The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill saw the first ever use of chemical dispersants to reduce the impacts of an oil spill at a deepwater level. A new study has investigated the fate of these dispersants in deepwater and concluded that they do not biodegrade well.

Commercial bottom trawling, the technique of pulling fishing gear across the seabed to catch fish and other seafood, releases pollutants trapped in the seabed, which can negatively affect local marine life and ecosystems. Recent findings from a Norwegian fjord show how mussels can take up high levels of contaminants released by trawling, with important health implications for consumers.

The use of nanomaterials in consumer goods is growing, as is their presence in waste. A new study is the first to follow the fate of engineered nanoparticles through the entire waste incineration chain. The results indicate current filter technology is effective in removing nanoparticles from flue gas, but that nanoparticles also bind to residues, such as fly ash and slag, which eventually end up in landfill.

Applying a low voltage to polluted river sediment can boost microbes’ natural ability to degrade harmful polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contaminants, according to a new study. The approach could be a cost-effective, sustainable strategy to bioremediate polluted sites.

Combinations of antibiotics have been found in high enough concentrations to pose a serious threat to aquatic ecosystems, in a recent Spanish study. Antibiotics can have toxic effects on the bacteria and algae that form the basis of aquatic ecosystems.

Sparrowhawks and their eggs are used to assess environmental concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), chemicals that were used until relatively recently as flame retardants. Recent research may help explain why different studies report different PBDE levels in sparrowhawks for the same countries and time periods. It appears nutrition may play an important role in determining PBDE concentrations in birds.

Exposure to polluted soil can affect human health, but the risk may vary depending on the soil type. A recent study has shown that the differing amounts of cadmium and lead that can be dissolved in the human digestive system can be predicted for contaminated agricultural, urban and woody habitat soils using a model. Its authors suggest this is a useful method for assessing the risks of contaminated land.

Certain chemicals that were once used as flame retardants are now banned in the EU, but can remain in the environment. A new study adds to our limited knowledge regarding the presence of the chemicals polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) in humans. The study suggests levels in Polish and Ukrainian men are lower than in those living in the US and Greenland.

New research has provided the first conclusive evidence that microplastics ingested by marine wildlife can transfer toxic pollutants to their tissues. The researchers studied lugworms fed on PVC particles contaminated with either widespread marine pollutants or plastic additives and found that these 'earthworms of the sea' absorbed the chemicals into their gut tissue, which reduced their ability to perform essential functions.

A risk-based tool built using multi-criteria decision analysis has been developed to rank environmental contaminants, giving each a level of concern. It can be used by decision makers to prioritise areas for further assessments, based on expected human health impacts.

Mercury and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) reduce albatrosses’ chances of successfully breeding, a recent study finds. These pollutants add to the list of environmental pressures, including climate change, disease and fishery bycatch, affecting this highly threatened species.

Anti-depressant drugs can affect the behaviour of wild animals in ways which may reduce their survival, new research has shown. The researchers fed half a group of starlings fluoxetine (commonly produced as ‘Prozac’) at concentrations they would be likely to encounter in the wild, if they fed on invertebrates contained in the waste water at treatment plants. Those fed the anti-depressant showed reduced feeding rates compared to the rest of the group, possibly putting their survival at risk.

Combining steam with heat-producing chemicals could control pathogenic viruses in soil, finds new research. The study examined how effective different forms of heat sterilisation of soil were at inactivating three plant viruses. While steam alone was enough to eradicate two of the viruses, the highly resilient tobacco mosaic virus required the addition of exothermic chemicals to reduce it by 97%.

Petrochemical lubricants have toxic effects on Antarctic seafloor ecosystems even after five years of degradation, a new study suggests. Examining the impacts of a standard lubricant and one marketed as biodegradable, the researchers were able to show that algae, which form the basis of the food chain, remained affected even after five years. Furthermore, the biodegradable lubricant appeared to provide no environmental benefits, as it had greater impacts in the long term.

