Environmental pollution by man-made Persistent Organic Chemicals (POCs) has been a serious global issue for over half a century. Exposure to POCs may result in health effects, including, endocrine disruption leading to birth defects, intellectual disability, low testosterone, childhood obesity, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Therefore, POCs have been the subject of intensive regional, national, and international efforts to limit the production, use, and disposal of these chemicals. Since POCs are ubiquitous and recalcitrant, and cause long-term effects on wildlife and humans, trend monitoring studies are valuable in making clear the behavior and fate of these compounds and to protect our environment and living resources. The Pacific Basin is a unique geographical region representing tropical, temperate and polar zones. This region is home to two-thirds of the world's population and consists of rapidly growing economies (countries) and highly developed countries. Due to this diversity of climatic and socio-economic conditions, environment and biota in different countries in this basin have varying degrees of environmental contamination and effects on wildlife and humans. The Pacific Rim countries play a pivotal role in governing global POC contamination and resulting harmful health effects. Because articles on POCs and their effect on environment and health are published in a large number of different journals, it is useful to have a book that includes original papers and reviews on the latest advances by well-known scientists in the field, especially focusing on the countries in the Pacific Rim. The two volumes of this book satisfy this need. Topics covered in Volume 1 include an overview of POCs contamination status and trends in the Pacific Basin Countries; human exposure to brominated flame retardants; POCs in sediments, soil and atmosphere of South Korea; and new research on sequestration and redistribution of emerging and classical persistent organic pollutants by polystyrene. The collection of chapters in these volumes may serve as a reasonable representation of current and future trends of POCs in the Pacific Basin countries. It is hoped that the book can inspire students and researchers, as well as professionals, to facilitate the understanding of the environmental and biological behavior of these persistent chemicals and to help in the development of strategies and practices for protecting the global environment for future generations.

Water is the most crucial material for human survival, after air. Without water, life would not be possible. It is important to know how much water is available to us and how much water is polluted. We need to monitor pollutants vigorously, both at point and nonpoint sources, using advanced analytical techniques that can monitor ultra-trace amounts of contaminants. Water reclamation is an absolute necessity today because we have contaminated our surface water, and even groundwater in some cases, to a point that it is not clean enough for drinking or cooking. Most importantly, water must be used judiciously, and equal treatment must be paid to the reclamation and treatment of contaminated water. This book provides information on various global water challenges and solutions. We face many water challenges in terms of availability, quality, and sustainability (Chapter 1). There is an urgent need to find ways to make water more sustainable. To achieve this objective, we will have to address scientific, technical, economic, and social issues.

Environmental pollution by man-made Persistent Organic Chemicals (POCs) has been a serious global issue for over half a century. Exposure to POCs may result in health effects, including, endocrine disruption leading to birth defects, intellectual disability, low testosterone, childhood obesity, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Therefore, POCs have been the subject of intensive regional, national, and international efforts to limit the production, use, and disposal of these chemicals. Since POCs are ubiquitous and recalcitrant, and cause long-term effects on wildlife and humans, trend monitoring studies are valuable in making clear the behavior and fate of these compounds and to protect our environment and living resources. The Pacific Basin is a unique geographical region representing tropical, temperate and polar zones. This region is home to two-thirds of the world's population and consists of rapidly growing economies (countries) and highly developed countries. Due to this diversity of climatic and socio-economic conditions, environment and biota in different countries in this basin have varying degrees of environmental contamination and effects on wildlife and humans. The Pacific Rim countries play a pivotal role in governing global POC contamination and resulting harmful health effects. Because articles on POCs and their effect on environment and health are published in a large number of different journals, it is useful to have a book that includes original papers and reviews on the latest advances by well-known scientists in the field, especially focusing on the countries in the Pacific Rim. The two volumes of this book satisfy this need. Topics covered in Volume 2 include lessons learned from three decades monitoring contaminants in Pacific Basin wildlife samples from the USA's Marine Environmental Specimen Bank; spatial and temporal trends of brominated flame retardants, PCBs, pesticides, and dioxins/furans, in the environment and biota in the USA, Colombia, China, Korea and Japan; emission of emerging pharmaceutical contaminants in the USA and Vietnam; and possible application of bio-analytical assays in the biological impact assessment of persistent organic pollutants in Mangrove sediments in Southeast Asia with particular reference to Malaysia. The collection of chapters in these volumes may serve as a reasonable representation of current and future trends of POCs in the Pacific Basin countries. It is hoped that the book can inspire students and researchers, as well as professionals, to facilitate the understanding of the environmental and biological behavior of these persistent chemicals and to help in the development of strategies and practices for protecting the global environment for future generations.

Environmental pollution by man-made persistent organic chemicals (POCs) has been a serious global issue for over half a century. POCs are prevalent in air, water, soil, and organisms including wildlife and humans throughout the world. They do not degrade and cause long-term effect in organisms. Exposure to certain POCs may result in serious environmental and health effects including birth defects, diminished intelligence and certain types of cancers. Therefore, POCs have been the subject of an intensive regional, national and international effort to limit their production, use, and disposal of these chemical stocks. Trend monitoring studies are essential to make clear the behavior and fate of these compounds and to protect our environment and living resources. Global Contamination Trends of Persistent Organic Chemicals provides comprehensive coverage of spatial and temporal trends of classical and emerging contaminants in aquatic, terrestrial, and marine ecosystems, including the Arctic and Antarctic ecosystems. Compiled by an international group of experts, this volume covers: Spatial and temporal trends of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlorinated pesticides, polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/furans (PCDD/DFs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs), perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), synthetic musks, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and octyl- and nonylphenols Environmental and biological matrices used for the trend studies were atmosphere, water, soil, sediment, bivalve mollusks, fish, marine mammals, terrestrial mammals, and human breast milk Spatial and temporal trend studies presented from Australia, Brazil, China, Estonia, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, Poland, Sweden, the United States, coastal and open ocean environments, and the Arctic and Antarctic regions POCs have been the subject of an intensive regional, national, and international effort to limit their production and use, and to mitigate the disposal of these chemicals. Since POCs are prevalent in air, water, soil, and tissues of organisms (including wildlife and humans) throughout the world and do not degrade, they cause long-term effects in organisms. Trend monitoring studies are essential to make clear the behavior and fate of these compounds and to protect our environment and living resources. Relevant to professionals and students alike, Global Contamination Trends of Persistent Organic Chemicals facilitates the understanding of environmental and biological behavior of these chemicals and the development of strategies for protecting the global environment for future generations.