Environmental Contamination

Bringing together the work of 62 distinguished scientists, this timely book offers a comprehensive view of the remediation of contaminated land. A one-stop resource, it covers historical and emerging contaminants, the issues of bioavailability of chemicals and associated human health risks, and the latest bio- and phytoremediation technologies. The book also contains numerous case studies-many of them drawn from the Asia-Pacific region-that look at the effects of rapid industrialization. It provides readers with a highly focused reference on important topics, including e-waste recycling, flame retardants, and arsenic and heavy metal contamination.

Professor Ming Hung Wong, BSc (CUHK), MSc, Ph.D., DSc (Durham), MBA, DSc (Strathclyde), is dean of the School of Environmental and Resource Sciences at Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, and chair professor of biology and honorary director of the Croucher Institute for Environmental Sciences at Hong Kong Baptist University. He served as the regional coordinator of Central and North-East Asia for a project entitled "Regionally Based Assessment of Persistent Toxic Substances" and recently joined a panel to review "Emerging Chemicals Management Issues in Developing Countries and Countries with Economies in Transition," sponsored by UNEP and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). He is editor in chief of Environmental Geochemistry and Health and an editorial board member of five other international scientific journals. Professor Wong has published over 490 peer-reviewed papers and 32 book chapters and has served as the editor of 25 books or special issues of scientific journals. He is currently the most cited Chinese scientist in the world in the field of environment/ecology, according to the Web of Science (26 June 2012). For more about Professor Wong, see his profile at Hong Kong Baptist University.

Environmental Contamination: Health Risks and Ecological Restoration. Part I Health Impacts and Risk Assessment: Health Impacts of Toxic Chemicals in the Pearl River Delta: The Need for Healthcare Reform? Heavy Metal Overloads and Autism in Children from Mainland China and Hong Kong: A Preliminary Study. Endocrine-Disrupting Contaminants and Their Effects on Reproductive and Developmental Health. Assessing Health Risks from Arsenic Intake by Residents in Cambodia. Pragmatic Approach for Health Risk Assessment of Bauxite Tailing Waste Materials. Part II Emerging Chemicals and Electronic Waste: Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in China: Sources, Trends, and Their Adverse Impacts on Human Health. Removal of Persistent Organic Pollutants and Compounds of Emerging Concern in Public-Owned Sewage Treatment Works: A Review. Inverse Relationship between Urinary Retinol-Binding Protein, Beta-2-Microglobulin, and Blood Manganese Levels in School-Age Children from an E-Waste Recycling Town. Mitigating Environmental and Health Risks Associated with Uncontrolled Recycling of Electronic Waste: Are International and National Regulations Effective? Decision-Making Support Tools for Managing Electronic Waste. Part III Ecological Restoration of Contaminated Sites: Bioremediation: Biomethylation of Arsenic in Contaminated Soils. Handling Copper: A Paradigm for the Mechanisms of Metal Ion Homeostasis. Plant Selenium Metabolism: Genetic Manipulation, Phytotechnological Applications, and Ecological Implications. Microbial Transformation of Phthalate Esters: Diversity of Hydrolytic Esterases. Mixed Contamination of Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons and Metals at Manufactured Gas Plant Sites: Toxicity and Implications to Bioremediation. Part IV Ecological Restoration of Contaminated Sites: Phytoremediation: Toxicity and Bioavailability of Heavy Metals and Hydrocarbons in Mangrove Wetlands and Their Remediation. Origin of Pa