The contamination of hazardous substances in estuaries can have negative effects on biodiversity. Using experimentally supported indicators, this study analysed the environmental risks posed by 22 different contaminants in UK estuaries and coastal waters, finding that substances banned over 20 years ago continue to persist in the marine environment.

Aeration is an effective means of eliminating antidepressants from landfill leachate, a new study finds. The concentrations of five different drugs were reduced by this treatment process, which could be an effective means of tackling the growing problem of pharmaceutical infiltration into aquatic environments.

Oil spills at sea can be catastrophic events, with oil and discharged toxins, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, threatening marine wildlife and coastlines, damaging healthy ecosystems and harming livelihoods. A recent study found that using dispersants moderately decreased the number of cod eggs and larvae affected by spills off the Norwegian coast.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are priority pollutants that pose a risk to human health, and can be passed on to children via breast milk. This study investigated how concentrations of POPs in breast milk vary worldwide by reviewing studies published between 1995 and 2011. They found that levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins in breast milk are higher in Europe and North America, whereas pesticides are more prevalent in Africa and Asia. The authors call for harmonisation of methodologies to enable high quality comparisons between studies.

This study assessed the effects of herbicides on non-target plants in Denmark and Canada. The findings showed that some plants are more sensitive to herbicides in the reproductive stages of their life cycle and can experience delays in flowering and reduced seed production. The authors say future ecological assessments should consider reproductive outcomes.

Herbicides in aquatic environments can have negative consequences on local plant life. This study investigated the effects of glyphosate, one of the most widely used herbicides in the world, on a marine plant species. The herbicide caused significant changes to the plant, reducing the number and chlorophyll content of leaves, and high concentrations were lethal. The authors say use of this chemical may be dangerous to plants in estuaries.

Intersex fish, in which male reproductive tissues become ‘feminised’, are increasingly being identified. This effect has traditionally been attributed to birth-control medications. This study exposed fish to a widely prescribed anti-diabetic, metformin. Male fish developed female sexual characteristics and reproductive rate decreased, which suggests that metformin may be a non-traditional endocrine-disrupting compound.

Mercury-resistant bacteria could help scientists to understand more about mercury cycling in the environment. In a new study, researchers identified one particular strain of soil bacterium that could serve as a model for the conversion of the toxic metal into less toxic forms. They also discovered a new gene involved in the conversion process.

Widespread use of antibiotics has led to pollution of waterways, potentially creating resistance among freshwater bacterial communities. A new study looked for antibiotic resistance genes in a river basin in Spain, revealing that wastewater discharges can promote the spread of antibiotic resistance in streams and small rivers.

Growing sugar beet varieties which are resistant to their pest, the cyst nematode, is the best way to achieve high sugar yields in northern Germany, recent research has concluded. The researchers say this method is better than growing trap crops or using pesticides to control the pests.

The non-restricted production and use of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) has led to their presence in effluents from treatment plants, which can pose a threat to aquatic organisms downstream. This study analysed the breakdown of six common chemicals in four Danish treatment plants. The findings shed new light on the factors affecting removal of PPCPs from waste, showing that the composition of waste is more important than the design of the treatment plant.

A study of the pollution caused by ship scrapping in Alang, India, shows significantly higher levels of heavy metal and petroleum hydrocarbons in sediment and seawater, compared to a control site. The researchers also found reduced populations of zooplankton — a critical food source for marine biota — and increased numbers of pathogenic bacteria.

The Alang shipbreaking yards in India recycle almost half of all end-of-life ships worldwide. The major activity at the yards is plate-cutting, used to recover steel from ships. This process consumes nearly 29 kg of oxygen and 7 kg of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and emits almost 22 kg of CO2 per 1 km-long cut with a 1 mm depth. This study reveals the carbon footprint and resources consumed in the cutting of steel plates. The method used to derive these findings could be adapted to ship dismantling yards worldwide.

