as chlordane, heptachlor, dieldrin, PCBs, and dioxin that
have been linked to cancer and damage to the human nervous,
reproductive, and endocrine system. But they argue that DDT is
benign in minute quantities necessary to repel mosquitoes. Some
two dozen poor nations, and China and India, continue to spray
inside buildings. Preventing poor countries from using DDT, they
believe smacks of eco-colonialism by rich countries more concerned
with theoretical long-term risks to their own environment than with
sickness and death in the Third World. They also call this another
instance of First World values being imposed globally, regardless of
the consequences.
v. Control and
management of
pollutants in the
environment
Policy and legal instruments for pollution control and
Management

• The policy and legal framework for Pollution

control and management comprise:

– the Constitution,

– various sectoral policies

– Acts

– by-laws
– standards and guidelines.
 The constitution
• The Constitution does not specifically mention
pollution/waste. However, the Constitution provides a
framework for environment and natural resources
management.

• It states that the State shall actively promote the welfare

and development of the people of Malawi by progressively
adopting and implementing policies and legislation aimed
at managing the environment responsibly in order to:
– prevent the degradation of the environment;
– provide a healthy living and working environment for the people of
Malawi;
– accord full recognition to the rights of future generations by means of
environmental protection and the sustainable
development of natural resources;
– conserve and enhance the biological diversity of Malawi
 National Environment Action Plan
(NEAP)
• The provides the framework for integrating environmental
protection and management in all national development
programmes with the view to achieving sustainable socio-
economic development.

• The key objectives of the NEAP include the following:

– (i) To document and analyse all major environmental issues and identify
measures to alleviate them; and
– (ii) To promote sustainable use of natural resources
 National Environmental Policy
(NEP) (2004
 The 2004 revised NEP recognizes the importance of
creating an enabling policy and legal framework for cross
sector coordination, participation of non-state sectors,
strengthening the enforcement machinery and
decentralizing natural resources and environmental
management and governance.

 The overall goal of the NEP is the promotion of sustainable,

social and economic development through the sound
management of the environment and natural resources
 Environment Management Act 1996
 This Act concerns the following:
 conservation and management of the environment in
Malawi
 prescribes environmental standards.

 conservation and manage basement of biological

(genetic) resources.

 This Act is divided into 13 Parts, covering main areas of

environmental concern including: Environmental planning
(IV); Environmental impact assessments (EIA), audits and
monitoring (V); Environmental quality standards (VI);
Environmental management (VII); Pollution control (VIII);
Inspection, analysis and records (IX); Environmental fund (X);
Offences (XI); Legal proceedings (XII); Miscellaneous
provisions (XIII)
Environment Management Act
(2017)
 The Act contains provisions for pollution control
and regulation of waste, including hazardous
waste.

 It regulates the handling, storage, transportation,

classification of wastes and the importation and
exportation of hazardous waste.

 The Act subscribes to the polluter pays principle

and places the responsibility of preventing
discharge or emission of any pollutant into the
environment, including the removal or disposal of
any pollutant, on the polluter.
• Waste management strategy
• Public health Act