Oil sands development in Alberta has been getting a lot of bad press lately. From Dr. Schindler’s work calling for more science to the federal government of Canada taking over monitoring programs and developing scientific advisory panels.
POPs, Earwax and environmental forensics?
Environmental forensics is the application of scientific methods used to identify the origin and timing of a contaminant release. Continuous passive collection of POPs over decades of time provides a timeline that can be used to date contaminant episodes and releases. Whale ear wax just happens to provide just that…
Biomonitoring Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs) & Their Connection to Environmental Forensics
Keeping up with the scientific literature nowadays could be a full time job itself. I still try to keep up with the literature for all the things I find interesting. These include past research topics from my biomonitoring days at CDC and my graduate studies as well as to current day business client’s interests, such...
Scat as a PAH Monitoring Tool in the Alberta Oil Sands?
I was at a conference in Corvallis, OR on the topic of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons called ISPAC 2013 (www.ispac2013.com) a couple of weeks ago. I was invited to give one of the plenary talks on PAHs on the subject matter of PAH use in environmental forensics investigations. I have recently posted a guest blog at ...
Environmental Forensics and the Alberta Oil Sands
The oil sands of Alberta are receiving a lot of interest internationally for the potential environmental impacts due to mining and SAGD (steam-assisted gravity drainage) extraction of this resource as well as for the debate around the Keystone XL pipeline. Even Robert Redford is latest to give his view (again, it was...
Is Google Good for Environmental Consulting?
Your gut answer to that question is yes, especially if you are old enough to have experience searching journals and science publications at the university library. In case you missed that opportunity it went something like this: searching information on monochromatic computer screens, printing search results on dot...
Guilt by Association – Untrusted Research if Funded by Oil Industry?
I have to admit that I am a little jealous. I was checking into the research that was completed on the Gulf oil spill at the website: gulfresearchinitiative.org. I was preparing a presentation on how the oil spill in the gulf might impact monitoring of the Alberta oil sands. I presented at the CLRA AGM Alberta meeting...
Sample Collection and Management for Environmental Forensic Investigations (Environmental Forensics for Persistent Organic Pollutants)
This chapter presents an overview of the protocols within which environmental forensics investigations must take place, the documentation required for a robust investigation and advances in the development of electronic data recording and management. Documentation of preparations, activities, and analysis is contained...
Methylsulfone Polycglorinated Biphenyl and 2,2-bis(Chlorophenyl)-1,1-Dichloroethylene Metabolites in Beluga Whale (Delphinapterus Leucas) From the St. Lawrence River Estuary and Western Hudson Bay, Ca
Knowledge is limited regarding methylsulfone (MeSO2)-polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), and especially MeSO2–2,2-bis(chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloroethylene (DDE), metabolites in cetacean species. We hypothesized that the ability of beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) to biotransform PCB and DDE compounds, and to form and...
Pentachlorophenol and Hydroxylated Polychlorinated Biphenyl Metabolites in Umbilical Cord Plasma of Neonates from Coastal Populations in Québec.
Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hydroxylated metabolites of PCBs (HO-PCBs) and octachlorostyrene (4-HO-HpCS), and pentachlorophenol (PCP) were determined in umbilical cord plasma samples from three different regions of Québec. The regions studied included two coastal areas where exposure to PCBs is...