Chemicals are everywhere and new substances are regularly being introduced to the market. However, only some pose a risk to the environment. How do we decide which of them to monitor? A new study using a database of chemicals found in fish in the Baltic Sea has assessed which chemicals are commonly monitored. The researchers suggest that monitoring is biased towards known, already regulated hazardous chemicals, and recommend changes to address other chemicals.

Azole fungicides are active ingredients in a range of pharmaceutical and personal care products, and are also used in agriculture. This study reviewed the sources, presence and risks of these compounds in the environment, finding evidence of toxic effects on aquatic organisms. The researchers provide directions for future research and warn caution should be exercised until more toxicity data becomes available.

Sewage sludge and manure are sometimes added to soil to improve crop production. However, these ‘natural fertilisers’ may contain not only nutrients and organic matter but also antibacterial agents. This study investigated their impact on the microbes in soil, revealing an increase in antibiotic resistance genes. The researchers recommend greater efforts to remove antibiotic residues from wastewater and manure.

Micropollutants — small, persistent and biologically active substances — are found in aquatic environments all over the world and can have negative effects on plants, animals and humans. The EU recently adopted a ‘watch list’ of potential priority substances, including pesticides, pharmaceuticals and personal care products that need to be monitored to determine their environmental risk. A new study reviews data on their worldwide occurrence and options for their removal from wastewater, and from surface and groundwater used to produce drinking water.

Silver nanoparticles are used in a range of household products. This study investigated the risk to plants of these nanoparticles in soil, showing that risk was overall low but increased when soils contained high levels of chlorine. The researchers, therefore, suggest that the risk of silver nanoparticles to plants may increase in salty soils or those irrigated with poor-quality water. These findings could be important for future risk assessments.

Combinations of antibiotics used in veterinary medicine could harm the growth of algal communities when they pass into water bodies from treated livestock, according to recent European research. Algae play vital roles in ecosystems by cycling nutrients and producing energy from photosynthesis; veterinary use of antibiotics should, therefore, be monitored in the environment, including for any biological impacts on algal species, the study recommends.

The majority of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) identified until now are banned or restricted around the world owing to concerns about their harm to ecosystems and human health. However, this is not the end of the story; even long-banned POPs still linger in the environment; others are still in use and are being directly emitted; and new POPs may be identified for which we have limited information. This Future Brief from Science for Environment Policy presents recent research into POPs’ potential impacts, the levels and future outlook for POPs in the environment and humans, and how we can reduce our use of POPs.

UV treatment does not always turn hazardous water pollutants into harmless substances. Recent lab tests suggest that the toxicity of the antibiotic linezolid to microorganisms appeared to increase post-treatment. This research did find, however, that UV treatment successfully reduced the antimicrobial activity of four other antibiotics tested, plus four artificial sweeteners.

A new study has investigated the movement of antibiotic resistance genes between farm animals, soil and water in Finland. The results show that many of these genes are spread from animals to the soil through manure application; however, these genes do not appear to persist in soil. The study suggests that practices that minimise the use of antibiotics, as used in Finland, may lead to lower levels of clinically relevant resistance genes in agricultural soils.

Neonicotinoids are pesticides applied to plants to protect them from insects. The use of neonicotinoids may lead to contamination of aquatic environments through, among other routes, the input of contaminated plant material into waterways. While it is well established that direct exposure to contaminated water endangers aquatic invertebrates, scientists have now published findings indicating that dietary exposure through the consumption of contaminated plant material puts leaf-shredding species at increased risk. The researchers recommend that policymakers registering systemic insecticides (those whose active ingredients are transported throughout the plant tissues) consider dietary exposure, and its potential implications for ecosystem integrity, in addition to other exposure pathways.

The presence of organic pollutants in waste water and drinking water can have alarming environmental and public health implications. Current water treatment methods have limitations: they can only remove certain contaminants, to certain extents, and also produce harmful by-products. New and improved methods are required. A recent review paper presents radiation processing as a promising approach, providing strong evidence of its efficacy, efficiency, safety, and feasibility. Focusing particularly on the use of electron-beam processing for the removal of organic pollutants from waste water and drinking water, the researchers present a compelling picture, relevant to stakeholders involved in water treatment and management.

