The impressive image on the outside front cover highlights a hot article from Hyo-Bang Moon and coworkers at Hanyang University, the National Fisheries Products Quality Inspection Service and the National Fisheries Research & Development Institute, Korea. Their study is the first to assess the methyl mercury residues and total mercury content in seafood consumed in Korea – an important constituent of the population’s diet. Their research found Hg levels to be below the threshold intake levels suggested by international authorities and thus will provide a baseline for future monitoring and risk management.
Exposure assessment for methyl and total mercury from seafood consumption in Korea, 2005 to 2008
Hyo-Bang Moon, Sang-Jo Kim, Hyejin Park, Yun Sun Jung, Suuggyu Lee, Yun-Hee Kim and Minkyu Choi
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 2400-2405
DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10504C
The image on the inside front cover depicts another hot article from Hsing-Lung Lien at the National Tawain University with colleagues from the National University of Kaohsiung, Tawain. They have designed a zero-valent copper nanoparticles for the hydrodechlorination of 1,2-dichloroethane.
1,2-DCA is a raw material used in vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) manufacturing processes, and improper handling has lead to groundwater contamination in many places. As 1,2-DCA can cause circulatory and respiratory failure, and is a suspected carcinogen, remediation technologies are needed to deal with this contaminant. The authors hope their copper nanoparticles could be immobilised on the surface of reducing metals to form a reactive bimetallic structure for environmental remediation applications.
Catalytic hydrodechlorination of 1,2-dichloroethane using copper nanoparticles under reduction conditions of sodium borohydride
Chang-Chieh Huang, Shang-Lien Lo, Shin-Mu Tsai and Hsing-Lung Lien
J. Environ. Monit., 2011, 13, 2406-2412
DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10370A
Interested? Why not view the rest of Issue 9?