Soil is an overlooked source of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) for grazing cows, finds a new study of contaminated farms in Switzerland. The researchers tested a new modelling tool to track two specific environmental POPs — known as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins (PCDD/Fs) — as they moved from the farm environment into a cow’s body over time. The tool could be used to assess measures designed to decontaminate animals or to prevent contamination, such as grazing regimes that aim to reduce the risk of cows eating soil accidentally.

The presence and accumulation of micropollutants1 (anthropogenic trace contaminants) in aquatic environments is an area of policy concern for the EU. In order to better understand how these chemicals enter and are transported within water systems, this study investigated the occurrence and concentration of a broad spectrum of micropollutants across Austria’s water system. Municipal waste-water effluents were found to be the emission pathway with the highest concentrations of some micropollutants. The study also demonstrated that levels of other micropollutants are higher in rivers, atmospheric deposition and groundwater than in waste-water effluents and that these sometimes exceeded environmental quality standards for surface waters.

Microplastics, polymer-based particles of less than five millimetres in size, have become an archetypal sign of anthropogenic waste and environmental pollution. This German study explores how microplastics in soil affect plants, screening the potential effects of six different microplastics on the soil environment, plant traits and function using a terrestrial plant-soil model based on the spring onion (Allium fistulosum). The researchers find that plants react strongly to microplastic exposure, with significant changes observed in the physical parameters of soil, plant root and leaf traits and plant biomass.

Rare earth elements (REE) are used to make many low-carbon technologies, including electric vehicles and wind turbines. Mining and processing of REE, which mostly takes place in China, has a reputation for causing environmental damage. A new study presents a method for evaluating the environmental impacts of REE production based on life-cycle assessment (LCA: a way of determining a product's overall impact during some or all of its journey from extraction to end-of-life). The researchers applied the method to a prospective REE mine in Malawi, south-east Africa, to reveal the most environmentally impactful stages of production, and the greenest source of energy.

Over the past two decades, concern has grown globally about the occurrence of anthropogenic organic contaminants in the environment, such as substances used in pharmaceuticals, food production and manufacturing. Many of these compounds are not sufficiently monitored or regulated in groundwater — a critical water resource in Europe. A recent paper proposes an approach to developing the first voluntary Groundwater Watch List (GWWL): an initiative with which to identify, monitor, and characterise substances that have the greatest potential to pollute this water resource.

Thompson, Ken, 1954- author

A new study highlights the need for new policies to stop the rise of nitrogen oxide emissions in China. The researchers suggest that the positive impact of policies to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions are not enough in themselves to avoid soil acidification, as they will be outweighed over the next decade by the impact of nitrogen emissions.

Several pollutants that are not covered by UN regulations could be harmful to humans, according to new research in the Balkans. By sampling air at various urban sites, the research showed that polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAHs) have the potential to be a major health risk.

A recent analysis of indoor industrial air pollutants could be useful for implementing REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals). Implementation of REACH should be based on sound analytical methods and targeting of priority chemicals, according to the researchers.

New European research finds that the levels of several harmful air pollutants are greater indoors than outdoors, and even greater when measured on the person themselves. The levels of benzene are especially concerning and often exceed EU limits.

Ultrafine particles emitted from a waste incinerator plant in Italy have been characterised in a recent study. The results suggest that a fabric filter was efficient at cleaning particulate matter from the exhaust gases. Data produced by the study could go on to be used by scientists studying the potential health impacts of ultrafine particles.

Sulphur and nitrogen emissions have been significantly reduced across Europe in recent decades, but a recent study from Sweden finds that some forest soils are still struggling to recover from the acidifying effects of the pollutants. Some areas are also at risk of nitrogen leaching from soils into surface waters.